- Wounded Heart
- Wounded Heart
Damon’s POV
“Ready?” Sailas asked as we stood at the tunnel entrance, the damp air thick with the scent of earth and old magic.
“Yeah,” I growled, my muscles coiled like a spring. “Just make sure you stay behind me the whole time.”
“Yeah, right!” Sailas chuckled. I ignored him.
Silently, we dropped into the darkness. The tunnels split into three paths, twisting like the veins of some buried beast.
“Interesting. A maze to throw us off,” Sailas remarked, his low voice echoing off the stone.
“Only we don’t have to play the guessing game,” I snarled.
‘Go straight. I can feel Ara that way,’ Ryan’s voice was a wildfire in my skull.
I didn’t need the reminder.
Her presence pulsed in my chest like a second heartbeat. Closer, and closer, until suddenly, the air turned thick and bitter. An uneasiness flickered in my spin.
“Wolfsbane!” Sailas coughed, recoiling. “Your mother laid a trap for us. As if she actually wanted to kill us.”
Kill us?
The thought was a blade to the ribs.
First, she abandoned me as a pup. No explanation, no goodbye. Now, after all these years, she was here,
standing between me and my mate, poisoning the air I breathed.
Did she not recognize me?
Very much unlikely.
Even if her eyes failed her, her lycan blood should have known.
“Walk it off,” I ordered, shoving through the toxic haze. My body burned, but I refused to slow.
We burst through the trap, the tunnel narrowing into suffocating darkness before we finally saw light.
Sailas gasped.
An entire underground city sprawled before us, carved into the earth like a secret. Homes. Streets. A pack thriving in the shadows.
“Look at that,” Sailas breathed. “Did the late Luna create this? I can’t believe my eyes.”
I didn’t care.
My patience was lost.
“I’m done playing,” I snarled.
Then I moved. The world blurred as I followed Ara’s scent, lavender and honey, wrapping around me like a
noose. The building loomed ahead, a grotesque structure in the heart of this hidden city.
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1/7
28 Wounded Heart
Sailas was at my heels as we stormed inside.
The hall was vast, lined with wary wolves, their postures defensive.
And there she was, in the middle of it all.
Luna Celestine.
My mother.
Standing tall, her grey eyes locked onto mine with a coldness that made my blood boil.
Beside her, that filthy half–breed, Kade, bared his teeth.
And then my eyes fell on her.
Ara.
Her back was to me, but I saw the way her shoulders tensed. The way her breath hitched.
She felt me the moment I closed down. At least, she felt our bond!
“You’ve created a hidden world down here, Luna Celestine,” Sailas said, his tone deceptively light.
18 Paint
Celestine’s gaze flicked to him, dismissive. “You’re Seraphina’s child, aren’t you? Your eyes are jist like hers.”
“That’s correct, my lady,” Sailas bowed slightly, ever the diplomat.
But my mother’s attention snapped back to me.
And 1… I stared at the woman who had left me to rot.
The woman who now stood between me and what was mine.
Ryan’s growl vibrated through my bones.
‘Take her. Now.‘
I took a step forward.
“Enough.”
The growl tore from my throat like a blade unsheathed. I wrenched my gaze from my mother–no, Celestine-
and locked onto Ara’s trembling back. The dark–haired woman beside her bared her teeth, stepping in front of
Ara like a shield.
Cute.
“Did you really think you could run and hide?” I spat, my voice dripping with venom.
Ara turned slowly, and my chest ached.
Her emerald eyes, once blazing with fire, were hollow. Dull. The fire that had drawn me to her in the first place
was gone, smothered under layers of exhaustion and fear. Her skin was too pale, her lips chapped, her
fingers clenched into fists so tight her knuckles were white.
Damn it, Ara.
Was this my doing too? I should have never left her in dungeon.
“Stay away from her,” the woman beside her snarled, trying to block my.view.
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2/7
- Wounded Heart
I didn’t even glance at her. “You’ve all played enough games. I suggest you stay out of this.”
Celestine finally spoke, her voice colder than the northern winds. “You can’t take her away, Damon. Not when she doesn’t want to go back.”
A bitter laugh clawed up my throat. Of course. The first words my mother ever spoke to me were to deny me my mate, the other half of my soul!
