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Lila's POV

It's been an entire fucking month with Alpha Rafael plowing my body like a ragged goat. Each night, each fucking day. His hands gripping my thighs, his teeth grazing my neck, his growls in my ear. And those moments, fuck. I won't lie. They were heaven. A twisted, agonizing heaven that left me trembling and raw. 

For my mother? I hadn't seen her since that... incident. How could I? How could I face her knowing that while she was crying herself to sleep over my fate, I was screaming Rafael's name, begging him for more as he drove me to the edge again and again? Yeah. Not a conversation I wanted to have over tea. 

The last week, though? Something was off. Either I was waking up with morning nausea or dragging myself around like a limp noodle, too weak to function. My wolf, Lora, had noticed too, her voice in my head filled with quiet concern. Even Eliza, the ever-watchful maid assigned to take care of me, had started giving me those looks. 

"It's been days, Miss Lila," she'd said, hands on her hips like a mother scolding her child. "You're pale, you're sluggish, and you've been throwing up your guts. You need to take a pregnancy test." 

A pregnancy test. The words had hit me like a slap. I laughed it off at first-nervously, awkwardly-but Eliza wasn't having it. By the time she returned with the test kit, I was too exhausted to argue. 

And now here I am, sitting on the cold bathroom floor with my knees pulled to my chest, staring at the test in my shaking hands, the two bold lines staring back at me like a pair of damning eyes.

 Positive. 

I'm pregnant. 

I felt like the ground was swallowing me whole, the thought of that one word pressing down on my chest until I could barely breathe. 

Pregnant with Alpha Rafael's child.

 The same man who made it clear, with no room for doubt, that any child I dared to carry for him wouldn't make it past its first breath. 

The man who, just months ago, looked me dead in the eye and said, "You'll never bear my child. I'll kill any bastard you try to pin on me with my bare hands."

My stomach churned, and not from morning sickness this time. My body felt like it was split in two-one half filled with fear and the other, something I hated myself for admitting, an odd, stubborn defiance. 

My heart was pounding so loud I could hear it in my ears. My wolf stirred, her voice low and serious. 

I sank onto the cold bathroom floor, my back pressed against the tiled wall, the stick clutched in my hand like it was the only thing making me live up to reality. 

"Fuck," I whispered, my voice barely audible over the pounding in my ears. Lora stirred again in my mind, her voice soft but sharp. 

"We need to figure this out, Lila. You can't ignore this."

"No shit, Sherlock," I muttered aloud, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Lora suddenly went quiet , probably rolling her eyes in the back of my mind. 

"We have to think, Lila. Quickly." 

"Think?" I whispered, my voice barely audible. "What's there to think about, Lora? He's going to kill me. Or worse. And the baby..." 

I couldn't even finish the thought. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I blinked them away furiously. Crying wouldn't solve anything. I needed to move. To act. To do something. 

But all I could do was sit there, the Alpha's voice ringing in my ears: 

"Your position here is a mistress, a whore, just like your mother. Don't forget it."

A knock on the bathroom door startled me, and Eliza's muffled voice followed. "Miss Lila? Is everything all right in there?" 

No, I'm not fucking okay. How does one 'okay' their way out of carrying the spawn of the man who wants to use your soul as a scratching post

No. Nothing is all right. But I can't tell her that. 

"I'm fine," I called out, my voice strained. I shoved the test into my pocket and stood on shaky legs, bracing myself against the sink for support. 

When I opened the door, Eliza's sharp eyes scanned my face. "You look pale," she said, her tone soft but insistent. 

"Just tired," I lied. "Thanks for checking on me." 

She didn't look convinced, Her eyes lingered on me for a moment, but she nodded and didn't push. Bless her. If she only knew the storm boiling inside me, she'd probably start packing her things. 

As soon as she turned away, I slipped back to my room and locked the door behind me. The silence was screaming at me. 

I paced back and forth, my thoughts spinning out of control. 

What the hell was I going to do? 

Rafael's words played on for the umpteenth time in my head. "You could bear my name, but trust me, you'll never bear my child." His voice, cold and sharp as a dagger, cut through me every time I thought of it. 

God, why did I let him do this to me? To my body, to my mind? I was nothing more than his toy, his revenge plan wrapped in flesh. But now, this... this was different. 

I paused, my hand instinctively drifting to my stomach. It wasn't showing yet-thank God-but the knowledge of what was growing inside me felt like a ticking time bomb. 

Rafael would kill me if he found out. Hell, he'd probably kill the baby first, just to make a point. 

There was no way I was going to be alive after he finds out.

Staring at the reflection of a woman I barely recognize, all I could picture... Was a little girl calling me 'mommy' crying over her ribbon.

There is only one way out, and I Lila would burn the entire world just to make my child survive.

This baby was mine. Not his. And if he thought I was going to let him dictate how this played out, he had another thing coming. 

I clenched my jaw, my voice low and steady as I muttered, "Your move, Rafael." 

This is a game, and I'm fucking playing to win.