Pregnant With The Billionaire's Heir

I didn’t bend to pick it up.

Through the window, I watched Mara push three candles into the cake.

“December sixteenth. Our Noah is three.”

The boy wrapped his arms around Rowan’s neck.

“Daddy, you promised I could come home when I was three.”

Mara smiled.

“Once the Luna registers Noah as her son, I’ll only be a maid in the pack house. Will he still be allowed to call me Mommy?”

Rowan’s expression cooled.

“We settled this three years ago.”

“You saved my life. I’m giving you a home and a job. Noah will be registered under Elena’s name. Don’t expect anything more.”

“Of course not.”

Mara glanced toward the window. Her eyes met mine for a moment, and her smile deepened.

“I’m only worried that seeing Noah will remind Elena of the pup she lost that day.”

“Especially since Noah was supposed to be her baby’s name.”

“Enough.”

Rowan’s voice turned sharp.

My knees gave way.

Three years earlier, before he left for the border, I had laid his hand against my stomach.

“If it’s a boy, can we call him Noah?”

He had bent to kiss me.

“Whatever you want.”

Days later, his mother was poisoned. I made it to the healing center through a blizzard and saved her life.

I couldn’t save my baby.

When I woke, the pain was so bad I couldn’t straighten my back. Still, the first thing I asked was, “Is Rowan safe?”

While I was losing our child, Mara was giving birth to another Noah.

I stepped backward and missed the snow-covered stair.

Rowan heard the noise. He was outside in an instant, catching me around the waist before I fell.

“Elena?”

He stripped off his coat, wrapped it around me, and checked my wrists.

“What are you doing here? Are you hurt?”

Mara followed with the boy in her arms.

“Luna, please don’t blame Rowan. He only spends one birthday a year with Noah—”

“Mara, be quiet. Take him inside.”

He waited until she was gone before turning back to me.

“In the spring before Noah was born, rogues surrounded us during a patrol at the northern border. I thought I was going to die. Mara saved me. That night—it happened once.”

“Noah is my responsibility.”

He closed his hands around mine.

“I always intended to bring them back when he turned three. Mara will work in the pack house. Noah will be registered as your son.”

“I’m giving them somewhere to live. That’s all.”

“Why hide him from me for three years?”

“Mother said you couldn’t take another shock after losing our pup. Your father agreed. We thought keeping it from you was the best way to protect you.”

My fingers went cold inside his.

“My family knew?”

After a moment, he nodded.

All those coincidences that had kept me home suddenly made sense.

They hadn’t needed to invent emergencies. They only had to place someone who needed me in my path. They knew I would stay.

Rowan looked almost relieved now that the truth was out.

“Elena, I promise Mara will never be Luna. She won’t have any say in pack affairs. She’ll be a maid. Noah will be yours on paper.”

“You’re my mate. The only one I acknowledge. The woman I love.”

Mara got a home. Noah got his father’s protection.

I got to be the woman he loved, as long as I kept making room for everyone else.

I pulled my hands free.

“Rowan, I want to dissolve our mating.”

His face changed.

“No.”

He caught my wrist, carefully enough not to hurt me.

“If you can’t bear having Mara at the pack house, she won’t come. She and Noah can stay here. I’ll arrange for someone to look after them.”

“But I will not end our mating.”

He drew his coat more tightly around my shoulders.

“There’s another storm coming tonight. Stay here. I’ll take you home myself tomorrow.”

I looked at him, then nodded.

“All right.”

The tension left his face.

As he led me inside, Noah asked softly, “Daddy, who is she?”

“Someone Daddy could never bear to lose.”

Rowan heard agreement in my answer. He thought staying for the night meant staying his Luna.

Two hours later, when the house was asleep, I went back outside. I retrieved the gold gift box and tucked the report inside it.

Then I joined a supply convoy heading south and left the border alone.