The second I opened the door, I heard a noise coming from the nursery, and my anger flared white-hot. Alaric had renovated that room the moment he found out I was carrying. He'd filled it with only the best. Every piece of furniture, every stuffed animal, every blanket woven with moonthread and spelled for warmth. He picked them all out himself. For our pup.
And now he wanted to give that to Ravenna?
Fury surged through me, my wolf snarling so hard beneath my ribs I could feel her claws scraping at the underside of my skin. I stormed down the hallway and swung the door open, only to find Ravenna lying in the crib.
I yanked her up without thinking, rage burning in my chest. But before I could get a word out, Alaric grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from her. The scent of cedar and cold iron rolled off him in a wall of dominance that pressed against my shoulders, but I was too furious to submit.
"What is wrong with you? You act like a lunatic the second you walk in," he snapped. But when he saw the tears in my eyes, he hesitated, his grip loosening just a little. The cedar scent faltered, thinning at the edges.
"Are you really giving her this room?" I asked, my voice raw and broken.
Alaric frowned. "Ravenna said she likes it. It's not a big deal if she stays here for a while."
"Do you remember…"
"Enough, Selene!" He cut me off, irritated. His Alpha aura pressed outward, cold and dismissive, and my wolf flinched before I could stop her. "Everything you've done these past few days has been disappointing. If you keep acting like this, I'll have to reconsider whether this mating bond should even continue." He paused, eyes cold. "You don't want the pup inside you to be born without a father, do you?"
He was threatening me with bond rejection.
Looking at his face, the side he always turned away when he was done with an argument, I felt the memories unravel. The promises, the whispered sweet nothings, all turning to ash in a matter of moon cycles. He once said this room would always belong to our pup. He said he would treasure both of us for the rest of his life.
And yet here we were.
I didn't say anything else. I turned around and walked out, numb. My hand instinctively cradled my belly, feeling the faint flutter of life inside me. My wolf curled protectively around that small warmth, the only thing left that still felt real.
"Don't worry, little one. We don't need that room. I'll make you a better one."
Behind me, Alaric stood frozen, watching me walk away. That same flicker of guilt from the Moon-Healers' Hall flashed across his face again, sharp and quick, then buried.
But as Ravenna called out to him from the nursery, he turned and walked back to her.
Later, when I was back in the master chamber, my communicator buzzed. I got a string of voice messages from Ravenna.
I opened them one by one, and hearing Alaric's doting tone in the recordings, I realized all their past affection was just practice for Alaric. He was practicing on me and our pup, all for the sake of Ravenna's child.
Every nourishing bone broth I drank, every gift I received for the pup, every rearing tip Alaric shared with me. It was all just practice for Ravenna's pup.
Even the nursery itself was prepared by Alaric for the child in Ravenna's womb.
I and the pup were just tools for Alaric's rehearsal. He didn't want Ravenna to suffer through his learning curve, so I became the sacrifice.
I listened to the messages over and over, the pain swelling inside me until I laughed. Not because it was funny, because it hurt so much it pushed me over the edge. Everything I had been so proud of since the moment I learned I was carrying had been nothing but a lie. My wolf went silent. Not growling, not whimpering. Just silent, the way an animal goes still when the wound is too deep to howl through.
Alaric's tenderness toward my pup? It didn't even come close to what he showed Ravenna and hers.
I clenched my communicator so tightly my hand shook. It hurt to breathe. All I could do was whisper over and over to myself that it was okay.
It was okay. Because soon, we'd be free of him.
Just me and the pup. And we'd be just fine.
The pup kicked, like he could hear me. Like he understood.
I wrapped my arms around my belly and held it close.
I stayed that way for a long time, until I could finally breathe again.
