I Slept With A Wolf

Zelda’s POV

“Sweetheart?”

The word hit me like a slap. I looked from the woman clinging to Vance’s arm to Vance himself, waiting for him to correct her. He didn’t.

Our eyes locked for one second. Then he looked away.

He turned to the doctor, who was still bent in a bow so deep it looked painful.

“How is the baby doing?”

My stomach dropped. My hand flew to my belly before I could stop it. How did he know? Why did everyone in this house care so much about a baby I hadn’t even told anyone about?

Vance gave me one last glance before turning away, then paused and looked back.

“Get her ready for the elders.”

His voice dropped into something deep and commanding, a tone so full of authority the hairs on my body stood up.

The doctor and nurse folded into another bow and held it until he was gone.

The second he disappeared, two men walked in.

I didn’t even see them cross the room. One moment I was on the bed, the next I was on my feet, both of them gripping my arms so hard I knew there’d be bruises, my toes barely skimming the floor as they hauled me out.

“Careful. You don’t want to hurt her baby,” the nurse called after us.

My baby. Again.

The hallway blurred past in streaks of white until they let go and I hit the ground, hard.

I grabbed my knee, biting back a cry.

“Zee.”

Mia’s voice. I looked up and found her kneeling a few feet away, pale as paper.

“Mia!” I scrambled toward her, checking her over with my eyes. “Are you okay?”

She only nodded, lips pressed thin.

Someone cleared their throat, and the sound cracked through the room like a whip.

I lifted my head, and that was when I actually saw where we were.

A ring of elderly men, dressed in dark leather, surrounded us in a half circle, and every single pair of eyes was locked on me like they were peeling back my skin to see what was underneath. In the center sat Vance. And beside him, that woman.

My hands started shaking. I couldn’t stop them.

These men didn’t just look powerful. They felt powerful, like the air itself bent around them.

“Erm.” My voice cracked the silence, and every head turned. “I’m so sorry, honestly, it was a one-time thing. I didn’t know he had a girlfriend.”

“Wife.” The woman’s voice sliced through, sharp as glass.

Of course. Classic married man. Shame I had to be the one who paid for it.

“I didn’t know he was married. He never said anything. And this baby,” I pressed a hand to my stomach, “isn’t his. I have a boyfriend. Luke. So just let us go, and I swear, we’ll forget this ever happened. No cops. Nothing.”

Mia tugged at my sleeve, a silent plea to shut up. I ignored it.

Nobody answered. They just stared, like I’d been speaking a language none of them recognized.

Vance wouldn’t even look at me.

The silence stretched so long it started to feel like something solid, pressing against my chest.

“Vance.” My voice came out smaller than I meant it to. “Say something. Anything.”

That was the wrong move.

One of the elders shot to his feet, and before I could blink, we were surrounded, cold steel pressed to both our throats. I forgot how to breathe.

“How dare you speak our Alpha’s name?” the elder thundered, and I swear the walls shook.

My eyes flooded. I looked at Vance, silently begging.

“Let her be.”

Two words. That was all it took. The blades vanished as fast as they’d appeared.

“Alpha?” The elder turned to him, brows raised.

“She’s carrying my child.” Vance’s voice was granite. “Do you want to kill my heir?”

“I wouldn’t dare, Alpha.” The elder’s head dropped low.

A mafia. This had to be some kind of mafia.

But the silence crept back in, and I couldn’t sit in it, not with Mia trembling beside me, barely holding herself upright, and these old men trading looks like they were speaking a language made entirely of eyebrows.

“You have the wrong person.” My voice shook.

“Please. Just let us go. It was one night, that’s all it was, and this baby isn’t his. I don’t know what this is, some kind of cult, some kind of family thing, I don’t care, I’ll never say a word. My friend needs rest. Please.”

One man rose. I could feel the hate radiating off him before he even opened his mouth.

“Liar. You should be thanking the goddess you’re still breathing.” His lip curled. “You think you can walk out of here carrying the heir to the Blackridge werewolf Pack? You must be joking.”

He turned to Vance, disgust twisting his face. “I wonder what the Moon Goddess was thinking, mating you to a lowly human.”

Werewolf clan. Mate. Moon Goddess.

The words didn’t make sense, and something in me finally snapped.

I shoved myself to my feet. “Excuse me.” Every head turned. “Luna. Werewolf clan. Moon Goddess. Is that some kind of code? Because I just moved here, and I have no idea what any of you are talking about.”

I turned to Mia. She looked worse by the second, gray and shaking. What had they done to her?

“So just tell me what you actually want. My aunt can arrange money. A ransom, whatever you call it.”

Laughter answered me. Actual laughter, rolling around the room like I’d told a joke.

“She really doesn’t understand, does she?” one elder said, wiping his eyes.

“Show her.”

Two men stepped forward, and to my horror, started stripping.

A freak show. It had to be a freak show.

Then I heard the bones crack.

I watched, frozen, as their skin rippled and shifted, fur bursting through in a wave, until two massive wolves stood where the men had been.

I rubbed my eyes hard enough to hurt. This wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real.

But more shapes rippled and shifted around the room, wolf after wolf rising where men had stood a second ago, and my mind simply stopped working. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t faint. I could only stare.

What followed was an explanation. One of the elders took his time, laying everything out in detail.

Apparently, werewolves were real. Every single thing I had witnessed was real. And then it hit me.

I slept with a wolf.

My hand flew to my hair as panic crashed over me.

“Wait… I slept with a wolf? An actual animal? And worst of all, their leader?”

The words had barely left my mouth before the entire room erupted. Their expressions darkened, fists clenched, and murderous glares locked onto me as if I had committed the greatest insult imaginable.

“Seal her mouth shut and take her to the dungeon.”

Those were the last words I heard before rough hands seized me.