The infirmary smelled like mineral water and antiseptic. I'd spent half my life in this room, back when I was training to be a healer, back when I thought I had a future that belonged to me.
Kaizen was sitting by the springs when I arrived, his bare feet dangling in the glowing water. The healing properties made it shimmer faintly in the dim light, like liquid moonstone. He looked up when I walked in, and his smile was tired but genuine.
"You didn't have to come," he said softly. "I know you're busy with the festival."
I knelt beside him and pressed two fingers to his wrist, checking his pulse out of habit. Steady. Weak, but steady. "I always have time for you."
He didn't argue. He knew better.
I was reaching for the blood pressure cuff when the door slammed open.
Mackenzie Rogers strode in like she owned the place, flanked by two Delta warriors I barely recognized. Young ones. The kind who followed orders without asking questions.
"Security check," Mackenzie announced, her voice sharp and bright. Too bright. Like glass about to shatter.
I stood slowly. "This is a restricted healing area. You need authorization from Dr. Warren to—"
"I have authorization from the Beta." She pulled a folded paper from her pocket and waved it lazily in my direction. "Abram's concerned about... vulnerabilities in the pack's medical facilities."
Kaizen's hand found mine. His fingers were cold.
Mackenzie's eyes tracked the movement, and her smile widened. She took three steps closer, close enough that I could smell that gardenia perfume again, and then she tilted her head to the side.
The mark on her neck was fresh. Angry red, still bruised at the edges. A claiming bite, or something meant to look like one.
"Oops," she said, touching it with one finger. "Didn't mean for you to see that, Luna." The title dripped from her mouth like poison. "But I suppose you should know. Since we're going to be... family."
My throat closed.
"He's been so attentive lately," she continued, her voice dropping to a whisper meant only for me. "Especially since I told him about the baby. His heir. The future Alpha."
The room tilted.
No. No, that wasn't possible. Callan would have told me. He would have—
But he wouldn't have. Of course he wouldn't have.
"You're lying," Kaizen said. His voice was thin but steady, and he was trying to stand, his legs shaking with the effort. "My sister is the Luna. You're nothing but a—"
"Kaizen, don't—"
"A homewrecker," he finished, his pale face flushed with anger I'd never seen before. "You have no honor. No shame. You're not fit to—"
Mackenzie's face twisted. "How dare you."
And then she moved.
It happened so fast I almost didn't see it. Her right arm rippled, bones cracking and reforming, skin splitting to reveal dark fur and claws. A partial shift. Illegal inside pack buildings. Illegal without Alpha permission.
She raked those claws across her own shoulder.
Blood sprayed across the white tile floor.
Mackenzie screamed. High and piercing and theatrical. "She attacked me! The Luna and her cripple brother attacked me!"
The two warriors rushed forward, and one of them grabbed Kaizen's arm, yanking him away from the springs. He cried out, his legs buckling.
"Don't touch him!" I lunged forward, but the other warrior caught me, his grip iron-hard on my wrist.
"She's trying to kill the Alpha's heir!" Mackenzie shrieked, clutching her bleeding shoulder. "She's jealous! She's insane!"
"That's not—" I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. "Let go of my brother, he needs the water, he'll—"
Pain.
It hit me like lightning, white-hot and vicious, tearing through my abdomen. I gasped, doubling over, and the warrior released me in surprise. I hit the floor hard, my knees cracking against tile.
Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.
The pain came again, sharper this time, and I felt it—the terrible, unmistakable sensation of something tearing loose inside me. Warmth spread down my thighs, soaking through my dress.
No.
I looked down. Saw the blood pooling beneath me, dark and damning.
No. No, no, no—
"Aria?" Kaizen's voice, distant and terrified. "Aria, what's—"
I'd been pregnant.
I hadn't known. Hadn't even suspected. But my body knew. My body had been holding on to this one last piece of hope, this one last thread connecting me to the mate who'd abandoned me.
And now it was gone.
The room spun. Voices shouted. Someone was calling for Dr. Warren. Mackenzie was still screaming about being attacked, her voice high and victorious.
I pressed my hands to my stomach and felt the life draining out of me onto the cold infirmary floor.
And I understood, with perfect clarity, that I had nothing left to lose.
