Chapter 10

• *A Month Later*
• I had to move again. Ever since I fled Blood Moon, I didn’t stay at a place for more than a few days. I was too anxious to stay put. My feet dragged. My bones were weary but I had to move.
• How long before the cursed alpha forgot about me? I barely had any money left and moving as often as I did, I could not get a job. Because of one man, I had to hide out in different dirty motel rooms, fearing for my life. I could barely remember that night but it still haunted me.
• I was sick of running. I was also sick and running.
• ‘You should go to the hospital,’ Asia, my wolf, muttered as I dragged my tired body into the bus to my next location.
• ‘We can’t afford to,’ I reminded her.
• I’d felt off for a few days but I chalked it up to the stress of being a fugitive. If I went to a hospital, they would have a lot of questions, questions I could not answer. I didn’t know how many people the cursed alpha had on the lookout for me so I had to be careful. Until he forgot I existed, I had to stay off his radar.
• Feeling a fever coming on, I closed my eyes to catch some sleep. When I opened my eyes after what felt like a few minutes, I met a white room.
• “Where am I?” After a beat, I recognized the sterile environment of a hospital. “How did –“ My chest tightened when I thought the cursed alpha may have found me. As far as I remembered, I had been on a bus to my next hideout so how did I get to the hospital?
• There was no way the cursed alpha would send me to a hospital. Except – was I in the afterlife and not a hospital? Perhaps the man had chopped off my head for defiling him and I was now waiting to meet my ancestors. Hyperventilating, I almost missed the arrival of the man in white. He had flaming red hair and my heart relaxed. There was no redhead in my family so I must be in the hospital and not the afterlife.
• “I see you’re awake,” he said. “Doctor Luke at your service. You passed out on the bus to Red Valley and a kind family brought you here,” he explained.
• “Oh.” Flames of embarrassment scorched me from within. “I – I’m fine. Just a bit stressed.” I laughed awkwardly but the doctor only gave me a condescending smile.
• “It’s my job to determine whether or not you are fine.” My awkward laughter died a quick death. “We need to run some tests.”
• “O - Okay.” I felt as if I was being scolded.
• He called in a nurse and after giving everything from my blood to my urine, they asked me to rest and wait for the results. With nothing to do, I soon fell asleep again.
• The sound of the door creaking open woke me. The doctor from earlier came in flipping through the test results with the nurse beside him.
• “You were right about being stressed,” he muttered. “Considering your condition, I would advise you to rest more. The first trimester is a crucial point in pregnancies so you have to be careful.”
• “Condition?” I frowned, wondering if I was about to die from stress. “Wait – what do you mean pregnancies?” My head spun while my brain tried – but refused – to make sense of his words.
• “Oh, I’m sorry. Let me be the first to congratulate you on your pregnancy.” He gave me a practised smile.
• Pregnancy. Pregnancy? Pregnancy!?
• “I – No way. I’m barren. How can I be pregnant?” I stuttered.
• “Barren?” His brows shot up. “Who told you that?” I wanted to tell him it was everyone but my lips were trembling. “You’re pregnant, not barren.” He gave a perfunctory smile and signalled the nurse who took it from there.
• The nurse went out and came back in with several papers. I took them from her in a daze. She spoke in a soothing tone and I nodded without really hearing anything.
• Did I have to go back to Jackson? What if it was the cursed alpha’s? My spine straightened as horror gripped me.
• No. No way!
• Even if I knew little about the royal family's curse, I had heard only his mate could carry his child so my baby couldn’t possibly be his.
• Touching my belly again, a bitter sound filled the air.
• “Are you alright?” The nurse paused her sermon when I laughed harshly.
• “Fine,” I muttered and then I choked on my tears.
• I’d wanted a baby for so long. I should be happier but I couldn’t help but feel defeated. Jackson threw me out so there was no guarantee he would acknowledge my child and if he did – he could take them from me.
