83

ALINA

One moment, I was bracing myself for death, certain Alexander would actually make good on his threat and end me. The next, it felt as though someone had poured a kettle of boiling water directly over my skin. My breath caught in my throat, and for several wild, confused seconds, I thought the heat was coming from outside.

It wasn’t.

It took Alexander’s hands on me to be steady, as the truth clicked. The heat wasn’t touching me from the outside. It was radiating from me. From within my own body.

And it was relentless.

The air in the bathroom wasn’t hot. Alexander wasn’t sweating, not even a little, his expression unreadable as always. Which meant this feverish burn belonged to me alone.

Panic tried to worm its way in, clenching my chest. I’d heard pregnant women complain about always feeling overheated, but this… this was unbearable. This was like my body was on fire from the inside out, and I had no way to put it out.

The shock of cold water from the shower barely dented it, but I still leaned into the spray as if it were the only thing tethering me to reality. Without it, I couldn’t imagine how bad it would feel.

Alexander didn’t move away. He stayed in the shower with me, the droplets soaking his clothes until they clung to his frame. I don’t know how long we stood there, time twisting strangely until it was just the sound of the water and the erratic thud of my heartbeat.

A knock broke the moment. I thought I heard him say something about a doctor, but my head felt thick, like I was hearing him through a wall.

“I’ll go talk to her,” a low voice murmured in my ear.

Claude? Alexander? I couldn’t focus enough to be sure.

It didn’t matter, because the second his arms began to loosen from around me, a sharp, frightened sound tore from my throat before I could stop it. My fingers tightened, clutching at him like I’d sink without that contact.

He stayed as his voice carried to the door, calling whoever was there inside. After a pause, it opened, and through the steam, I recognised the doctor. My vision had to clear in layers before I could be certain.

“Alpha,” she greeted, hesitation dripping from her voice. Her eyes flicked over us, lingering on the fact we were both standing under the shower fully clothed. She looked like she’d rather face a firing squad than be here.

Alexander’s gaze hardened, and whatever silent exchange passed between them made her step forward, though her pace stayed reluctant.

“Tell me why she’s burning up. The water’s not even working,” he demanded, his voice lined with frustration that seemed to sharpen the edges of the steam around us.

My body shuddered in his arms. I thought it was from the cold, but when his hands clamped over my shoulders, I realised the shaking was worse than I thought. My lips began to tremble, my vision narrowing.

“Alpha, you should get her out of the water,” the doctor said quickly, her tone urgent in a way that made something in me twist.

Alexander’s voice was a low growl. “Not until you tell me what the fuck is happening. She’s shaking.”

Am I? I tried to glance down at my toes, but my view blurred after Alexander’s soaked chest.

The doctor hesitated, then said, “I… I think she might be going into heat?” The way she phrased it, like a question, made me want to laugh and cry all at once.

If my mind were clear, I’d be worrying about how quickly my secret was slipping out. I had never trusted her to keep it if Alexander pressed, no one in their right mind would choose me over him. And why would she? She barely knew me.

Alexander’s voice was furious. “What do you mean, heat? She’s not a werewolf.”

The pure venom in his tone made me shiver harder. Maybe it was the fear jolting my senses back online, but one thought rang louder than the rest, he could never find out what I was. Between that and pregnancy, the pregnancy would be the easier explanation.

The doctor swallowed and replied, “It’s… general, mostly, Alpha.” Her voice shrank under his stare.

She glanced at the running water again. “You still need to move her out of the spray. It’s not good for her.”

“And the heat? What do I do about that?” His voice sounded heavier now, tired or maybe defeated.

“A mate usually helps… by completing the bond.”

His growl rumbled low, vibrating through me before he spoke again. “Completing the bond, how?”

The doctor shifted her eyes downward. Meanwhile, I pressed my cheek against his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart.

That sound wrapped around me like a cocoon, easing the frantic edges of my panic. The burn inside me was already beginning to fade, replaced by a creeping awareness of the cold water pouring over my skin. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to move from this spot.

“Well… you know. Everything,” she answered softly.

“No,” he bit out.

The rejection was instant.

Maybe I should have felt stung. Instead, all I felt was the quiet hum of sparks where my skin brushed his. The heat was gone, replaced with something heady and strange, something I didn’t want to let go of.

“Why? She is your mate, isn’t she?” the doctor asked before quickly backtracking when he didn’t answer.

“I’ll try to find an antidote,” she added hurriedly. “But I can’t promise it will work.”

“Do it,” Alexander ordered.

The click of the door told me she’d left. He finally stepped back just enough to tilt my face toward his. His fingers gripped my chin, holding me in place, and his eyes burned with something I couldn’t name.

“You’re too beautiful for your own good,” he said. I wasn’t sure he meant for me to hear it, but I did, and the corner of my mouth lifted in a small, sly smile.

His palm brushed my cheek, checking my temperature again. He nodded slightly to himself before peeling his shirt over his head.

I sucked in a breath, not bothering to cover myself when he removed my clothes. My eyes fought the urge to flick downward, but it was impossible not to think about the solid pressure I’d felt against my stomach earlier.

“Your temperature is dropping, but I still want the doctor to give you something,” he murmured. “I don’t like how easily you get sick. I might have to take… drastic measures.”

My tongue wet my lips, but I held back the question clawing at my throat.

He wrapped a towel around me, another around my hair, before securing one around his own waist.

Loose, oversized sweatpants and a T-shirt were pulled from the closet for me. He rolled the waistband several times so they’d stay on my hips.

“I’m going to speak with Claude,” Alexander said softly, so quietly I almost doubted it was him. “I hope whatever he says lines up with what you’ve done.”

And then he was gone, leaving no space for me to answer.

My breath escaped in a shaky exhale.

Claude would tell him the truth, nothing had happened. There was nothing to lie about. The only hope I had was that Alexander trusted his brother enough to believe it.

That thought was the last thing in my head as I crawled into bed, staring up at the ceiling. My mind was already shifting to the bigger problem. The one I couldn’t afford to ignore.

Whatever choice I made, it had to be soon. Because I’d start showing before long… and I needed to be far from here before that happened.