Part 73

(POV Aria)

Marcus must have sensed the sudden shift in Aria, because he reached out and gently cradled her face, bringing her forehead to his.

"You are my mate, Aria," he murmured, his voice rumbling and sincere. "The person I fell for is you, not a ghost."

"She looks just like me, Marc," Aria breathed, hearing the fear in her own voice.

"But she is not you," he reassured her, the pads of his thumbs rough with callouses but still heartbreakingly gentle on her cheeks. "She isn't the one I want to build a life with. You are. It's only you. Always."

All the tension that had pinched her shoulders seeped out until she felt more relaxed and at ease in his hold. She let her eyes slip closed and pouted.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, feeling small and embarrassed for feeling so petty when he must have gone through hell the first time he laid eyes on her. "I know I don't have any right to feel that way, and it's so unfair on you. I'm sorry."

"You never have to be sorry for the way you feel," Marcus said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "It's not something you can help."

She nodded and let him lead her back out into the hallway and further into the house. She tried not to look at the few frames that had managed to stay on the wall, not wanting that poisonous jealousy to make another appearance, but Marcus had frozen in front of an open door, his body rigid and unmoving.

"Marc?" she said, her free hand wrapping around his. He didn't answer, his eyes glassy and fixed on the room.

With a great sense of trepidation, Aria looked around him and into the room that had caused him to react so badly.

It was a nursery.

"Oh, sweetheart," she whispered, moving to hug him but he fell to his knees before she could catch him.

He clutched at his chest, heavy sobs racking up his throat. She knelt beside him and threw her arms over him protectively, every instinct in her body firing to life and demanding she fixes it and makes it better.

His shoulders shook with despair, and she imagined he was recalling what had happened five years ago. She tried to calm him down but he only choked harder, dry cries scraping through his teeth.

"I'm- I'm fine," he rasped, one of his hands wrapped around hers. "I need to do this."

Reluctantly, she let him go, helping him back to his feet and hugging him from behind, and humming softly. She wished she could do something to calm him the way he could calm her. She wished she could purr the way Alphas could.

He was quiet for a long time, and Aria had stopped humming, her hands rubbing comforting circles into the broad expanse of his back.

"Six years ago," he said, startling her a little. "I met Helena when we were both eighteen."

Aria glanced around a little helplessly, wanting him to sit down before continuing.

"Just a second, baby," she cooed, leading him back through the house and out into the front yard, helping him down onto the soft grass. She guided his back towards her, tucking her chin over his shoulder, her palms flat on his abdomen. "Okay, it's okay, you're safe."

He let out a shuddery breath, sinking further into her arms before he continued.

"We were eighteen," he repeated, leaning his head back on her shoulder. "She was trespassing if you'll believe it. She'd left her pack and was out on her own, and she crossed my borders like- like it was fate. I guess it was."

He let out a humorless laugh, the sound hollow in his chest. Without a word, she pressed a kiss to his temple.

"Obviously, everything that happened after that was expected," he sighed, and she could hear him getting lost in the memories as he recalled them. "We had our mating run and I helped her move into the house. She spent weeks just nesting, decorating and adjusting everything until she was content. And I let her, because I never knew I could be happy just because someone else was too. I'll never forget the day she told me she was pregnant."

He tensed up at the mention of the pregnancy, and Aria braced herself for the story she didn't want to hear but knew she needed. Absently, she traced her fingertips along the grooves and dips of his abs, just a small, subtle way to ensure they were always skin to skin.

"I'd been out for hours with Jaden," Marcus said. "We'd had so many reports of trespassers just beyond the borders who kept getting too close. But I think I'd gone soft since Lena had been a trespasser too, and she turned out to be my true mate. I remember Jaden and I had fought so much about it."

Aria hung on to every word, her mind working tirelessly to piece together the new versions of people she thought she knew, each creating a brand new personality in her eyes. Jaden had always seemed to be the one who was laid back. He was an excellent Beta, and had proven his worth time and time again, but there was no denying he was the jokester in their friend group. Hearing him portrayed as the serious one who fought with Marcus for being too lenient sounded like an entirely different Jaden.

"It was so late, and I was so tired. I walked through the door and she was sitting on her favorite chair, watching some TV series. She just looked at me, and somehow I knew before she even said the words. Moon above, it was the first time I'd ever cried in front of her."

That was something Aria secretly envied.

She hadn't ever really given much thought to having pups, especially after Aiden's rejection, but hearing how ready Marcus had been to become a father had her heart fluttering. She wondered if that was something that their future together held.

How would he react if she told him she was pregnant? Would he be happy? Indifferent?

"The only problem we faced," he said, his voice growing heavy again. "Was that Lena wasn't good with other wolves."

Aria frowned. "What do you mean?"

"She was really shy and reserved," he explained. "She didn't like being around others, which is why we barely left the house. She refused to go and see any of the doctors I tried to take her to. Even the pack doctor. She just wasn't comfortable with anyone except me, and it made things difficult when we were supposed to go for checkups. Pup pregnancies aren't always easy, you know?"

Aria knew it all too well.

Female wolves in her own pack had been hospitalized for the last trimester of their pregnancies because it was such a delicate period. And that was when they carried to term.

Unfortunately, carrying pups was as common as a blood moon. Most females ended up miscarrying within the first three months because their biology was fragile.

Shifters were a dying breed, and wolves were as rare as could be.

"There were a few times I thought she might miscarry," he said sadly. "Nights I'd wake up to the scent of her discomfort and be forced to watch as she fought through it as best she could. She insisted on a home birth, despite every single wolf around her advising her otherwise. Despite me practically begging for her to reconsider. But she made it. Both Lena and our son."

Aria could feel it; this was part of the story that had held him captive for over five years. She held her breath.

"The day she went into labor," he murmured, his hands cradled in his lap. "Our pack was attacked by rogues."

Aria's stomach dropped.

"I was supposed to be there with her," he ground out, his jaw clenched. "I 'had' been, until Jaden reported that the pack of rogues had gotten far too close to the pack house. And I left. She told me she'd be okay. She 'promised' me—"

"It's okay," Aria breathed, hugging his trembling body close to hers. She knew how much she'd wanted someone to hold her when she was breaking, to keep her from falling to pieces, and it was all she could offer him just then. "I've got you."

"One of the rogues slipped by while we were fighting and made it to the house," he said. "But even before then... Even before the rogue had made it into the birthing room, she was gone. And our son hadn't made it. He was stillborn. And she died giving birth to him."

A soft cry slipped through her teeth and she desperately tried to silence it.

"By the time I got there, the rogue had already killed—he'd already killed everyone else in the room."

The silence was heavy, stretching out after the last breath hanging on the last word he'd spoken, as if waiting for something more.

"And all I could do was think about how much I'd failed as a mate and as a father," he whimpered. "As an Alpha."

"Marc, I'm so sorry," she sniffled, her legs circling his midsection. The grass was so soft beneath them, the rising sun casting a warm, pink-orange glow across his face, such a stark contrast to the pain-laced edge in his voice.

Aria curled herself around him, her mind swirling with the trauma he had faced alone for so long.

How could she have ever doubted him?