“Please don’t do this.” I begged over and over, but no one was listening. I thrashed against their hold, but nothing. “I am your luna.” I screamed at the top of my lungs, but then his laugh from the other room broke all the fight in me. “Luke please.” I begged once more time, my voice horse.
“Kill it once it’s done. Toss her out. She will have to survive on her own from here on out.”
He can’t mean that. This was our baby. “Our baby.”
“Is a mistake from the Moon Goddess. One I will rectify.” His voice called again from the other room. He wouldn’t even face me. “Now do it. That’s an order.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
It was a mistake to come here.
It was a mistake to give him everything.
“Oh, and doctor?” Her sweet voice called from the other room. My stepsister, Shannon. I gritted my teeth. “Don’t use any anesthetic. She should feel everything.”
“Yes, Luna.” The doctor turned back to me with sad eyes, but when he picked up the scalpel, I knew I was screwed.
I’m sorry, baby. Momma couldn’t save you. She wanted you so, so much. I tried to rub my stomach, but the nurses had strapped me down. When the doctor approached, I realized he was using a silver blade.
“Silver?” My whisper was almost silent, but he nodded. I knew then that Shannon didn’t want me to survive. She wanted my life so badly that she lied about me cheating on my mate, showing photos as proof. But I never touched another wolf, nor would I again, not after this betrayal.
Why, Moon Goddess, why would you give him to me just to take him away? My pup.
I cried silently as the doctor cut into my abdomen, and I felt my baby thrash inside. He knew it was too early to be born. This was a death sentence for both of us.
“Bring me the body of the pup.”
“Yes Alpha.” I felt every slice as he cut into me, and finally I could take it no longer. I started to scream, soon I felt the blood trickling down my side, every drip off of me hitting the floor. I thrashed against the restraints. But the silver had made me weak.
I’m sorry, baby.
They weren’t trying to keep me alive, which I expected, but I wished wasn’t true. I used to love my mate, but I felt the love die in me when I saw my pup being ripped from my belly.
“Please, let me hold him once.” I tried to move my arms to reach for him, but I was still tied down. The doctor, who was shedding tears, brought my pup and laid him on my chest.
He was perfect. I rubbed his scent on my face and mine on his. He would forever be a part of my soul.
My missing piece.
“Doctor, now.”
“Yes Alpha.” The doctor picked the baby up and rushed out, leaving me spread open to the elements.
I felt my life slipping away as the door opened and Shannon came in. Her smug smile was firmly in place.
“I told you I would take your life, Amy. I would have your mate. And I have, over and over, since he found out of your betrayal.” Shannon walked over and laid a kiss on my face as I snarled. “He is perfection. And don’t worry. I will give him another son.” She laid her hand on her stomach and I started to laugh. “What’s so funny?”
“I can smell the beta on you. That’s Derek's child, and it’s a girl. Nice try though.”
She snarled and raised her hand, growing her claws to deliver the final blow, but the door was ripped open and my mate, the man I now hated most in the world, stepped inside. His eyes were red, and I started to laugh again.
“You bitch!” He snarled and struck out, whipping Shannon to the other side of the room.
“Brandon!” Shannon shrieked as she hit the wall. “What’s wrong?” She staggered to her feet, but more blood dripped out of me and I closed my eyes.
“You lied!” He screamed, shaking the walls as his aura struck out, but I could barely feel it. I felt the silver travelling in my veins getting closer to my sluggish heart. “This was my pup. I can smell me on him. He was mine.” Brandon's eyes grew redder as the tears gathered. “You said she cheated on me and that it wasn’t my pup.”
“She did cheat on you. I guess I was wrong about the pup.”
“You said you smelt it.” From the sound of it, he lunged for her again, but him clutching our baby in his arm was the last thing I saw. And I wanted to never see it again. He did this to us. Not Shannon.
She played her part well, sure, but him not believing me, not waiting for a few more days to smell the pup, that was his fault. And all of our downfalls.
I prayed for the moon goddess to take me. I no longer wanted to be here. I wanted to be with my pup.
“Save her.”
“No!” Shannon screamed. “I am the Luna now, you marked me last night.” Ah, so that was the pain I felt last night. His betrayal had bile shoot into my mouth. “I am bearing your pup.”
I started to laugh again. I cracked my eyes to see my mate, Brandon, hovering next to me. “Stay with me Amy.”
“Beta’s baby. She is fucking…the beta.” I choked out the words and laughed as horror bloomed in his eyes. Blood flew from my mouth as I smiled again.
“Save her.”
“No!” I slammed out, putting all of my power in it. “Don’t move.” I used my Alpha strength to freeze everyone, including my mate.
“How?” Brandon looked down at me, pleading. “Let me save you.”
“I am descended from the Moon Goddess, and you don’t deserve to save me. You don’t deserve our pup. You were weak. And now you lost everything.” I smiled up at him as I felt my life from my body.
And then I was free.