“And you think you can stop me from taking what’s mine?” I growled.
The half–breed stepped forward, his golden eyes burning with hatred, “Is she really now? I clearly remember pulling her out of your dungeon. She was rotting there. Is that how you treat your mate?”
Ryan’s snarl vibrated through my bones. “I should’ve killed you when I met you for the first time.”
Celestine’s gaze narrowed, her power humming in the air. “You’re in my territory now. Leaving won’t be so easy.”
I stared at her. This woman who had abandoned me, who had built an entire kingdom beneath the earth while I rotted in a palace of blood and betrayal.
This was the mother I had spent the last few months searching for.
This was the woman for whom I went against Cassian, making myself an open target!
And her eyes held nothing for me.
No warmth. No recognition. Just ice.
“Ara,” I commanded, my voice dropping into something lethal. “Get. Here.”
She flinched.
She flinched from me.
Celestine’s lip curled. “Clearly, growing up in the castle didn’t teach you manners. Is that how you talk to your mate?”
A dark, humorless laugh ripped from my chest. “Perhaps because my mother wasn’t there to teach me the etiquettes and protocols. ”
Kade’s patience snapped. “Enough talking. You need to leave.”
My power surged, the air thickening with the weight of my aura. The walls trembled. The wolves around us staggered back, their eyes widening in fear.
“Really?” I murmured, stepping forward. “And who, exactly, is going to make me?”
The room seemed to shrink under the pressure of my rage.
Then, I looked at Ara. Her sad eyes stared right back at me.
“I’ll give you a choice, little mate,” I said softly, the words a deadly promise. “I can either reduce this place to ashes and drag you back by forcé… or you can be obedient and come with me willingly.”
Silence wrapped the air. No one dared to talk.
Ara’s breath hitched.
“Damon!”
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3/7
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28 Wounded Heart
Fisarts
She whispered my name, finally and the sound was like rain after a century of drought. Oh goddess, I missed her voice more than I’d realized.
Celestine stepped forward, her tone laced with false righteousness. “She is your mate. She is a blessing. You can’t treat her this way. You supposed to protect her, not threaten her.”
“And you are hypocritical,” I scoffed.
You left your newborn son to rot and came here, to play savior for these rogues? The thought burned like acid in my throat.
Before I could voice it, the dark–haired woman beside Ara spat at me, “no, she won’t go. If you think killing all of us will make her your little pet, then so be it. We’ll all die willingly. For her.”
Her eyes blazed.
I didn’t get a chance to respond. Then the half breed charged.
I had enough of this drama.
My hand snapped out, seizing his throat, lifting him effortlessly off the ground. His face darkened, veins bulging as he choked.
“Sure,” I murmured. “I’ll oblige your request. Starting with you, half–breed.”
Celestine moved next, fast but not fast enough. My free arm lashed out, and she flew, crashing into the far
wall with a sickening crack.
“NO!” Ara’s scream tore through the hall.
Then I heard her.
“Damon, please.”
Her voice was broken. Small. I turned to find my mate’s teary eyes.
“Please let him go. I’ll go with you… I’ll go.” Ara said as she rushed before me. Her tiny arm was holding onto my wrist as she tried to make me lose my grip./
“Don’t beg, Ara,” Kade choked out, still dangling from my grip.
But she didn’t listen. Her tears fell faster, her fingers trembling against my skin. Ara was on her knees before
me, her tiny hands clutching my knees, her emerald eyes drowning in tears. “I’ll do as you say. I’ll obey. Just please… let them go. They’re the only ones who ever cared for me.”
Her forehead nearly touched the ground as she bowed deeper. “For the sake of our bond, Damon… please.”
She was begging.
For him.
Ryan howled inside me, a sound of pure agony.
‘Mate! She’s begging. For another man’s life!‘
My chest tightened. A fired burned down my skin.
Why, Ara?
Why him?
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4/7
28 Wounded Heart
You really care about him, don’t you? That day when I saw you in Carsten, you looked happy when he got the ice cream for you. You even pointed a dagger at me to protect him.
And now, you are on your knees, shattered, losing all your dignity, begging before me. But all for him!
What about me?
I’m your mate. Your f*****g soulmate.
Your every bit of love, care should be for me!
