<b>Chapter </b><b>138 </b>


    I cleared my throat, gentle so I didn’t break the moment. “Why don’t you y with them for a while?” I said to Reina. “They’ll show you every drawing they’ve ever made if you let them<b>.</b>”


    Elliot’s eyes lit likenterns. “Yes! Come on! I’ll show you the tower Macey made, and then my pirate ship, and my sky. Mumma, you have to see the sky!” He tugged her hand like it was the most natural thing in the world. Reina looked at me once, checking, maybe asking permission, but I just nodded. My voice came out steadier than I felt. “Go on. He deserves this time with you.”


    Macey took Reina’s other hand, Fergus tucked under her arm, already chattering about treasure maps and glue. Layah shadowed them, ears twitching, but calm. My heart twisted as I watched the three of them vanish into the yroom, voices rising bright and unbroken. When the door clicked shut, I let my shoulders drop.


    Xavier was at my side in a second, pulling me into his chest. “Talk to me, little mate,” he murmured.


    The words lodged in my throat. It was stupid, selfish maybe, but it still wed out of me: “He called her Mumma.” My hand pressed against his shirt like I could hide the shake in it. “He looked at her like…like I wasn’t enough anymore.<b>” </b>


    Noah crouched in front of me, steady and close, eyes level with mine. “Envy, stop. That boy loves you. You’re not receable. He’s got more room in his heart, that’s all. It doesn’t take away from what you are to him.”


    Levi leaned back in his chair, watching me with that quiet, piercing calm of his. “He found something today. A piece of himself. You gave him the safety to do that. Don’t mistake that for loss, it’s proof of what you built.”


    Haiden crossed his arms, jaw working like he wanted to punch something for me. “You carried him through hell, Envy. She wasn’t there for that. Don’t you dare forget it. Don’t you dare let yourself believe you’re less than his everything.”


    I breathed out, shaky. The sting behind my eyes burned, but I didn’t fight it. “But what if he wants her more? What if one day he chooses…<b>” </b>


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    Xavier’s voice cut me off, low and final. “He already chose. Every day he crawls into yourp. Every time he runs to you first. That doesn’t vanish because he got a piece of his past back. He chose you. He’ll keep choosing you.”


    Noah took my hand, kissed the inside of my wrist. “And even if he needs her too, that’s


    `not taking him from you. That’s just giving him more people to love him the way you do.”


    I shut my eyes, leaned into Xavier’s chest, let their words root in me. My baby rolled


    under my palm, a soft nudge that steadied me even more.


    “We’re going to be okay,” I whispered, maybe for them, maybe for myself.


    “We are,” Xavier said, firm and certain. His hand covered mine on my bump. “Because he’s


    ours. And so is this one.”


    <b>Levi </b>


    I let them have the moment. Envy curled into Xavier’s chest, Noah rubbing circles into


    her wrist, Haiden pacing like a caged animal ready to tear throats. They needed it. She


    needed it. But the quiet couldn’tst, not when the blood and ash still stung the back of my throat.


    I cleared mine. “We can’t stay in this bubble.” Their heads turned, the warmth cooling quick when they saw my face. “We were just hit. Again. Not shadows this time. Not whispers. Broad daylight. Teeth to fence. Twelve wolves moving like puppets, and we were almost overrun.”


    Envy stiffened, one hand flying instinctively to her bump. Xavier’s arms tightened around her<b>, </b>but I kept going. She deserved the truth unwrapped.


    “These witches aren’t testing us anymore. They’re pressing. They want to know how close they can get before we break, and today they got close enough to make me sweat.”


    Haiden’s growl was low, dangerous. “You saying we couldn’t have held?”


    I shook my head. “I’m saying we barely did. They’re strong. Stronger than anything Marcus yed with. And Salira isn’t wasting pawns, she’s carving at us piece by piece until we either hand over what she wants or die from the bleed.”


    Noah leaned back, jaw tight, eyes darker than usual. “And she made it clear what she


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    wants. Our child. That’s not just a threat, it’s obsession. That means she’ll throw everything she has at us when the timees.<b>” </b>


    Envy’s voice wavered, but she forced it out. “And she has a lot.”


    “Too much to ignore,” I said. “We’ve been reacting. Patching holes. But if we don’t start putting a n in motion, something bigger than just holding the fences we’ll get buried under the weight of it.”


    I didn’t flinch when Envy looked at me, eyes wide, fear and steel tangled together. “Then what do we do?” she asked.


    Before anyone could answer Envy’s question, small feet pped against the floorboards. The living room door creaked, and Reina stepped out with Elliot at her side, Macey clutching Fergus to her chest. They must’ve heard more than we wanted.


    Elliot’s voice cracked, small but sharp enough to slice the air. “Mum… are they going to take my sister?” His eyes went straight to Envy, wide and wet, like she was the only answer he’d ept. He crossed the room quick, climbing into herp, arms curling around her waist, cheek pressed right against her belly. Comforting her, even while asking the question that made her throat close.


    Envy smoothed his hair, swallowing hard. “No,” she whispered, fierce under the softness: “No one is taking your sister.”


    NI


    Reina’s gaze swept the room, steady despite the tremor I caught in her hands. “This… this is who attacked you today?”


    Envy nodded once, shoulders squaring as if saying it out loud anchored her. “The same witches who scarred my life before it began. They ripped me out of my mother’s womb, sacrificed me in a ritual that should have killed me. The ones who stood with Marcus, who hurt your son, who used him like a tool. They’vee back. And now… they think they’ve perfected what they failed the first time. They want my baby.” Her hand clutched Elliot closer as she said it, like both children were one heartbeat away from being snatched.


    Reina didn’t blink. Her jaw set, voice calm in the way iron is calm. “Then it’s over my dead body.” She shifted her stance, fierce eyes cutting to every one of us. “If they had a hand in hurting my boy, if they think they can try to hurt his sister, then they’ve dered war on me and mine too. My people will stand with you. This fight belongs to all of us now.”


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    No one spoke right away. But something changed in the room, the line between us and her blurred just enough that I could see it: for the first time, she wasn’t just Elliot’s lost past. She was a weapon pointed at the same enemy.


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