We closed the door behind us, and Rowan laughed. “That was mean…even for you.” I threw my head back and laughed.I started up the stairs without looking back. “It’s not like we had a lot of choices. Luke was the best option on the fly, and I need to get back to my father’s place.”“I know you’re4 right. His face was funny as fuck though.” He chuckled once more before we headed back through the closet to screaming. “Alannah, push.” “No!” She screamed again. The guttural sounds sent shivers down my spine. Rowan stopped short, and I had to push him inside further so I could step into the cottage. I walked around him toward the closet door. “Amy…” His whisper stopped me short, and I turned back. “Yeah?” He pointed to his nose in the dark. It took me a second to realize he was telling em to use my nose. I nodded once and turned back to take a deep breath. “Come on, baby, you can do this.” Ternen’s voice was soft and confident. “Once they come, you have to leave again.” She cried out.
Once both bags were full and Vince’s pack was completely drained of lupine solution, we all headed out of the med building. Luke locked the door behind us, and when I tilted my head watching him, he scratched the back of his neck. “Everyone else is already at the pack house waiting for the meeting. I guess I just locked it out of habit.” The tips of his ears turned a soft pink as I turned away. Rowan shifted, and I heard a soft smack that was followed by an indignant yelp. “Don’t flirt with my mate, Luke. You’re my friend, and I’d hate to kill you.” That made me smile as I started toward the pack house. “I wasn’t.” Luke tried to deny it, but Rowan just grunted as they both followed me. He cleared his throat. “I assume you need the lupine solution urgently, so why are you having a meeting at the pack house?”I puffed out my lips as I thought of my father’s pack. “We do. But as the Alpha of this pack, I also have to worry about the wolves here.” I looked over my shoulder as we turned
We cleared the tent and ran into Toya. “Are you okay?” I grabbed for her. The cut on her face was healing as I watched, and the worry I had disappeared. She grinned. “Yeah. My family just got back from hunting down some runners. We just came back to check in before we went for another run.” She looked around. “Everything good here?”I shook my head once. “I’ll send Nix to you to explain. We are heading back to the pack house.” I sighed. I grabbed her arm once. “Stay safe until we get back.”She tilted her head and nodded once. “Be safe.”I smiled at her, then I shifted into Nix and started running. Megan…go tell Toya everything. She took off before I hit the trees. Erubus caught up with me, and we ran to the pack house in silence. “We are heading back to Vince’s pack, right?”I nodded once. “They have a med building, and I’m sure they have a huge stock of what we need.” I called over to him. “Plus…”“Plus what?”“It gives me a second to check in on Alannah.” We ran past the pack hou
The waking world returned to me in tiny fragments. My eyes were still closed, my mind half awake, but I felt fingers intertwined in both of my hands on either side of me. I felt my fingers twitch, and both hands tightened on mine. “Baby?” Rowan’s words were a soft siren call, pulling me from the depths of the darkness that held me. I felt the tendrils of blackness slowly slipping from my body as I swam to the surface of my conscience. “Baby? Are you there?” I tried to talk. I’m here. I called out, but my mouth refused to move. I was still fighting the hold of exhaustion that still ate away at the edges of my mind. I’m here. I tried again, but my body still refused to listen. I kept fighting because I needed to re4ach Rowan, and my dad.That thought was like a bomb going off in my mind. Everything came rushing back. The cave-in, my magic failing, Ry’s words. My dad’s last goodbye. I felt the burn behind my closed eyes as tears trailed down my cheeks. “Baby?” Rowan’s fingers trailed
I focused on the little boy in front of me. His little sister clung to my side as voices rang out around me. “Is that everyone?”“I don’t know.” Another voice called out.“How many were missing?”“How many did we pull out?”“Baby.” Rowan’s voice called my attention back. “Amy?”“Yeah?” I shook my head to clear it of the mist that seemed to still coat it. “Did you hear me?” Rowan leaned over my shoulder and stared into my eyes. “What?”“Did you hear me?”My mind processed what he was saying. “What? No…Yes, I mean. Yes, I can hear you.”Rowan smiled. “I’ll take that as I no. You didn’t hear what I said.” I must have frowned because he smiled bigger. “I need you to stop pulling rocks out and instead look for anyone else still buried.” I must have paled because he reached out and cupped my face. “We just need to be sure there is no one else still buried. We don’t want to leave anyone trapped still.” His face fell for a second. “Everyone deserves to come home.”I nodded once and licked m
My entire world shattered as my vision flickered black again. But I heard some wolves call out, and I knew I had to hold the shield for as long as I could. Even if my father was gone…The words caught in my throat. I couldn’t think about it. Hold the shield. Protect the pack as long as I could. Those words became a mantra, even as I felt my wolves start to fade. Even as Loki disappeared. I wanted to stop. To save him, but I was duty bound to hold the cave for everyone else. I felt tears coursing down my face as my heart splintered. My mind flickered to my mom, and a heard a sob break free from my lips. She had just gotten her mate back, and now he was gone. I felt my power sag again, and someone cried out as a rock snuck past the shield, hitting the ground near them. I wish I could look to see if they were pulling people free, but my world was still dark. Darkness had long taken over the clearing in my mind. I was down to the tiny flickering flame of my magic. Everything else was go