Chapter 74 I Will Take My Daughter To Aurelia

Chapter 74 I Will Take My Daughter To Aurelia
APOLLO'S POV

Before I could open my eyes, I felt it, warmth against my skin, soft fingers tracing the line of my cheek. A touch so gentle, so familiar, it pulled me from the abyss I had been drowning in. And then, her scent reached me. Sweet, soothing, intoxicating Reika. My mate. The only anchor strong enough to drag me back from death’s grip.

When her voice brushed against my ear in a whisper, filled with desperation and longing, I forced my hand to move. My body felt like lead, every muscle heavy, but I managed to pinch her arm, the smallest proof that I was still here.

A gasp escaped her lips, sharp with surprise. My heart leapt at the sound. Slowly, with great effort, I pried my eyes open. My vision blurred at first, a haze of light and shadow, until it cleared and landed on the face I longed for most. Reika.

Her beauty struck me like it always did, her wide, innocent eyes shimmering with tears, her lips trembling with unspoken prayers now answered. The relief radiating from her was almost overwhelming. My Luna. My everything.

“Apollo, you’re awake,” she whispered, her voice breaking with joy as she 

cupped my face in both hands. Her skin was warm, soft, trembling slightly as though she couldn’t believe I was real.

"I miss you so much," she said between sobs.

I reached for her hand, holding it weakly but firmly enough to let her know I was there. Words caught in my throat, heavy with exhaustion, so I let my touch speak for me.

Reika’s eyes filled with tears that spilled over as she let out a shaky laugh. 

She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around me as though afraid I would vanish if she let go. Her embrace was fierce, desperate, and I felt her shoulders quake against me. Her lips pressed against my temple, then my cheek, and finally she kissed me with a tenderness that broke me open inside.

My chest tightened, not from the remnants of poison, but from the sheer force of her love. I had fought Jupiter, fought death itself, but this moment, her arms around me, was the greatest victory of all.

“It’s good that you’re awake.”

The words came from behind her, from a man whose presence I had not noticed until then. His voice was deep, steady, carrying an authority that made the air shift.

I frowned, my gaze moving past Reika to the figure standing just beyond her. He was tall, broad-shouldered, his aura powerful, unmistakable. My heart faltered.

I looked at him, then back at Reika, my mind racing. Could it be?

A part of me already knew. I had long suspected that Reika wasn’t just an ordinary wolf. The strength she carried, the light that burst forth from her during the fight with Anya, the way she and our pup had saved me from Jupiter when I had nearly succumbed, it was no power an Omega or even an Alpha’s mate could wield.

And now here stood the man whose presence explained it all. My instincts told me exactly who he was, even if my lips refused to form the words.

The Lycan King. And Reika, my mate, my Luna, was his daughter.

I felt both pride and fear coil inside me. Pride, that she was mine, that the Moon Goddess had fated me to stand by the side of someone so extraordinary. Fear, because what would a King see when he looked at me? A poisoned Alpha barely clinging to life, holding onto his daughter as though she were the only reason he breathed, which, in truth, she was.

Reika’s soft voice broke the silence, trembling slightly, though her eyes were firm when she looked at me. “Apollo, this is my father, King Theoron. 

He was the one who made the antidote that fought the poison Jupiter gave you.”

Her words struck me in two ways, like a balm and a blade. I turned my head, my gaze landing on the man who stood behind her. The aura he carried was undeniable, immense, ancient, something that pressed against the very air itself. A King. Her father.

But then the second part of her words burned inside me. Jupiter. He poisoned me. My own cousin had betrayed me in the vilest way, striking me not with honor, but with cowardice. A growl rumbled low in my chest, weak but filled with fury. I clenched my fist where it rested on the sheets.

How could I have spared him? How could I have let him walk away? It was a mistake, one I would not repeat if fate granted me another chance. 

He would pay.

Still, I swallowed the rage and focused on the man who had kept me alive. I lifted my chin despite the weakness weighing down my body and managed a faint smile. With effort, I gave him a nod of respect. 

“Thank you, my King,” I rasped, my voice hoarse but steady.

King Theoron’s eyes were sharp, unreadable, yet there was something in them when he looked at me, perhaps a measure of acknowledgment, perhaps only scrutiny. He gave a single nod in return.

“You need more time to rest, Apollo,” he said, his tone even, but layered with the kind of authority only a ruler bore. Then, with the same steadiness, he added, “For now, since you are already awake, I will bring my daughter with me to the Kingdom of Aurelia.”

His words landed like a strike to my chest. My heart stuttered, then nearly stopped altogether. Reika. Taken from my side?

I tried to mask my reaction, but it was impossible. The thought of her leaving my arms, my bed, my pack, the thought of her walking away with him, made my breath hitch. I could feel the bond between us coil tight inside my chest, a burning tether that refused to let go.

I turned my eyes to Reika, searching her face, silently begging her not to agree. She was my mate, my Luna, the one who had given me strength when I was at the brink of death. The very idea of waking to find her gone… It was unbearable.

Reika was speechless, her eyes widened in shock as well. That confirmed that she hasn't agreed to go back home. But I fear that she will obey her father.

Yes, King Theoron was her father. Yes, he had every right to claim her as his blood, his heir. But she was mine. The Moon Goddess herself had bound us together.

I forced myself to breathe slowly, to keep my expression as controlled as I could in front of a King. Still, inside, my wolf, Ragnar, snarled, restless and unwilling to accept the idea. "We can't be apart from Tiana. Not now, never. Apollo, you have to speak."

If Reika left now, if she was taken from me, I feared I might lose her, not to death this time, but to distance, to a world where I could not follow.