Lila was instantly by Darius's side, her hand gripping his arm, her voice laced with feigned distress. "Darius! My poor Ariana! Oh, the tragedy has happened, what I was preventing… and the weaker twin… he's going to die too!"
Darius turned to her "Nothing will happen to my wife and children, so keep your useless thought to yourself lady"
No! Ariana's mind screamed, a silent protest trapped within her exhausted body. It's not true! They're here! Both of them! They cried! She tried to move, to speak, but her body was weak, spent, her voice barely a gasp. Through blurred, swimming vision, she saw Lila's face, a mask of sorrow over eyes that held a look of cold, ruthless triumph shared with Dr. Hart. She saw Darius's face, contorted in agony, his golden eyes wide with shock, grief, and tearing fear, torn between his seemingly dying mate and the two tiny bundles just brought into the world.
"Take the strong one, Darius!" Lila urged, pushing one of the swaddled babies into his arms, her voice sharp with false direction. "Save the heir! He's strong! Leave the other… leave him here with Ariana… he couldn't make it…"
Darius, his mind reeling from the sudden, brutal shock, the grief, the panic, clung instinctively to the warm, swaddled weight pushed into his arms. His deepest instincts screamed to protect the one he could, the strong, breathing life in his grasp.
"What about my wife?!" he roared, his voice raw with agony, looking from the baby to Ariana's still form on the bed. "Please! Save her! Dr. Hart! Save my Luna!"
He looked at Ariana, her eyes fluttering closed, her form still radiating that strange, powerful light, but seemingly lifeless, still under the weight of Dr. Hart's and her own utter exhaustion. He heard Dr. Hart's clinical pronouncement of complications, saw Lila's face, wet with manipulative tears, a cruel mask of sorrow over her secret triumph. He believed them. How could he not, in the face of such carefully orchestrated chaos and his own crushing fear?
Then, Vincent Blackthorn appeared in the doorway, his face grave, adding the final, official weight to the monstrous deception unfolding.
"Darius," Vincent said, his voice low, heavy with false sympathy. "It's over. She… and the other twin… they didn't make it."
"No!" Darius's voice broke, a guttural sound of raw agony and disbelief. Tears streamed down his face. "No, it's not true! I told you, Dr. Hart! I told you if anything happens to my wife, I will kill you! I told you!" He looked at Dr. Hart, his eyes blazing with a fury that should have scorched her, but she remained impassive, a figure of clinical, heartless professionalism.
Vincent stepped closer, placing a firm hand on Darius's shoulder. "It's not anyone's fault, son. Not the doctor's. Not Lila's. It was… complications. Her body wasn't strong enough. Because she is weak. That's why she couldn't pull through."
"Weak?!" Darius's voice was ripped from him, laced with heartbreak, disbelief, and rage. "Weak?! Is that what you have to say?!" He looked at the tiny, perfect life in his arms, then back at where he thought Ariana lay dead, gone. Tears streamed down his face, hot and blinding. "How am I going to move on from this, huh?! How?! Goddess, if I had known… if I had just known… I would have treated her right from the beginning! I wouldn't have wasted a single second! I would have cherished her!"
"Please," he choked out, his voice thick with sobs, looking at Vincent, his gaze pleading. "Please, let me see her. One last time. Touch her. Please."
Vincent's grip on his shoulder tightened, his expression firm. "It's forbidden, Alpha. Her spirit needs to pass peacefully. Disturbing her… it could harm the child." He looked pointedly at the baby in Darius's arms, the surviving heir. "She risked her life to give you this child, Darius. This son. Cherish him. Protect him. That is the best way to honor her memory. Then her soul will be able to rest peacefully."
"No," Darius sobbed, shaking his head, clutching his son tighter, burying his face in the baby's blanket. "This… no, no…" His grief was a physical force, wracking his powerful body, bending him in half. He cried out, a raw sound of despair, shouting his denial into the room.
"You are an Alpha, Darius," Vincent said, his voice sharp, cutting through the sobs, demanding control. "A father. Don't be so weak. Your pack needs you. Your son needs you."
But Darius couldn't stop crying. He held his surviving son, the weight of his loss, the weight of his newfound fatherhood, crushing him.
He looked at Lila, her face a mask of sorrow, her eyes only reflecting polite grief. He looked at Dr. Hart, her face blank, professional. A terrible, cold calm settled over his rage, deep and lethal.
"Lila," Darius said, his voice thick with tears but laced with a steel that promised a terrifying future. "Dr. Hart." His eyes, though tear-filled, burned with a chilling vow directed at the two women who stood over the scene of his heartbreak. "You both killed my wife." He looked at the second bundle on the bed, still and silent in his grief-stricken perception. "You killed my child." His voice dropped to a lethal whisper that sent a chill through the room. "I will wait. Until the surviving child… until my son grows up a little." His gaze locked onto theirs, promising retribution. "And then… I will make sure you both die by my hands. Slowly."
"As you wish, Alpha," Lila replied, her voice falsely meek, a flicker of triumphant satisfaction hidden deep in her eyes.
With a guttural roar of anguish, a sound torn from the depths of his wolf, Darius gathered the surviving twin, the strong boy, tighter to his chest. He turned away from the bedside, from the figures of Lila and Dr. Hart, walking out of the room, leaving behind the scene of his deepest heartbreak, believing he was leaving the body of his dead mate and their lost second child.
Lila and Dr. Hart moved quickly, efficiently. They ensured Darius, consumed by grief, was escorted from the room with the surviving heir. They silenced the midwives, their eyes wide with shock and confusion, who had witnessed the birth of two healthy babies, two boys. Lila looked at the second twin, a small, perfect little boy, still swaddled and quiet on the bed, the 'weaker' one the lie had designated for elimination. She looked at Ariana, her form now completely still, the strange light that had radiated from her fading as exhaustion and possibly Dr. Hart's quick, unseen actions took hold, her breathing shallow, almost imperceptible. Lila believed her monstrous plan had succeeded. One heir, the boy, secured under Vincent and Darius's control. The other twin, the problematic boy whose existence complicated bloodlines and prophecies, and the mother who carried dangerous, unpredictable power... eliminated, their deaths masked as tragic, natural complications.
They quickly wrapped the second twin, the small boy, in a different blanket. Dr. Hart produced a syringe, its needle gleaming faintly in the room's light. They looked at Ariana's still form on the bed, then at the tiny, silent boy.
"Dispose of the bodies," Lila said, her voice cold and final, utterly devoid of emotion. She felt a chilling satisfaction, a sense of absolute control. Ariana was finally gone. The loose ends tied up. The future, now, was theirs to manipulate.