CHAPTER 162: BRUNO MARS - COUNT ON ME

"I’m here, love. I’m here," he whispered, brushing a strand of hair away from her temple.

He turned to Thessa, wild-eyed and shaking. "Do something!"

Thessa nodded quickly, and kneeling on the other side of the bed. "I need equipment," she said, scanning Luna’s vital signs with her hands.

"Right," Kyllian snapped out of his stillness. He threw open the door and found the useless castle medic standing frozen. Kyllian didn’t even speak. He just grabbed the black iron box from the man’s hands and slammed the door behind him.

"Here," he said curtly, handing it over.

Damien and Kyllian stood shoulder to shoulder, an image that would’ve amused Luna to no end—her vampire mate and her wolf ex, grim as stone and equally terrified. For one fleeting moment, the ancient rivalry between their bloodlines fell away.

Because in that room, there was only one thing that mattered: Luna.

Minutes passed.

Finally, Thessa turned toward them.

"It’s the baby," she said softly.

Kyllian’s brow furrowed. "Baby? What baby?"

Thessa looked at Kyllian and clarified. "The princess is pregnant."

"What’s happening to the baby?" Damien asked.

"It needs sustenance," she said calmly, though her brow was pinched with concern. "And so... it feeds on the mother."

Damien’s eyes widened. "Oh my Goddess," he whispered, staggering back. His gaze dropped to Luna’s face.

"Okay. Well then," he snapped, his panic rising, "do something!"

"Your Highness, I am doing something. But unless one of you has a stash of human blood just lying around in a werewolf castle, my options are severely limited."

"How long does she have?" he asked, quieter now. He was afraid of the answer. And even more afraid of the silence that came before it.

"Not long," Thessa said gently. "The child is currently feeding on the mother’s blood fast, because werewolf blood isn’t satisfying, and if we don’t stabilize her, the body will shut down. We need a transfusion now, before we can even think of moving her."

Kyllian, who had been silent until now said. "I’ll get the Queen."

Damien leaned in and brushed his lips against Luna’s knuckles again, as if his touch could buy them more time.

*****

A few tense minutes later, Ravena sat beside her daughter with her arm extended, a thin silver needle piercing her skin. A crystal-clear line ran from her vein into Luna’s, the drip of red steady.

Damien watched silently.

"She didn’t tell me she was pregnant," Ravena said suddenly. "Why didn’t she tell me?"

Her hand trembled just slightly as it rested in her lap, and her face looked soft with grief.

"I did notice," she went on, almost to herself now, "that she was without colour. Her glow was gone. But she said it was the lack of sun."

"She probably didn’t want to worry you," Kyllian said gently, stepping beside the queen. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You need to breathe. Getting upset will not help."

"Why didn’t she tell me?" she repeated, softer this time.

Damien finally spoke. "Maybe she didn’t want to be judged."

Ravena turned her head slowly toward him.

"A werewolf princess," Damien continued, meeting her gaze, "carrying a vampire baby."

"I’m her mother," Ravena said quietly. She sat back slowly. "She should be able to tell me everything."

Damien turned his head toward Thessa. "Does that mean... the child is a Trueblood?"

"Most definitely, Your Highness. Congratulations. You’re going to be the father of a Trueblood heir."

He looked down at Luna. "We did it, my Moonlight. We did it," he whispered. "Now you just have to wake up."

"A Trueblood?" Kyllian echoed. "What does that even mean?"

"It means," Thessa said without looking up, "that the child is purely a vampire. Unmixed. Fully awakened. Which should be biologically impossible given the mother’s werewolf nature, but... well, the princess is not exactly textbook, is she?"

"Congratulations, Prince Damien," he said. "You got your heir. But the princess—our princess—is still ours."

Damien’s eyes darkened as he stood upright. "By ours, you mean yours, don’t you? Newsflash, Alpha Pup: she is pregnant with my child."

"Oh please," Kyllian rolled his eyes.

"Kyllian, stop it! Damien, you stop too!" Ravena snapped.

Both men turned toward her. The queen’s glare was sharp.

"Both of you—behave for once! She came here to broker peace between the both of you, and now look. Look!" She pointed at Luna, unconscious and hooked to a blood drip. "And this is what you do? Argue like rabid jackals while she fades in front of your eyes!"

They both fell silent.

"I cannot believe," Ravena went on, "that the safety of both kingdoms rests in your hormonally unbalanced hands. It’s like watching two toddlers wrestle over a squeaky toy while the house burns down around them."

Kyllian lowered his gaze in shame and Damien stood waiting for her to wake up.

*****

Sage Veyron opened the door of his townhouse to find Doctor Thessally standing on his porch, her hair in a messy braid. He blinked sleepily, holding a steaming mug in one hand, the scent of blood coffee wafting in delicate iron-rich spirals.

"Thessa... is everything okay?" he asked. He leaned against the doorframe, still in his night robe.

"Yes and no," she replied, brushing past him.

Veyron turned slowly, eyebrow raised. He followed her inside as she made a beeline for the couch.

"Thessa. What’s going on? Is the princess alright?" He was beginning to panic now.

She turned around slowly. "The prince picked me up last night," she began. "We went to the werewolf kingdom. She was dying, Veyron. The child was killing her."

"What?"

"I’ve been able to stabilize her," Thessa continued. "We got her back to Blood City. She’s in the prince’s castle."

Veyron placed his mug down with care. "What is going on?" he whispered.

"The child," Thessa said, exhaling, "is a Trueblood."

"Oh, thank goodness." Veyron collapsed onto his armchair. "Goddess, thank you. I have to inform the court—"

"Don’t uncork the wine yet," Thessa interrupted. "The baby is also a relentless little bloodsucker. Literally."

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