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Asher's face was like stone as he regarded the newborn in Robin's arms. The labour had been surprisingly easy, and the baby was gorgeous. Robin felt a little bit biased about her daughter. 94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnioEFKrXme
That's where the problem lay. 94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQDEaW1fG8
"You're a disappointment," Asher said at last, his eyes like chips of grey ice as he finally looked at his wife. "I expected better of you, but you've failed miserably. I shouldn't have expected anything more from a human, but you're a Luna, for God's sake. You should know you can choose the gender of the child from within the womb."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuKJySbUvS
Robin sighed. "I did know that," she said. "But I chose to let nature take its course. You might control me in every way, Asher, but you will not control my daughter's fate."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcqzeJj3BxA
Asher chuckled. "You think so?" he said. "I can snap my fingers and drain the little parasite here and now, if I so chose."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00O3lj7Ft3
"You could," Robin agreed, calm on the surface but sick with fear inside for her daughter, only a few hours old and with her life already threatened by her tyrannical father. 94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOHlKtRSCB
A long, tense silence stretched between husband and wife, until Asher finally shrugged. "But I am not entirely heartless," he said. "I know you despise me, and the feeling is quite mutual, I can assure you. I would have married Satine had your father not interefered in my mission to wipe the Black Cold pack from the face of the earth. Instead, I'm forced to bed a traitor's daughter, who continues to disappoint me in every way."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfBH7Opr6C
"I never wanted to marry you," Robin said through gritted teeth, the first instance of open anger she'd displayed in more than a year. "I was forced to do so because your pack required reparation! Otherwise, my mother and I would be on the streets, or dead!"94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIqaWKdayf
"It would have been better for us all," Asher snapped. "You have the same blood as that little bitch, and now it infects my offspring as well. I should have the both of you killed here and now, and send someone to finish off your bitch mother as well."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP27oBKP14c
Robin waited, heart pounding like thunder in her ears, until, again. Asher shrugged. "No," he said. "You can keep your little parasite. But keep her out of my way. She is my daughter by blood, but she will never have the place in my heart a son would have. And you will bear me a son, woman. I will lie with you night after night until he is conceived, and you will not do anything to change his fate or his gender. I will be watching you, and I know all the tricks in the book. My mother taught me how to watch out for all the little deceptions Lunas use to defy their mates, and I will kill that little brat if you so much as even think about changing my son's destiny."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUpqYroCnD
"You have a son," Robin pointed out acidly. 94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37520Aluxj
"He is a bastard," Asher replied. "He cannot succeed me as Alpha. The son you bear me will be Alpha when I am gone. If your little parasite is good, she might get to stay in the pack when my son takes the mantle." He turned on his heel and stalked out, leaving Robin to hold her daughter tightly, tears trickling silently down her cheeks for a very long time.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpy0Kg7qdRY
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True to his word, Asher never acknowledged his firstborn. Robin did her best to keep little Rose out of his sight and hearing, and won a further bit of grudging support from Satine, who taught her some of the ways to soothe a half-human, half-werewolf child. She also advised her mistress to give her husband what he wanted. "Man won't give up till he's fathered a boy on you," she said. 94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zNCpul7bv
Robin sighed. "I don't want any son of mine to grow up like his father," she admitted. "Jo's bad enough without adding an equally bloody-minded and vicious younger half-brother to the mix."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0UImkpUnB
Satine shrugged. "Trust me, once your boy is born, Asher will likely send you away," she said. "It'll be for the best, girl. You won't see your male progeny getting twisted and broken the way Jo almost was."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6uJXr264e
"How is he now?" Robin asked anxiously.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpa5TB4u2HR
"Better," Satine allowed, pouring her mistress a second cup of coffee before pouring one for herself. "He loves your little girl, and he'd do anything for her. Asher don't like it, but he don't care none about the boy, so he lets him do as he will. Rose needs a stabilising influence in her life, and Jo's found a heart he didn't think he had."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjfzCLt6xh
Robin smiled. Jo was fiercely devoted to her daughter, and every chance he could, he went up to the nursery to play with his little half-sister, who'd expertly wound him around her tiny finger the moment he laid eyes on her after Robin brought her home. He even managed to treat his stepmother with some shamefaced respect, and Robin was willing to let bygones be bygones so long as Jo continued to show he truly had changed from the brat he'd been two years ago. So far, he had. "Can I count on him to protect her if Asher insists I leave her behind?"94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QgpeAfV0F
"Asher don't give two shits about her," Satine said. "He'll let her go with you, if only to get her out of his sight."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPZewbctmy
"I'm not so sure," Robin admitted. "I've a feeling Asher will make her stay here to hurt me. You know what he's like, Satine."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2HHDY8ZS9
"Wish I fuckin' didn't," Satine said grimly. "If you ask Jo real nice, he'll spill the last drop of his blood to defend Rose if the need arises."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjumO8TjOx
"I'll do that," Robin decided. "Thank you, Satine. It's good to know I have some friends in this house of horrors."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESznfX7Xt2
Satine grunted. "You've a head on your shoulders," she said, and Robin found another smile come to her face as the sour-faced woman collected the cups. She'd gotten to know Satine rather well, and she knew the comment was Satine's way of saying how glad she was to have Robin around. 94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZM3L6qHehe
It was yet another small win.
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