Aria's POV
"Run!" Damon shouted, pushing me behind him as Isabella's guards raised their silver weapons.
But there was nowhere to go. The guards blocked the only exit, and we were trapped in the empty hallway like mice in a cage.
"Now, now," Isabella said sweetly, walking closer with that terrible smile. "No need for violence. I just want to chat."
"What do you want, Isabella?" Damon growled, his body tense and ready to fight.
"What I've always wanted," she replied. "A wedding. Three days from now. With no more drama from your little pet."
She looked at me like I was something disgusting she'd found on her shoe.
"I heard everything, you know," Isabella continued. "Your touching plan to run away together. Your sweet promises of love. How romantic."
My heart sank. If she had heard everything, then she knew Damon had told me the baby wasn't his.
"Here's what's going to happen," Isabella said, examining her fingernails like she was bored. "Damon will marry me as planned. The omega will disappear quietly - I don't care where she goes as long as she's gone. And everyone lives happily ever after."
"And if we refuse?" Damon asked.
Isabella's smile turned sharp and dangerous. "Then my father's army attacks at dawn. Five hundred Sterling Pack warriors against your three hundred. The math isn't difficult."
"We have allies," Damon said. "Other packs will help us."
"Will they?" Isabella tilted her head. "Are you willing to bet the lives of every wolf in your territory on that hope? Every mother, every child, every elder who can't defend themselves?"
I saw Damon's face change as the weight of her words hit him. He wasn't just choosing between me and Isabella. He was choosing between our happiness and the lives of hundreds of innocent people.
"You're a monster," I whispered.
"I'm practical," Isabella corrected. "I want to unite our packs peacefully. If that requires a little... manipulation... then so be it."
"The baby isn't yours," I said desperately. "Damon told me the truth. You can't force him to claim another man's child."
Isabella laughed like I'd told a funny joke. "Oh, sweet little omega. You still don't understand, do you? It doesn't matter whose baby this is. What matters is what people believe."
She placed a protective hand over her belly and looked directly at Damon.
"If you abandon me now, I'll tell everyone that the great Alpha Damon Blackwood got me pregnant and then tried to run away with his omega mistress. How do you think that will look to your pack? To the other Alphas? To the Pack Council?"
"They'll never believe you," Damon said, but his voice lacked conviction.
"Won't they? I have witnesses who saw us together. I have letters you wrote me. I have proof that you visited my territory multiple times." Isabella's smile got wider. "Of course, none of it's true. But truth is just a matter of perspective, isn't it?"
I felt sick. She had planned this perfectly. Even if Damon exposed her lies, she would destroy his reputation in the process. And while he was fighting to clear his name, the Sterling Pack would attack his weakened territory.
"You have one hour to decide," Isabella announced. "Either the omega leaves tonight, or war begins at sunrise."
"One hour?" Damon stepped forward angrily. "That's not enough time-"
"It's plenty of time," Isabella interrupted. "The choice is simple. Your pack or your girlfriend. Your duty or your desire. Your people or your heart."
She turned to leave, then paused and looked back at me.
"Oh, and omega? If I ever see you again after tonight, I'll make sure you disappear permanently. I have friends who specialize in making problems go away."
The threat in her voice was crystal clear. If I stayed, I wouldn't just be putting Damon in an impossible position. I'd be signing my own death warrant.
After Isabella and her guards left, Damon and I stood in the empty hallway, both of us trying to process what had just happened.
"We can still run," Damon said desperately. "Right now. Before she expects it. We can be miles away by morning."
"And then what?" I asked quietly. "Your pack gets slaughtered while we're running away together? Hundreds of innocent people die because you chose me over them?"
"I don't care about them right now," Damon said fiercely. "I care about you. About us."
"Yes, you do care about them," I said, touching his face gently. "That's what makes you a good Alpha. That's what makes you the man I fell in love with."
"Aria, please-"
"No." I stepped back, and saying the words nearly killed me. "Isabella's right. You have to choose your pack."
"I won't do it," Damon said stubbornly. "I won't marry her. I won't give you up."
"Even if it means war? Even if it means children dying in their beds? Even if it means your entire territory being destroyed?"
Damon's face crumpled. "There has to be another way."
"There is," I said softly. "I leave. You marry Isabella. The packs unite peacefully. Everyone lives."
"Everyone except us," Damon said brokenly.
"We'll survive," I lied. "Somehow."
But even as I said it, I knew neither of us would really survive this. Losing each other would break something inside both of us that might never heal.
"I can't ask you to sacrifice yourself for my pack," Damon whispered.
"You're not asking," I said. "I'm choosing. Just like you chose to protect me when you found out about my royal bloodline. Sometimes love means making the hard choice."
Damon pulled me into his arms and held me so tightly I could barely breathe. "I love you," he said into my hair. "I will love you until the day I die."
"I love you too," I whispered back, memorizing the feel of his heartbeat against my cheek.
We held each other for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes. Finally, I pulled away and looked into his golden eyes one last time.
"Go to her," I said, the words tearing my heart in half. "Marry Isabella. Unite the packs. Be the Alpha your people need you to be."
"Aria-"
"But promise me one thing," I continued, cutting him off before I lost my courage. "Promise me you'll be happy. Somehow, some way, find a way to be happy. Don't let this destroy you."
"How can I be happy without you?" Damon asked desperately.
"You'll find a way," I said, trying to smile through my tears. "You have to. For me."
Damon cupped my face in his hands like he was trying to memorize every detail. "What will you do? Where will you go?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "Somewhere far away. Somewhere safe. Don't worry about me."
"I'll always worry about you," Damon said. "You're my mate. That doesn't change just because we can't be together."
"Take care of yourself," I whispered.
"Take care of yourself too," he whispered back.
We kissed one last time, pouring all our love and pain and regret into that single moment. When we finally broke apart, both of us were crying.
"Go," I said, pushing him gently away. "Before I change my mind and beg you to run away with me."
Damon nodded and started walking toward the great hall, where Isabella was probably waiting for him. At the doorway, he turned back to look at me one more time.
"I love you, Aria Moonstone," he said. "Always and forever."
"Always and forever," I repeated.
Then he was gone, and I was alone in the empty hallway with my shattered heart.
I stood there for a long time, trying to find the strength to move. Finally, I walked back to my cottage to pack my few belongings. Riley was waiting for me, and she took one look at my face and started crying.
"You're leaving," she said.
"I have to," I replied, throwing clothes into a small bag. "It's the only way to stop a war."
"This is so unfair," Riley sobbed. "You shouldn't have to sacrifice everything for everyone else."
I paused in my packing as a wave of nausea hit me. I'd been feeling sick for the past few days, but I'd blamed it on stress and heartbreak.
But now, as I counted the days since my last cycle, a terrible realization dawned on me.
I pressed my hand to my stomach, hardly daring to believe it.
I was pregnant. With Damon's child.
The baby I was carrying would grow up never knowing its father. Damon would marry Isabella and raise her child while his own child lived in exile with me.
But I couldn't tell him. If he knew about the baby, he would never let me go. He would choose our child over his pack, and hundreds of innocent people would die in the war that followed.
"Aria?" Riley asked. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Nothing," I lied, forcing myself to keep packing. "I'm fine."
Some secrets were too dangerous to share. Some sacrifices were too painful to explain.
I would carry this burden alone, just like I would carry Damon's child alone.
But as I zipped up my bag and prepared to leave the only home I'd ever known, I made myself a promise.
Someday, somehow, I would find a way to tell our child about the father who loved them enough to let them go.