Chapter 5

(Julia's POV)

“Ronan, I really—” I tripped over the curb and almost face-planted in the parking lot as I trailed along behind Ronan. “Uh, I really appreciate you saying all that. So. Thank you. I mean, Kevin was so out of line, especially considering he cheated with my—”

“Do I look like I care about your personal life?” Ronan spun on his heel to turn those dark and stormy eyes on me. “Look, I really don’t have the time or the energy for one of your little rants. I just needed a ride. You do remember you drove me here, right?”

I stared at him, frozen. I guess some part of me had started to believe that Ronan was someone different, somewhere deep down inside, that he had a soft side that he kept happening to accidentally show me.

But I was wrong. Ronan was the cold, calculating, cruel man everyone always said he was. I needed to remember that. I straightened my shoulders and walked past him to the drivers’ side door.

He wordlessly got in the car and, just like before, we drove in silence. I kept my gaze focused on the windshield, not giving in to the temptation to study Ronan out of the corner of my eye. We were a few miles out from the office when Ronan’s phone rang.

He picked up right away, but the frown that had already been making its way across his features froze as soon as he heard whoever was on the end of the line. His eyes grew cold, though, and I shuddered for the person calling who was surely Ronan’s mortal enemy.

“You said you had it under control.” Ronan listened, then spoke harshly. “I don’t care. Just do it!” I was still as a statue in my seat, hands clenched around the steering wheel and trying not to make a sound.

He hung up, stabbing his phone’s screen so hard, I was surprised the screen didn’t shatter. A few moments passed, and to my surprise, Ronan said, “So, how’s your search for the woman we discussed going?”

I hesitated. What was worse, to just bite the bullet and tell him the truth, or to keep lying to save my skin? I chose the second. “Um, unfortunately, there hasn’t been any progress, sir. I deeply apologize.”

I winced, already expecting a storm of Ronan’s harsh words to fill the car. Instead, I got silence. Finally, I turned my head to look at him. Ronan was staring through the windshield, eyes dark and troubled.

We didn’t talk anymore after that; not in the car, or the parking lot when I dropped him off, or around the office. Ronan was busier than ever, spending most days everywhere but the packhouse.

His newly packed schedule turned out to be good for me, though. With all these meetings and errands on his plate, Ronan didn’t have any extra time to ask me more about the woman from his bedroom. Hopefully, it would stay that way.

I knew Ronan’s pattern. He worked like crazy to achieve some major goal at work, acting for all the world as if it was the finish line, and that once he reached it, he’d let his foot off the gas. But all he did was keep setting goals for himself. He was a lot like me that way.

I was safe for now, and that was all that mattered. Besides, like Ronan, I also had more than I could handle right now. I was exhausted, sleepwalking through every day like a zombie before collapsing into bed each night.

To make matters weirder, my appetite was all over the place — a few days ago, everything made me nauseous, but now, I’m constantly craving anything and everything. Today at lunch, I gobbled down a sub sandwich, a huge salad, and a sleeve of cookies. It never seemed to be enough to fill the endless hunger I felt.

All the weird changes were catching up to me, and the strain was starting to show at work. I had fallen asleep in two meetings last week, and had almost done it again today. I had picked the worst time to fall apart, too.

With Ronan being gone constantly on his mysterious business dealings, a lot of the pack responsibilities had fallen to me, and I was drowning in work. I didn’t even have time to go to the hospital to figure out what was wrong with me.

I was pretty sure I knew what it was, though. With everything that had happened with Kevin and Sandy, my wolf was still weak. Going into heat with Ronan had sapped whatever strength it had, and now I was paying the price for that.

I thought I had been hiding my strange sickness from everyone at work pretty well, but trust my sister to be the one to sniff it out. I was sitting in the cafeteria, a burger and two orders of fries in front of me, when Sandy walked past, already smiling cruelly.

“Are you kidding?” She pointed at my plate. “My God, sis, you’ve really let yourself go, haven’t you? Who’s going to want you now, stuffing your fat face with junk food and big as a truck. Kevin was lucky to get rid of you.”

To my surprise, tears sprung to my eyes. Sandy was cruel, yes, but I was used to it. Her words didn’t usually make me cry, but I just felt so emotional. I’d been feeling that way a lot recently, now that I think about it.

I pushed my chair back and ran from the cafeteria, straight to the women’s bathroom. I burst into the first stall I saw, locking the door after me and dropping down to sit on the toilet. What is going on with me?

The weird appetite, the sleeping all the time, the crazy rollercoaster of emotions I had been feeling lately…when I added them all together like that, they sounded like one thing. They sounded a lot like being pregnant.

But that’s not possi— I stopped, realizing that I had been leaving something very important out of my mental calendar of the last time Kevin and I had slept together.

The last time Kevin and I were intimate was months ago, so it was impossible that I was carrying his pup. I sighed in relief, but then a terrifying thought crossed my mind—if not pregnant, did that mean I have some kind of terminal illness? After all, a mate’s betrayal could cause unimaginable damage to a werewolf. Maybe, just maybe, I’ve contracted something even a werewolf’s powerful healing ability can’t fight…

My hands shook as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and typed out an email requesting an appointment at the hospital. This is not happening. It can’t happen, so it won’t. I’m just being overly cautious. I don't have some incurable illness.

(Ronan’s POV)

Thoughts of the mystery woman had been pushed to the backburner over the last few weeks as I rushed to my father’s side every day, trying to help ease his pain, stabilize the pack, and finally get him to acknowledge me as the heir.

My father was our pack’s Alpha, and the only one who could properly recognize me as the rightful heir to the Alpha power. He refused to, though, all because of the witch’s curse that kept me from my true mate.

If I didn’t breed with my true mate, I wouldn’t have strong children of my own, and their power would falter when it came time for them to take control of the pack. Because of this, my father saw me as a screw-up, someone not to be trusted with anything important.

I watched him as he slept, his chest rising and falling unsteadily. He got sicker every day, and I was tearing my hair out, trying to figure out a way to either win his approval, or get around needing his blessing to get the Alpha power.

I turned and left the room, happy to be away from the old man. Alex trailed after me and I barked out, “I don’t care what it takes, you need to find her. This fucking curse is the only thing standing in the way of things, and I need her to break it”

“I thought you said you were following a ‘very promising lead,’” I said mockingly. “That phone call the other day was just bullshit, wasn’t it? You don’t know anything more than you ever did.”

I turned on my heel and stormed off, stomping down the hallway. As I walked, my eyes bounced towards each room I passed, and I stopped short when I saw someone familiar through one door.

Julia was sitting in a chair, hands folded tightly in her lap. Of course. Typical Julia, working at the office until late in the night. God, she’s probably slept here before. I looked at the sign by the door and frowned. What is she doing in the hospital?

I looked closer and my frown deepened. Julia was in the pregnancy testing room. Why was she here? Didn't she break up with that stupid mate of hers? As I stepped closer to the door, another door opened and a doctor walked in.

“Thank you for your patience, Miss,” the doctor said. “I have those test results right here.” They opened a folder and pulled some papers out, squinting down at them, then saying, “Well, congratulations. You’re pregnant!”