They Want My Child
1874 Words
They Want My Child
Your wolf was never the real target. Your child is.
I read the sentence three times.
The words did not change.
Kael took the paper from my hands.
“Out.”
The guards in the hallway moved immediately.
I stared at him.
“Excuse me?”
“Not you.”
He pointed toward the broken window.
“Everyone who was on this floor tonight. Rowan checks them. No one leaves the residence.”
Two guards ran.
Kael turned to me.
“You’re moving rooms.”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Aria.”
“I just escaped one Alpha who thought he could decide everything for me. I’m not replacing him with another.”
“This is not about control.”
“You’re ordering guards, locking down the building and deciding where I sleep.”
“Someone reached your balcony.”
“I noticed.”
“They knew exactly which room was yours.”
That stopped me.
Kael stepped closer.
“I don’t care whether you like my methods tonight. Someone inside Nightfall may be feeding information to whoever sent this.”
My stomach tightened.
“Inside?”
“No outsider walks through this residence unseen.”
Nyra growled.
He is right.
I hated when both of them agreed.
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll move.”
Kael’s jaw relaxed slightly.
“But I choose the room.”
His mouth almost curved.
“Fine.”
“And Mara checks it first.”
“Fine.”
“And no guard stands inside.”
“Absolutely not.”
I crossed my arms.
“You said fine twice. You were doing so well.”
“One stays outside the door.”
“Outside.”
“Yes.”
“Then we agree.”
Kael looked offended by the word.
“I don’t remember this being a negotiation.”
“Get used to disappointment.”
For one second, despite the smoke and broken glass, he almost smiled.
Then Rowan appeared.
His expression killed the moment.
“We found something.”
The metal cylinder had come from inside the residence.
Rowan placed a cloth bag on Kael’s desk.
“One of the kitchen servants found this missing from a storage crate.”
“What was it?” I asked.
“Originally? A signaling canister.”
Kael’s face hardened.
“Who had access?”
“Quartermaster. Senior guards. House staff.”
“That narrows it down to half the building,” I said.
Rowan gave me a tired look.
“You’re adapting quickly.”
He placed another object on the desk.
A small brass key.
“Found outside your balcony.”
I stared at it.
“What does it open?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Kael picked it up with a cloth.
A crescent moon split by a vertical line had been etched into its head.
The same symbol from the photograph.
Nyra recoiled.
Old.
I went still.
“What?”
Kael looked at me.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Nyra did.”
His expression sharpened.
“What did she say?”
“Old.”
Rowan frowned.
“The symbol?”
“I think so.”
I closed my eyes.
“Nyra, what is it?”
For several seconds she said nothing.
Then an image flashed through my mind.
Stone.
Moonlight.
Women standing in a circle.
A child crying.
I gasped.
Kael caught my shoulders.
“What happened?”
“I saw something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
The image vanished as quickly as it came.
Nyra retreated.
“Great,” I whispered. “My wolf gives riddles now.”
Kael didn’t let go immediately.
His hands were warm.
Steady.
I became too aware of how close he was.
Then Mara entered.
“Move.”
Kael released me.
Mara pointed at a chair.
“You. Sit.”
“I’m fine.”
“You inhaled smoke.”
“I barely—”
“Sit.”
I looked at Kael.
He folded his arms.
“Apparently she outranks you.”
“Everyone does today.”
I sat.
Mara checked my breathing, pulse and eyes.
Then her hand paused over my abdomen.
Her expression changed.
Not fear.
Confusion.
“What?”
“Your pulse accelerated.”
“Because people keep trying to kill me.”
“Not yours.”
The room went silent.
I looked at my stomach.
“The baby?”
Mara nodded slowly.
“But he’s fine?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“I want to test something.”
She held her palm near my abdomen.
“Nyra, if you can hear me, come forward.”
I almost laughed.
“She doesn’t take appointments.”
Nyra moved instantly.
Heat spread through my chest.
At the same moment, the baby kicked.
Hard.
I gasped.
Mara froze.
“Again.”
Nyra moved closer.
Another kick.
Not random.
A response.
“No,” Mara whispered.
My fear returned.
“What?”
She looked at Kael.
“A fetus this young should not respond to a wolf manifestation.”
Kael’s face went still.
“What exactly are you saying?”
“The child is reacting to Nyra.”
I put both hands over my stomach.
“That’s impossible.”
“Yes.”
Mara’s answer was too quick.
“And yet he just did it twice.”
Rowan stopped joking.
“Could the binding compound cause this?”
“I don’t know.”
Mara looked at me.
“Aria, when Nyra awakened, did you hear the baby before or after?”
“After.”
“Did Nyra know you were pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Before you did?”
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
Mara stepped back.
