Chapter 6

The first punch drove every breath from my lungs.

I called Adrian's name without thinking.

Our mindlink wasn't open, so I couldn't send words through the bond, but extreme pain traveled between true mates whether they wanted it to or not. I knew he could feel me.

For the first half hour, I believed he would come.

I imagined the door exploding inward and Adrian storming through it the way he once had whenever I was threatened. I clung to that picture as fists and boots struck every place my clothes could hide.

Just as I was about to lose consciousness, something faint fluttered deep in my abdomen.

My wolf reacted before I did.

She curled around that tiny spark of life, shielding it with her body.

My eyes snapped open.

I might be pregnant.Six weeks earlier, Adrian had come home drunk after a Pack Council dinner. He found me in the dark kitchen, pulled me against him, and buried his face in my neck as though the last seven years had never happened.

"I still love you, Lena," he'd whispered, his voice raw. "I hate you for making me unable to stop." That night, he kissed me with the tenderness I remembered from our first year, and for once, there had been no white pill waiting afterward.

If there was a pup, I had planned to take the pup with me and never let another contract decide whether they deserved to exist.

"Please," I begged. "I might be pregnant."

No one listened.

No matter how they hit me, I curled around my stomach and took every blow with my back and shoulders.

I only had one thought left.

Protect the pup.

I forced all my fear and pain through the mate bond.

Adrian had to feel that I was in danger.

He had to come.

I kept staring at the door, waiting for it to open.

One of the guards caught me looking at the door and laughed.

"Still waiting for your Alpha?"

He seized my wet hair and forced my head back.

"Even if Adrian walked through that door right now, what do you think he would do? Vivian is lying in a hospital bed because of you. He handed you over to us himself."

"That means, for the next three hours, we decide whether you stand, whether you breathe, and whether you leave this room alive."

The others laughed.

I told myself they were lying.

Adrian had never ordered them to treat me like this.

But he never came to stop them.

I survived the entire night.

With every minute, I trusted Adrian less.

Every time they dragged me back to my feet, the guards repeated the same words.

"Your Alpha gave us permission."

"If you die here, it will be because he decided Vivian mattered more."

I finally accepted the truth. Even if the men had disobeyed him, Adrian was the one who handed them the key.

They took turns knocking me down, hauling me back to my feet, and holding my face under icy water until my wolf thrashed in terror. 、

My wolf stopped using her strength to heal me. She poured everything she had into protecting the life inside my body.

With every blow, I felt her grow weaker.

By dawn, her presence had faded completely.

My wolf was gone.

But the tiny life in my womb was still there.

She had used her last breath to keep my pup alive.

When the sky began to lighten, they sent me to the hospital.

I woke to nurses whispering that Vivian had lost too much blood. She had the rare Rh-null type, They want me to donate blood.

Adrian stood in the hallway while Nolan explained, "We'll stay within safe limits. Elena heals quickly. Three hundred milliliters won't hurt her."

He held out a chart. "If she cooperates, it'll take fifteen minutes."

I caught Adrian's arm.

When he turned and saw me, the color drained from his face.

His gaze swept over my soaked hair, my bloodless lips, and the hospital gown hanging loosely from my trembling body. I was barefoot, barely able to stand, and looked as though I had not slept in days.

His pupils tightened. "Why did the discipline hall leave you like this?"

"Who gave them permission to do this?" His voice turned hoarse, and the force of his Alpha aura made every wolf in the hall lower their head.

For one moment, everyone could feel his anger.

Then I said Vivian's name, and suspicion smothered the instinct to protect.

"Because Vivian wanted me dead."

Nolan cut in. "She's feverish and experiencing trauma-related delusions. Alpha, Vivian's blood pressure is dropping."

I tightened my grip on Adrian's sleeve.

"I can't give her blood. I'm pregnant."

His entire body went still.

"I felt the bond with my pup last night. My wolf used everything she had to protect it."

I had never imagined telling him this way.

Delight flashed across Adrian's face, and his wolf surged so powerfully that the windows trembled.

"That's impossible." His eyes dropped to my stomach before snapping back to my face. "I've made sure every time. I've watched you swallow every pill."

"Not every time."

"The night you came home drunk. You told me you still loved me. We were together, and there was no pill afterward."

His face changed, uncertainty breaking through the anger.