I can’t believe it. There’s a baby inside me.

    A real, living, breathing piece of life growing in my womb.

    The words keep circling in my head like vultures, making my chest tighten until it feels like I can’t breathe. How did I not know? How did my wolf not sense it? She’s supposed to be bound to every shift in my body, every ripple in my soul–yet she was silent. We were blind.

    And the shame cuts me deeper than anything.

    What kind of mother doesn’t even realize she’s carrying her child}||

    I bite down on my lip, hard enough that the metallic tang of blood spreads across my tongue. My hands tremble where they rest against my knees, and no matter how I try to steady them, the panic keeps bubbling. It had to be her–Nora, Fury’s mate, someone I barely knew and had even almost despised–who broke the news to me. Now I’m not only drowning in guilt but also bound by this invisible thread of debt to her.

    A warm hand slips around my waist, firm and grounding. Jack. Oh, how I missed him. It’s like he can feel the storm inside me; he pulls me close until my side rests against his chest. His scent–cedarwood and earth after rain–calms the tremors in my bones. Ince up, and his expression is reassuring, his dark eyes glowing faintly with the softness only he ever shows me. Without a word, his palm moves to my belly. The moment he touches me there, his thumb circling slow and reverentb, /bmy heart skips.

    I already know–he’ll be the best father, everything I could never be. He’ll never let me drown.

    Silently, I make a promise to myself: once we’re back at the pce I’ll demand answers from a doctor. How long has this little life been growing inside me without my knowing?

    But before the guilt can consume me again, Jack presses a gentle kiss to my temple and whispers, low enough for only me to

    hear:

    “We’ll figure this out together. You’re not alone, baby.”

    His words soothe me in a way nothing else ever could.

    *****

    We’re all gathered now in the living roomb, /bthe air heavy with everything unspoken. My mother–the queen–sits at the centre, regal and unreadable, her gaze sweeping the room like she’s weighing every soul here. Beside her, Fury’s father sits in a wheelchair. His oncemanding presence may be dimmed, but not lost; his sharp eyes still hold authority, even if his body has betrayed him—or so it seems. Something in my gut whispers that man could stand if he wished.

    Across from me, Fury shifts ufortably, his jaw still tight from being held at the throat by Jack earlier yet, there’s no bitterness left in his expression, only a kind of weary eptance.

    Jack clears his throat, finally voicing the words he’s been holding ack.

    “Fury… about earlieri,/ii” /ihe begins carefully, his arm still protectively around me. “I owe you an apology. I didn’t mean–”

    Fury raises a hand, cutting him off. “Don’t apologise, Alpha.” His voice is rough but not hostile. His gaze drops, as though the weight of his own confession presses him down. “It wasn’t your ult. It was mine. The moment I found my mate, Jasmine… she just vanished from my mind. It wasn’t intentional. It was the male bond.”

    Jack nods slowly, understanding in his eyes. “I get it. The bond changes everything. It makes you see nothing else. Believe me, I

    know.”

    He turns his head toward me, and the corner of his lips curves into smile that makes my cheeks heat, and the way he looks at me–it’s like I’m the only one alive in this room.

    Fury huffs out a breath, shaking his head as if still wrestling with s own truth. Then Nora shifts on hisp, her hands curling

    into his shirt as if anchoring him. Her face flushes under everyone hesitation, like she belongs nowhere else.

    The Queen clears her throat but doesn’t speak. Still, I catch the fair and the shadows beneath her eyes that no amount of makeup can me… she looks tired. Too tired. Something is wrong, and the realis

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