Chapter 2

"Eleanor, don't you dare lie to me about a pup."

He knocked my hand away, his voice turning ice cold.

"The healer told us months ago that your body's damaged at its core. You can't carry a pup. Not ever. Edward's barely a few years old. Marlene's still pregnant. Yet, you're making them kneel to you? Is this some pathetic act to avoid what you did?

"You've disappointed me more than I ever thought possible. I don't even see the point in continuing this."

He scooped Marlene up into his arms and walked off without a single glance back at me.

Leonard saw how pale I'd gone and scrambled to get people to carry me into the healing hall.

Somewhere between sleeping and waking, I ran into them again. Theodore was there, holding Marlene steady while she went through a full examination. The second he saw me, his expression darkened.

"Eleanor, I never knew you were this petty. Chasing me all the way here just to keep up the act. If you love performing so much, fine. Keep going. Let's see how long you can keep this up."

The night grew quieter. I lay there in the dark, feeling the blood in my body cool by degrees.

Deep in the night, I suddenly coughed up blood.

Three hours later, Marlene's exam finally finished. He held her, glancing my way with obvious impatience, ready to throw another jab at me.

But I couldn't hold on anymore. A sweetness rose in my throat, and blood came pouring out.

The ice in his expression cracked, and he rushed toward me. "Eleanor!"

Theodore spun around and grabbed the healer by the collar.

"Why is she coughing up blood? Save her, now!"

The healer said my injuries were too severe, that I needed immediate treatment and a transfusion.

He kicked over the shelf beside him. "Then do it! We're the same blood type. If there's not enough, take mine! If anything happens to her, this healing hall won't stay open another day."

The healer scrambled to prepare.

In my hazy state, I saw Marlene creeping closer. A sudden sense of unease washed over me.

"What are you doing?"

She gave me a strange little smile, then suddenly grabbed my hand and slammed it against her own stomach.

"Ms. Sinclair, I only wanted to check on you, why are you doing this? You can hit me, you can scream at me, just don't hurt my pup!"

I was too weak to even pull my hand back. All I could do was cry out, "Let go of me!"

But her wailing drowned out my voice completely.

Theodore whipped around just in time to see my hand pressed against her rounded belly, and heard her sobbing, begging me not to hurt the pup.

He'd always assumed I couldn't stand the sight of that pup, and neither he nor the healer had actually been watching a second ago.

He crossed the room in a few strides and shoved my arm away before I could get a single word out.

The force of it yanked my captured hand free and sent me tumbling off the edge of the bed. I hit the cold floor and curled into myself, in too much pain to even make a sound.

I was the one who'd just been hurt. And he hadn't even bothered to ask a single question before condemning me.

A wave of pain like the end of the world tore through my body.

I felt it with sickening clarity, the thread connecting me to my pup, snapping.

It was leaving me.

A hollow, empty feeling spread up from somewhere deep inside me.

The pup I'd waited years for, the one I'd spent every scrap of luck I had just to conceive, was gone.

Just like that.

Theodore tore up the blood donation consent form in his hand and threw the pieces in my face.

"Eleanor, you're quite the actress. You really had me fooled. Since you love the show so much, why don't you stay here and keep performing alone?"

He picked Marlene back up and walked toward the door, then paused. His voice suddenly softened.

"Eleanor, try trusting me a little more. Once this pup's born, we'll go back to how things used to be."

Then he walked out without looking back.

But Theodore, there was no going back for us anymore.

I fumbled for my phone with shaking hands, meaning to have someone prepare the bond severing scroll. Instead, the first thing I saw was a message from the Elders.

Theodore was on his knees in front of Marlene, his face pressed against her rounded stomach.

Memories crashed over me like a tide.

That year, he'd been ambushed by Rogues out in the wilderness. I didn't even remember how I got there, only that the wolf's claws had been going straight for his throat. I didn't think, I just threw myself in front of him.

The claws tore through skin, from my collarbone down to my waist, and blood sprayed across his face.

My father had sacrificed himself covering our escape, standing alone against wave after wave of Rogues chasing us. By the time the pack's rescue party got to him, there wasn't an inch of him left unmarked. He fell into a coma that day and never fully woke.

Afterward, I spent an entire month in the healing hall, clinging to my life, and came out of it barely able to conceive.

The healer said that blow had damaged something fundamental in me, that surviving at all was a miracle, and whether I could ever carry a pup was entirely up to fate.

Back then, Theodore had knelt in front of me just like this, holding my hand, his eyes rimmed a terrifying red.

"Eleanor, even without a pup, I'll spend my whole life protecting you."

He'd meant every word. But now, I couldn't even protect the pup that had finally come.

I had nothing left. The man who'd sworn to protect me had become the blade that cut me deepest.

Whatever was left holding me together finally snapped.

I called the Elders and told them I was ready to leave Theodore, and asked them to prepare the bond-severing scroll.

The day I left the healing hall, I went to my father's room and knelt by his bed, sobbing.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I don't think I did this right. The pup is gone, and I don't want Theodore or this family anymore.

"Will you be angry with me?"

My father lay there, silent and still, and didn't answer.

But a single tear slid down from the corner of his eye.