Page 30 of Luna's Forgotten Vow

Only Seraphina could create something so beautiful. So... "He is perfect."

Her lips quiver. "They know he isn't yours. They will call him a bastard."

My gaze shifts towards the door. Rayne's eyes are wide, incredibly wide as she looks from the child to me. Lilia looks slightly discomfited, but she hides it behind a genuine smile. The nurses know it. It is only a matter of time before everyone knows it, too.

I had hoped he would take Seraphina's hair. It was often a terrible thing for a child to grow up with a constant reminder that he doesn't belong to his father. But this changes nothing. He is Seraphina's and so, he is mine.

Wiping the tears from her face again, I whisper, "I'll kill them all." When she frowns, I add, "Or I could dye my hair blonde. There's a blonde somewhere down the family line, I'm sure."

Her chest shakes from wet laughter. "You would look horrible." She tries sitting up. "I want to hold him."

I take the child from the nurse and he quietens, watching me like I am the most fascinating thing he has seen. I suppose I am.

It is strange. I held Tova many times when she was a child, but this feels different. It's like holding a small piece of Seraphina and another piece of Ronan. But how could something so innocent, so pure belong to Ronan? How could he have made a life so beautiful with her when all he did was break things and ruin them?

The nurse's eyes linger too long on the boy's hair before rising to mine and searching for even a strand of fair hair. "Get out," I snap, and the wailing comes anew. "All of you."

Not waiting to see if they've obeyed, I return to Seraphina's side. I set him down beside her and turn my focus on the window while he suckles on Seraphina's nipples.

Lucky fucker.

Gods, I must be out of my damn mind.

"Landon," Seraphina says, forcing my gaze back to the child. He's still sucking, but his eyes are closed, his small fists clenched. Seraphina's eyes meet mine, open and more vulnerable than I've ever seen them. "Thank you, for being here. For saving me, again."

If she allowed it, I'd kiss her and tell her that if she so asked, I would give more than my blood and life force.

I run a thumb over her knuckles once in response, reassurance, before drawing up, blood-crusted hands by my side. "We will make the gifting ceremony and revelry a public affair, as opposed to our earlier plans."

Seraphina stiffens, clutching the babe to her chest. "Are you crazy? It is bad enough that anyone who lays eyes on him will immediately know he isn't yours, and now, you wish to subject him to the judgment of the general public? To the packs out there who seek to find our weaknesses?"

"I will name Landon my heir."

For several seconds, Seraphina stares at me, aghast. "I appreciate everything you've done for me, Soren, but I cannot possibly accept this. Your heir ought to be your blood. You do not make these decisions on a whim?—"

"A whim?" I echo, moving closer. "This is the only way we protect him. And you. Making him my unquestionable heir will solve the matter of illegitimacy?—"

"And you?! You would forgo whatever future you could have with someone else for me? Will you sacrifice everything you are and have for my sake, continuously? Do you have no desire to meet a woman of your choice, fall in love and have your children with her?!"

"I don't care, Seraphina! I don't care about anyone else! I only care about you! Are you so blind that you do not see that everything I have done, I have done for you?!"

She flinches, like I have slapped her across the face. And I see her visibly shut down and pull away from me. Her eyes are a cold, closed off blue as she regards me like I am not entirely there."I am tired."

Fuck. It might as well be a confession. Perhaps I have made her feel caged, bonding her child with me. I take a step forward, unsure what to say to fix the uncomfortable silence and tension, but I don't find the words.

A sudden knock on the door startles us both and Lilia peeks her head inside a second later. She gives Seraphina a sheepish smile. "Congratulations! I absolutely hate to interrupt, but there is a bit of a situation out here. Baldwin is here."

I spare Seraphina a long look—one she doesn't return—before trudging out.

Baldwin, head Alpha of the Western Packs, stands by the counter in a pale green suit engaged in a conversation with Eric. His eldest son, Quinn looks as pissed as I feel, his blue eyes snapping to me the moment I emerge from the theater.

My steps falter as I stare at Quinn. I've met the man sparsely on the few occasions he represented his father during the Summits. We never had a conversation longer than introductions and an exchange of pleasantries, and perhaps, that is why I never noticed.

His eyes, they're like moonstones. One might almost call them violet-blue.

In that moment, Head Alpha Baldwin turns and I catch a glimpse of fear in his eyes before it is quickly masked by a cool calm.

Suddenly, everything clicks. That night at the summit, his sudden interest in Seraphina, asking about her mother, his expression when he heard her mother's name, and the strange invitations we've gotten over the last few months to revelries hosted in the West, even if they've always been neutral and refused to take sides in the war.

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