169 The Warmer Side of Love

+8 Points

Mara

As Lucian disappeared down the hallway, the weight of silence settled over the house like a nket. I turned to head upstairs, longing for thefort of our bed, when Tiffany’s voice gently tugged me back.

I groaned softly-half asleep, half annoyed. It wasn’t intentional. Still, when I turned to look at her, the flicker in her eyes told me she’d caught it.

“Sorry, Tiff,” I murmured, rubbing my eyes. “Lucian woke me. I’m not fully awake right now.”

She gave me a knowing smile. “Your hormones are all over the ce?”

I chuckled tiredly and nodded. “Exactly.”

“I’ve been there. It gets better after the first trimester-though it doesn’t feel like it now. You just have to ride the waves,”

she said, turning to go.

Something in her tone tugged at me. “Wait… you called out to me earlier. What was it?”

She hesitated, her lips parting and closing again like she was weighing whether to speak.

“It’s okay,” I said softly. “That grumble wasn’t meant for you, I promise.”

Tiffany exhaled, and her vulnerability peeked through. “I was wondering if Emma and I could sleep in your room,” she said,

her voice small.

I blinked in surprise. “Of course. Everything okay?”

She looked down, then back up, eyes ssy. “Since I had Emma… I’ve never slept alone. I just-” her voice faltered. “I don’t

want to miss him too much.”

My heart clenched, but I smiled through the ache. “Come on,” I said gently, and we both made our way upstairs.

I waited at the door for her, listening to the soft shuffle of her feet behind me. When we stepped inside, with Emma in her

arms, I lifted her carefully and ced her in the centre of the bed before curling up beside her, already feeling my eyes

growing heavy again.

“You can turn on the TV if you want,” I murmured. “Jennifer will be here soon. You can link her and ask her to serve us in

the room. I need to catch up on sleep before this little one wakes me again.”

Tiffany smiled and climbed in beside Emma, resting on the other side.

“I might fall asleep too,” she said with a sigh. “The beds in this house are toofortable.”

I giggled, hugging my pillow. “I thought the ones at the mansion were better?”

She shook her head slowly. “I wouldn’t know. Back then, I was too busy counting the days until I could leave. Even if I had a good night’s sleep, Darian’s coldness over breakfast would wipe it all away.”

Her words hung heavy between us. I stayed quiet. What could I say? I couldn’t rte. My world-though not perfect-was held up by Lucian’s unwavering warmth. He never ignored me. Never made me question my worth.

In the silence, I reached out and gently tucked the nket around Emma, my heart swelling with gratitude and sorrow all at once. Some bonds warm you. Others freeze you to the bone.

And this morning, I was grateful to be on the warmer side of love.

“I heard Keisha ising?” Tiffany blurted out suddenly, pulling me from the soft haze of almost-sleep.

169 The Warmer Side of Love

I tensed, the name scraping against my nerves like sandpaper.

I didn’t hate Keisha.

+8 Points

On the surface, she waspetent, respectful-even charming. But I’d learned long ago not to take people at face value.

A little digging had revealed that she was once friends with Tina, and that alone ced her on my watchlist. I wasn’t about to be caught off guard again.

“I shut it down,” I said tly.

Tiffany turned to me, startled. “Seriously? Why?”

“She was friends with Tina,” I replied, my voice calm, but the message clear. I’d drawn a line.

Tiffany exhaled and nodded slowly. “I’m with you on that, then. You have every right to be careful. I wouldn’t open myself

up like that either. Tina was… a whole problem. It’s better to cut all the roots, not just the visible ones.”

We fell into silence again, both of us lying still in the dim room, the soft breath of a sleeping Emma the only sound

between us.

But sleep didn’te.

“I used to envy you, Mara,” Tiffany said softly, her voiceced with old pain. “I remember the day Lucian grabbed Martha’s wrist-stopped her from pping you. And I just sat there thinking, damn… why is that b***h always so lucky?”

Iughed, not offended in the slightest. If I were her, I would’ve thought the same.

“Alpha Vander didn’t even flinch,” she continued. “I remember how furious Lucian was when he had to drag you out of the lounge. Martha said he was going to beat the crap out of you, and Vander just shrugged and said you probably deserved olli But Darian…” /li/ol

She hesitated. I turned my head slightly, watching her face in the soft light.

“He said they were lying. I believed him. But his mother shut him down in front of everyone. And then he stood up- defiant-and promised to expose her. Right there. I was shocked.”

A wistful smile touched her lips, and her eyes shimmered with emotion.

“I was hurt,” she admitted. “Not because of what was happening… but because I wanted someone to fight for me like that.

Just once.”

She gave a small, shakyugh. “It’s silly, isn’t it?”

“No,” I whispered, reaching over to brush a strand of hair from Emma’s face. “It’s not silly at all.”

Tiffany’s honesty hung between us like fragile ss-vulnerable, delicate, beautiful. And in that moment, we weren’t Luna and guest, or bonded and unbonded. We were just two women-survivors of different battles-lying side by side in the dark, dreaming of the same kind of love.

“Martha wanted Lucian to beat you up and throw you out,” Tiffany whispered.

“She begged Alpha Vander to cast you and your parents out of the pack. Said you’d ruin Darian’s chances of bing Alpha. Said you were a stain.”

I turned to her slowly, stunned-not at the usation itself, but at the venom behind it.

“She really said that?”

Tiffany nodded, her gaze fixed on the ceiling as though reying it all.

“Alpha Vander might’ve done it too… if his Alpha Mark wasn’t already failing. I remember thinking, I have to get out of this

169 The Warmer Side of Love

ce. If this is how they treat the future Luna…”

She shook her head.

+8 Points 2.

“When Lucian didn’t im you… and you didn’t carry his scent, I felt sorry for you, Mara. I thought he didn’t want you. I thought you were clinging to a man who didn’t want you.”

Her words made my heart ache, but what came next stunned me.

“Then I noticed the way he looked at you when he thought no one was watching”, she said with a small smile, “I realised then that you were the one holding out on him.”

I stared at her, blinking slowly. Tiffany had known more than she ever let on.

170 The Weight of What-ifs

+48 Points