MAKE IT MAKE SENSE

I didn’t think I’d survive this long.

It’s been days.

How many, I don’t know. I lost count after three.

The warehouse is dark now. Always dark. The windows are broken, the roof leaks, and the wind never stops crying through the cracks. There’s mold in the corners, dried blood near the back wall, and something dead rotting near the old shelves.

But this is where I live now.

I’m curled up in a corner on the bare concrete floor, holding my knees tight to my chest. My arms ache. My back throbs. My baby kicks lightly inside me, like it’s trying to remind me it’s still here… that I have to still be here too.

But I’m so tired.

I haven't eaten in two days. I finished the last piece of stale bread yesterday morning. I’m dizzy. My lips are cracked. I’ve cried so much that my cheeks sting.

I don’t know where else to go. No pack. No home. No money. No friends.

Just me. And the child I never planned to have. The child I now can’t live without.

And then I hear her.

"Why haven’t you gone to him?"

My wolf.

I flinch. Her voice hasn’t spoken to me in days. Maybe more.

“Gone to who?” I whisper, like I don’t already know.

“The father of your child.”

I hug my belly tighter.

“I can’t.”

“You haven’t even tried.”

“I’m scared,” I admit. My voice is hoarse and low. “What if he doesn’t want us? What if he thinks I’m lying? What if he laughs in my face—or worse?”

She’s quiet for a long moment.

Then she speaks again, softer now. “You’re not lying. And I remember where he is. You don’t have to go alone.”

My throat tightens.

A part of me wants to hope. Wants to believe. But the other part—the bigger, bruised part—wants to stay curled up and forgotten.

Still… I nod.

Not because I’m brave.

But because I don’t know how much longer I can live like this.

---

I wait until nightfall.

The air turns sharp, the sky black. I crawl outside the warehouse, barefoot, teeth chattering, and step onto the overgrown path.

I take one last shaky breath.

And I let the shift come.

It hurts.

My body twists, bones cracking, muscles stretching, snapping into place. I cry out—but the pain reminds me I’m still alive.

Then I’m on four legs, fur dirty and thin, paws trembling.

And I run.

Slow at first. I haven’t shifted in weeks. My legs are weak, my body sore. But I push forward anyway.

One paw in front of the other.

The wind rushes past my ears. The world blurs. And for the first time in days, I feel something.

Not fear.

Not pain.

Something else.

Hope.

His scent hits me like lightning.

Faint at first, then stronger—pulling me in, drawing me closer.

I know it. My wolf knows it.

It’s him.

The man from that night. The one whose touch still haunts my skin. The one whose child I carry.

Lucien.

The Lycan King.

I run faster now, panting, my breath misting in the cold night air.

My paws burn from the stones and roots, but I don’t stop.

I’m scared.

But I’m also… curious.

What if he’s not like Kael?

What if he sees me—really sees me?

What if he wants the baby?

What if I finally… belong?

The thoughts scare me more than the darkness.

---

And then I see it.

The house.

No.

Not a house.

A villa.

Huge, looming, made of dark stone and glass. Balconies on every side. Lights glowing inside like it’s full of life, full of everything I don’t have.

I stop at the edge of the trees.

My paws dig into the dirt.

I want to run. I want to bolt back into the forest and forget this ever happened.

But my wolf growls deep inside me.

“Keep going.”

I creep forward, one trembling step at a time.

I circle around the back, hidden by the bushes and trees. I don’t go to the front. I’m not ready to face the door. Not ready to knock and ask if he remembers the night he spent with a no-name girl from a no-name pack.

Instead, I climb.

The stone is cold under my claws. My arms shake. The balcony is high, and I nearly slip twice.

But I make it.

I crouch low on the balcony, panting, my body aching.

That’s when I smell it.

Something sharp.

Familiar. Too familiar.

I freeze.

No. No, it can’t be.

I inch forward, press my nose to the glass of the large window.

And my whole world shatters.

Selene.

She’s inside.

With a man, definitely not Kael.

His back is to me, but my wolf growls softly, vibrating through me.

“That’s him.”

The man from that night.

The man who touched me like I mattered, made me forget the pain, even just for a few hours.

The man whose scent I followed all the way here.

The man who left me with this child.

And he’s not just with Selene.

They’re not just talking.

They’re tangled together.

Making love.

Right there. Right in front of the window. His hands gripping her waist. Her back arched. Her moans muted by the glass but vivid enough to break me from the inside.

My throat closes.

My legs buckle.

She throws her head back and calls his name, “Lucien…”

I freeze.

Lucien.

The Lycan King.

The most powerful man alive.

My heart shatters in my chest.

I stumble backward. I slip.

The balcony edge disappears beneath me, and I fall.

Wind rushes past me. My body spirals downward, concrete racing toward my skull.

But just before I hit the ground, my wolf snaps into action.

She takes control.

We hit hard but survive. Barely.

And we run.

Fast. Blind. Broken.

Tears stream from my eyes as the pain hits me—harder than the fall, sharper than any slap or rejection I’ve ever felt.

I just run. And cry. And scream inside until there’s nothing left.

---

Two days later, I’m in front of a dusty old mart with barely any money and a growling stomach.

I’m arguing with myself about what I can afford—maybe bread, maybe noodles—when something catches my eye.

The TV inside the store.

The news.

And on the screen…

"For the first time in 40 years, the Lycan King appears on the Grand Silver Carpet with a woman—rumored to be his mate… and future Queen."

My blood turns to ice.

I can’t feel my hands.

I can’t breathe.

I clutch my stomach as the world spins around me.

I stare at the screen, my heart thundering.

Selene smiles beside Lucien, her arm wrapped around his.

And in that moment, I finally understand what betrayal really feels like.

She didn’t just take everything from me.

She took him.

The father of my child.

The man who made me feel like I mattered—only once.

And now?

Now he belongs to her.

I stand frozen in front of the screen, and a single thought runs through my head:

"This can’t be real. This can’t be happening. Make it make sense."