Chapter 138

**AUSTIN**

The council room felt colder than usual, as if the stone walls themselves knew what we were planning. Adam, Cassius, Fares, Sasha, and I were gathered around the oak table, maps and reports spread before us like pieces of a puzzle that refused to fit together.

Adam’s jaw was tight, his blue eyes sharp as he scanned the patrol routes. “Alaric’s people are closer than they should be. If they made it past the second perimeter, we have a leak we haven’t found.”

Cassius leaned forward, arms braced on the table. Fatherhood had put a new weight in his posture, but it hadn’t dulled his edge. “We need to assume they’ve mapped the weak spots already. Reinforce the borders, yes—but that won’t stop Alaric himself.”

Fares drummed his fingers once on the table, silent for a beat before speaking. “Alaric doesn’t rely on brute force. He’ll strike where we least expect it. We should set traps within the community itself. Force him to show his hand.”

Sasha shook his head, running a hand through his dark hair. “If we turn this place into a fortress, people will panic. They’re already afraid after Alex.” His voice dipped at the name, and for a moment the silence pressed heavy.

I exhaled slowly. “Then we use that fear. We stage vulnerabilities, places he can’t resist. If he thinks we’re stretched thin, he’ll come.”

Adam’s eyes flicked to me, a spark of approval there. “That’s the way forward. Controlled risks, not reactionary defenses.”

It felt good to have direction, to finally talk about something other than what Alaric might do. But even as we bent over the maps, working through the layers of strategy, my mind wasn’t entirely on the meeting.

Because every time I closed my eyes, I saw Aria.

And I couldn’t shake the image of her belly tightening under her hand this morning, the little grimace she’d tried to hide when she said it was probably just false contractions.

When the meeting finally ended, Adam stayed behind with Cassius to refine the details. Sasha left to check on the patrols, Fares disappearing with him like his shadow. I walked upstairs, needing air, needing her.

The apartment was quiet when I opened the door, too quiet. I found her in the bedroom, lying on her side, her robe loose, one hand bracing her stomach.

Her eyes found mine and she gave me a smile, soft but weary. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” I asked, sitting beside her.

“Like I’m about to break.” She winced, her other hand tightening over the swell of her belly.

I brushed a strand of hair from her face. “That wasn’t a Braxton Hicks, was it?”

She hesitated. “It’s too early.”

“Doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.” My throat tightened. “Aria—”

The door opened, and Adam stepped in. His gaze landed on her, then on me, and without a word he crossed to kneel beside the bed. He took her free hand in his, pressing his lips to her knuckles.

“You should’ve told us sooner,” he murmured.

“They’re not regular,” she said stubbornly. “I didn’t want to worry you.”

Adam met my eyes over her shoulder, and I saw the same thing I felt: worry so sharp it bordered on fear.

“Rosalie,” Adam said after a moment. “We need her here. Now.”

I didn’t move. “I’ll get her.”

“No,” Aria interrupted quickly. “Don’t both of you go fussing around me like I’m fragile. One of you stay. Please.”

I stayed. Adam left.

Minutes later, Rosalie appeared, her blond hair pulled back, her eyes sharp as she entered the room. She knelt gracefully beside Aria, her hands hovering over the swell of her stomach.

“I can feel the energy,” Rosalie whispered, eyes slipping shut. “It’s not false labor. Your body’s preparing.”

Aria’s eyes went wide. “Now?”

“Not this second,” Rosalie assured her. “But soon. You’ll know when it’s real.” She opened her eyes, meeting mine. “Don’t leave her alone. Not for a moment. And if they get closer together, you come find me.”

“I’ll stay,” I said immediately.

Aria squeezed my hand. “You don’t have to—”

“Yes, I do.” My voice came out rougher than I intended. “Aria, I’m not letting anything happen to you. Or to them.”

She softened then, her eyes glistening. “I know. I trust you.”

The words settled into me like warmth after a storm, a fragile reassurance against the gnawing fear in my chest.

Adam came back not long after, his expression as controlled as ever, though I could feel the tension radiating from him.

“Rosalie will stay close,” he said. “She’ll keep us updated if things change. Cassius and Sasha are taking shifts at the borders. Fares is strengthening the wards.”

“And you?” Aria asked.

Adam sat on the edge of the bed, brushing his hand along her hairline. “I’ll be here. But we can’t ignore the larger fight. Alaric won’t wait for perfect timing. He’ll strike when he thinks we’re distracted. We have to be ready.”

Aria laughed softly, though the sound cracked. “You mean when he thinks I’m distracted.”

I wanted to deny it, to tell her she wasn’t the bait, wasn’t the weakness Alaric thought she was. But the truth was there in the way Adam looked at her, in the way my own chest ached every time she grimaced through another contraction.

She was the heart of all of this. And if Alaric tore her away, everything would fall apart.

The hours stretched long after that. Aria drifted between rest and wakefulness, her contractions coming and going like tides, each one a reminder that time was running out.

Adam and I stayed close, watching, waiting, neither of us daring to leave her side. Rosalie checked in twice, her presence calm and grounding, though the look in her eyes told me what I already knew: it wouldn’t be long now.

And beneath it all, the meeting replayed in my mind. The maps, the strategies, the promises. We had a plan, yes. But what good was a plan if the heart of it all—the woman lying before me, carrying the future in her body—was on the edge of labor while an enemy circled us like a wolf in the dark?

I reached for her hand again, and this time, she squeezed back without opening her eyes.

“I’m fine,” she whispered. “Don’t look so scared.”

But I was.
More scared than I’d ever admit.

Because for the first time, I wasn’t sure if all our strength, all our planning, would be enough.