Chapter 4

I didn’t cry

Even as I staggered through the cold, down the worn path that wound through the woods like a scar, even as the pain burned beneath my ribs like fire licking the edges of my bones, I didn’t cry.

The trees whispered above me, the wind pushing through their branches like it mourned something. Me, maybe.

I didn’t know how long I had been walking. Minutes, hours, days maybe. The stars shifted. The moon slid higher, casting a pale silver light across the frost-laced leaves, but I kept walking.

Away.

I didn’t look back, not at the hall where they cheered for Astra.

Not at the gates where Kael had turned his back.

My breath stuttered. My legs trembled. Something inside me twisted again. That same strange pressure I’d felt since the morning Kael last kissed me behind the herb garden.

I pressed a hand to my stomach and there was no more wondering.

I know now. I was pregnant.

With his child.

A tiny flicker of life pulsed beneath my palm. Weak, barely-there… but still real.

And I was alone.

The ache deepened in my chest, tighter than the rejection, colder than the night. Every step forward felt like tearing away a piece of myself. But I couldn’t stay. I wouldn’t, not where they could touch me again, not after what they had done.

I reached the old path near the south border, the one the warriors rarely patrolled. I remembered it from when I was a child, back when I thought the world was larger than the pain of pack walls.

Almost there.

I could feel the border magic thinning, like fabric worn down over time. A few more steps and I’d be free.

Then the crack of a branch.

I froze.

Footsteps.

Four.

Maybe five.

I turned just as a shadow lunged from the trees. A gloved hand clamped over my mouth. Another gripped my arms and yanked me back. I thrashed, kicked, and bit into someone’s hand, but they were faster.

Rough voices.

“Are you sure this is her?”

“Of course. Astra said under the willow, "And be quiet about it.”

My blood went cold. A sharp sting pierced my neck and the world spun.

Poison.

My knees buckled as they dragged me, limp and gagging, through the undergrowth. My vision blurred, their voices turned to echoes, my heartbeat louder than thunder in my ears.

And then I saw it.

The willow.

The same one where I’d first shifted. Where my wolf had bled beneath its roots.

They dropped me at its base.

“She won’t last the night,” one said. “Let the wolves finish it, we've done out part”

Their boots crunched away.

“Wait,” another hesitated. “Should we at least check if she’s still breathing?”

“She’s not worth the effort,” the first spat. “Let the forest take her.”

A pause.

“She’s carrying, you know. Kael’s.”

“Even more reason to leave her. That bloodline's tainted now.”

Their laughter scraped against my skin as they vanished into the trees.

I tried to scream, but nothing came out. My throat burned and my limbs were lead.

Something inside me shifted, but this time it was not my wolf.

My baby!.

The pressure returned, sharp and urgent. My stomach twisted. A wet warmth spread between my legs. I gasped, and this time, I managed to scream.

It wasn’t a rejection pain.

It was labor.

“No. No, no, no. Not now. Not like this”.

I clawed at the earth, dragged myself up against the bark of the tree, bracing as wave after wave of pain crashed through me. I bit down on my sleeve. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe.

I pushed.

The world shrank to the ache in my hips, the fire in my spine, the blood soaking the roots.

Tears streamed down my face. My nails dug into the soil.

The wind howled above me and the stars blurred.

Then….A cry.

So faint.

It was so small and it broke me.

I reached down, sobbing, holding the tiny bundle against my chest. My fingers trembled as I tucked my cloth around the fragile body.

I was shaking and burning, the poison still crawling through my blood. I couldn’t focus. I couldn't feel my legs and everything was slipping.

But I listened.

For the heartbeat.

One beat.

Another.

Slower.

Fainter.

“Please,” I whispered, curling tighter. “Stay…please stay with me.”

But the light dimmed and the heartbeat faded.

Gone.

I tried to hold on. I rocked gently, back and forth. I murmured soft words that made no sense. Hummed old lullabies I didn't remember properly. Anything…anything to make it feel less final.

My body was cold now. My fingers numb. I couldn’t feel my lips. I blinked, but everything was dim. Like night falling in slow motion.

My vision turned dark at the edges. The wind died and the stars blinked away.

My last thought wasn’t of the baby.

It wasn’t of Astra.

It was him.

Why didn’t Kael stop them?

Why didn’t he fight for me?

Why didn’t he save his child?

And just before the black swallowed me whole, I saw him.

Standing in the distance, his eyes locked on mine.

Watching.

Unmoving and silent.

“Kael?” I tried to speak, my voice barely air.

“Why…?”

His jaw clenched and his hands curled into fists at his sides.

“I…” he took a step forward.

But then he turned away.

He was gone.