Fated to the Alpha–And His Triplet Brothers novel Chapter 281

Chapter 281: Sweet proposal

*~Leon’s POV~*

"Please don’t go. Please."

"Leon..." I held Aurora’s hand as she buried her head against my chest.

"I’m sorry, Leon," she whispered. "I don’t have a choice. I have to go. Trust me, I don’t want to, but it’s not something I’m happy to do, Leon," she said as she sniffled.

Then Lilith walked toward us.

"I’m sorry, Leon. She has to go now."

Lilith reached for her hand, but I held it back.

"Don’t take her," I said. "Please. She can’t survive it. Those demons are crazy."

"We have a plan," Hazel said, but I still shook my head because—no. I can’t just let her go like that. I just got my Aurora back. Sending her back to the place I saved her from again is not something I can do easily. People cannot just keep coming into my life and leaving that easily.

I turned to Lilith.

"Can I just have a whole day with her? At least?"

Lilith shook her head.

"No. My power is going now. In the next few minutes, my entire power will vanish."

Hazel turned to us.

"You can."

Lilith snapped her head toward her.

"What?"

"I still have a few," Hazel said. "I’ll do the spell. I don’t care if it exhausts my entire powers—give them time."

Lilith hesitated.

"How about the remaining demons? Not every demon is completely gone."

We turned toward Rebecca’s body—the white-haired demon. Her corpse lay on the floor but slowly began to fade, teleporting away.

"I wanted to do something before her body teleports," Hazel muttered, "but Lilith said—"

"They will leave regardless," Lilith cut in. "Whether you trap the body or not, it will still leave."

"Really? Damn it. I wish we could hold one hostage and torture the hell out of them until they finally speak the truth."

"It isn’t that easy," I said. "These demons are far more powerful than we think."

Hazel turned to us, smiling softly.

"You two have an entire day together. Don’t waste it talking about demons."

She grabbed her mother’s hand and led her out of the room.

I turned to Aurora, my voice cracking.

"Thank you... for not leaving immediately."

She nodded and sat on the bed.

"Leaving as Eric is... really therapeutic," she whispered. "I never believed I would finally stop living in pain. Yes, the pain is still there, but it’s coming to an end too. Eric healed me."

She looked at me.

"You know... you know my favorite thing about Eric?"

I sat down beside her.

"I guess it’s the part where he got to say he was your husband?"

She slapped my hand.

"We are not married. Eric may have believed that lie, but Aurora wouldn’t. You know damn well I have my memories back now."

I smiled.

Then I stood, went down on my knees, and she gasped.

"Aurora," I said, pulling out the oak ring I’d stolen from Sophia the last time I saw her.

Aurora’s eyes flew open as she covered her mouth.

"Leon—"

"Marry me, Aurora," I said softly. "And make me the happiest wolf alive."

"Wait—what? You’re not joking?"

She shot up so fast the bed shook, her hand covering her mouth as her eyes widened.

"Please tell me this is a lie, Leon. You are not really asking me to marry you right now. Please say you’re joking."

"I’m not," I said softly.

"I’m asking Aurora—Eric—my best friend, the best witch alive, the best person I’ve ever met... to marry me."

Her breath broke. Tears clung to her lashes.

Then—

"No... no... no—"

And suddenly she ran straight into me, wrapping her arms around my neck and covering my cheeks in frantic kisses.

"Yes! Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you! Yes, please, Leon!"

I slid the ring onto her finger, and she twirled around the room, laughing, gasping, overwhelmed.

"Oh my God... oh my God—"

She paused, staring at the ring.

"Is this the same ring you gave... you know... your current wife?"

I winced.

"Yes. But it looks prettier on you. It never belonged to her."

"Oh," she huffed dramatically, flipping her short hair like it was still long, "so I’m the second choice?"

"You know it never belonged to her," I said, pulling her back to me. "She was a placeholder. A mistake."

Aurora immediately covered my mouth.

"Leon—no. We hate her, yes, but we don’t say mean things. Not like that."

"Fine," I muttered, and she burst out laughing again, spinning around.

"I’m married! I’m married!"

She leapt into my arms again.

"Don’t ever—" I tightened my grip on her waist, making her gasp, "don’t ever try belonging to anyone else again. You belong to me. Only me. If you even look at another man—Aurora, I swear I’ll un-alive myself just to haunt you forever."

She smirked.

"And the same goes for you. No other woman touches you. No other woman even breathes near you."

We linked our pinky fingers tightly.

"We belong to each other," I whispered.

"And only each other."

She nodded, eyes softening, cheeks blooming red.

I cupped her face and kissed her—her lips, her cheeks, her forehead, trailing heat down her skin until she pushed me away gently.

"Leon... calm down. Not now. We’re not doing that now," she breathed. "We do that when we’re married. We’re just... fiancés."

"Fuck fiancés. Fuck titles." I pressed my forehead against hers.

"I don’t care about any damn title. You’re mine. I’m yours. That’s it."

"And it better stay that way," she whispered.

"No other woman touches you."

"No other man touches you," I replied.

We kissed again—softer, deeper, slower.

"I love you," I whispered in her ear.. as I felt her heartbeat quickened

"I love you too," she breathed.

Because those three words—from her—aren’t normal words. They’re spells. They’re explosions. They’re salvation.

And tonight, hearing them felt like something inside my chest came loose and finally, finally breathed.

Aurora wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, laughing and crying at the same time, and I couldn’t stop smiling.

I pulled her tighter into my arms, holding her like she was the last warmth in the world.

"Don’t go."

"I have to," she whispered.

Her fingers trembled as she cupped my face.

"If I don’t go, those demons will keep coming. They won’t stop. They’ll hurt everyone—including you."

"I don’t care about everyone," I snapped, emotion cracking my voice.

"I care about you."

Her breath shuddered. "Leon..."

"No, listen to me."

My hands framed her face, forcing her to meet my eyes.

"I just got you back. I just held you again. I just heard you laugh again. And now the universe wants to take you away again? No. No, Aurora. I can’t—"

She kissed me.

Hard.

Desperate.

Like she was trying to breathe for both of us.

I froze.

Then I kissed her back, hands gripping her waist, my heart beating like thunder inside my chest.

She pulled back just barely, our lips brushing.

"If I don’t go, everything we dreamed of dies," she whispered.

"But if I do go—if our plan works—I come back to you."

Her voice broke.

"And this time, nothing takes me away ever again."

Her certainty stabbed through my panic, grounding me.

"You’ll come back to me," I repeated.

"Yes."

She pressed her forehead to mine.

"I’ll fight for us, Leon. I’ll fight for our future. For our wedding. For the life we keep dreaming about. I’ll fight harder than I ever have."

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"And while you’re fighting..."

"...you’ll be here waiting for me," she finished.

"Always," I said immediately.

"Always, Aurora. When you come back, I’ll be here. I’ll be the first face you see."

She smiled—beautiful, heartbreaking.

And then she curled into my chest, resting her head over my heart.

"Leon?"

"Yes?"

"Can we stay like this? For the whole night?"

"Yeah," I said, lifting her effortlessly into my arms and laying her on the bed.

"I’m not letting go of you. Not tonight."

She wrapped her arms around me tight.

"I love you."

"I love you more," I whispered, kissing the top of her head.

And we stayed like that—tangled together, holding on like we could stop the world from turning—because in a few hours, she’d be walking into the lion’s den.