Nova
I was stunned into silence.
Aria had just referred to me as her mother. This couldn’t end well.
“Alpha Dominic, I would never even consider replacing your late wife,” I said quickly, whirling to face Dominic once more. “I hope you know this.”
Dominic’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t look at me right away. Instead, he looked at Aria with that strange, assessing gaze of his. “Aria, why did you say that?” he asked.
Oddly, his tone wasn’t accusatory. If anything, it seemed to me as if he were simply curious as to why Aria would refer to me as “Mommy.”
Aria looked a little bashful now, but she held her ground between us, as if her tiny form could stop Dominic from firing me.
“Because I feel like she’s my mom,” she said firmly, planting her hands on her hips—her teddy bear dangling to o
