Brexon’s entire body locked up. His jaw tightened, his knuckles whitening as his claws threatened to break through. “Is this some kind of sick joke?”
“I’m sorry,” Lyssa whispered. “I never wanted it to come out like this.”
“How long?” His tone was pure frost.
She inhaled shakily. “Eight cycles.”
I flinched. Nyra was eight.
Brexon’s breath hitched, sharp and dangerous. “And it never once crossed your mind to tell me?”
“I had to protect him.” Tears streamed down Lyssa’s cheeks.
A dark laugh slipped from Brexon—cold, empty, twisted at the edges. “Protecting him… from me?”
She shook her head, voice barely a whisper. “From my mate—my dead mate. If he had discovered Orrin wasn’t his bloodline, he would’ve ripped our throats out without hesitation.”
Harlan’s voice cut through the suffocating silence.
“Alpha… we’re out of time. Two pups are fading. Both need your blood.”
Two. The word sliced through me like claws through flesh.
Brexon’s face remained unreadable, a mask of steel, but his fists clenched at his sides, knuckles whitening.
Lyssa drew in a ragged breath. “I know I do not deserve to ask, but... please save him.”
I turned to Brexon—my Alpha, my mate, the father of my pup—my throat burning with every breath.
“Brexon… please.” The words scraped out, thin and trembling. “Save our little girl.”
His jaw tightened. His gaze flicked between the corridor where the healers had taken Nyra and the limp boy in Lyssa’s arms, pale and slipping away.
One choice.
Two failing heartbeats.
No path that spared them both.
And right then, the truth hit me with brutal clarity—
Even an Alpha can be torn apart.
I cradled Nyra against my chest, her small body trembling, her soft fur chilling beneath my fingers. Each shallow breath felt like it was slipping further from her, and I could feel her Moonlight fading.
“Brexon… Alpha,” I whispered, my voice trembling, raw with desperation. “She needs your blood… our pup needs you!”
Brexon’s jaw tightened, fangs glinting as his gaze flitted between our daughter and the young cub clinging to Lyssa. Orrin. His son. The hidden pup who had been kept from him for so long.
I saw the storm within him—the Alpha’s instinct warring with his heart. A second later, he said, “Forgive me, Veleria.”
They hit me like a hammer, knocked the air out of my lungs.
“No,” I whispered, wrapping my arms tighter around Nyra. “You're not serious.”
He was silent.