“Long time no see Daria. Someone is sick?” Therin greeted her with a bright smile on his lips. Several decades ago, these two were classmates at high school. At that time, Therin loved Daria and wished to marry her, but luck wasn’t on his side. He celebrated his eighteenth birthday a few weeks earlier than Daria, which let him understand they didn’t share a bond. It’s not like he couldn’t marry her just because they weren’t mates, but almost no one would marry right away without at least waiting a few years for their destined one. “Good morning, Therin. Can you please check up on my daughter? Her stomach is acting up.” Therin scans Ariana from head to toe. The shade of green on her face couldn’t be missed. Within a second, Therin's eyes return to Daria. Her face is like an open book. Therin recognizes what worried her immediately. “When was your period last time?” He asks directly, without hesitation. Although this wasn’t directly his specialization, most of the werewolf doctors coul

The reason behind the Lycan king’s womanizing behavior might be the lack of Lycan blood in most of the prominent bloodlines in the capital. Lycan can produce an offspring only with another Lycan or with someone carrying Lycan’s gene. It’s fruitless to mate with a person who can’t conceive an offspring. Daria always thought the Lycan king never chose his queen for this simple reason. “I am not Lycan, but I carry a gene. That itself is enough for me to transfer this gene onto my children. The same as I, you carry the same bloodline.” Daria spoke directly to her daughter. She is the most affected one currently and the one who needs to understand the situation to decide how they should proceed. Daria takes her time to fully explain what kind of role the Lycan blood plays in Ariana’s pregnancy. “Werewolves' pregnancies take six months for the fetus to fully develop. Lycans need double time. In your case, if you find a werewolf as your mate, you will simply produce a werewolf's offspring a

“You should really be careful about what you eat. I never thought a wolf could become fat.” Darla Fealome, Ariana’s cousin, mentions when they meet in the school cafeteria. Ariana herself noticed the clothes slowly becoming tighter with each passing day of her pregnancy. Mother told her she should have at least two to three months before her pregnancy would be visible. Yet her belly had its own agenda and slowly grew over the past days. “Maybe you should shut up and take care of yourself. Just be careful you won’t get rash from all the dirtiness you are spitting around yourself.” Tarja, Ariana’s best friend, rushes to her friend’s rescue. From the day these two cousins attended school, Tarja did nothing else but threw back every insult they spit on Ariana. It made no sense to her. These two are supposed to be Ariana’s family, yet they do nothing else but insult her. The younger one remains silent most of the time. Tarja doesn’t even remember her name but Darla, the older twin, always

“Are you both ready?” Peter asks, but before they can answer him, he sees three bags on the ground, just beside the two most important women in his life. Daria picks up her luggage, urging Ariana to do the same. Peter grabs his, which he knows his wife prepared with their best interest in her mind. She had a talent for predicting almost everything. This allowed her to pack the bags according to what they might need. Ariana carries the clothes which they will need during their traveling. Although it’s winter, they shouldn’t feel cold, but that doesn’t mean they can travel in one set of clothes the entire time. Daria’s bag contains what they could use as a kitchen in the wild. Some spices, hard to find ingredients and utensils. Their country isn’t huge, but it will take up to three weeks to reach the neighboring country. Especially since they can’t use the main road and can’t allow anyone to see them. Once Marcus finds Ariana is gone with his child, he will send warriors to find them.

“Are they following us?” Daria asked her husband, who had just caught up with them. Peter leaves them every morning to create several blind leads to cover their tracks while getting back on route. Peter agreed with his wife to travel this way to avoid being caught by their pursuers. Although until now they didn’t see anyone, they are cautious. “No one is after us. Maybe it’s exactly as you said. He will try to predict where we are going and wait for us there.” Peter informed his wife. “Maybe we should find another path to cross the borders. In particular, Edeirland doesn’t have that many places suitable for crossing. The mountains between those two countries are deadly.” Peter’s words bring nothing new. Daria already knew about the decision her husband had made. Whether the peaks are deadly or not, they have no other choice but to cross the border this way. “Mount Reichard has a secret passage. Only a few people know about it. Maybe we could cross there.” Daria quickly replies to he