The Silent Tears

Elena

***** That same moment******

The moment Chase’s footsteps faded down the hall, the room fell painfully quiet.

Too quiet.

My hands were still pressed against my stomach, feeling those faint, impossible heartbeats. Two of them. Fragile. New. Alive.

My children.

A shaky breath escaped me as I sank back onto the infirmary bed. My whole body trembled, not from weakness now, but from the weight of what I had just learned.

Pregnant.

With twins.

The air felt too thin, like the room was shrinking around me. I pressed a hand against my forehead, trying to breathe through the realization.

This couldn’t be happening now.

Not after everything.

Not when Chase had just rejected me and chained me to this pack like a servant.

Not when the man who fathered these babies… didn’t even know.

My throat tightened painfully. Tears pricked my eyes, but I forced them back. Crying wouldn’t help. Crying wouldn’t protect these tiny lives inside me.

And I already knew, without question, that Chase could never find out.

He would take them.

He would take everything.

His words echoed in my mind:

“Don’t make me regret letting you stay alive.”

I shivered.

He didn’t see me as a mate.

Not even as a woman.

Just a tool he wasn’t done using yet.

If he learned I carried pups he didn’t claim…..

If the pack learned…..

If Seraphina learned…..

I closed my eyes, feeling sick.

They would call them abominations.

They would call me a traitor.

They would call for my execution.

And Chase...

Chase would let them.

Maybe he wouldn’t do the killing himself, but he’d step aside. He would let the law handle me. He would stay silent.

I swallowed hard and pulled myself together.

I had no room to break.

Not now.

Not when their lives depended on my strength.

I forced myself off the bed, even though my legs shook so hard I nearly fell. I grabbed the wall for support, waiting for the dizziness to pass. My wolf was still quiet….too quiet, but I whispered to her anyway.

Please… help me. Just a little.

Nothing.

Just empty space where her voice used to be.

I blinked hard, pushing the grief down.

Fine.

If I had to do this alone, I would.

I needed to think.

I needed to plan.

I needed to hide this pregnancy at all costs.

***** That night *****

The infirmary was empty when I stepped out. Dawn hadn’t arrived yet. Most wolves were asleep, or celebrating the new Luna.

A wave of nausea hit me so suddenly I had to grip the doorway. I breathed slowly until it faded.

I didn’t have long before symptoms grew too obvious.

Pregnancy in wolf women advanced quickly. Sometimes visible within a month.

I needed time.

I needed distance.

I needed freedom.

But Chase had made that impossible.

“Until I release you, you belong here.”

Anger flickered in my chest, sharp and hot. I clung to it, let it harden something inside me.

I would leave.

I would escape.

I just needed the right moment.

My gaze drifted across the infirmary shelves…. tonics, herbs, suppressants. My fingers skimmed over each jar until I found what I needed.

Shadowroot powder.

A natural suppressant.

Safe for early pregnancy.

Good at hiding morning sickness, regulating scent changes, masking hormones.

I scooped a little into a pouch and hid it under my sleeve.

Good.

One step.

I grabbed a loose healer’s cloak from the supply closet and draped it around my shoulders. It was too big, but that was perfect. It hid my torso completely.

Step two.

I needed a distraction.

Something that would draw attention away from me for a while.

Something that would keep Chase from noticing anything strange.

But first, I needed to get to my old room.

Moving slowly, carefully, I slipped through the infirmary doors and into the quiet hallway. The stones were cold under my bare feet, and every sound felt too loud. Each creak, each breath echoed like footsteps.

I hated feeling this vulnerable.

Hated feeling hunted in a place I once called home.

Halfway down the hall, nausea surged again. I ducked into a shadowed corner, pressing a hand over my stomach until it passed.

Two small pulses answered me again.

I swallowed another wave of tears.

“This world doesn’t deserve you,” I whispered.

But I would try…no matter what, to make it safe for them.

When the sickness eased, I rushed toward my room. As I turned the corner, voices drifted toward me. Loud. Drunk. Celebratory.

Warriors.

Probably celebrating Seraphina’s coronation.

I flattened myself against the wall, listening as their voices approached.

