chapter 5: MY PUP WAS DIFFERENT

The room tilted while I was standing beside the council stairs.

I caught the railing before my knees gave way. For a few seconds, the stone floor seemed to move beneath me.

“Luna?”

A passing guard hurried toward me, but I raised one hand.

“I’m fine.”

The lie sounded weak even to me.

Less than twenty minutes later, I was back in Maeve’s clinic.

“You were told to rest,” she said as she guided me onto the examination table.

“I did rest.”

“When?”

I thought about it.

Maeve gave me a dry look. “Exactly.”

Despite myself, I smiled. “Just check the pup.”

Her expression softened. She placed a hand over my lower stomach and began the examination. I watched her face closely, searching for the smallest sign of concern.

After a moment, she frowned.

My heart jumped. “What?”

“Be still.”

“Maeve.”

“Elara.”

I forced myself to stop talking.

She checked again, then moved to the small screen beside the table. The silence stretched until I could no longer bear it.

“Is something wrong?”

“No.”

“You’re frowning.”

“I frown when I think.”

“That is not comforting.”

Maeve finally looked at me. “The pup is developing well. Better than well, actually.”

Relief came first. Confusion followed.

“What does that mean?”

“The heartbeat is stronger than it should be at this stage. I noticed it during your first examination, but I wanted another reading before saying more.”

I touched my stomach. “You said it wasn’t dangerous.”

“I still don’t believe it is.”

“Believe?”

Maeve sighed. “There are things even healers do not understand immediately.”

That answer did nothing to calm me.

She must have noticed because she rested her hand over mine. “Your pup is healthy. Your dizziness is likely from exhaustion and not eating enough. I am curious, Elara, not afraid.”

I studied her face. “Curious about what?”

Instead of answering, she asked, “What do you remember about your mother?”

The question caught me off guard.

“My mother?”

“Liora.”

I had not heard Maeve say her name in years.

“My mother died when I was six.”

“I know what the records say.”

Something in her wording bothered me. “Why are you asking about her?”

“Did she have any unusual healing sensitivity? Perhaps she could recognize illness before symptoms appeared?”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I was a child.”

Maeve became quiet.

“What does my mother have to do with my baby?”

“Possibly nothing.” She turned away to write something in my file. “For now, eat properly and rest.”

I wanted to press her, but I knew that tone. Maeve would say no more until she had facts.

Back in my room, I opened the drawer beside the bed.

The silver bracelet lay exactly where I had hidden it.

I lifted it carefully. The crescent moon charm rested against my palm, tiny and bright. For two days, I had carried my secret while another child’s arrival changed the atmosphere inside my home.

Enough waiting.

Whatever happened with Selene and Noah, my pup deserved to be welcomed with joy. Kael deserved to know he was going to be a father again—or perhaps for the first time, if the independent test changed everything.

I placed the bracelet inside a small wooden box and folded the pregnancy report beneath it.

Tonight, I decided.

No more delays.

I went looking for Kael before dinner and found him near the training grounds.

Noah was with him.

The boy held a short wooden practice stick with both hands while Kael stood behind him.

“Your feet are too close together,” Kael said.

Noah spread them so wide he nearly fell.

Kael caught him.

“That is the opposite problem.”

Noah laughed. “You said wider.”

“I didn’t say become a bridge.”

Another laugh escaped the boy.

I stopped near the fence.

Pain moved through me, but it was not anger. Kael looked natural with him. Patient. Lighter than he had been in months.

For years, I had known he wanted this.

Now, for the first time, I could give it to him.

Kael noticed me.

“Elara.”

He handed the practice stick to Noah and walked over.

“You look pale.”

“I’m fine.”

His eyes narrowed. “That usually means you are not.”

Before I could protest, he touched the back of his fingers to my cheek.

The tenderness of the gesture almost broke my resolve. This was still my mate. The man who knew when I was tired before I admitted it.

“I have something to tell you tonight,” I said.

His expression changed. “Something bad?”

I smiled. “No.”

“Then tell me now.”

“No.”

A faint smile touched his mouth. “You came here only to make me wait?”

“Perhaps.”

Kael brushed his thumb across my cheek. “Then tonight is yours.”

Hope rose so quickly inside me that I almost told him there.

Instead, I returned to our room and placed the wooden box on the table.

I adjusted it twice.

Then a crash sounded somewhere down the corridor.

I froze.

A woman screamed.

“Noah!”

Selene.

I ran.

The door to Noah’s room stood open. A broken cup lay across the floor, water spreading between the pieces.

Noah was beside the bed.

His small body jerked violently as Selene tried to hold him.

“What happened?” I demanded.

“I don’t know!” Her face was white. “He said his stomach hurt, then he fell.”

I dropped beside them. Noah’s skin felt cold despite the sweat covering his forehead. His breathing came in short, uneven gasps.

“Don’t hold him down,” I said. “Move the chair away.”

Footsteps rushed into the room.

Maeve entered with her medical bag and pushed past us. She checked Noah’s eyes, then his pulse. When she leaned close to his mouth, she suddenly went still.

Her expression changed.

“Maeve?”

She smelled his breath again.

Then she looked up at me, and I had never seen fear in her eyes before.

“This child has been poisoned.