Page 86 of The Alpha Wolf’s Secret Baby Boy

With that, Daniel rushes off, and Damian and I burst out laughing.

“This time, I get to be with you through it all,” Damian says when his laughter slows, and he cradles my cheek. “I’m so excited. And I can’t wait to show everyone in the pack how much I love you.”

I smile softly at him. “Your mother will have to handle the ceremony.”

“I know she’ll love that,” Damian chuckles.

“Yeah. Besides, we need to focus on getting rid of those witches for good. I’d like to bring our second child into a safer world.”

“I agree,” Damian nods. “Let’s go shower. We have a bit of time before we need to be there for the meeting.”

“Hm…” I muse as he helps me to my feet. “Shower together?”

Damian winks at me, his lips curled in a charming smile. “Obviously.”

***

Once Daniel is with Ingrid and the kids, Damian and I join Dorian and Amelia at the meeting chamber in Fort Smit, finding our seats just before the other council members arrive.

Today, we’re joined by Damian’s beta, Killian, and his mate, Roxanne, while the other alphas have also brought along their betas.

The meeting is a serious one. Maybe that’s why the chamber is a stark contrast to the warmth Damian and I felt this morning.

Where our home is filled with laughter and hope, this room is heavy with anticipation, every face around the long oak table carrying the same concern that’s been lingering since the attack a week ago. Maps have been spread across the polished surface, towns circled in red ink, photographs scattered between reports collected by scouts from every allied territory.

Damian’s hand finds mine beneath the table almost instinctively as we settle into our seats beside Dorian and Amelia. Our fingers intertwine without either of us looking down, the gesture becoming so natural over the past week that I hardly notice it anymore.

I simply feel…steadier. Stronger. It’s not because of the powers the Moon Goddess awakened inside me, but because I finally stopped trying to carry the weight of the world alone.

Alpha Cyrus clears his throat from the opposite end of the table, drawing everyone’s attention as the room falls silent.

“We’ve made progress.” He reaches toward one of the maps before sliding it closer to the center of the table, revealing the stretch of northern Texas bordering Rosethorn. “My surveillance teams have continued monitoring Wichita Falls ever since Luna Poppy’s vision.”

My cheeks warm ever so slightly at the title, though nobody else seems to notice anymore. If anything, they’ve all accepted me far quicker than I’ve accepted myself.

“We haven’t found the cave itself,” Cyrus continues, “but Cassandra has found something.”

My eyes drift toward his mate as she rises gracefully from her chair, carrying another map unlike the others.

Instead of roads and landmarks, this one is covered in strange symbols, delicate lines woven together with silver ink that almost seems to shimmer beneath the light.

“I followed the residual magical signature left behind by the dark witches,” Cassandra explains gently. “Dark magic leaves scars upon the land. Most witches cannot detect them once wards have been erected”—she glances toward me before offering a warm smile—”but Poppy’s vision gave us something to anchor the search.”

She places one finger on the map.

“There are only two locations capable of concealing an entire coven behind wards powerful enough to evade ordinary detection,” she says, tapping the first circle. “An abandoned mining system west of Wichita Falls.”

Her finger slides lower. “And a second network of caverns hidden behind a series of waterfalls in the Wichita Mountains.”

My breath catches. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because the moment her finger settles there, something stirs inside me.

It’s not another vision, but recognition.

“I know that place,” I whisper, and every head slowly turns toward me.

“I’ve never been there…” I continue, trying to explain something I barely understand myself. “But that’s what I saw.”

Closing my eyes only makes it clearer. “The waterfall…” I swallow. “The cave is hidden behind it.” A chill rolls through me, and my brows furrow. “There are wards carved into the rock itself. Ancient ones. They’re…alive.”