Chapter 3: The Storm That Changed Everything

The pain didn’t stop.

It came in waves tight, twisting, unforgiving.

My hands clutched the bed frame as thunder roared above me. The storm outside mirrored the chaos inside my body. Sheets clung to my legs, soaked with sweat. My breath came short, sharp, ragged.

I wasn’t ready.

The baby wasn’t ready.

I stumbled toward the door, vision swimming. My voice cracked through the walls as I shouted for help.

No one answered.

The tavern below was silent, drowned by the storm. Mira must’ve locked up early.

Another cramp tore through me, worse than before. I fell to my knees, gasping.

I had to move.

Crawling felt like dragging chains. Every inch of progress burned. I reached the hallway, palms scraping against rough wood. Blood smeared behind me, dark and slick.

Lightning cracked across the sky, flashing through the window like a warning.

I didn’t care. I needed to get to the healer.

To Callen.

To someone.

Anyone.

I gritted my teeth and pushed forward.

Down the stairs.

Across the tavern floor.

The door loomed ahead like a cliff.

I reached it just as my legs gave out completely.

“Please,” I whispered to no one. “Not like this…”

And then the door slammed open.

A figure stood in the rain. Cloaked. Tall. Dripping wet.

For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating.

Then the figure rushed forward, arms wrapping around me just before everything went dark.

I woke to warmth.

Flickering fire. The smell of herbs and ash. A heavy blanket draped over my body.

I blinked at the ceiling. Rough beams. Hanging jars. A mobile made of feathers turning in slow circles.

I wasn’t in the tavern.

The pain had dulled. Still there but manageable.

I tried to sit up, but a firm hand stopped me.

“Don’t,” a voice said.

Low. Steady.

I turned my head.

Callen stood beside the bed, sleeves rolled up, eyes shadowed with worry.

“You’re lucky,” he said. “You nearly went into early labor.”

My hand flew to my stomach.

“The baby?” I whispered.

He nodded. “Still with you. Strong heartbeat. But you need to rest.”

Relief crashed through me. I exhaled shakily, eyes closing.

“Who… who found me?”

Callen hesitated.

“She brought you here.”

“She?”

Before he could answer, the door creaked.

And in walked the last person I expected to see.

**Selene.**

She looked different.

Not in beauty she still moved like a storm bottled into flesh but in expression.

Gone was the smirk. Gone was the sharpness.

She stood near the door like she wasn’t sure if she belonged.

“I was traveling,” she said before I could speak. “Got caught in the storm. I saw you crawling through the tavern doorway.”

My throat tightened. “You saved me.”

She nodded.

Silence settled like dust between us.

I didn’t thank her. Not yet.

Because I needed to understand.

“Why were you here?”

“I’ve been staying in the rogue town for a few days,” she said, glancing toward the fire. “Not many know who I am out here. That’s the point.”

I studied her face. She didn’t wear makeup. Her hair was in a loose braid. There were dark circles beneath her eyes.

“You left the Crescent Moon Pack,” I said quietly.

“I left Kael.”

That landed like a blade.

I sat up slowly. “You did what?”

“He’s not mine,” she said, looking at me now. “Never was.”

“Yet you stayed.”

“So did you.”

The words hung in the air.

I looked away.

“I stayed because I believed in something that never existed.”

Selene stepped closer, arms crossed. “I thought being the girl the Alpha loved would make me whole. But he didn’t love me. Not truly. And I never loved him the way he needed to.”

I swallowed hard. “Then why did he choose you?”

“He didn’t,” she said. “He settled.”

The honesty in her voice caught me off guard.

“You really believe that?”

“I *know* it,” she said. “Because the moment he realized you were gone, he started dying slowly.”

I closed my eyes.

“Kael wasn’t just grieving you,” she continued. “He was grieving his own mistake.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Selene walked over, pulled a chair beside the bed, and sat.

“Because I’m done pretending I won a battle I never wanted to fight.”

We sat in silence.

The fire cracked between us. I felt the weight of months I hadn’t spoken aloud. All the pain. The loneliness. The betrayal.

She leaned forward. “I don’t expect forgiveness. I don’t want to be your friend. But you should know Kael isn’t okay. And when he finds out what nearly happened to you tonight, he’ll burn half the world to reach you.”

I laughed bitterly. “Let him try.”

Callen returned later and gave me a stronger tonic.

“You need to stay in bed,” he said. “One more scare like this, and it could end badly.”

I nodded, exhausted.

Selene had gone. Left with barely a goodbye. Maybe she’d return to her old life. Maybe she’d disappear forever.

Either way, I didn’t owe her anything.

But for a moment, I saw the girl beneath the arrogance.

A girl just as lost as I was.

The next few days passed in a strange haze.

I stayed in Callen’s care, too weak to move much.

He checked the baby’s heartbeat every morning. The sound was like thunder underwater, strong and defiant.

At night, I dreamed of Kael.

Not as the Alpha.

But as the boy who once kissed me beneath a waterfall and promised we’d never break.

Dreams could lie.

But sometimes, they whispered truths too painful to ignore.

It happened on the fifth day.

The storm had passed.

Sunlight crept through the curtains, gold and soft.

I sat up slowly, cradling my stomach, humming an old lullaby my mother used to sing.

Then I felt it.

Not just a kick.

A pulse.

Sharp. Urgent.

Then a scent.

Familiar.

Wild.

Alpha.

I looked toward the door just as it opened.

**Kael.**

He didn’t speak.

Didn’t move.

He just stood there, dripping sweat, his shirt clinging to his chest, boots caked in mud.

His eyes locked on mine.

My breath caught.

He looked like a ghost crawling back from war.

He stepped into the room.

One step.

Two.

I stayed frozen.

He knelt beside the bed and reached out hesitated then let his hand rest on my stomach.

I didn’t stop him.

The baby kicked.

His eyes shimmered.

“Still mine?” he whispered.

I couldn’t answer.

Tears blurred my vision.

He pressed his forehead to my belly. “I looked for you every night. I sent Jace. I tore through rogue borders. When I heard you almost lost the baby…”

His voice cracked.

I placed a hand on his shoulder.

Warm. Real.

“You chose her,” I said quietly.

“I didn’t choose anything,” he said. “I let fear choose for me.”

I didn’t know what to say.

I didn’t know if I could forgive him.

But in that moment, I saw the truth written all over him.

He had broken, too.

And maybe, just maybe…

He wanted to be whole again.