Moana “It’s your baby!” I blurted out. Edrick fell silent, his eyes wide with disbelief. Beside me, Selina gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. Even I was shocked by my own candidness. “I-- I’ll leave you two alone,” Selina muttered. I didn’t break my gaze from Edrick, but I heard the sound of her feet scurrying toward the door followed by the sound of the door closing. Edrick was silent for the longest time before he finally spoke. “Is this true?” His voice was so low it was almost a whisper, a stark contrast from how angrily he was speaking to me before. “Yes,” I replied, nodding solemnly. “It’s yours. Five weeks along -- six, now, actually.” Edrick went silent again. He seemed to be calculating. I just hoped that he trusted me enough to

 Moana A few more days passed after I told Edrick about the pregnancy. Not much about our relationship changed, aside from an increase in the amount of side glances he would give me throughout the day. I kept puzzling over what he had said the night I told him. He had told me, plain and simply, that he would ensure that the child had a good life here and that I could stay since Ella was already attached to me -- but he would never publicly accept the child as his own, and he would certainly never marry me. I knew from the beginning that these two things would be true, but when he said it out loud, it felt so much worse. All I wanted for this baby was for him or her to experience growing up in a loving home with two parents who also loved each other. Yes, the child would have a wealthy father who would provide everything, but money could never replace this lack of love b

 Edrick As I watched Moana walk into the hospital, I already had my doubts. I was already uneasy enough as we pulled up to the front doors, but seeing her walk away only solidified that feeling. My wolf was just as distraught. “You’re really gonna let her do this?” he asked with a growl. “It’s your baby, too. Think about what it was like when you held Ella for the first time, and then imagine how it would feel with this new baby. You’ve always secretly wanted to experience that feeling again, and now you’re letting this opportunity get away from you.” I shook my head as I watched the doors close behind Moana, then put the car in drive and pulled out of the hospital parking lot. “I know you don’t want this to happen,” I said to my wolf out loud now that we were alone, “a

 Moana Edrick and I agreed with Selina that Ella had to be carefully introduced to the topic of having a new sibling. Not only could it be harmful to her self esteem to think that she might be ‘replaced’ or get less attention, but it could also be harmful to both her relationship with her father and her relationship with me. Considering the fact that we both decided that it would be best for me to continue to live with them as we raised the new child, it was important for us all to get along. We didn’t say anything for a few days, as we both wanted to give ourselves time to come up with a strategy before we told Ella. But, as Selina warned, I would begin to show soon. Since the baby was a little werewolf and not a human, the pregnancy would be a bit different, and I would show sooner. My belly was already starting to look a little more bloated than usual, as I had learned at the charity gala.

 Moana One night, I was reading a bedtime story to Ella when I found myself nodding off in the chair by her bed. I didn’t wake up until a couple of hours later. She was fast asleep and I didn’t want to wake her, so I quietly got up and slipped back into my room to go back to sleep. When I walked back into my room, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, seeing as how tired I was. I moved my sketchbook aside and climbed into the covers, and quickly fell asleep. The next morning, I woke up with a headache. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my eyes, and as I did so I noticed something sitting on my bedside table that I hadn’t noticed the night before: a glass of brown liquid. Furrowing my brow, I picked up the glass and inspected it. It was certainly one of Edrick’s whiskey glasses from his minibar, and when I sniffed its contents, I quickly