Chapter 6

Veyra’s POV

I read the sentence again. Then a third time.

My fingers tightened around the paper until its edges crumpled beneath my nails.

For a moment, I wasn’t standing in my bedroom anymore. I was back in that underground shelter, my wrists bound, my stomach empty, and my family staring at me as though my life belonged to them.

I remembered Seren’s tears. I remembered how she had cried before whispering that I was the only one they could sacrifice without destroying the family’s future. She had cried while they prepared to kill me. Now she knew about my baby.

“No.” The word escaped my lips, barely louder than a breath.

My free hand flew to my stomach. There was nothing to feel yet. No movement, no tiny kick to reassure me that the life growing inside me was real.

I had only the knowledge that my child existed, and the desperate promise I had made to protect it. But Seren knew. She knew, and she had threatened my baby as casually as someone claiming an object that belonged to them.

~This time, I won’t let you keep it.

The words made my skin crawl.

What did she mean by this time?

In my first life, I had lost my pregnancy before the apocalypse began.

I had grieved in silence while Draven told me there were more important things to worry about. Seren had offered sympathy, but I remembered the strange relief that flickered across her face when she thought I wasn’t looking. Back then, I had convinced myself that grief made people behave strangely.

Now, with her threat in my hand, I wondered how much of that relief had been genuine.

Had she known something I didn’t?

Had she wanted my child gone?

My knees weakened. I sank onto the edge of the bed, pressing the letter against my thigh. For several seconds, all I could hear was my own breathing.

I had survived death. I had been given another chance to protect myself and the child I had lost. Yet the people who destroyed my first life were already reaching for me again.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to march into Seren’s room and demand to know what she thought she was doing. I wanted to drag the truth out of her, even if I had to tear apart every lie she had ever told.

Most of all, I wanted to call my mother. My fingers moved toward my phone before I stopped myself.

Marielle!

A familiar ache opened inside my chest. Some foolish part of me still wanted her to answer. I wanted to hear her voice and tell her what Seren had written.

I wanted my mother to become the woman I had spent my first life believing she was the one who would stand between her daughters and danger, who would choose neither of us over the other. I wanted her to tell me that Seren couldn’t touch my child.

That she wouldn’t allow it.But I could still see her face in the shelter. The tears sliding down her cheeks as she watched me struggle. She had looked heartbroken, yet she hadn’t untied my wrists. She had loved me enough to cry. Just not enough to save me.

My thumb hovered over Marielle’s contact before I locked the screen. I couldn’t afford to make decisions based on the hope that my mother might finally choose me. Not when my child’s life was involved.

I forced myself to examine the message. The paper was ordinary, expensive enough to belong in our household but not distinctive.

The envelope bore no official seal. There was no name from a messenger, no delivery receipt, and no indication of when it had arrived.

I checked the back, then the folds. Nothing. Whoever had delivered it had known I would be away from my room. They had also known exactly where to leave it.

A chill crept down my spine. Seren hadn’t written this on impulse. She had either been watching me or had someone reporting my movements.

My visit to the healer came to mind. I had tried to keep my pregnancy private, but medical examinations created records. People worked in clinics. Information could travel through a careless conversation, a stolen document, or someone willing to sell a secret.

I didn’t know which possibility frightened me most.

I only knew that someone had discovered the one thing I could not afford to lose. I picked up my phone and called Talia.

She answered after the second ring. “Veyra? Is everything all right?”

“No.” I swallowed. “I need your help, and I need you to keep this between us.”

Her voice changed immediately. “Tell me what’s happened.”

“Someone may have accessed information about my pregnancy. I need you to review the arrangements for my care and make sure nobody can obtain my medical details without my permission.”

There was a brief silence.

“Do you have a reason to believe your records were compromised?”

I looked down at Seren’s letter.

“I have reason to believe someone knows more than they should.”

“All right,” Talia said. “I’ll check the access records and speak to the people responsible for handling your examination. I’ll also make sure your information is restricted.”

“Please don’t confront anyone yet. I want to know what happened before they realize we’re looking.”

“I understand. Are you in immediate danger?”

My gaze returned to the words on the paper.

“I don’t know.”

Admitting it hurt more than I expected. I had survived an apocalypse once. I knew how to ration food, how to recognize danger, and how to keep moving when fear threatened to paralyze me.

But I had no experience protecting an unborn child from someone who shared my blood.

“I’ll contact you as soon as I find anything,” Talia promised.

When the call ended, I sat still for a moment, trying to calm the trembling in my hands.

Then I looked toward the door. I needed security. Not the kind that made a grand display of armed guards. I needed people who would notice unfamiliar faces, question unexpected visitors, and report anything unusual without announcing my fears to the entire household. I contacted the estate manager and instructed him to review the visitor logs, check the entrances, and arrange discreet patrols around the property. I told him not to discuss the changes with anyone outside the small group responsible for carrying them out.

He asked whether there had been a specific threat.

“Yes,” I answered.

I didn’t give him Seren’s name.

Not yet.

Accusing her without knowing how she had obtained the information would only give her a chance to destroy evidence. If she had someone watching me, I needed to know who. If she had reached into my medical records, I needed to know how.

I would not make the mistake of underestimating her again.

When I finished, Kael’s face entered my thoughts. I could tell him. As Alpha King, he had resources I couldn’t match. His guards could investigate the delivery, trace the message, and protect me from anyone who intended to harm my child.

But I remembered the way he had ordered me out of the examination room. I remembered the weight of his authority, even when he chose to compromise instead of forcing me to obey.

If I told him about the pregnancy threat, would he help me investigate?

Or would he decide that protecting me meant surrounding me with guards, controlling my movements, and making every decision on my behalf?

He had respected my refusal to surrender my independence over the possible mate bond.

I wasn’t ready to discover whether that respect would survive the knowledge that I was carrying his potential mate’s child or simply a vulnerable person he believed he had to protect.

I folded Seren’s message carefully and slipped it into a drawer.

I wouldn’t tell Kael yet. Not because I trusted myself to handle everything alone, but because I needed to understand the threat before allowing another powerful person to decide what was best for me.

I had spent one lifetime confusing dependence with safety. I wouldn’t do it again.

My phone rang.

~Talia.

I answered immediately. “What did you find?”

“I checked the available records,” she said, her voice tight. “Someone made an inquiry about your recent medical visit.”

My grip tightened around the phone.

“Who?”

“They didn’t request the information under your name directly. They used a connection to the Nightingale family.”

For a moment, I couldn’t speak. The Nightingales.

My family! The people I had once trusted with everything.

“Can you identify who made the inquiry?” I asked.

“Not yet. I’m still checking the details.”

I stared at the folded letter inside the drawer. Seren knew about my baby. Someone connected to my family had been asking questions about my medical visit.

And I still didn’t know whether my sister had acted alone. Then Talia spoke again.

“Veyra, there’s something else. The inquiry was made before you left to meet the Alpha King.”

My blood ran cold. Someone had been watching me before Seren sent the message. And whoever it was had known exactly what to look for.