We demand another test

Lysera

For a few heartbeats, there was nothing at all.

No sound, no movement and no breath I was aware of taking.

Even I was silent. I was stunned so completely, so utterly, that my mind could not catch up with the words the healer had spoken. Pregnant. The word echoed emptily in my head, hollow and unreal, like it belonged to someone else entirely.

Then the pack exploded. Loud, furious voices crashed over me from every direction at once. The fragile silence shattered into chaos, and the hatred I had felt earlier returned twice as strong, thicker and more violent than before.

I stood there, barely breathing, barely blinking, as they tore me apart with words sharp enough to wound.

“That’s a lie!”

“She’s trying to escape punishment!”

“She can’t be pregnant!”

“Who would even touch her?”

“She’s an outcast!”

“The man must be a dog with no self-control and no standards!”

“Disgusting.”

“She probably spread her legs for anyone who would look at her!”

A sharp pain cut through my chest at those words because it wasn’t even a lie. The only person I’d slept with was someone who didn’t know me at all. He only gave me a few minutes of attention, something I had never gotten from my family even once in my entire life.

Each cruel word hit me harder than the cane ever had. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t react. Their voices blurred together into one roaring sound in my ears as I stared ahead, my thoughts drifting helplessly and breaking apart.

For a moment, I didn’t even feel the pain in my back anymore. The pain vanished completely, and what replaced it was something colder and heavier, sinking deep into my chest. I was in shock.

Then another wave of agony surged violently through my spine, sharp and unforgiving, and it dragged me back into my body with a strangled, broken gasp.

I swayed where I stood, my knees weak beneath me.

I was pregnant with the child of a man I couldn’t even identify if he were placed directly in front of me.

My hands trembled uncontrollably as the word finally began to make sense. My stomach twisted, not with pain this time, but with disbelief, confusion, and fear clawing through me all at once.

“I…” My throat felt dry and raw. I swallowed hard, forcing the words past the tightness crushing my chest. “I… I’m pregnant?”

The pack didn’t stop.

“If it’s true, name the father!”

“Yes! Say his name!”

“Who did you sleep with, Lysera?”

Their faces blurred through the tears burning my eyes as the crowd closed in around me.

My father stepped away from alpha Henry, his expression twisted with fury and disgust.

“You shameless girl,” he spat. “You dare stand here and bring this kind of disgrace on this pack?”

He pointed at me, his finger baking with fury.

“Who is it?” he demanded. “Which man did you sell yourself to, you whore?”

The words cut deeper than any wound.

I shook my head slowly. I didn’t know how to explain that I hadn’t sold myself. Who would even believe me?

“Enough.”

The word cut through the noise, and the pack fell into instant silence.

My head snapped up.

Alpha Henry rose slowly from the seat he had taken at the start of my punishment. He had been there from the beginning—watching as the cane rose and fell, as my body broke beneath it—unmoving, his presence heavy even in stillness.

Now he stood at his full height, ramrod straight, his hands clasped behind his back.

The reaction was immediate.

Wolves lowered their heads. Elders stiffened. Even my father took an unconscious step back.

Henry’s eyes were dark, burning with fury, his jaw locked so tightly I could almost hear his teeth grinding. He said nothing for a full minute and the unease in the air thickened, sharp and suffocating.

“Healer Apollo,” Henry said evenly, “you claim Lysera is pregnant.”

Before Apollo could answer, my father stepped forward.

“I object!” he barked, his voice sharp and loud. He turned toward the pack, spreading his hands as though pleading for reason. “This man has always despised me. We have never seen eye to eye. And now, when my daughter stands accused of murder, he suddenly declares her pregnant?”

Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd.

“You expect us to believe that isn’t convenient?” my father continued. “That he is not in cohort with her? Trying to free her from the punishment she rightfully deserves? He’s always wanted his daughter to take Isyra's position.”

Apollo stiffened, his jaw tightening.

“Lysera is my daughter too,” my father went on, his voice breaking dramatically. “Do you think this is easy for me? Do you think I enjoy watching my own blood punished?” His hand pressed to his chest as if the pain were unbearable. “But justice must be served.”

He pointed toward the pack house.

“While we stand here debating, Isyra lies pale and broken in bed, grieving the child she lost. The future Alpha of this pack. A life stolen because of Lysera’s sins.”

A wave of anger swept through the crowd.

“She deserves punishment!”

“Another healer should confirm it!”

“We can’t trust him!”

Apollo stepped forward, his face flushed with fury.

“This is an insult,” he snapped. “In all my years as healer, I have never been accused of lying to protect an accused criminal. I swore an oath to the Moon Goddess herself.”

But the pack was no longer listening.

“Bring another healer!”

“Confirm it again!”

“We won’t risk calamity on a lie!”

Fear and rage tangled together, drowning out reason.

Henry watched it all in silence. Then, slowly, he raised his hand and noise immediately died down once more.

“Enough,” he said again, this time colder. “The pack has spoken.”

Apollo turned sharply toward him. “Alpha—”

Henry cut him off with a look.

“To avoid doubt,” Henry said, his voice firm, “another healer will be summoned. The matter will be confirmed beyond question.”

The pack exhaled in relief, nodding eagerly.

Apollo’s hands clenched at his sides, his face dark with humiliation, but he stepped back without another word.

Henry’s gaze flicked briefly to me. It was so fast I almost thought I imagined it. Then he turned away.

“Bring the second healer,” he ordered. “This will be settled now.”