Chapter 7

"Test me now. Then you'll know. I can feel pup."

For one unguarded second, hope and longing stripped every defense from his face. Then his gaze shifted to the date on Nolan's chart.

"The eight years end today, and now you tell me you're carrying my pup?" His voice roughened. "Do you expect me to believe that isn't another bargaining chip?"

Something inside me finally gave way.

"Test me first," I said. "Just once."

Nolan produced a report. "She was tested on admission. Negative. She's stalling."

Adrian studied the report, then looked at me as though he were searching my face for the woman he'd once trusted.

Caleb's voice suddenly struck through the Alpha mindlink. Rogues had breached the eastern checkpoint, and a school transport was trapped beyond the security barrier.

He turned on Nolan. "Repeat the pregnancy test before you touch her. No more than three hundred milliliters. If her pulse shifts, if she feels pain, or if anything looks wrong, you stop immediately. Do you understand me?"

Nolan nodded. "Perfectly, Alpha."

Adrian hesitated at the end of the corridor.Then he left at a run.

The doors closed behind him. Nolan's respectful expression vanished.

A nurse performed the rapid pregnancy test. Two lines appeared on the screen.

I saw the word POSITIVE reflected in the glass cabinet before Nolan turned the device facedown.

He entered NEGATIVE into my chart.

"You know I'm pregnant," I said, struggling against the hands forcing me onto the donation bed.

Nolan fastened the restraint over my arm. "So what? Your pup will disappear soon enough."

They inserted the needle and began filling the first bag.

A thin ache formed low in my abdomen. It tightened with every minute.

"I'm pregnant, stop immediately."

The nurse glanced at Nolan. He gave a mocking laugh. "The Alpha can barely stand the sight of you. What makes you think he'd ever love a pup born from you? Right now, Vivian matters more."

The nurse did not hesitate again.

As the blood bag neared full, a cramp knifed through my abdomen. Cold spread beneath my skin as warmth spilled between my legs.

The monitor began to shriek.

Blood spread across the white sheet.

"My pup.."

I tried to send my terror and loss through the mate bond to the Alpha miles away. But my wolf was already gone. I couldn't reach him anymore.

No footsteps came. No one stopped the machine until my vision had already gone black.

When I woke, late-afternoon light lay across an empty hospital room.

Miller called minutes later.

My brother was dead.

For a long time, I heard nothing after that. The pup inside me was gone. My brother was gone.

I was discharged from the hospital alone and took a taxi to the beach.

The wind at the cliffs was vicious enough to tear at my hospital gown.

I rested a hand over my flat stomach. "I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you."

Then I closed my eyes.

"I'm sorry too, little brother. You needed your sister, and I was too broken to reach you."

Footsteps scraped across the gravel behind me. The driver shouted my name and begged me to step away from the edge.

What I heard instead was Adrian beneath the moon years ago, promising, "Lena, wherever you go, I'll find you."

But Adrian had never truly found me.

Not when I begged him to believe me. Not when our pup was dying. Not when my brother needed me.

Everyone I had tried to protect was gone, and I no longer had the strength to survive one more day inside the life Adrian had destroyed.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, though I no longer knew who I was apologizing to.

Then I stepped forward.

Cold black water swallowed me.