Free Web NovelChapter 170: Chapter 170
Aria’s POV
Jessica’s scent turned sour with fear. Sophia rushed forward, placing a hand on Nathan’s arm, her voice trembling sweetly.
“Nathan, don’t be angry. Jessica was just coming over to me and mistakenly shoved her.”
He still glared at Jessica, his jaw clenched, but Sophia’s touch worked like a sedative. His eyes softened a fraction.
“If it happens again,” he said coldly, “you’re out.”
Sophia exhaled in relief but my stomach twisted.
If Nathan hadn’t caught me... if I had fallen... Lana would’ve hit the ground with me.
And yet he let Sophia’s voice override his instincts.
I tucked Lana closer to my chest, shielding her face. The more I hid her, the more the guests around us craned their necks.
“She’s hungry,” I said, my tone clipped. “I need to make her a bottle.”
Nathan straightened. “I’ll have Collins speed up the repairs.”
Our voices were low, but in the sudden quiet, every wolf around us heard.
Sophia stiffened.
The other guests whispered behind their hands.
“It might be his child. They look perfect together. Like one big family”.
Just then, Lana’s patience snapped. Hungry and frustrated, she opened her tiny mouth and wailed, the sound vibrating through my wolf senses, prickling the back of my neck. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
I rocked her gently in a bid to pacify her and glanced at Nathan.
“I need hot water,” I said, sharper than intended. My wolf was restless, pacing inside me, irritated that my pup was upset.
Nathan didn’t flinch at the authority in my voice. He immediately gestured for a chef and a servant to bring everything I needed while he went to check why the power in the building was still out.
I handed Lana to them just long enough to prepare the formula myself, my hands moving fast. Soon I was done. The moment I put the bottle to her lips and she latched on, her cries faded into soft, contented sucking while still in the staff’s arms. Relief loosened my shoulders. My wolf purred with approval.
That’s when I noticed Sophia signal someone behind her. My senses sharpened instantly.
A shrill, excited voice pierced the calm.
“Luna Aria! I admire you so much. You were my idol when you were the chief attorney at Hemsworth Group. I didn’t expect you to have a child now!”
I turned toward the sound.
A chubby, flushed girl stood in the corner, her courage trembling around her like a nervous scent cloud. My wolf sniffed the air, there was nothing threatening. Just...her overeagerness.
Still, something about the whole thing felt off, like a breeze blowing the wrong way.
I nodded politely. “Thank you.”
Her eyes sparkled as if I had handed her the moon. She stepped forward, emboldened.
“Can I take a picture with you?”
I opened my mouth to decline, but she was already too close. My wolf bristled. And then—
I saw it.
Her phone screen was pitch black. Her camera was not even on.
It was a trap.
That feral warning screamed through me one heartbeat too late.
A sudden, brutal shove hit my back. My wolf howled in alarm as my body pitched forward and I fell into the icy water.
I heard someone yell, “Someone fell in the water!”
The water swallowed me whole, dragging me down. My lungs seized. My chest locked. Terror slammed into me so fast my wolf recoiled.
I hadn’t been able to swim since prison. Since they held my head under water until my screams bubbled away. Since I learned what real helplessness tasted like.
Now that same terror surged up, drowning reason, urging me to get out, but my limbs flailed uselessly. My throat burned. Darkness pricked at the edges of my vision.
Above the surface, I faintly heard Sophia’s panicked voice.
“Help! Aria!”
Then there was another splash.
Someone had dived in.
Nathan’s POV
The moment I heard Sophia’s words from a distance, air left my lungs.
Before my mind caught up, my body had already moved, heading straight to the pool. My jacket hit the ground and I dove.
“Aria? Aria!”
The water swallowed my voice, swallowing everything.
I found her limp, pale, with her eyes closed. Panic exploded inside me. I wrapped an arm around her waist, kicking hard toward the surface.
My mate. My mate.
If I lost her now...
I dragged us to the edge. Sophia rushed over worried, but Collins reached me first, helping pull her out.
“Aria? Are you okay?” My voice cracked. I didn’t even care who heard.
She didn’t respond. Her body was too still.
“Call an ambulance!” I barked. “To the hospital! NOW!”
My wolf paced frantically, claws raking at the inside of my chest.
I began CPR, ignoring everything around me...the guests’ gasps, their horrified whispers, their stares. Nothing mattered, nothing but her.
When she finally coughed, choking out water and air, color slowly returning to her lips, I felt something inside me shatter and realign at the same time.
I lifted her into my arms.
“Stay awake,” I murmured, my voice a low rasp. “Aria... stay with me.”