“That connection should not exist.”
Kael’s gaze dropped to my stomach.
“Unless someone expected it.”
The message flashed through my mind.
Your child is.
I felt sick.
“They knew.”
No one answered.
“They suppressed Nyra because of a child I didn’t even have yet.”
Mara spoke carefully.
“Maybe not this child specifically.”
“Then what?”
“Your bloodline.”
Silence.
She continued.
“If someone believed a child born from your line could inherit something unusual, suppressing your wolf could have been a way to prevent you from mating, becoming Luna, or producing an heir.”
I thought of Darius.
Of being rejected for weakness.
Of every person who had told me I could never lead.
“What if that was the point?”
Kael’s eyes met mine.
“What?”
“What if they didn’t need to kill me?”
The idea became clearer as I said it.
“They only needed everyone to believe I was worthless.”
No wolf.
No Luna.
No powerful mate.
No child.
Kael’s expression turned dangerous.
“That would be efficient.”
My stomach twisted.
“And then Darius rejected me exactly as they wanted.”
In Silvercrest, Darius stared at Varrin’s body.
The healer had been moved to a secure room.
The dart that killed him lay sealed on the table.
Gavin entered.
“We searched the western wall.”
“And?”
“No shooter.”
Darius looked toward Celeste.
She had not been allowed to leave.
“You knew Varrin.”
“So did half the pack.”
“He looked at you before he died.”
“He was frightened.”
“Of what?”
“How would I know?”
Darius moved closer.
“Because you keep answering questions I haven’t asked.”
Her face hardened.
“You are grieving and looking for someone to blame.”
“I am looking for the person who used my authorization code on Aria’s treatments.”
Celeste went pale.
Only slightly.
Enough.
Darius saw it.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing.”
His Alpha command filled the room.
“Tell me.”
Celeste’s body went rigid.
Her lips parted.
Then something extraordinary happened.
She resisted.
Darius stared.
Only very old bloodlines could resist a direct command from their Alpha.
“Who are you?” he whispered.
Celeste’s eyes widened.
A second later, the office doors exploded inward.
The lights died.
By the time the guards restored them, Celeste was gone.
On Darius’s desk sat a single brass key.
A crescent moon split by a vertical line had been carved into it.
Kael moved me to a room across from his.
I noticed immediately.
“Convenient.”
“Strategic.”
“You could have chosen any room.”
“I did.”
“Across from yours.”
“Yes.”
“You’re impossible.”
“So I’ve heard.”
Mara checked the windows and food. Rowan replaced the balcony lock. Two guards took positions in the corridor.
I should have felt safer.
Instead, I felt watched.
Kael remained after everyone left.
“You should sleep.”
“I don’t think that’s happening.”
He leaned against the wall.
“What do you need?”
The question surprised me.
Not what are you going to do?
Not what should I order?
What do you need?
“I need to understand why someone planned my child before I even knew Nyra existed.”
“We will.”
“And if the answer is Darius?”
Kael’s jaw tightened.
“Then you decide what to do with that truth.”
“You really mean that?”
“What?”
“That I decide.”
His eyes held mine.
“Aria, protection without choice is just another cage.”
For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
Then someone knocked.
Rowan entered without waiting.
“So much for security,” I muttered.
He ignored me.
“Kael, we caught someone leaving the residence.”
“Who?”
“One of the night guards.”
My pulse accelerated.
Rowan placed a folded ledger page on the table.
“He had this.”
Kael opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
At the top was mine.
ARIA VALE — ARRIVED NIGHTFALL
Below it:
ROOM: EAST GUEST SUITE
MEDICAL EXAMINATION COMPLETED
PREGNANCY CONFIRMED
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Someone had reported everything.
Even Mara’s examination.
Kael’s voice became ice.
“Where is the guard?”
“Cell three.”
“Did he talk?”
“One name.”
My heart pounded.
“Whose?”
Rowan looked at me.
“That’s the problem.”
Kael took the page from him.
“Tell her.”
Rowan hesitated.
“The guard says he wasn’t reporting to Silvercrest.”
“Then who?”
“He says the orders came from someone inside Nightfall.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Kael stepped toward him.
“Name.”
Rowan swallowed.
“He gave us one.”
“Who?”
Rowan looked directly at Kael.
“Elder Soren.”
Silence.
The same man who had voted against my asylum.
The same man who knew I was pregnant.
The same man who had asked why Nightfall should risk war for me.
Kael’s expression turned lethal.
Then Rowan added quietly,
“There’s more.”
He pointed to the bottom of the ledger.
One final instruction had been written beneath my name.
DO NOT HARM THE MOTHER.
And below it:
THE CHILD MUST BE TAKEN ALIVE.
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