CHAPTER 16
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Mia's POV
Sunlight crept across the stone floor, warm and uninvited.
I woke to silence. No council whispers, no servants' footsteps, only the steady beat of my own heart.
The bed beside me was empty, the faint scent of cedar and smoke lingering like a memory I wasn't sure I should keep.
Last night.
The kiss.
The choice.
Heat fluttered in my chest, a slow, aching reminder of the way Daniel's hands had held me - strong but careful, as though he feared breaking what he already claimed.
It hadn't been the mate bond alone.
It had been something far more dangerous: I want it.
I pushed myself upright, drawing the blanket around my shoulders.
For the first time since arriving in his pack, I felt... different.
Not a servant.
Not a prisoner.
Something else entirely.
But the calm didn't last.
A sharp knock rattled the door before I could stand.
When it opened, Michael, Daniel's Beta, stepped inside without waiting.
His eyes swept the room, sharp and assessing, lingering a fraction too long on the bed.
"Where is the Alpha?" he asked.
My fingers tightened around the blanket. "I don't answer to you."
His mouth curved in a faint, testing smile. "Brave words. You may need them. The council is restless. They whisper about a Luna who defies the Lycan King."
My heart stumbled.
Of course - wolves thrived on rumor
Before I could respond, a presence filled the doorway like a storm breaking.
Daniel.
He stepped inside, golden eyes blazing.
Michael immediately bowed and retreated a step.
"Leave us," Daniel said, his voice a quiet command that carried the weight of law.
Michael inclined his head and withdrew, though I caught the flicker of curiosity in his eyes before the door shut.
The room seemed to shrink the moment we were alone.
Daniel crossed to me in three long strides.
His scent which is cedar, smoke, moonlight - wrapped around me until the memory of last night pulsed hot beneath my skin.
"You shouldn't have let him in," he said, low and sharp.
I raised my face. "You can't guard me from everyone."
His jaw tightened. "You think I'm worried about everyone? I'm worried about you. About what they'll try if they believe you weaken me."
"I don't weaken you," I said, forcing my voice steady. "I remind you what a heart feels like."
The words stopped him cold.
For a heartbeat he simply stared, as if I'd peeled back armor he didn't know he wore.
His hand rose, hesitated, then rested against my cheek - a touch so careful it almost broke me.
"You're stronger than they will ever understand," he murmured.
"And that terrifies them more than it terrifies me."
My heart thudded in answer.
But before I could speak, he pulled back, the mask of the King of Alpha sliding over his face once more.
"Stay close today," he said. "There are... movements along the borders. I'll not risk the mother of my heirs."
Mother of his heirs.
The words hit like a stone tossed into deep water, rippling through every corner of my mind.
As the door shut behind him, I pressed a hand to my stomach.
The life inside me fluttered; tiny, insistent, unstoppable.
I wasn't just carrying the future of a kingdom.
I was becoming the kind of woman who could shape it.