Blood on the marble

The golden envelope dropped from my numb fingers, fluttering to the polished marble floor. I stared down in complete horror as a sharp, agonizing pain ripped through my lower stomach. It felt like a hot blade twisting inside me, pulling all the air directly out of my lungs.

"Brandon!" I screamed, clutching my abdomen as my knees gave out.

Brandon moved faster than humanly possible. He caught me right before my head slammed into the edge of the glass table. His hands were shaking as he lifted me into his arms. I looked down, tears blurring my vision, and saw the dark red blood soaking through my white silk robe, staining his expensive suit jacket.

"Hold on, Serena! Stay with me!" Brandon yelled, his voice echoing frantically down the corridor of the Crestwood Royal Manor. "Get the medical team! NOW!"

The hallway blurred past me in a dizzying streak of lights, portraits, and terrified faces of household guards. The sharp cramps kept coming in violent waves, each one deeper and more terrifying than the last. I squeezed my eyes shut, wrapping my arms tight around my stomach.

No, no, no. I couldn't lose this baby.

In my past life, I had lost everything. I had died cold, alone, and hated in the pouring rain while Julian walked away with Chloe. This second chance at life was supposed to be my triumph. I had reclaimed my true royal identity as the daughter of King Alistair. I had destroyed the abusive Vance family who stole my childhood. I had stripped Julian Lockford of his pride and forced him to his knees. But none of that meant anything if I lost the child growing inside me.

"Don't take my baby," I sobbed into Brandon's shoulder, my voice breaking. "Please, God, not my baby."

"I won't let anything happen to you or the child," Brandon said fiercely, though I could hear the sheer terror laced through his voice. He kicked open the double doors of the manor's private medical bay.

The royal doctors were already rushing around in a chaotic panic. High Chief Healer Vance—a distant, loyal branch of the pack who had served my real father—guided Brandon to lay me onto a sterile white bed. IV lines were snapped into place, monitors began to beep frantically, and cool hands pressed against my stomach.

"Her pulse is spiking! Royal blood magic is erratic!" one doctor yelled.

"She is losing too much blood! The baby's heartbeat is fading!" another shouted.

I grabbed Brandon's wrist so tightly my knuckles turned white. "Find him," I choked out, a wave of cold sweat washing over my face. "Julian..."

Brandon frowned, his amber eyes flashing with anger and shock. "Serena, he abandoned you to go into the Northern Mountains. He left!"

"No," I whimpered, tears spilling down my cheeks. "The mate bond... the baby needs the father's Alpha aura to stabilize the wolf side. If his energy isn't here, the baby's body... it won't hold!"

It was the cruel reality of werewolf genetics. Royal babies were born with immense power, but during early trauma, they required the father's Alpha aura to anchor their fragile little souls. Julian's blood was running through this baby. Without his presence, my own body's surging royal magic was accidentally attacking the child's unformed wolf spirit.

Brandon cursed under his breath, his eyes darkening. He turned to his chief pack warrior standing at the door. "Track down Julian Lockford. I don't care if he is halfway up the ice peaks. Drag him back here in chains if you have to!"

"Sir, the Northern Mountains are locked in a heavy blizzard," the warrior replied nervously. "The Royal Trial of Atonement cuts off all phone signals. He entered the sacred cave hours ago."

"Then send helicopters! Send flares!" Brandon roared. "If my sister or her child dies, I will tear the Northern Mountains apart with my bare hands!"

The pain inside me flared again, hotter and more intense. The steady beep of the fetal heart monitor suddenly slowed down into a terrifying, irregular rhythm.

Beep... beep... beep.

"We are losing the heartbeat!" Healer Vance called out, his hands glowing with a soft green light as he tried to pump healing magic into my abdomen. "The child's spirit is pulling away!"

Darkness crept in from the edges of my vision. The coldness spread from my toes straight up to my chest. I could hear the chaotic shouts of the doctors, the loud blare of alarms, and Brandon shouting my name, but their voices sounded like they were underwater.

I closed my eyes, drifting into the cold abyss. Julian... I thought bitterly in the quiet corners of my fading mind. You said you would do anything for forgiveness. Where are you when I actually need you?

Suddenly, the heavy double doors of the medical room did not just open—they were blown off their hinges by a massive, violent burst of raw Alpha energy.

An icy draft blew into the warm room, carrying the sharp scent of pine, fresh snow, and heavy crimson blood.

Every doctor in the room froze, dropping to their knees under the sheer weight of the overwhelming aura that flooded the space. I forced my heavy eyelids open just a fraction.

Standing in the shattered doorway was Julian.

He looked wild, lethal, and completely undone. His clothes were shredded, coated in frost and deep red rogue blood. Scratches ran up his neck, and his dark hair was wildly tossed by the mountain wind. He had clearly dropped everything and sprinted back at unnatural, terrifying speed the moment he felt the pulse of danger through our severed mate bond.

His grey eyes were glowing a brilliant, frantic silver as they locked onto me lying pale on the blood-stained bed.

"Serena!" he gasped out, his voice raw and raspy.

He did not care about the guards raising their weapons at him. He did not care about Brandon charging forward to block his path. In one swift movement, Julian side-stepped Brandon and dropped heavily onto his knees right beside my bed.

He grabbed my ice-cold hand, pressing it hard against his cheek, while placing his other palm directly onto my lower belly.

"I am here," Julian growled, his whole body shaking with violent panic. He released a massive, soothing wave of Alpha aura, pouring every ounce of his energy straight into me and the baby. "I am right here, Serena. Don't you dare close your eyes. Fight, damn it! Take my energy! Take all of it!"

As his powerful aura wrapped around my cold skin, the wild, chaotic magic inside my stomach suddenly settled. The sharp, tearing pain began to lessen.

On the monitor, the agonizingly slow heartbeat suddenly caught its rhythm again.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The doctors gasped in disbelief. I took a deep, shuddering breath, the life rushing back into my limbs. I looked into Julian's silver-glowing eyes. He was crying silent tears, his face pressed against my bleeding fingers.

"I won't let you die," he whispered fiercely. "Not again."

My heart skipped a beat at his words, a chilling realization washing over me.