Dante: “Why did you do this, mama?” I asked, frowning as I looked at her, shaking my head at her attitude, resenting it. It took everything in me not to follow Aurora at that moment, but I knew that she NEEDED to be alone. It wasn’t something that I could control or apologize for. Hell, after what I heard from mom, I didn’t even know how I was going to be able to look her in the eye without feeling shameful about my mother’s actions. “Dante, I’m sorry, I couldn’t risk your lives for something like this. I know that you wouldn’t understand..." "Mama, you looked the woman in the eye, knowing that her father was alive and held captive by our father…” Elena said, stopping mom, her voice weakening “I understand that Giovanni is a prick, yes, sometimes I have wondered what it was like to have a father in my life; but the man is obviously toxic as hell. Yet, instead of actually trying to help a girl, an innocent one, reunite with her father, at least giving her the hint that he wasn’t de

Aurora: I lay my head on the pillow as Dante removed my hair from my face, gently tucking it behind my ear. “She is fine, Alpha” Laura said, allowing me to close my legs as I processed everything that was happening “your baby is okay as well; however, from now on, you are going to need to take it easy on yourself, Luna. Your body is weakening enough and it seems like you’re putting yourself under too much pressure. That is not good for you or your baby; therefore, to ensure that you two are safe, you’ll need to rest” “And her foot?” Dante asked, knowing that I wouldn’t bother responding. I didn’t have anything to say, or more specifically, I had A LOT to say; however, I didn’t know how to voice out my thoughts to express them. Leonardo stood by the door, waiting to hear what she had to tell us as instructions, maybe knowing that I would be too distracted to even care about listening. “It’s fine, it’s been cleaned and bandaged. She would need to change the bandage in two days, and

Aurora: “You know, you are a lot like your mother” Alessandro said, making my heart drop to my stomach. I sat up, turning to face him, surprised that I didn’t feel or hear him walking into the bedroom to begin with. “How…?” “Your mate led me here, I wanted to speak to you myself before we’ve managed to start working on anything” he said, stopping me. He stood by the bedroom’s door, probably waiting for what I had to say. I simply nodded at him, not having anything to say to begin with. The man and I were literal strangers to one another. To me, he’s been dead since I was a kid. And to him, I was probably the disgrace of a child that did the dirty work of his enemy. “I mean how did you enter the room without me hearing or feeling you? Anyway, today is fucked up enough for me to care about that anyway” I said, trying to ignore the pain that I was feeling. It was how I went by in my life, masking my pain with a nonchalance act, one that most failed to see through. The first person

Aurora: I opened my eyes to Dante running his finger over my shoulder as his bare chest pressed against my covered back. I smiled, looking up at him, and smiling down at me, he leaned in and connected his lips with my cheek. His kiss was gentle, and pulling away, I couldn’t help the sigh of contentment that escaped my lips as I lay back on the pillow. “Good morning, princess” he whispered, laying back down to wrap his arms around me, pulling me to his chest. I closed my eyes, allowing myself to rest on his bicep for a second before remembering the bullet wound that he had on his chest. I moved from his arms, making him frown in confusion as I looked at him, studying his expression “your chest…” He looked down at the bandage for a second then at me before shaking his head and extending his arms toward me, pulling me to his chest “this is the first night we’ve had a peaceful sleep since we came here, and you’re worried about a simple wound?” “Dante…” “Shh, neonata” he whispered,

Aurora: It took everything, literally, every single thing, in me to stand still in front of Giovanni as he stared at Alessandro’s hand. His heart raced against his chest as fear filled his every vein, and that was the ONLY thing that kept me from snapping his neck in two, knowing that he was petrified of the man he kept locked for years. It was a few seconds later that he extended a shaky hand toward him, hesitantly shaking his hand. “I did not expect to see you here” he said, looking at Nicolas who stood beside me. I looked at him and gave him a quick nod of assurance. The man did the right thing, I couldn’t deny that. His mum was now safe at home, or wherever he chose to take her. “I am aware, but I did not want to leave you out of this surprise. You know, the two of us went way back and I didn’t think that it was right to not come and say hi first thing” he said, giving him a devious smile. Looking at Alessandro now, I could faintly remember my father who protected me from the