Chapter Three

Serena’s POV 

“Don’t move,” a voice said.

My eyes snapped open. A woman leaned over me, pressing her hand to my shoulder before I could sit up. “You’ll tear your stitches.”

“Where’s my baby?” My voice broke.

“He’s fine,” she said quickly. “Alive. You both are.”

I gripped her wrist. “Where am I?”

“Nightshade territory.”

The words froze me. I tried to push myself up anyway, but my arms trembled. “No. No, I can’t be here.”

“You are,” she said. “And you’re not leaving until the Alpha says so.”

“Then bring him here.”

“He’s coming.”

The door opened. I turned, heart hammering.

He was the man from the border, the one who’d caught me before everything went black. The same dark eyes, unreadable; the same quiet strength that made everyone else in the room still.

“You’re awake,” he said.

I glared at him. “You had no right to bring me here.”

“You would have bled out if I hadn’t.”

“Then you should’ve let me.”

He didn’t react, didn’t even blink. “That’s a poor way to thank someone who saved your life.”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

He stepped closer. “You were unconscious. You didn’t ask for anything.”

I wanted to throw something, scream, do anything but sit here and feel small under that voice. “Send me back.”

“No.”

My stomach dropped. “You can’t keep me here.”

“I can, and I will until you can stand without falling.”

“I don’t need your help.”

His gaze flicked to my abdomen. “Maybe you don’t. But your child does.”

The words hit hard. My throat closed. “You know?”

“I can smell it,” he said simply. “It’s part of what you are.”

I wrapped my arms around myself. “Then you also know I belong to another pack.”

“I don’t care whose mark you wear.”

“Your Alpha will.”

“I am the Alpha.”

Silence. My pulse thundered in my ears.

He looked at me for a long moment, then said quietly, “Tell me why you ran.”

I stared at the floor. “Because he was going to kill my baby.”

The muscles in his jaw tightened. “Nathan Gray?”

I didn’t answer.

His tone softened just slightly. “You don’t need to be afraid here. No one touches what’s mine to protect.”

“I’m not yours,” I snapped.

He nodded once. “Good. Then stay alive long enough to prove it.”

He turned to leave. I almost let him go, but the question slipped out. “What do you want from me?”

He paused in the doorway. “Nothing. Yet.”

Then he was gone.

The door shut and the silence pressed in.

I sat there shaking, palms flat on my thighs, trying to breathe. Nothing. Yet.

What kind of Alpha said that?

A knock made me jump. The same woman stepped back in with clean bandages.

“Drink,” she said.

“I don’t want ”

“Drink. It’s water.”

I took it, my fingers still trembling. “What’s his name?”

“Lucien.”

I nearly dropped the cup. Every rumor I’d ever heard about Nightshade’s Alpha flashed through my head cursed, dangerous, half mad.

The woman saw the panic in my face. “He’s not what they say.”

“They always say that before the cage closes,” I muttered.

She didn’t argue. She finished wrapping my arm and left me alone again.

I waited until her footsteps faded, then slid off the bed. The room spun, but I made it to the door and cracked it open. Voices drifted from the corridor.

“…the Alpha hasn’t been near anyone in years,” one guard whispered.

“Then why keep her here?” another asked.

“Because he touched her and lived. Maybe the curse finally broke.”

My heart stopped. Curse?

I shut the door fast, chest heaving. They were talking about him and the stories were true. And if he thought I had anything to do with it…

I pressed a hand to my stomach. “We need to leave,” I whispered to the tiny life inside me. “We have to.”

But the walls felt alive with his power. My wolf cowered inside me; there was no escaping this place tonight.

The handle turned. I jumped back just as he stepped in again, taller in the doorway, rain still in his hair.

“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” he said.

“I wasn’t,” I lied.

His eyes dropped to my hand on my stomach. “Still afraid I’ll hurt the child?”

“I don’t know you.”

“Then learn quickly.”

He moved closer. I retreated until the bed hit the backs of my knees. He stopped there, close enough that I could see the faint scar at his throat.

“Do you believe in curses?” he asked suddenly.

“No.”

“You should.” His gaze locked on mine. “They tend to believe in you.”

I didn’t know what that meant, and I didn’t ask. I just whispered, “Will you send me back?”

“Not yet.”

“Why?”

“Because whoever you ran from will come looking, and until I decide what to do with you, you stay where I can see you.”

“That sounds like a prison.”

“It’s protection. The difference is how you survive it.”

I wanted to scream that I didn’t need protecting, but something in his cold, haunted eyes made me stop. He wasn’t threatening me. He was warning me.

He turned toward the door. “Rest. My pack knows not to touch you.”

“And if I try to leave?”

“Then I’ll bring you back.”

He left without another word.

I sank to the floor. My whole body trembled from holding everything in fear, rage, confusion. I pressed both hands to my belly and tried to steady my breathing.

A low howl rolled through the night, long and mournful. My wolf shivered. Inside me, the baby kicked for the first time.

Tears stung my eyes. “You’re still with me,” I whispered.

Outside, another howl answered the first deep, commanding, his voice.

Maybe the Moon Goddess hadn’t saved me.

Maybe she'd just traded one monster for another.