Chapter 3

A few days later, news of the "wedding of the century" between wolf Alpha Calvin and human noble Trina Morrison was everywhere.

Calvin seemed to have given up on me completely.

The television screen showed the lavish wedding ceremony.

Crystal chandeliers, a sea of roses, a multi-million-dollar wedding gown.

Trina stood beside Calvin, her smile as perfect as a doll's.

"Turn it off," Caleb said, wrapping his arms around me from behind.

We were in the bear clan's sanctuary, having just completed our own simple, sacred bonding ceremony. No media, no politics, just two souls bound together.

"No," I said, watching Trina's triumphant smile on the screen. "I need to see this."

On TV, a reporter was interviewing the bride.

"Miss Trina, what are your hopes for the future?"

Trina caressed her flat stomach, her eyes gleaming with that familiar, manic light.

"I'm going to have the most powerful child," she said, her voice sweet, but her words dripping with ambition. "A perfect bloodline, capable of ruling the world."

Beside her, Calvin nodded, his own eyes full of greed. "Our heir will rule over all the clans," he declared.

I turned off the TV.

Those words brought back the horrifying images from my vision.

It wasn't long before Trina, emboldened by Calvin's power, showed up uninvited at our doorstep.

She was still in her priceless wedding gown, but the smile was gone from her face.

"Let her in," I said.

Trina walked in, her eyes scanning the room.

The decor was simple, with no lavish ornaments, but every detail was tasteful.

"This is your new home?" she sneered. "It looks… plain."

"I like simple," I replied.

"Simple?" Trina scoffed. "Helena, do you know how much my wedding cost? Fifty million dollars! Every dignitary in the city was there to congratulate us!"

"Congratulations."

"And you," she looked around, "you married a savage who lives in the woods."

Caleb stood up, a cold light in his eyes, but I gently touched his arm, telling him to stay calm.

"Trina, you didn't come here just to compare weddings," I said, looking her straight in the eye. "What do you want?"

Her mask shattered, revealing pure malice.

"I want you to watch me win!" she shrieked. "I want you to know that this time, I'm the winner!"

She touched her stomach, which, despite the recent wedding, already showed a subtle swell.

"I'm already pregnant," she announced proudly. "I'm already carrying Calvin's child. This child will have the purest Alpha bloodline!"

I looked at her overly excited expression, a sense of unease washing over me.

"So soon?"

"We used… special methods," Trina said, a wild look in her eyes. "To ensure the most perfect bloodline, we underwent an… enhancement."

"What kind of enhancement?"

"You don't need to know." Trina turned to leave. "You just need to wait and watch my child become the king of the world!"

She paused at the door and looked back at me.

"By the way, Helena. No matter where you run, I promise you one thing. I will make sure your life is a living hell compared to mine."

With that, she swept out.

For three months, Trina's Instagram was a constant stream of her supposed happiness.

But a photo she posted after the third month shocked me.

She was wearing a tight maternity dress, and her belly was huge.

The size was all wrong.

At only three months, she looked like she was at least six.

"This isn't normal," I frowned.

What was even stranger was the background of the photo. A faint black mist seemed to hover in the air behind her. It was subtle, but I could feel the corrupting energy radiating from it. My intuition screamed a warning.

I looked down as my phone buzzed with a new message.

It was a video from Trina.

"See, Helena!" she waved at the camera, her belly grotesquely large. "Look at my little prince! He's so active in my belly!"

She caressed her stomach, but I noticed her hands were shaking.

"Calvin says it's a sign of the strongest bloodline," she continued, though her voice sounded weak. "Our child will have power beyond any clan!"

In the video, I could see cracks forming on the wall behind Trina, as if something was exerting pressure from within.

"Trina…" I was starting to worry.

"Don't worry about me!" she cut me off. "Worry about yourself! When my child is born, he's coming for you!"

The video ended abruptly.

Some time later, a late-night call jolted me from my sleep.

"Helena!" It was my father, his voice thick with panic. "Get to the wolf territory now! It's an emergency!"

"What happened?"

"It's Trina… she's had the baby. But…" his voice trembled. "There's something wrong with the baby. Something very wrong."

"What's wrong with it?"

"You'll see when you get here. And bring Caleb. We might need his strength."

The line went dead.

Caleb and I left immediately. My heart pounded the whole way there.

The wolf territory was on lockdown, all media driven away.

That level of secrecy told me just how serious the problem was.

We were led to a mansion deep within the territory.

Even before we entered, I heard a terrible sound.

It wasn't a baby's cry. It was a sound caught somewhere between a human scream and an animal's shriek.

Calvin was standing in the middle of the living room, pale as a ghost. His eyes, when they met ours, were filled with despair.

"Helena… thank you for coming," he rasped.

"Where's the child?" I asked.

Calvin pointed upstairs. "Trina's up there, with… it."

"It?"

"Just go see," Calvin shook his head. "We… we created a monster."

Caleb and I went upstairs, the sound growing clearer.

I pushed open the bedroom door and saw a horrifying sight.

Trina was sitting on the bed, cradling a bundle of blankets. Her hair was matted, her eyes were vacant, and she was muttering to herself in a strange, singsong voice.

"Trina?" I called out carefully.

She looked up, and a mad light flashed in her eyes.

"Helena! You've come to see my masterpiece!" she laughed. "Behold the perfect heir I've created!"

She pulled back the blanket.

My blood froze.

It wasn't a human baby.

Its skin was a sickly, blue-tinged white, and a thin, wet sheen of scales was visible in the light.

But the worst part was when it cried, I saw several faint slits on the sides of its neck, like gills, pulsing weakly.

And when it saw me, it spoke.

In a raspy, ancient voice that didn't belong to a newborn, it said:

"Mother… I smell sweeter blood…"

It reached out a tiny hand, pointing at me.

"I want that woman's blood… and the one inside her womb…"