DIVORCED LUNA: CARRYING THE ALPHA KING'S BABY

JUMPING TO MY DEATH

Vespera's Pov

My new speed carried me faster than I'd ever moved, trees blurring past, branches whipping my face. Behind me, I heard pursuit—heavy footfalls, breaking brush, the determined breathing of predators who'd scented blood.

*They're not all following,* Nyx said urgently. *One stayed to fight Kael. Two are chasing us.*

Two. I was pregnant, exhausted, and barely trained. They were elite hunters in their prime. The math was simple and brutal.

I dodged left around a massive oak, then right, leaping over a fallen log. My lungs burned but I pushed harder, drawing on Nyx's strength, letting instinct guide my path. The forest grew denser, the undergrowth tangling into obstacles that slowed me down.

It wasn't enough.

A wolf crashed through the brush behind me—Saskia, her white coat unmistakable even in the shadows. She was gaining, eating up the distance with long, powerful strides.

I pushed harder, ignoring the burning in my legs, the stitch in my side. Ahead, the trees thinned. Sunlight broke through. I burst into a clearing and my heart stopped.

A cliff.

I skidded to a halt at the very edge, dirt and pebbles spraying over the side. Below, maybe fifty feet down, a river raged over jagged rocks. White water churned violently, smashing against stone with enough force to pulverize bone.

Behind me, Saskia emerged from the trees, shifting to human form with a predatory smile.

Then Marcus appeared from my right, cutting off that escape route.

"End of the line," Saskia said, walking toward me slowly. No rush. They had me cornered. "Come quietly and we'll make sure you get back to the pack house safely. Fight, and we drag you back bleeding. Your choice."

I looked at the cliff behind me, the trackers in front, the forest on either side that offered no escape. My mind raced, searching for options that didn't exist.

We could fight, Nyx suggested, but even she didn't sound convinced.

"I won't go back," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "I'd rather die."

"Dramatic," Marcus commented, his dead eyes showing no emotion. "But ultimately pointless. The Alpha wants you alive. We're bringing you back alive. Everything else is negotiable."

Saskia took another step forward, and I felt the edge crumbling slightly under my heel. Pebbles bounced down the cliff face, disappearing into the churning water below.

Then Marcus stopped mid-step.

His nostrils flared. His head tilted, confusion crossing his usually blank features. He drew in a deep breath, scenting the air with sudden intensity.

His eyes went wide.

"She's pregnant," he said, the words dropping like stones.

Saskia's predatory smile vanished. She stared at my stomach—still flat, showing no obvious signs—but wolves could scent things humans missed. "What?"

"She's carrying a pup." Marcus's voice held something I'd never heard from him before. Uncertainty. "Fresh. Very fresh."

They looked at each other, some wordless communication passing between them. Then Saskia threw back her head and howled—a signal that would carry for miles. The sound was different from a hunt-call or a warning. This was a message.

The Luna is pregnant. Converge. Now.

"Alpha Julian is going to be very interested in this development," Saskia said, turning back to me. Her expression had shifted from predatory to calculating. "Very interested indeed. A miracle baby after three barren years? This changes everything."

My blood turned to ice. If they brought me back, if Julian discovered the pregnancy, he'd lock me away until the birth. And then... what? What would he do when the child was born and looked nothing like him? When its scent carried traces of the Alpha King?

He'd kill us both.

A wolf crashed through the underbrush—Darius, his muzzle bloody but his eyes triumphant. Behind him, I didn't see or scent Kael. My heart lurched.

Kael, Nyx whimpered.

"The exile's down," Darius reported, shifting to human form. His chest bore fresh claw marks, but he was grinning. "Put up a good fight but he's not getting back up." He noticed their strange postures, their focused attention on me. "What's going on?"

"She's pregnant," Marcus said flatly.

Darius's eyebrows shot up. Then a slow, vicious smile spread across his face. "Well, isn't that interesting. Alpha Julian will want to know immediately. He'll probably throw a festival. The barren Luna finally fulfilled her purpose."

They started forward together, a coordinated advance. Three elite trackers against one exhausted, pregnant woman. They didn't even bother shifting—they didn't need to.

I looked at the cliff behind me one more time.

Fifty feet down. Raging water. Jagged rocks. Almost certainly fatal.

But "almost" was better than the certainty of what waited for me in Julian's hands.

Vespera, no, Nyx protested. The pup—

The pup has a better chance in the river than in Julian's dungeon, I thought back.

"Don't do anything stupid," Saskia warned, reading my body language. "There's nowhere to go but down, and you won't survive that fall."

"I know," I said.

Then I turned and jumped.