{twenty-five}

Damon's POV

"Yeah, she told me that we're hav-" Aria was cut off by the alarm blaring through our base. It meant that Aria's mother's army was attacking. I had to get out and help my men.

"Baby, I'm so sorry but I really have to go." I say to her but before I could hang up, a loud bang rang through my head, before I could register the bomb that had just blown up a few feet away from me.

My phone went flying through the air and so did I. I landed on my back but what hurt the most was a searing pain in my left shoulder. I look down to see a large gash on my shoulder. I tried to push myself up but my arm gave out and I knew my shoulder wasn't healing anytime soon. I saw a large wolf running towards me, it pounced but before it could get to me, I grabbed it's neck and flung it somewhere around the base.

Collin runs up to me and helps me get up. My shoulder kept throbbing but I tried to push through and see what the damage was to the base.

"We need to get you medical attention, I can't have you passing out on my watch. Aria would kill me." Collin says, trying to put pressure on my shoulder to stop the bleeding. I quickly push him off and shift to head towards the fight. I didn't need to worry about myself when I had my entire kingdom to worry about. I start sprinting towards the fight, ignoring the limp in my left paw.

I see all my men easily outnumbering the other wolves. My men are killing wolves left and right, I proudly watched them until I saw a wolf running towards me. As I prepare to fight him, hoping I can even though I'm down a limp. Collins, in wolf form, then jumps in front of me and grabs the wolf's neck and throws him into a tree.

"Your mate is worried, open your mind-link and talk to her." Collin says through our mind-link. He has no right telling me how to deal with my mate. I didn't want her worrying about me, it wasn't good for her anxiety or the baby. I could feel her poking at the wall I built to keep her out of my mind.

"She's fine, I'm going to find the leader of all this." I sat back, running past all the fighting, and toward the enemy's base. I hear Collin mumble something about telling Aria himself, but I didn't pay much attention to it. As I ran through the forest, I started to smell smoke and ash. I could almost see the large building that was the former Queen's base. Finally, I exited the forest and saw the large building up in flames. I smelt around the building, try to see if anyone was still inside. I couldn't catch a scent, did my men do this or did they willingly do it to themselves?

"Did any of you set the enemy's base on fire?" I ask all of my warriors. I got a resounding 'no, Alpha", that meant they did it themselves. They fled and now we don't know where they are. I start running back to our base, hoping all the other wolves weren't still fighting. When I reach the base, I see all my men, bandaging wounds or moving around the rubble. Now that I'm not worrying about anyone trying to kill me, I can assess the damage.

They had set off many bombs, causing almost our whole base to be torn apart. I shift and pull on a pair of shorts I found laying in the rubble. The adrenaline had stopped and I could now feel all the pain from my shoulder.

"Collin, they're gone, they burnt down their base and no one is left here." I say walking towards him, I could feel myself starting to get light headed from all the blood I've lost.

"I know, we tried to use our tracker but she somehow disconnected it." Collin says, walking up to me.

"I need to get to Aria, her mother is going after he-" then everything went black.

Aria's POV

I woke up on Claire and Daniel's couch, feeling sore and still tired. Everything from last night was still fresh in my mind. I could still feel a slight ache in my shoulder from Damon's pain.

"Oh, hi! You're finally awake!" I hear Claire say, as she walks into the living room, holding 2 cups of tea.

"Are there any updates on Damon and the warriors?" I ask, taking the cup of tea she handed me. I sit up on the couch so I could properly drink the tea.

"Not any that I've been told, Daniel might have some news." She says, sitting next to me.

"Where is he?" I ask, rubbing my almost full grown belly.

"He's in a meeting with the elders, something happened at the base, I'm not allowed to know yet." She says, looking down at her cup.

"I just hope he's okay." I whisper, "I can't do this without him."

"I promise you he's coming back to you and the babies." She smiles.

"Daniel told you?" I ask, looking up at her.

"Yeah, he couldn't keep a secret from me." She laughs, they have such a perfect relationship.

"I almost told Damon, but then a fight started." I trail off. I felt a sharp kick from one of the babies.  They started kicking right after Damon left, he was crushed when he couldn't feel his baby. I started to noticed that they would react to my touch and that you could see them too.

"They just kicked." I smile, placing my cup on the coffee table and put my hand on my stomach.

"Really? Can I feel?" Claire asks, she was so sweet.

"Of course, here I'll lift my shirt and you can actually see them too." I lift my shirt over my large belly. I tap the side of my belly and not even a second late a little hand pops up. I place Claire's hand on top of where they've been kicking.

"Wow, that's so amazing." She says, I see a flash of jealousy across her eyes.

"Have you and Daniel thought about kids?" I ask, hoping I'm not crossing any lines.

"Yes, actually we've been trying but haven't had any success." She says, removing her hands

"I'm sure it'll all come in the Moon Goddess's timing. It just takes patience." I say, grabbing her hand.

"You're such an amazing person and Queen." She smiles.

"I'm just doing my job." I laugh. Suddenly a guard rushes into the suite, looking frantic.

"Queen Aria and Royal Beta Female, there has been an attack on the castle and I need to take you both to the safe room. Now!" He states, obviously on Beta command.

"Wait what?" I ask, standing up from the couch.

"Pardon my rudeness, Your Majesty, but I need you safe before I answer questions." He says, escorting Claire and I out of the suite and down towards the basement. We enter the safe room and I see that it's only going to Claire and I for however long we'll be in here.

"I am going to lock this room and the Beta or King will release you. If you have an emergency, mind link someone or use the phone." He says, pointing to the red phone sitting on the wall.

"Wait, is the King here?" I ask, running up to him.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but I have to close this door now." He says, closing the large silver door on me.

"Is Damon here, Claire?" I ask, as I started pacing.

"I don't know, Daniel isn't responding." She says, sitting on the floor.

"Neither is Damon." I say, staring to worry. I could feel my anxiety rising but somehow pacing helps.

"Aria, sit down, we're gonna be in here awhile." Claire says, patting the spot next to her. I take the seat and lean my head against the wall.

We spend an hour in this room, either sitting and talking or just sitting in our own thoughts. I get back up and start pacing again. I felt a pressure start to build up around my stomach but I think it's just because I was sitting for so long without moving. After a few minutes of walking, I feel a pop in between my legs and then a wetness rolling down my legs.

"Claire, I think my water just broke." I gasp, looking down at my legs.

"What? You still have 3 more weeks till you're due date." She says, quickly standing up.

"I know, what do I do?" I say, starting to panic.

"Sit down, I'll call your doctor and we'll get you to the hospital." Claire says, going for the red phone., I sit down, taking deep breaths.

"Oh goddess, please let Damon be here." I whisper looking up.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Wow I finally updated, that took too long for such a bad chapter. But here it is, maybe y'all will enjoy it!

Almost done with this book!!!

Word count:1562