Chapter 63 BROTHER VS. SISTER
ALICIA'S POV
Luna's scream cuts through me worse than any blade ever could.
The warrior holding my daughter carries her toward Jake and every maternal instinct I have roars to life. I wrench against the silver chains even though they burn through my wrists. Even though my power is suppressed. Even though I am exhausted from healing Kai.
None of that matters. My baby needs me.
"Let her go!" I throw myself at Jake. The chains snap taut and I fall hard. "Please Jake. Whatever you want. Whatever Morrison promised. I'll do it. Just don't hurt Luna."
"Hurt her?" Jake takes Luna from the warrior with surprising gentleness. "I'm not going to hurt my niece. I'm just going to deliver her to Morrison along with you, as a family reunion."
Luna wails louder. Her tiny fists wave in the air. Her silver eyes are wide with terror and confusion. She knows something is wrong. She knows the man holding her is dangerous.
"You were supposed to protect family." My voice breaks. "We're blood, Jake. That should mean something."
"Blood?" His laugh is bitter. "You want to talk about blood? Fine. Let's discuss how Vincent wasn't my real father. How my mother's affair with a Veritas agent made me nothing but a bastard he tolerated." He shifts Luna to one arm. "Let's discuss how he looked at you with love he never gave me. How you got everything while I got scraps."
"I didn't know." The words feel inadequate. "Jake I didn't know Vincent wasn't your father. I didn't know you felt that way."
"Of course you didn't know. You were too busy being perfect Alicia. Vincent's favorite daughter. The one he actually wanted." Jake's free hand tightens into a fist. "Do you know what it's like watching your father love someone else's child more than you? Knowing you'll never be good enough no matter what you do?"
"So you joined The Veritas." Understanding dawns cold and terrible. "They gave you what Vincent never did. Validation. Purpose. A place to belong."
"They gave me truth." Jake adjusts his grip on Luna. "Told me I was Veritas by blood. That I had real family waiting. That Vincent's rejection didn't matter because I was meant for greater things."
"And murdering Vincent? Was that meant for greater things too?" I force myself to my knees despite the chains. "He raised you Jake. Loved you in his own broken way, and you killed him."
"He loved you but tolerated me." Jake's voice hardens. "There's a difference. And honestly? Watching him die was satisfying. No more pretending. No more living in your shadow."
Luna's cries intensify. She arches in Jake's arms trying to reach for me and the sound tears at my heart.
"Give her to me." I hold out my chained hands. "Please Jake. She's just a baby. She hasn't done anything to you."
"She exists. That's enough." Jake looks down at Luna with something between fascination and disgust. "This child carries power that should be impossible. Four fathers. True Luna genetics. She's exactly what Morrison needs for the Convergence ritual."
"The Convergence will enslave every wolf alive." Sarah's voice comes from behind me. "You're condemning your own people."
"My people?" Jake's laugh is harsh. "I don't have people. The Veritas is my family now and when the Convergence activates I'll stand at Morrison's right hand while you all kneel."
"You'll stand in chains." Kai's voice is weak but defiant. "Morrison uses everyone. Eventually he'll use you too."
"Not if I'm useful enough." Jake hands Luna to the warrior again. "Take her to the transport vehicle. Morrison wants her secured before we extract Alicia."
"No!" I lunge forward. The chains bite deeper but I don't care. "You're not taking my daughter!"
The warrior moves toward the exit with Luna. Her screams echo through the corridor. Every maternal instinct screams at me to save her but the silver chains hold firm.
Jake watches me struggle with cold satisfaction. "This is what defeat looks like Alicia. Watching everything you love slip away while you're powerless to stop it."
"I'm not powerless." I meet his eyes. "I'm exhausted. There's a difference."
"Then prove it." Jake pulls a silver blade from his belt. "Break the chains. Save your daughter. Show me the mighty True Luna everyone fears."
I reach for my power and find almost nothing. The healing drained me. The chains suppress what little remains. But somewhere deep inside a spark still flickers.
"Thought so." Jake moves closer. "You're empty. Used up. Just a scared girl pretending to be something she's not."
"And you're a scared boy pretending to be strong." I force myself to stand. "Everything you do is about proving you matter, but killing me won't fill that hole Jake. It won't make Vincent love you retroactively. Won't make you feel less abandoned."
His blade flashes. I barely dodge. The silver edge cuts across my shoulder and blood runs hot down my arm.
"Don't psychoanalyze me." Jake circles like a predator. "You don't know anything about what I've been through."
"I know you killed our father." I back toward the wall. "I know you betrayed everyone who trusted you. I know you're working for people who murdered Kai's family."
"And I know you're about to die." Jake lunges again.
This time I can't dodge. The blade sinks into my side and silver burns through my organs. I gasp and feel my legs give out.
Jake pulls the blade free and I collapse. Blood pools beneath me. The world tilts and greys at the edges.
"That's for Vincent." Jake's voice is distant now. "For making me feel less than you my entire life. For existing when I should have been enough."
Through failing vision I see him turn toward where the warrior that took Luna. He walk away like I'm already dead. I see my daughter being carried toward Morrison and slavery.
"No." The word comes out as a whisper. "Luna."
My baby's screams reach a pitch that shouldn't be possible. The sound vibrates through my bones, through the mate bonds, and through the very air itself.
Then Luna's silver eyes begin to glow. Not like mine, but brighter and hotter, like ancient power awakening in an infant body that shouldn't be capable of containing it.
The warrior holding her stops and looks down at the baby in his arms with dawning horror.
"What the..." His words cut off as Luna's scream becomes something else.
Power explodes from Luna in a shockwave of pure silver light. It hits everyone in the corridor like a physical force. Warriors fly backward. The walls crack. The ceiling groans.
Jake turns just as the wave reaches him. His eyes widen with shock. Then he's airborne. Flying through the corridor. Crashing through the stone wall at the end. His body disappears into the rubble.
The warrior who held Luna is thrown against the opposite wall hard enough to crack his skull. He drops and doesn't move.
Luna hovers in midair surrounded by silver light. Her eyes blaze with power no five day old baby should possess. She's not crying anymore or breathing hard. She just floats there radiating ancient fury.