• Overwhelmed by a crushing sense of defeat, I buried my face in my palms and bawled, imagining the life my baby would have. Knowing I could not guarantee them a good life filled me with guilt.
• I emptied my pocket to pay the hospital. They wanted me to register for ante-natal but I was still on the run.
• I bumped into a lady as I exited the hospital with swollen eyes. “Sorry,” I muttered as I made to brush past her.
• “Are you - Why do you smell like Valens?” She gripped my shoulder. She touched my stomach before I could speak and a bolt of electricity shot through me. Her eyes widened to saucers and mine doubled as I caught sight of the poster above her head.
• It was a wanted sign.
• “I’m sorry, I have to go!” I wrenched out of her grip, almost toppling her as I bolted.
• The cursed alpha had put a bounty on me.
• “Oh, goddess. What do I do? What do I do!?” I touched my belly as I escaped, letting my hair down. “Who can I turn to?” My mind flashed to my best friend.
• Janet and I may have grown apart but we had been friends for two decades and she was my baby’s aunt. She was my last option – my only option at that point – so I boarded a bus to her.
• It was half a day’s journey to her pack and I got there in the evening. I was starving but I had nothing on me. Even when I got to the pack, I had to walk all the way to the Alpha’s house since I could not afford a taxi.
• “Trespasser.” Janet’s mate opened the door with a growl when I knocked. “Oh, it’s you.” He looked me up and down. “What are you doing here?”
• “Is Janet in?” The hostility in his gaze threw me off guard. The way he looked at me like a piece of gum on the bottom of his shoes was the first indication that I had made the wrong choice coming here.
• “Wait here.” He slammed the door in my face and I flinched.
• Standing on their front porch, I rocked from the balls of my feet to my heels. A minute passed and then ten but no one came out. When twenty minutes passed and my stomach began to growl loudly, I knocked again. No one responded. Another five minutes passed and then the door opened.
• “Oh, Janet.” I almost sagged with relief from seeing a familiar face after so long. “Janet, I’m sorry to drop by like this –“ She cut me off.
• “You have a lot of nerve coming here.”
• “What?” I blinked as she hissed in my face.
• “How dare you show up on my doorstep after the stunt you pulled!? Trying to kill my unborn nephew? How selfish can you get, Chantelle?” She exclaimed.
• “Oh, about that – That’s a long story.” I couldn’t tell Jackson but my relationship with Janet was different from my relationship with Jackson. Janet was my childhood friend so even if no one believed me, she would. Someone needed to know about Irene’s immorality.
• “Can you let me in?” When she didn’t budge, I continued to speak. “You know – I’m pregnant,” I said and my heart skipped a beat. Goddess knew how much I longed to say those words in my lifetime.
• “You? Pregnant?” I was about to nod when she burst into laughter. A shiver crawled up my spine and the alarm in my head went off. “Pregnant with what? Delusions?” She snorted. We heard a loud barking and my blood chilled. “Oh, they are here.” I turned as the hairs on my arms stood.
• Since childhood, Janet had been fascinated with dogs. She had even tried crossbreeding some with wolves. And right then behind me were five dogs the size of adult wolves. Five men struggled to restrain them as the animals tried to break free.
• “Get this dirty thing off my property!” Janet hissed and to my horror, the men let the leashes go. I turned to my friend – my best friend – and to my horror, she slammed the door in my face.
• “Hey – Janet – Don’t – don’t do this –“ I banged hard on her door as time slowed.
• It took me a split second to realize what was happening. I sprang into action at the last second, jumping off her porch and running for my life.
• I couldn’t shift. My hand touched my stomach as I ran. They were gaining on me. I could almost feel their breath on my ankle. My life played out before me, from the warm days I spent with Janet to the sneer on her lips seconds ago.
• A heart-stopping growl had me stumbling. I chanced a glance behind me in time to see the dogs scamper off with a whimper. Relief flooded into me but my breath caught in my throat.
• “I never agreed to play hide and seek with you.” The man I was running from stood in front of me.
• “Mate,” my wolf whispered.