Yet I can’t even have a fraction of your affection.
I was a lycan Prince. And every sobs of her wrecked me, broke my ego, forcing me to step back.
I couldn’t take it.
f**k.
My grip loosened.
Kade dropped to the floor, gasping.
I leaned down, tilting Ara’s chin up, forcing her to meet my eyes. “Remember what you just promised, little
mate.”
She nodded, her breath hitching.
“No, Ara- don’t!” Kade rasped.
Celestine staggered to her feet, blood trickling from her lip. “You can’t leave, Damon.”
I didn’t even look at her. “Do you really think these half–breed warriors you have raised can stop me?” My voice
dropped to a whisper. “I’ll burn my way out if that’s what you want to see.”
Ara’s fingers dug into my wrist. “No… Damon, please… leave them alone.”
She was still on her knees. She was my princess. She only supposed to order and command, not beg!
Damn it.
1 hauled her up, gripping her hand hard enough to bruise. “Let’s go.”
She didn’t fight me.
She just nodded.
“Damon, wait. At least let her take her things,” Celestine called after us, her voice that infuriating mix of calm
and commanding.
I didn’t bother turning around.
“I think I can afford more–luxury for her than a rogue Luna could ever provide,” I sneered, my grip tightening
around Ara’s wrist.
Her small fingers tugged at my sleeve.
“Don’t insult her,” she whispered, her voice barely audible but laced with steel. “She kept us all alive when no
one else would. She has been a mother to us all.”
The words struck like a silver blade between my ribs.
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5/7
28 Wounded Heart
“Is she now?” My laugh came out harsh, bitter. “Funny, I don’t remember her being much of a mother to me, to
her own flesh and blood.”
Ara gasped, her emerald eyes widening as the pieces clicked together.
“A mother…?” Her whisper hung between us, heavy with unasked questions.
I clenched my jaw, refusing to acknowledge the ache in my chest. Some wounds never healed, no matter how
many years passed.
Celestine stepped forward, her grey eyes unreadable. “Some things have sentimental value, Damon. Give her
a moment.”
I kept my gaze locked on Ara as I growled, “You have five minutes. If I don’t see you back here in time, these
tunnels won’t be standing when I’m done.”
The threat hung in the air between us all.
Ara nodded quickly before darting off, her bare feet silent against the stone floor.
Sailas chuckled darkly beside me. “Wolfless and a rogue. The Moon Goddess certainly blessed you with
everything.”
“Shut the f**k up unless you want to lose your tongue,” I snarled, my canines elongating.
When Ara returned, she carried nothing but a small bag that looked pitifully empty. My eyebrows furrowed. What could possibly be so important in that tiny sack?
“Let’s go,” I commanded, already turning toward the exit. But then she hesitated, just for a heartbeat.
That single moment of resistance had my wolf surging forward. Before I could react, Ara suddenly spun and threw herself into the arms of the dark–haired woman – Amara.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “For everything.”
Then she turned to Celestine, her head bowed. “I’m sorry I brought trouble here.”
Trouble? She thought I was trouble? The words burned like acid in my veins.
Celestine reached out, gently patting Ara’s head like she was some frightened pup.
“I’ll visit you,” she promised, as if she had any right to make such claims about
The worst came last. Ara’s gaze found Kade’s, and though her words were too soft for human ears to catch, I heard them clear as day, “Take care of yourself.”
Something inside me snapped. Why did she care about him?
“Enough! Come here!” The growl shook dust from the tunnel walls. Ara flinched but obeyed, hurrying back to my side.
I grabbed her wrist, yanking her against my chest so hard she gasped. My nose buried in her hair, inhaling deeply. Lavender and honey, undercut with the faintest trace of blood. But she was whole. She was safe. She was mine.
With a snarl, I shot through the tunnels like lightning, Ara’s small arms clinging to my shoulders, her breath coming in quick, frightened bursts against my neck. The cold night air hit us as we burst into the forest, the moon casting silver light over my mate’s pale face.
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25 Wounded Heart
ANTONEL
Finally, she was in my arms where she belonged. I hugged her tightly.
You are the only thing I could call mine, Ara! You are my hope, my peace. The only home I can ever dare to build. Please don’t leave me ever again, mate! Because without you, this lycan prince is nothing.
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