Chapter 3: Positive

Kyra's POV 

"Negative."

The word landed in the hall like a plate was being dropped. A girl two rows ahead of me exhaled and sagged forward, her hands over her face, I couldn't tell if it was from relief or disappointment.

"Negative," Dr Alyssa continued moving down the ledger with one hand, calling out names. 

My pulse was so loud I could hear the next names, all I could hear was Negative. Negative. Negative. The girls left crying or laughing or completely silent, the chairs begin to empty. Four days of waiting and it all came down to this, a woman reading off a list like she has calling roll at an academy.

“Savannah of Blackwood.”

Alyssa glanced at the ledger. “Negative.”

The line was getting thinner. If u was negative too, I would go back to Westwood with nothing. Liam already knew i was gone, I couldn't go back empty-handed, he'd kill me.

"Sinclair." They called out my name.

I stopped breathing. Doctor Alyssa looked up from her ledger, found my face in the row, and for one unbearable second said nothing at all.

"Positive."

The word didn't feel real. I gripped the edge of my chair so hard my palms turn red, trying to process the word, staring at Doctor Alyssa like she might take it back.

"Congratulations Kyra, you're pregnant." She said gently. "You'll be moved to the Royal Estate within an hour."

Everything after that happened too fast to feel real. The servants came for me before I'd even fully processed the word positive, and led me through a set of gates I wasn't allowed to near never, and we went up a staircase lined with portraits of wolves I didn't recognize,into a room that made stop dead in the doorway.

It was bigger than the entire house I'd shared with Lianna.

"This is... mine?" I asked the servant walking beside me.

"Yes, my lady." She replied.

"I'm not a lady." The words came out fast.

"You're carrying the Alpha King's heir," She said flatly. "That makes you something, at least for now."

For I was something. The bed could have fit four people alone. There was a private washroom with hot water that came out of the tap, a wardrobe already stocked with clean dresses I'd never touched before and a tray of food waiting on the table. I sat on the edge of the bed and just inhaled and exhaled for a while, waiting for someone to burst in and tell me it had all been a mistake, that I belonged back in the servants quarters, on my knees with a rag in my hand.

Nobody came.

"Doctor Alyssa will speak to you this afternoon," the servant said as she walked out. "Luna Natalia also requested a brief introduction as well."

Doctor Alyssa arrived late in the evening in a dark coat. She sat across from me at the small table near the window and set a thin folder between us.

"I'll be overseeing your pregnancy directly," she said. "You should by now understand the rules clear."

"I understood the risks," I said.

"Well not necessarily the rules," she folded her hands. "You will be under constant medical supervision, no movement that could endanger the child, and one more thing Kyra. You are not to form an emotional attachment to the child."

I blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"It's a common mistake among surrogates," She said. "They start to think the child is theirs,but it isn't. The moment that child is born, it belongs to the Alpha King. Attaching yourself to it would only make the separation harder for you."

"That's not going to be a problem," I said quietly. "I'm not here to be anyone's mother. I'm here to get paid and go home."

"It's better you keep that in your head," Something in Dr Alyssa's expression eased just slightly. "Luna Natalia will see you now."

They walked me through the quiet corridors, past windows that showed more perfect gardens, until we reached a sitting room that smelled like roses.

Luna Natalia stood near the fireplace. She was beautiful in ways I'd only seen in paintings, fair skin, long honey blonde hair that was in an elegant updo, and grey blue eyes that went well with the green royal dress she was wearing. She smiled when she saw me 

"So you're the one," she said moving towards me.

"Kyra Sinclair, my hair." I said, keeping my head down.

"I'm the Luna of Crestwood, I assume you already knew that," She stopped Infront of me. "You're carrying the King's heir. That's quite the accomplishment for a Westwood omega."

"I got lucky, I suppose." I said.

"Perhaps."she said flatly. "I want to be very clear with you, Kyra, because I find honesty saves a great deal of trouble for everyone. You are only here to carry the child, that is your entire purpose in this house. You will not have any fantasies surrogates like you have about my husband. When this is over, you'll go home with your payment, and your life and this will be nothing but a memory."

"I understand," I said. "That was always the arrangement."

She looked at me for seconds, before she nodded, apparently satisfied.

"I'm glad we understand each other," her voice came out gentle. "The next coming weeks will not be easy. If you need anything, the staff will provide it. Otherwise...we will not speak, only when necessary."

I nodded and went back to my room.

I stood at the window of new room and looked out over the grounds toward a distant wing of the palace, it had all dark stone and shuttered windows. The sevant had told me it was The King's private residence. I'd never seen him, or even knew what be looked like, only that everyone spoke of him in careful, low voices.

I probably never will, I thought, pressing my palm to the cool glass. I'm just the womb carrying his heir. Why would a King ever bother meeting that?

My eyes moved down below, in the corridor connecting the estate to the royal wing, a servant came sprinting around the corner so fast that her skirt nearly tangled under her feet, nearly colliding with another attendant coming from the opposite way.

"The King has returned," she gasped, brea

thless. "Tell the house that tomorrow, he'll finally meet the woman carrying his child."