The words were out before I even realized I was saying them, and for a moment, I thought he hadn’t heard me. But then he turned, staring at me in disbelief.
“Kierra, what are you saying?”
I swallowed, trying to steady my voice, though I could feel my cheeks burning. “I’m saying I’d be willing to have your child. You wouldn’t owe me anything. I don’t expect… I don’t expect you to l-love me, or to be with me. I just… I know how important it is for you to have an heir.”
His expression hardened, his eyes narrowing. “You’re being foolish.”
“Maybe I am,” I admitted, feeling the weight of his gaze, the intensity in his eyes. “But I’d do anything for you, Damon. Even if it means… even if it means you’ll never see me as anything more than this.”
“Kierra, this isn’t some… this isn’t something you can just offer like a gift,” he snapped, anger flashing in his eyes. “Do you realize what you’re saying? What are you offering?”
“I do,” I replied, my voice steady, though my heart felt like it was shattering into a thousand pieces. “And I wouldn’t offer it if I didn’t mean it.”
He turned away again, his shoulders tense, his hands balled into fists. I could see the struggle in him, the way he was trying to hold himself together, to keep that stoic mask firmly in place. And then, just as suddenly, he laughed, a low, bitter sound.
“You really are a fool,” he muttered. “You don’t even understand what you’re getting yourself into.”
“Maybe I don’t,” I said softly, taking a step closer. “But I know how I feel about you. And I know that I’d give anything to see you happy, Damon. Even if that means… even if it means being nothing more than a memory to you.”
He was silent for a long time, his gaze fixed on the ground. Finally, he looked up, his expression unreadable. “And you think this would make me happy?”
I felt a lump rise in my throat, but I forced myself to meet his gaze. “I think it would give you a future. A legacy. And that’s all I want for you.”
He exhaled slowly, his eyes softening for just a moment. And for that brief instant, I thought maybe, just maybe, he could see me for who I was. Not just Kierra, the daughter of the Moonstone pack’s Alpha. But Kierra, the woman who loved him with everything she had.
“Kierra,” he said finally, his voice barely a whisper. “You deserve more than this.”