The Alpha's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 709

Chapter 709: THE BABY IS COMING

The ruby screamed.

Not with sound.

With light.

The moment Aiden crossed whatever invisible boundary guarded the outer tunnels, the stone on the pedestal flared so violently that the chamber was flooded in red.

The glow spiked sharp and erratic, shadows jerking wildly along the walls as if the stone itself were trying to tear free of its restraints.

I cried out, more in shock than pain, my hands flying to the floor to steady myself.

"No," Maelis hissed, spinning toward the pedestal. "No hold steady."

The ruby pulsed again, brighter, faster.

Hungry.

It wasn’t reaching for me.

It was reaching for him.

I felt it then, sudden and horrifyingly clear.

"Oh," I whispered. "I think it knows him."

Maelis’s head snapped toward me. "What did you say?"

"The stone," I said, my voice trembling as another surge rippled through the chamber. "It recognizes him. Like... like it remembers him hands."

The ruby flared again, crimson light surging outward in jagged waves.

The air thickened, pressing against my skin until it felt hard to breathe. Every instinct in my body screamed danger.

"He wielded a piece of it." Maelis said grimly. "Even a shard is enough to bind a resonance."

"He didn’t just touch it," I said, realization blooming cold and sharp in my chest. "He fed it. He used it."

The ruby answered with a violent spike of light, as if pleased to be understood.

Force.

Hunger.

Domination.

It wanted him.

It wanted what he had become.

Another roar shook the cavern, closer now, the sound of wings beating against the air, of stone grinding under immense weight.

Dust rained from the ceiling as the chamber trembled.

And through it all, the ruby throbbed faster.

My emerald reacted too.

But differently.

The green glow at my throat deepened, spreading warmth instead of heat, a steady presence that wrapped around my ribs, my spine, my womb. It didn’t surge or spike. It anchored.

It steadied me.

I felt it settle around my baby like a shield.

Protective.

Preserving.

Choice.

The contrast was so stark it made my stomach twist.

Maelis glanced at my necklace, her eyes widening slightly as the emerald’s glow strengthened, forming a soft halo around my upper body.

"I don’t like this." I said with worry

Another pulse slammed through the chamber.

And then the pain hit.

Real pain.

White hot and blinding, tearing through my lower body with a force that ripped the breath from my lungs.

I screamed.

My back arched violently as a contraction seized me, sharp and merciless, unlike anything I had felt before. It wasn’t a warning ache or a distant pressure.

This was here.

Now.

I clutched my belly instinctively, fingers digging into fabric as another wave crashed through me.

"Oh gods," I sobbed. "Maelis....

The emerald flared brighter, its warmth intensifying as if responding to my distress, but it couldn’t stop what had begun.

Something wet and terrifyingly real spread between my thighs.

"No," I whispered in panic. "No, no, no...

Maelis was at my side instantly, dropping to her knees, her hands hovering but not touching.

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