Where Soft Light Shines Darkness Fades From Tired Hearts by Evan Holt Crane 296

“Third Person’s POV

10:00 AM sharp. Trista entered the procedure room exactly on schedule,

Minutes later, Cassian burst through the clinic doors like a madman.

“Trista!”

A low, wounded roar escaped his throat. Through the mating bond, he could feel the last, flickering traces of the connection fading into nothingness.

His eyes were bloodshot, and he began slamming against the locked door with a desperate, uncontrolled force.

Thalia stepped in front of him, releasing a sharp scent of warning. “Sir, there is a procedure in progress. You need to keep quiet.”

“My mate is in there!” Cassian’s voice broke into a jagged plea. “Let me in! I have to talk to her!”

“That’s against protocol,” Thalia said coldly, blocking his path.

“I’m the father!” Cassian roared, his Alpha aura spiking to a lethal level. “That’s my Luna in there!”

Thalia stood her ground, her expression hard. “I don’t care if you’re the father. You aren’t going anywhere until she comes out.”

Furious, Cassian whipped out his comm–stone and barked a command to Humphrey. “Get me the director of this clinic. Right now!”

Thalia’s eyes flashed with defiance. “I don’t care if you bring the dan

extraction.”

Before she could finish, the indicator light above the door flickered off.

Pope here–you aren’t:

opping this

The door pushed open, and a medical assistant walked out, supporting a frail, trembling Trista.

Thalia hurried to help. “Why did it take so long?”

“The pharmacist was late with the prep,” Trista rasped, her voice barely a whisper.

She looked up and saw Cassian standing a few feet away. “Thalia… thank you.”

Thalia and the assistant helped Trista over to Cassian before tactfully stepping away.

Cassian stared at Trista. She was deathly pale and looked like she might collapse at any moment.

His heart felt like it was being ripped out. He stepped forward and pulled her into a crushing embrace, his voice thick with agony. “Why… why did you kill our pup?!”

Trista let him hold her, her body limp, but her voice was as cold as ice. “I didn’t want to. But I couldn’t keep

it.”

Why not? It was our first kid!

Frushed

Cassian cried out, his voice cracking. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for this day?”

Trista let out a hollow, tragic laugh. Her eyes were empty.

“Cassian, you wanted me to bring a child into this? So it could be ignored and controlled by you, just like I was? You wanted it to grow up swallowing its own tears while watching its father play house with another woman and her son?”

Cassian’s composure finally shattered. Tears streamed down his face, spilling from his bloodshot eyes.

“Trista… Samantha and 1–nothing ever happened! We never slept together!”

He confessed the words in a frantic, trembling rush. “Algernon is her ex’s kid! He isn’t mine! We share zero blood!”

Trista’s tears fell silently. Her smile was pale and wretched.

“Cassian, we’ve known each other for twenty years. We’ve been mates for three. I would have cut my own heart out for you. And yet, for Samantha’s sake, you were more than happy to play father to another man’s

son.”

“Your ‘honesty‘ now just proves how cheap I was in your eyes. How little I mattered.”

The world went black for Trista. Her wolf fell into a deep, protective sleep, and she lost consciousness.

When Trista opened her eyes again, she was back in the LA Healing Center.

She saw Cassian slumped over the edge of the bed, his hand tightly gripping hers even in sleep. She struggled to sit up, looking for her comm–stone.

The movement jolted Cassian awake.

In just twenty–four hours, he looked like he’d aged five years.

He was covered in dark stubble, and his eyes were still a haunted red. He pulled the stone from his pocket and handed it to her with trembling hands.

“I talked to Xander. I handled your leave of absence,” he said, his voice low and heavy with pain. “Just rest. Focus on getting better.”

Trista didn’t say a word. She took the stone and lay back down.

Cassian stood by the bed, his throat tight, unable to find the words to bridge the distance between them.

Paisley walked in with a bowl of warm oatmeal. Cassian took it from her and set it on the nightstand.

He reached out to tuck the covers around Trista. “Paisley made this. Please… try to eat something.”

When no response came, he stood there for a long time before finally retreating out of the room, looking utterly defeated.

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Chapter 296.

Paisley sat on the edge of the bed and patted Trista’s shoulder. “Your health comes first, honey. Try to have a liule

Trista finally sat up, her strength spent.

Paisley propped a pillow behind her and began to feed her.

Paisley let out a heavy sigh. “What a beautiful life that would have been. Such a shame.

Trista’s eyes welled with tears, her voice barely a whisper. “Paisley, I wanted to keep it. I was just so scared

“For Samantha’s sake, he could love a child that wasn’t even his. For that woman, he ignored me and took away my right to even be sad. He let everyone think she was his Luna. He wanted to be her husband. He wanted to be that kid’s father.”

。

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