Aria’s POV
The words hit like a physical blow.
I stood frozen in the doorway. My hands gripping the fra so hard my knuckles went white.
Kael’s mother was still crying. Still clinging to her son’s unconscious body. Still pouring out years of pain and rage.
And I understood.
Because she was right.
My family had done this. My brother Cain had sold the drugs that destroyed Lucian the first ti. And now Serena—my own sister—had given him more.
The sa poison. The sa destruction. The sa cursed bloodline.
My throat was so tight I could barely breathe.
I wanted to run. Wanted to disappear. Wanted to erase myself from this mont.
But my feet wouldn’t move.
Kael was kneeling beside Lucian. His hands checking his brother’s pulse. His face carved from stone.
"Mother." His voice was calm. Too calm. The kind of control that ca from years of practice. "I need you to focus. Where is Serena now?"
His mother shook her head. Tears streaming down her face.
"I don’t know." Her voice cracked. "Only Lucian knows where to find her. He was so careful. So secretive. He wouldn’t tell anything."
She pressed her hand to Lucian’s pale cheek.
"We have to wait until he wakes up." The words ca out broken. Desperate. "If he wakes up."
Kael’s jaw tightened. But he didn’t argue.
Just pulled out his phone. Started making calls.
"Damon. Help find so doctors at the mansion. Now. dical ergency." A pause. "My brother. Overdose. Wolfsbane."
I heard Damon’s sharp intake of breath even from where I stood.
"I’m on my way."
Kael hung up. Turned back to his mother.
"He’s going to be okay." His voice was firm. Certain. The Alpha giving orders. "Doctors will be here in ten minutes. We’ll get Lucian stabilized. Then we’ll find this girl. And we’ll make sure she never hurts anyone again."
His mother nodded. Wiping her eyes with shaking hands.
Then Kael looked at .
Those black-gold eyes finding mine across the room.
He gestured slightly. A small movent of his head. *Co here.*
My heart was pounding. My palms were sweating.
I took one step forward.
Then another.
My legs felt like lead. Like I was walking through water.
The room was too hot. The air too thick.
Every instinct was screaming at to leave. To get out before things got worse.
But I kept walking.
I made it three steps into the room before Kael’s mother looked up.
Her tear-stained face turned toward . Her eyes—the sa as Kael’s when he wasn’t angry—focused on my features.
I watched her expression change.
From grief to confusion to dawning realization.
She stared at my face. At my silver-grey eyes. At the shape of my features that I’d inherited from my mother.
Shadow Moon features.
The color drained from her face.
"You..." Her voice ca out strangled. "You’re..."
She stood up slowly. Her hands still shaking. Her whole body trembling.
"You’re Shadow Moon blood." It wasn’t a question. "I can see it in your face. "
My mouth opened. No sound ca out.
"You..." Her voice got louder. Sharper. "You’re one of THEM."
The words cracked like a whip.
"Mother—" Kael stood too. His hand reaching toward her.
But she wasn’t listening.
"Your family!" She pointed at . Her finger shaking. "Your cursed, demon family destroyed my son! Turned him into THIS!"
She gestured wildly at Lucian’s unconscious body.
"They sold him poison! They broke him! They took my brilliant, beautiful boy and turned him into an ADDICT!"
Tears stread down her face. But these weren’t tears of grief anymore.
These were tears of rage.
"And now you’re HERE!" Her voice rose to a scream. "In my HO! Standing in front of my dying son!"
She took a step toward .
Kael moved imdiately. Putting himself between us.
"Mother. Stop."
"No!" She tried to push past him. "Get her OUT! Get her out of this house! Away from my son! Away from my family!"
Her voice cracked completely.
"Your family took everything from !" The words ca out as a howl. Raw. Broken. "They destroyed my firstborn! Turned him into a shell! Made him into THIS!"
She was crying so hard she could barely speak.
"And now—" She pointed at again. "Now you bring one of them HERE? Into our ho? After everything they’ve DONE?"
She looked at with absolute hatred.
I stood there. Frozen. My whole body shaking.
Kael’s mother was crying again. Deep, wrenching sobs that shook her entire fra.
"Get out." The words ca out quiet now. Deadly quiet. "Get out of this house."
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