The Independence My Alpha Regretted

"Tomorrow morning?" Dr. Morris looked up from my chart, sure he'd misheard me. "You don't want to wait a few days? Alpha Ronan gets back tonight. I'm sure he'll want to be here with his Luna."

I closed the folder. "You're removing a few silver splinters under local anesthetic, not replacing my heart. I've already signed the consent forms."

He kept staring.

Everyone in Silver Ridge knew how dependent I'd once been on Ronan. When I sprained my ankle during training, I'd refused treatment until he got out of a council meeting. Once, the metal edge of a folder sliced my finger, and I'd held it up to him until he kissed it better.

So when I said I could manage alone, Dr. Morris didn't know what to do with me.

I left his office and stopped dead in the medical center lobby.

Ronan Hale had just walked through the main doors, pulling a carry-on behind him. He was broad-shouldered and imposing enough that the younger wolves moved aside without thinking. One hand rested at my stepsister Sienna's back, steadying her over the two shallow steps as if she might break.

A handmade navy scarf was wrapped around her neck.

I'd knitted it for Ronan on the third anniversary of our mating ceremony.

His gaze landed on the folder in my hand. "Maeve? What are you doing here? Is the silver wound acting up again?"

Again. Such a small word, yet it made me sound like one more problem waiting on his desk.

Before I could answer, he took the folder and skimmed the report. "Tomorrow won't work. My schedule is packed. Have them move it to next week."

I pulled the papers out of his hand. "They don't need to work around your schedule. I'll come alone."

Ronan blinked.

Two weeks ago, I'd asked whether I should wear red or black to the council dinner. Now I was having surgery without telling him. If we hadn't run into each other, he might never have known.

As I took a step back, a white prescription box slipped from his coat pocket and hit the floor. The label was for medication commonly prescribed for severe morning sickness.

Ronan snatched it up. "Don't start. Sienna felt sick through the whole flight. I picked it up for her."

Sienna lowered her lashes and clutched the scarf. "I'm sorry, Maeve. Ronan was supposed to go straight home, but I felt awful. I was scared to come here alone." Then she gave me a soft, embarrassed smile. "I wish I were as independent as you. The Alpha wouldn't have to worry about me all the time."

Independent. I almost laughed.

A month earlier, the skin around the silver fragments had flared up so badly that I woke in the middle of the night unable to move my shoulder. I called Ronan, expecting concern. His first words were, "Is it really bad enough to call me right now?"

I told him I didn't know. I was scared, and I wanted my mate to come home.

"Call the doctor, Maeve. You're a grown wolf and the Luna of Silver Ridge. You can't hand every little problem to me. I'm your husband, not your personal nurse."

Funny how that worked.

The strongest Alpha in the region had time to solve everyone else's problems, just not his mate's. Yet Sienna only had to whisper that she felt unwell, and he'd drive her straight here from the airport.

Anyone watching them would think the woman wearing his scarf was his Luna.

The old me would've demanded an explanation. I would've cried, fought, and made him prove that box of medicine meant nothing.

This time, I only nodded. "Got it." There were no accusations, no jealousy, and no tears.

Ronan still didn't know about the tiny heartbeat inside me.

And our baby would never grow up hearing me beg his father to come home.

He'd grow up with me, somewhere far beyond Silver Ridge.