The Alpha's Mafia Luna novel Chapter 126

Serene’s POV

The sunlight streaming through the window painted golden stripes across the sheets tangled around us.

Damian’s arm lay across my waist, steady and warm, his breath brushing the top of my hair. I didn’t want to move–not yet. There was a silence in the room that felt sacred. Like a thin thread tying me to something fragile and rare.

Peace.

For once, my thoughts weren’t screaming.

For once, I didn’t feel hunted, broken, or bracing for the next blow.

I tilted my face up and looked at him. Still asleep. Dark lashes, sharp cheekbones softened by the early light. I could trace every scar on

his chest and remember how he got each one. And last night–gods, last night–I’d seen a version of him even he didn’t know how to

share. Gentle. Desperate. Human.

I ran my fingers gently over his hand.

“I could stay here forever,” I whispered, even though I knew I couldn’t.

Because forever didn’t exist for people like me.

Not with what was coming.

His eyes opened, and he smiled lazily. “You’re thinking too loud.”

I flushed, but didn’t deny it. “You always say that.”

“And I’m always right.”

I exhaled a shaky laugh. “It was a good night.”

“The best,” he murmured, pulling me closer.

A soft kiss pressed to my shoulder. I leaned into it, letting myself believe, even if for a second, that this could last.

But that second ended with a loud knock on the front door.

We both stilled.

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Damian’s eyes sharpened instantly. “You expecting anyone?”

“No.” I pulled the sheet up instinctively. “Maybe Mira’s back?”

Another knock. Then the door opened–and Mira’s voice rang out from the hallway.

“Okay, I swear the trees are alive. Remind me not to wander into those woods again-”

She stopped when she saw us.

“Oh. Oh gods, you didn’t-”

“Mira,” Damian said flatly.

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She raised her hands. “Not judging. I’m happy for you both. Slightly traumatized, but happy.”

I groaned into the pillow. “Please go back outside.”

“Nope. Not after what I saw. Damian, the front steps? A scorch mark. Like someone branded the damn stone with a rune. Just like the one Serene saw in her dream.”

That sobered us both instantly.

I sat up, suddenly cold. “What?”

Mira walked in, tossing her jacket onto the nearest chair. “It’s there. Right outside the threshold. Like someone marked the house. And 1

checked Naia’s too. One burned into the floor, deep. The same shape you described.”

Damian swung his legs out of bed. “Show me.”

“Already took photos.” She handed him her phone.

My heart was racing. I leaned over his shoulder–and froze. The image on the screen was exactly what I’d seen in my dream. The hall- circle rune, jagged at the ends, pulsing with old magic even in the photo.

“This isn’t just coincidence,” I said quietly. “This is the Crimson Line. It’s… it’s bleeding through reality.”

Mira turned to me, serious now. “Something’s waking up, Serene. Something old. And it’s following you.”

I didn’t answer.

Because in that moment–everything shifted.

The world around me grew quiet again. Like someone turned the volume down on life.

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Then I heard it.

A whisper.

…

Not like before–this was clear.

“The Gate of Aleoria is waking… Crimson must choose.”

I gasped, hand flying to my wrist. The rune–glowing again, faint beneath my skin..

Damian moved fast. “Serene?”

“I heard it again,” I said breathlessly. “The voice. From the dream.”

Mira’s face drained of color. “You’re hearing them while awake now?”

I nodded. “They said the Gate of Aleoria is waking.”

Silence.

Then Damian asked, “What the hell is the Gate of Aleoria?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I think… my mom did.”

As if summoned by the word mother, a knock sounded at the back door.

Mira and Damian exchanged a glance.

“Stay here,” Damian ordered.

He vanished down the hall. Mira followed.

I wrapped the sheet tighter around myself, waiting, listening. Then–footsteps.

A moment later, Mira returned with a brown leather package in hand.

“This came addressed to you,” she said slowly, placing it in my lap. “From Alberta.”

I blinked. “Alberta?”

Mira nodded. “he said it was kept hidden by the old order loyal to the Aleorian crown. That it was time”

I tore it open.

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Inside was a letter… and a key.

I unfolded the page with trembling fingers.

My dearest Child,

If you’re reading this, then fate has begun to turn again. I knew I wouldn’t live to tell you these things myself. But I made sure my truth would

find you.

You are not cursed. You are chosen. The blood of the Crimson Line runs through your veins, and that power–terrifying as it feels–is yours to

shape.

There is a chamber in the ruins of Aleoria. Only one of our blood can open it. Inside is what I couldn’t protect… but what you must.

Don’t let the Elders silence us again.

Your mother,

Elira

My chest constricted.

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“I never got to meet her,” I whispered. “Not really. But it’s like she’s here.”

Mira sat beside me, her expression soft. “She’s always been with you, Serene. In your dreams, in your blood, in that fire you’ve never been

able to explain.”

Damian stepped back in then, holding something in his hand.

The necklace.

“The one you lost,” he said, placing it in my palm. “It was on your pillow.”

I looked up, startled. “But–I searched everywhere. It wasn’t there before.”

“That’s the part that worries me,” he said darkly.

I closed my hand around the pendant. It was cold–colder than before.

But when I looked at it closely, something had changed.

There was a new engraving on the back.

A date.

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One week from now.

Mira paled. “It’s a countdown.”

“To what?” I whispered.

Damian answered, jaw clenched. “A reckoning.”

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