CHAPTER THREE: Flames of Loss

Nira's POV

“What exactly do you mean by 'handle it’?” I asked, even though some part of me already knew.

He didn’t answer.

"You’re talking about the midwife making some kind of weird concoction to flush out our baby?” I whispered, .

Still, he said nothing.

I took a step back from him, “I carry this child for both of us.”

He still wouldn’t look at me.

“You can’t just erase this,” I said, my voice cracking. “You can’t erase us”

He turned finally, and what I saw in his eyes chilled me, it was pity. Not love, not anger. Just distant pity.

“I’m sorry, Nira. But this is how it has to be.”

My knees buckled, and I grabbed the edge of the wall behind me to keep from collapsing. My hands found the cool surface of the jar that held the flowers I had placed earlier. Welcome-home roses.

My voice shook, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“I won’t see any midwife,” I said firmly, "I won't see anybody. And who even is Malacia? How am I supposed to believe she hasn’t cast some sort of spell on you?”

Bren’s eyes darkened. “Hold your tongue, Nira.”

More people had gathered now. I could feel their eyes, heavy, judging, pitying. Some of them looked shocked. But the in-court council members? Their faces told a different story. They weren’t surprised.

They knew.

I turned toward them, my voice rising. “Did you all know? Can you see?! I’ve done everything for your Alpha. Every single person here knows I’ve been a good mate. I’ve been consistent, adequate, resourceful. I’ve given everything a woman could possibly give the man she loves.”

And the truth? The truth was, I hadn’t even been ready to have this baby. I wanted to study potion-making. Healing. I had dreams. But the elders said it would be a beautiful surprise. And I thought... why not? Bren loved me. I loved him. We were going to be mated anyway. A baby would just make our union more complete.

So I said yes. I went through the process. Now he wanted to throw me aside like I meant nothing. Like we meant nothing.

Where was I supposed to go?

I had no family. Every friend I had in this pack was under his authority. Who would dare help me?

Bren was one of the most powerful Alpha's in the district. Who would take in a disgraced Luna with a child?

And then he looked at me, “Nira, listen to me. I’m offering you a simple solution. One that will save us the back and forth in the long run.”

“Can you all hear him?” I cried out, turning in circles to face the crowd. “Can you hear the nonsense he is saying? This atrocity from his mouth?”

Malacia rolled her eyes. “Stop being so dramatic.”

I snapped.

I lunged at her, grabbed her hair and yanked hard.

“Witch! Witch!” I screamed. “You put a spell on him. You did this! My Bren would never do this on his own!”

The guards rushed forward. People gasped and tried to call me off. But I didn't listen.

Just a few weeks ago, I had written him letters. He never replied, but I thought it was the aftermath of the war and that everything else was good.

I thought wrong.

I had imagined that by now, we’d be tangled in our sheets, his lips on mine, his hands on my skin, whispering how much he missed me. How much he loved me.

Instead, he was tearing me apart. In front of everyone.

Malacia's hand came flying across my face. A hot slap that made my ears ring.

And Bren, he swatted me off her like I was nothing.

___________

I didn’t remember falling asleep. The last thing I could recall was Bren walking away and Malacia turning her back on me. I ran after them, I think, and then everything went black. I must have fainted or collapsed somehow, because when I stirred again, my head was aching and bandaged. But something was wrong.

Why wasn’t I resting somewhere safe? Why weren’t they treating me in the healer’s room?

When I tried to move, I couldn’t. My limbs were restrained. My wrists and ankles were held down, my  neck, too. I couldn’t even lift my head. Panic began to rise in my chest and then I heard voices.

It was Bren. He was speaking in low tones with someone , an older woman I recognized as Flora, the midwife. She had helped many she-wolves during their pregnancies, a trusted presence in the pack. But now, she looked unsure, glancing from Bren to me, as if questioning what she was doing there.

And then I saw the look on Malacia’s face.

She stood in the doorway with her arms crossed, watching like she was waiting for something entertaining to begin.

“Bren?” My voice cracked. “What’s going on?”

He turned to me slowly. “The midwife is here to help with… the situation,” he said vaguely.

“What situation?” I asked, panic rising again. “Why am I being restrained like this?”

Flora opened her mouth to speak.

"Luna Nira—"

Malacia interrupted her. “She is not your Luna anymore,” she snapped at the midwife. “Don’t call her that.”

I looked between them, confusion and fear clouding my thoughts.

“The baby…” Bren began, “we just need to find a way forward. A decision has been made.”

"What kind of decision?"

He lowered his gaze, and Malacia just smiled smugly.

I turned to Flora, searching for any sign of compassion. “Please,” I whispered, “don’t let them do anything to terminate my pregnancy. Please.”

She looked torn.

Bren placed a hand on her shoulder and simply said, “Do what needs to be done.”

"Wait, wait..."

She grabbed the scalpel.

"WAIT!!!!!!"

~

The procedure was over. Flora's cries were loud. But not louder than mine had been. When she neared me and marked my stomach with white chalk. I had understood why I was really here.

I turned my head sideways and looked at the panel tray. My baby, my four month old foetus, lay there while my own stomach lay open. My innards, clearly visible.

He was covered in blood and guts, on a tray. Dead. With Bran looking down at what was left of him like it was a banana peel.

"Alpha...." Flora began.

"Burn it." Bren said simply and averted his gaze.

Malacia stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek.

"You did good, my love. You did good."

He nodded and lowered his forehead for her to kiss. While I lay there, life seeped from my eyes.

Flora lifted the tray, my baby boy...h-he was ripped out from my flesh on his father's own commands before he even had the chance to be born.

My throat broke into another sob, I wailed, loudly, shamelessly. More blood rushed from my stomach, re-coating the table and floors.

"Maybe in your next life, if the goddess ever granted you that. You'll learn that lowborns don't belong with Alphas."

"You..." Bren coughed, "you s-served me well."

Malacia handed him something, a container. He held it and unscrewed the cap.

Fuel.

"I wish for your soul to cross smoothly."

He poured it on the ground. Everywhere.

"I wish for our son to rest in peace. Perhaps, one day, he could be reborn as one of the many children that I and Malacia will have."

She passed him a matchbox, he lit it.

"B-B—"

He threw it to the ground.

"Goodbye, Nira."