Damon's POV
"No!" I roared, lunging forward to grab the little girl who looked exactly like Luna.
But my hands passed right through Aria like she was made of mist. She smiled sadly at me, her silver eyes too old for her tiny face.
"You can't touch me, Daddy," she said gently. "I'm not really here yet. I'm speaking to you from a future that might not happen."
My heart stopped completely. "Daddy?"
"You and Mommy made me together," Aria said matter-of-factly. "In the timeline where she doesn't die saving everyone. But that future is disappearing because the angels are winning."
Luna made a choked sound. "I have a daughter? With Damon?"
The little girl nodded sadly. "You do. But only if you choose differently than you're about to. Only if you don't sacrifice yourself like you're planning."
"I wasn't planning to sacrifice myself," Luna said weakly.
"Yes, you were," Aria responded. "Your Nexus soul knows what needs to happen. You were going to let the angels kill you so your death would release enough power to free all magical beings from heaven's control forever."
The lead angel growled. "The child talks truth. One Nexus death could break the barriers between worlds."
"Which is exactly why you can't let her do it," Aria said, looking straight at me. "Daddy, you have to stop Mommy from being brave."
My wolf was going completely crazy. This tiny girl was my daughter? Luna and I were meant to have a future together? But everyone kept saying Luna belonged with Raphael.
"I don't understand," I said desperately. "If Raphael is Luna's destined mate..."
"He's not," Aria interrupted. "Nobody is. That's what makes Mommy special. She doesn't have one chosen person. She has a planned family."
She motioned to all of us - me, Marcus, Gabriel, and Raphael.
"Four guards, one Nexus, one future that saves everyone. But only if you all stop thinking about marriage and start thinking about love that's bigger than just two people."
"What kind of love?" Luna whispered.
Aria's smile got brighter. "Pack love. Family love. The kind where everyone fits and nobody gets left out."
The angels were getting restless. Their boss raised his burning sword again.
"Enough talk. The girl dies now."
That's when my Alpha instincts totally took over.
I shifted into my wolf form and threw myself at the angel, even though I knew his sword could kill me forever. But I couldn't watch someone hurt Luna. I couldn't let my maybe-daughter leave before she was even born.
Marcus and Gabriel joined the fight instantly. The three of us worked together like we'd been training for years, covering each other's backs and fighting as one unit.
But Raphael did something that shocked everyone.
Instead of fighting, he walked quietly to Luna and knelt down in front of her.
"I renounce my claim," he said loudly. "As an Archangel of heaven, I officially renounce any romantic bond with the Nexus Luna Ashford."
"Raphael, no!" Gabriel shouted. "If you renounce the bond, you'll lose your immortality!"
"Good," Raphael said firmly. "I never wanted to be immortal if it meant being separated from the people I love."
Light burst from his body as his angelic powers drained away. When it faded, Raphael looked totally human except for the love shining in his eyes.
"Now I can choose to be Luna's guardian instead of her destined mate," he said. "And that choice is what will make us strong enough to win."
The head angel looked furious. "You fool! You've just made yourself killable!"
"He's made himself family," Luna corrected, and power began flowing from her again.
But this time it wasn't chaos. This time it linked all five of us - me, Marcus, Gabriel, Raphael, and Luna - in a web of golden light that made us feel like we shared the same heart.
"The Guardian Bond," Elder Moonwhisper said with wonder. "I've never seen it work with so many people before."
Through our connection, I could feel everyone's feelings. Marcus's steady loyalty. Gabriel's protective reflexes. Raphael's deep knowledge. And Luna's enormous love for all of us.
But I could also feel something else. A darkness getting stronger, feeding off the chaos of our fight.
"Something's wrong," I said, scanning the Soul Realm.
The marble supports were cracking. The ground beneath our feet was starting to shake. The very air tasted like it was rotting.
"The realm is collapsing," Gabriel said with fear. "Too much conflicting magic in one place."
"If this place falls apart, we'll all be trapped between dimensions forever," Raphael added grimly.
Aria looked at us with old eyes. "That's why Mommy has to make the hardest choice of all."
"What choice?" Luna asked, though she sounded like she already knew.
"You have to break your own power," Aria said sadly. "Shatter your Nexus powers so completely that heaven can never use them or fear them again. It will save everyone, but..."
"But what?"
Aria's bottom lip shook. "But you'll forget all of us. The Guardian Bond will break. You'll go back to being a normal omega who doesn't remember any of this ever happened."
Luna went pale. "I'll lose my family?"
"Forever," Aria whispered. "Unless..."
"Unless what?" I asked.
Aria looked directly at me with eyes that held galaxies. "Unless one of her guards loves her enough to follow her into forgetting. Someone has to choose to give up their memories too, so they can find each other again and rebuild what was lost."
My heart clenched. "You mean someone has to sacrifice their supernatural nature completely?"
"Everything," Aria confirmed. "Powers, memories, immortality, pack ties. Become fully human and start over from nothing."
I looked around at my family - because that's what they were now. Marcus, my soul-bound cousin. Gabriel, the angel who'd protected Luna across ages. Raphael, who'd given up heaven for love. And Luna, the woman who was somehow my mate, my pack member, and the mother of my future child all at once.
"I'll do it," I said without doubt.
"Damon, no," Luna said desperately. "You can't give up being Alpha. Your pack needs you."
"My pack will survive," I said firmly. "But you won't, if someone doesn't make this choice."
Marcus stepped forward. "I should do it. I'm the healer."
"I'm the one with experience in sacrifice," Gabriel countered.
"This is my responsibility," Raphael said quietly.
But Aria shook her head at all of them. "It has to be Daddy. He's the only one whose love is strong enough to survive losing everything."
The Soul Realm shook harder, and cracks emerged in the sky above us.
"Choose now," Aria said quickly. "Or the realm collapse will kill you all anyway."
I looked at Luna one last time, remembering her face. "When I find you again, I won't remember you. But I'll love you anyway. I promise."
"Damon," Luna whispered, tears running down her face.
I closed my eyes and reached for the Guardian Bond, ready to break it and lose everything that made me who I was.
But before I could finish the sacrifice, Aria's voice stopped me cold.
"Wait, Daddy. I lied about something important."
My eyes snapped open. "What?"
Aria's expression filled with a sadness too deep for any child to carry.
"I'm not from the future where you save Mommy. I'm from the future where you don't. And I'm not here to help you choose correctly."
Ice filled my blood. "Then why are you here?"
"I'm here to stop you from making the same mistake twice. Because Daddy... you already tried this once. And it didn't work."