Chapter 10

My throat burned as if I had swallowed fire. When I finally spoke, my voice sounded broken and strange to my own ears.

“This is all my fault,” I whispered. “Mommy failed you.”

If I had not left the pack house alone...

If I had not been taken from the roadside like prey…

If I had not endured that terror inside the van…

My little pup could have remained safe inside my womb longer. She would not have been dragged into this harsh world before her time, small and fragile beneath the cold lights.

“It was Mommy who did not protect you.”

The healer stood close to the bed, speaking in a gentle but serious tone. He explained that my daughter had been born too early. He said she needed to be placed inside a spirit warmed incubator crafted for premature wolf pups. He assured me that her heartbeat and breathing were stable for now.

His words reached me in pieces, like scattered leaves in the wind. Yet my mind felt painfully sharp.

“The father of the pup…” the healer began carefully.

I interrupted him before he could finish.

“Do not inform him.”

My tone was so calm that it frightened even me. There was no anger in it. No tears. Only emptiness.

The healer looked at me for a long second, then gave a small nod.

When they wheeled my daughter away, I kept staring at the door until it closed. Only after it shut completely did I allow my eyes to fall shut.

I did not know how much time passed.

Soon the ward door opened again with force. The scent reached me before the sound did.

Ronan.

My Alpha stepped inside, his aura sharp and cold. Several pack members followed behind him, their faces tense. His expression was dark with fury.

He did not ask how I was, or even just looking at my pale face or the bloodless lips that proved how much I had suffered. No.

He just strode straight to my bed.

“Are you satisfied now?” he demanded.

Even lifting my eyelids felt like lifting stone, yet his accusation cut through my weakness and froze my heart.

“Valea, must you really take things this far?”

He let out a harsh laugh, one filled with blame.

“Last night during her live broadcast, she was attacked by a crowd of haters. They shouted at her without mercy. They called her a home breaker. They said she carried a pup that should not exist. She endured it alone until she collapsed. She nearly drowned herself in the bath.”

Each word struck like a blow.

“Those attackers were sent by you, right? Just because I did not answer your call? Is that not too vicious, even for you?”

I lay there in silence, my body stiff beneath the blanket.

For a moment I could not even feel anger. Only disbelief. He truly believed I would do such a thing.

Ronan’s gaze turned colder, if that was even possible.

“Why are you trying to drive her to death?” he pressed on. “Marielle only wishes to remain quietly at my side. She poses no threat to you. You already hold the title of Luna Valloren. You are my Luna in name. What more do you want?”

His words were sharp, each one meant to wound.

“Do you know her pup nearly died?” he added, his voice rising.

At that, a silent laugh escaped me. No sound came out, but something inside me shattered completely.

So this was why he had come.

Not because I lay here pale and empty after nearly losing my life. Not because his own pup had been born too soon.

But he came to defend Marielle.

The blanket covered my stomach, now flat and hollow. He did not notice. Or perhaps he just did not care enough to see.

I did not pull the blanket away. I did not tell him that his daughter had already been taken to an incubator fighting for strength.

Instead, I spoke softly, each word costing me breath.

“Then do you know this?” I asked quietly, “That because of Marielle, I was kidnapped on my way back to the pack?”

His brows tightened slightly, but he did not interrupt.

“I was taken off the road like prey. I almost died in that van.”

My fingers tightened weakly over the blanket.

“And I almost lost my pup.”