“…Seraphina will make a better Luna anyway,” one said.

“For sure. Elena was too soft,” another added. “An Alpha needs a queen, not a crybaby.”

Their laughter echoed down the corridor.

My throat burned.

Crybaby.

Weak.

Soft.

That’s what they thought of me.

Maybe that’s what Chase thought too.

I slipped past them once they turned the corner and hurried to my room. When I pushed the door open, the familiar scent hit me, lavender, old books, a little dust.

But something else hit me harder.

The emptiness.

My belongings were tossed into boxes. The bed was stripped. My clothes were stacked carelessly in a corner, like they were already preparing to evict me.

Seraphina must have ordered this.

She wanted my scent gone.

She wanted my place erased.

I stared at the chaos with a numb heart, then went to my bedside drawer. Inside, hidden at the back, was a small leather pouch.

Money.

Herbs.

A spare cloak.

A few medical tools.

My “just in case” pack.

I had prepared it months ago, without even realizing why. Maybe I had always known this day would come.

I grabbed the pouch and stuffed it under my cloak.

Step three.

Escape bag ready.

I pulled out a long, thick tunic and layered it under the healer’s robe. With enough fabric, no one would notice slight changes in my body for a while.

As I was adjusting the cloak, movement caught my eye.

The mirror.

My reflection looked foreign.

Pale.

Hollow-eyed.

Broken.

But beneath the exhaustion… there was something else.

A flicker.

A spark.

A strength that wasn’t there last night.

A strength born from the lives inside me.

I placed a hand on the mirror.

A promise to myself.

A promise to them.

“I will get you out of here,” I whispered. “No matter what it takes.”

I could not stay.

Not under Seraphina’s rule.

Not under Chase’s control.

Not in a pack that saw me as nothing.

I needed a plan.

A real one.

An escape route that didn’t end with me dead.

There was only one path out of the territory without being stopped at the gates:

The old healer tunnels.

Dangerous.

Dark.

Crumbling.

But unguarded.

Secret.

And if I could reach them at dawn, before Chase sent someone to drag me to work……

I might make it.

I took a deep breath, grabbed my pouch, adjusted the cloak one last time.

….and froze.

Footsteps approached.

Heavy.

Calculating.

Familiar.

Chase.

My heart stuttered painfully.

I snatched a blanket and draped it around my shoulders, pushing down the panic rising in my throat. I forced myself to sit on the edge of the bed, pretending to rest.

The door opened.

He stepped inside.

His gaze scanned the room, then stopped on me. His brows knitted together.

“You look pale,” he said slowly.

My stomach twisted.

I forced a small shrug. “I just woke up.”

He stepped closer, eyes narrowing. “Are you sick?”

“No,” I said quickly. Too quickly.

His wolf surged behind his eyes, sharp and suspicious. “Your scent is… strange.”

Fear shot through me.

He could not smell the pregnancy.

Not this early.

Not with the herbs masking it.

I lowered my head, letting my hair fall forward. “The infirmary still smells like chemicals. It’s nothing.”

He studied me for a long moment.

Too long.

My pulse hammered.

Finally, he looked away, jaw tight.

“You start work in an hour,” he reminded. “Don’t be late.”

I nodded, keeping my face calm even though inside, panic clawed at my ribs.

Chase turned to leave.

But at the door, he paused again.

His voice dropped, softer, confusingly soft.

“Elena… don’t do anything stupid.”

I didn’t breathe.

He continued quietly: “You’re already weak. Don’t make things worse.”

Weak.

The word hit me like a slap.

When he walked out, closing the door behind him, I let out a breath I’d been holding so long my chest ached.

I pressed a hand over my stomach.

“I’m not weak,” I whispered fiercely. “Not anymore.”

Tomorrow.

At dawn.

Before he could cage me again.

Before the symptoms

grew.

Before my body betrayed me.

I would escape.

But for now….

I had to hide this pregnancy.

Hide the sickness.

Hide every symptom.

Hide every trace.

Hide everything from Chase.

Because if he ever found out what I carried…..

I would never see freedom again.

And my children would never see the world at all.