Chapter 7 — Two Lines
1076 Words
LIORA
I woke to the smell of antiseptic and the pressure of fingers against my wrist.
“Stay still.”
Nora’s voice came from somewhere above me.
I opened my eyes. The laboratory ceiling swam into focus one white panel at a time. My head throbbed, and the inside of my elbow stung where she had drawn my blood.
“What happened?”
“You fainted.”
“I know that part.”
Nora released my wrist only after counting several more beats. Her mouth was set in a thin line, the expression she wore when a patient was trying to make her job difficult.
“You have not eaten since yesterday afternoon,” she said. “You barely slept, and your blood pressure dropped during the draw.”
“So that explains it.”
“It explains why you fainted.”
The distinction tightened something in my chest.
I pushed myself upright on the narrow examination bed. The room tilted, then steadied. Nora placed a glass of water in my hand and waited until I drank.
The laboratory door remained locked.
On the counter behind her sat a white test cassette.
Two red lines crossed its window.
For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
Nora followed my gaze.
“I ran the rapid assay while you were unconscious,” she said. “The serum panel confirms it.”
My fingers closed around the glass.
“How far?”
“Your hormone level suggests somewhere between four and five weeks. We will need an ultrasound later to date it properly.”
Four to five weeks.
I counted backward.
The northern patrol celebration. Ronan laughing against my neck after we escaped the crowded hall. His hand covering mine beneath the blankets as he told me we still had time for everything we wanted.
Before Selene moved into Blackwood Hall.
Before my chair belonged to someone else.
Before our future became an empty room Ronan could give away.
A laugh rose in my throat and broke before it became a sound.
“I’m pregnant.”
Nora’s expression softened. “You are.”
I pressed my palm over my abdomen.
There was no movement. No visible change. Nothing except warmth beneath my hand and the knowledge that my body was no longer mine alone.
For years, I had entered that nursery and imagined a child who never came.
Now one was here.
Small enough to hide beneath my heartbeat.
Joy hit first.
Bright, fierce, almost painful.
Then Ronan’s voice returned.
As long as I live, you will be my son.
I looked away from the test.
“Does anyone else know?”
“No.”
“Did anyone enter while I was unconscious?”
“I told the staff you became light-headed from exhaustion. They believe you are resting.”
“Keep it that way.”
Nora folded her arms. “Liora.”
“No reports. No file uploaded to the pack system. Nothing sent to Ronan’s physician.”
Her brows drew together. “He is the father.”
“He is also the Alpha. Anything placed in the medical network can reach the council.”
“Pregnancy records are protected.”
“Until someone decides the Luna’s health is a matter of succession.”
Nora glanced toward the locked door.
She knew I was right.
I set the water aside. “Record the blood draw under a private patient number.”
“That buys us time. It does not make this safe.”
The word caught my attention.
“What do you mean?”
Nora pulled a stool closer but did not sit. Her fingers tightened around its metal back.
“When a mated woman conceives, the bond usually stabilizes around the pregnancy. It helps regulate shifting stress, healing, and the mother’s connection to the pack.”
“I do not shift.”
“No. But your body still carries the bond.”
Warmth pulsed beneath my ribs at the thought of Ronan.
Familiar.
Unreliable.
Nora continued carefully. “You told me the bond has felt different.”
“I said I was tired.”
“You nearly collapsed during the ceremony. You fainted today. And yesterday, when Milo’s wolf surfaced…” She stopped.
I watched her.
“You felt something.”
“So did you.”
Nora looked at the hand I had placed on Milo’s chest. “I saw his wolf calm before the sedative touched him.”
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“I hope not.”
A knock struck the laboratory door.
We both froze.
“Liora?” Ronan called from the corridor. “Nora said you were resting.”
Nora moved before I did. She covered the test cassette with a stack of lab forms and slipped the printed result beneath her tablet.
My heart beat hard enough to make the mate bond ache.
“I need a minute,” I called.
Silence followed.
Then Ronan tried the handle.
“Why is the door locked?”
Nora looked at me.
I could tell him now.
I could open the door, place his hand over the life we had made, and watch his face change.
Maybe this would bring him back.
The thought shamed me with how badly I wanted it.
“I became dizzy during a blood draw,” I said. “Nora is examining me.”
“Open the door.”
Alpha authority edged the request.
The bond tightened beneath my skin, and a sharp cramp cut low across my abdomen.
I sucked in a breath.
Nora caught my arm.
“Do not push against him,” she whispered.
The pain faded as quickly as it had come.
Ronan knocked again. “Liora?”
“I will come to your office when I am finished.”
Another pause.
“I expect you within the hour.”
His footsteps moved away.
Nora waited until they disappeared before releasing me.
“That cramp,” she said. “Has it happened before?”
“Not like that.”
Her face had gone pale.
“What?”
She sat at last.
“The bond is already unstable. If Ronan increases Alpha pressure, it may trigger bleeding. If the mating bond ruptures completely, the shock could affect the pregnancy.”
My hand returned to my abdomen.
“How badly?”
Nora looked at the hidden test between us.
If he rejects you now, there is a chance neither of you will survive.
- Writer
