Avalyn POVMy first ever fight with Alpha Grey ended on good terms. I was no longer grounded in my room but in return, I had a total of four guards with me at all times.Georgia stuck her head around my door smilingat me. "You ready?"I slid on my shoes and grabbed my bag. "Let's go.":The guards didn't hesitate when I informedthem Georgia was merely taking me on an afternoon walk on the ground floor like usual.Natalie made it known that exercise was important during pregnancy, and if I wanted easy labor, I would need to walk more."Georgia, where are we going? This isn't theway.."Shhh! Do you not want to go to the market?" “Excuse me?”"It's an outdoor space within the enclosure of the capital walls. The castle estate completely surrounds the market. Once a month, local people come to sell whatever they have to those of high society.Georgia wasn't known for being patient, and she clearly wouldn't wait for me to decide."Coming or not? I'll go by myself if you quit."I thou

Avalyn POV The smell of the clinic turned my nose up a bit.Ever since I had become pregnant, I had developed an aversion to many different smells.The smell of the capitol hospital was at the top of my "dislike" list. However, today, I was thrilled to be here."Good morning, Avalyn !" Natalie greeted me with a warm smile.I eyed hee, thinking. She was in charge of my health… did she know?She had been so supportive of me all along. though. I was certain she wasn't involved in Alpha Grey’s plan."Hey, Nat." I smiled sweetly, trying to remain positive. "Do we get to see the baby today?""That's the plan. We'll try and get a proper ultrasound done today. I know that last time we couldn't see much because you were too early, but I think, by now, we should be able to to get a real picture."Despite everything that was going on lately, this was something I had been waiting for. I was excited to see my child."Yes. I could barely sleep last night thinking about it.""Let me take a look a

Grey’s POVMy mind had been full of a lot of things lately. With the war growing closer, and more of the outlying cities and villages being attacked, my warriors were stretched thin. James was persistent that we needed more troops, but my gut told me adding more men wasn't the solution for the problem.The enemy knew us too well. Romero's pack owned the islands between the East continent, which James ruled, and the West continent, where our enemy was located. It wascrucial that we had his support, both for additional troops and for the permission to use his islands as a base of operations.However, I was going to lose my godd*mn mind if I had to hear another word from Romero or his daughter.I couldn't believe that, with everything going on, I was basically being blackmailed into marrying a woman I couldn't stand.I knew that cunning old fox wanted to plant his influence in our kingdom, but something seemed off. I couldn't trust him fully, and if I ever found out he had any inten

Avalyn POV For the next couple hours, I sat in a chair and watched the rain coming down outside, thinking about all of the time I had spent with Alpha Grey. With every flash of lightning in the distance, memories of him flashed before my eyes. I thought of the gentleness he'd shown me when we made love. My hand automatically went to my abdomen where the child was growing.I couldn't believe that someone would show me tenderness, make a baby with me, watch me give birth to their child… and then kill me. But that was Alpha Grey's plan, and that meant I hadto go. Even if that meant I needed to trust the likes ofMadalynn, who had told me herself she didn't want her child to be second in line to the throne. My baby's life was hanging in the balance. But I had to take the gamble and try. A knock on the door pulled me away from thewindow. Tonight hadn't been quiet for me at all..” Rebecca entered, walked toward me, and wrapped her arms around my neck. "I wish tonight wasn't happen

Avalyn's POV The rain picked back up as Damian and I ran around the exterior of the capital. It was pouring so hard, I could hardly see where we were going, but I kept my eyes on him and forced my feet to keep moving forward. Faltering at this point wasn't an option. I had to keep moving for my baby's sake and for my own. According to the plan, we would need to get out of Mirage first."This way," Damian said, and I realized he was ushering me through a small door in the ground that reminded me of the cellar we had back home. I wouldn't have even known it was there if he hadn't tugged it open. The door led down a flight of stairs to a narrow tunnel. Damian pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and illuminated the stone surface. At least it wasn't raining down here."Where are we going?" I asked him as we ran along. "The tunnel ends right before the wall," he said. "We'll have to climb over it." "And then what?" I asked, my heart pounding in my ears. "Then…. we'll have to r