Lauretta didn't sleep that night.
She didn't even pretend to.
She lay awake in her darkened bedroom, staring at the ceiling as Silvercrest's neon glow flickered against her walls, tracing shadows like claw marks. Her body still felt hot, trembling, alive from the kiss she'd shared with Savior-too much, too intense, too familiar.
But underneath the heat was a different feeling.
A deeper one.
Low in her stomach. Soft. Persistent.
A presence.
She placed a hand over her abdomen, her breath catching. "You again," she whispered, half-laugh, half-cry.
Angela had stayed the night as backup, claiming she didn't trust Lauretta not to sneak out and find Savior like a lovesick wolf. Angela was asleep on the couch, snoring softly, but Lauretta couldn't rest. Not when every instinct screamed that something inside her had changed.
The clock read 3:47 a.m. when she finally sat up and whispered to the darkness:
"I'm pregnant."
The words tasted like fear.
And hope.
And danger.
A tear slid down her cheek.
Her wolf hummed beneath her skin-warm, protective, instinctively curling around the life inside her.
That confirmed it.
---
SAVIOR - POV
Savior didn't sleep either.
He paced his bedroom in the Hunt mansion, the moonlight slicing through the windows like silver blades. His wolf was restless-snarling, pacing, clawing at him from the inside.
He could still taste her. Still smell the fear and desire tangled together on her skin. Still feel the moment she trembled in his hands.
But there was something else too.
Something wrong.
Something off.
Her scent had changed. Not a lot. But enough for an Alpha-born wolf like him to notice.
"Why didn't you tell me, Lauretta?" he whispered into the empty room. "What are you hiding?"
He grabbed his keys at 4:02 a.m.
He needed answers.
Tonight.
---
BACK TO LAURETTA
The knock came at 4:19 a.m.
Hard. Controlled. Too familiar.
Angela jolted awake on the couch. "If that's a demon, I'm killing it with holy water."
Lauretta froze. Her heartbeat slammed painfully against her ribs.
Another knock-deep, steady.
Savior.
"I'm not ready for this," Lauretta whispered, breath shaking.
Angela grabbed her shoulders. "Okay. First? Breathe. Second? You can't hide forever. Third? Put on lip gloss because your face screams disaster."
Lauretta shoved her toward the couch. "Shut up!"
"Never," Angela said sweetly.
Lauretta walked to the door with trembling fingers. Her wolf stirred inside her-excited, nervous, protective.
She opened it.
Savior stood there, chest rising and falling as if he'd been running. His hair was messy. His eyes were wild. His shirt was half-buttoned-as if he'd dressed in a hurry.
"Lauretta," he breathed.
She swallowed. "What are you doing here?"
He didn't answer with words. He stepped inside, closed the door behind him, and stood so close she could feel heat radiating off him.
Angela, perched nosily at the doorway to the kitchen, whispered, "Not me watching like a Netflix series..."
Lauretta shot her a murderous glare. "Angela-bed."
Angela saluted dramatically and left, but not without peeking around the corner. "I'll be eavesdropping. Continue."
Savior cupped Lauretta's face with both hands-gentle but firm.
"What's wrong?" he whispered. "I can feel it. Something's changed."
Her lip trembled. "Savior-"
"Tell me."
She tried to pull away. He wouldn't let her.
"Don't hide from me," he said softly. "Not after last night."
Emotion clogged her throat. "I didn't hide-"
"You did." His voice cracked. "Your scent... shifted. Your heartbeat... doubled. Your wolf... she's... protecting something."
Her stomach twisted. He knew.
He didn't know how, but he knew.
"Lauretta," he said again, voice breaking, "are you hurt?"
A sob escaped her. "No."
"Then what?" He searched her eyes desperately. "What are you afraid of?"
Everything.
Everyone.
The world.
Her future.
His father.
His family.
War.
Death.
But more than anything...
She was afraid of losing him.
She closed her eyes.
But she can't tell him about the baby.
No. I don't need drama in my baby's life.
"I just don't want you around me Savior, please just leave"
Savior's eyes darken, " I thought we have passed this stage, Lauretta "
"Passed what stage?, I don't want to concern myself with anything about you anymore " Lauretta said
"Now you're lying....you can't make me stay away from you "
"We literally can't resist each other and you know it... what I feel for is so strong for me to resist " Savior said.
" Savior...."
"Now tell me, what are you afraid of?" Savior stares into her eyes.
"Savior... I'm pregnant."
Silence.
Thick. Heavy. Crushing.
His hands dropped from her face.
He staggered one step back.
Lauretta felt the air leave her lungs. "Say something..."
Savior didn't blink. Didn't breathe. His wolf roared inside him-shock, fury, awe, possessiveness swirling like a storm.
Finally, in a broken whisper:
"It's mine."
Lauretta's voice cracked. "Yes."
Everything in Savior snapped.
His wolf surged to the front.
He grabbed her waist, pulled her into him, breath crashing against her neck. He inhaled deeply-long, desperate, reverent.
His whole body trembled.
"Oh my God..." he whispered. "Lauretta..."
Her eyes stung with tears. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how to tell-"
He kissed her.
Not like last night.
This kiss was nothing but emotion-raw, shaking, terrified, relieved, overwhelmed. His lips crushed hers, his hands sliding around her back, pulling her into his chest like she was the only thing holding him upright.
Lauretta gasped, clutching his shirt, kissing him back with the same trembling urgency.
He pulled away just enough to breathe, forehead to forehead.
"You're carrying my child," he whispered, voice shaking with awe and hunger and fear. "Our child."
She nodded, crying softly.
Savior wiped her tears with his thumb. "Don't cry. Please. I'm here. I'm not leaving you."
"I didn't want you to feel trapped," she choked out.
"Trapped?" He let out a wild, disbelieving sound. "Lauretta, I feel... alive."
She blinked, stunned.
"Say it again," he whispered. "I want to hear it again."
She swallowed. "I'm pregnant."
His breath caught.
Slowly-almost reverently-he knelt.
Lauretta's heart stopped.
He placed both hands on her hips and pressed his forehead gently against her stomach.
A tear fell from his eye.
"I'll protect you," he whispered to her womb. "Both of you. With my life."
Lauretta sobbed. This time not in fear.
In relief.
"But your parents, they wouldn't..."
"I don't care..."
"But I do. They are your parents and... you're a Hunt and I'm a Owens....it's impossible."
"We will make it possible, I don't care about whatever feud they had before, I want you and I won't let anyone come in between us" Savior said firmly.
Angela peeked from the hallway, hand over her mouth. "Oh. My. God. I'm gonna cry. I hate them so much. They're disgusting."
Lauretta laughed through tears. Savior chuckled softly, still kneeling.
But then-
BANG.
The living room window cracked. A bullet-silver-lined-embedded itself in the wall behind them.
Angela screamed.
Savior shot to his feet, yanking Lauretta behind him. His eyes glowed gold.
The shadowy observer from the previous chapters now stepped out of the darkness across the street-aim steady, expression unreadable.
Savior growled-a deep, animalistic sound that vibrated the floor.
"Lauretta," he said without looking at her, voice a deadly whisper, "get behind the couch and don't move."
Her wolf howled. "Savior-"
"NOW."
She obeyed, trembling.
Savior stepped toward the window, hands curling into claws, voice turning feral:
"You want war?" he snarled. "You're about to get one."
The watcher smiled coldly-and disappeared.
But the message was clear.
They were not safe.
The baby was not safe.
And the Hunt–Owens feud was far from over.
