Chapter 3

Two days later, Ethan rushed into the hospital with Sophie trailing behind him.

The moment he saw me, he hurried over to check on me. Once he saw I was alright, he let out a sigh of relief.

He gripped my hand. "I'm so sorry. I've been tied up these past few days. What happened? How did you end up in the hospital?"

I pulled my hand free. In my head, I wanted to ask — tied up in bed, were you? But I held it in and just said, "It's nothing."

I glanced up at Sophie. The look of resentment on her face lasted only a second before she smoothed it away. And all I could think of was the face I'd seen right before I blacked out.

She wanted me dead. She wanted my baby dead.

I was about to tell Ethan everything when his phone rang. He gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry — I need to take this. One second."

The moment Ethan stepped out of the room, Sophie's mask fell away.

She walked to my bedside and let out a cold laugh. "That little bastard in your belly sure has some fight. Wolfsbane couldn't even kill it."

My blood went cold, then white-hot. I clenched my fists and stared her down. "So it was you. You tried to kill my baby. I will make you pay for this."

Sophie's lips curled. "So what if it was me? What are you going to do — run to Ethan? Who do you think he'll believe — you or me?"

She pulled a hospital report from her bag and waved it in front of my face. "Surprise. I'm pregnant too. My baby is the future Alpha's heir. Yours is just in the way. So I had to get rid of it."

She picked up the glass of water from my bedside table. "I'm sorry, Vivian. Don't take it personally. I'm just doing what's best for my child."

Before I could react, she hurled the glass to the floor. It shattered across the tile. Then she threw herself to the ground.

I had no idea what she was doing — until Ethan came running back in.

He took one look at the scene — Sophie on the floor, broken glass everywhere — and his face went dark.

Sophie looked up at him through her tears. "I know my baby wasn't conceived the right way. But if you want to hit someone, hit me. Please — just don't hurt my baby."

I froze. The blood in my veins turned to ice.

"What are you — "

Before I could finish, Ethan lunged forward and shoved me away from Sophie. Hard.

My stomach slammed into the corner of the bedside table.

A strangled sound escaped my throat. But Ethan wasn't looking at me. His eyes were locked on Sophie.

Sophie clutched her belly, moaning in pain. "Ethan, my stomach — it hurts so bad."

"My baby — save my baby!"

Ethan's face went white. He scooped Sophie into his arms and rushed out of the room.

He never looked back. Not once.

The impact had sent a vicious shock through my abdomen. I bit down on my lip and forced myself to stand. The pain was blinding.

Then I looked down.

Blood. Soaking through my gown, running down my thighs, leaving a trail on the floor behind me.

I staggered out of the room, screaming down the hospital corridor. "Help — someone help! Save my baby! Please save my baby!"

They rushed me into surgery. I begged the healers over and over — please, save my child.

I prayed in silence. I would give up anything. Ethan, the years I'd wasted on him, all of it. I didn't care anymore.

I just wanted my baby to live.

But the healer's eyes told me everything. He let out a long breath and shook his head. "I'm sorry. If it were just the impact, we might have been able to save the baby. But the wolfsbane had already weakened everything."

"You're hemorrhaging. The only way to save your life is to terminate the pregnancy. Otherwise we'll lose you both."

I squeezed my eyes shut. For a long, agonizing moment, I couldn't speak.

Then I gave my consent.

My baby was gone.

When it was over — when I felt that last piece of my child leave my body — my heart died with it.

A single tear fell onto the cold steel of the operating table.