Escape While Pregnant, Came Back As Alpha Heir

Astrid POV "You are carrying the Alpha's child, Luna Astrid. The moon has truly blessed you." Dr. Lena's words hit me like warm sunlight after a long, cold winter. My heart gave one big, heavy thump inside my chest. I pressed both hands against my stomach, holding the feeling close, afraid it might fly away if I moved too fast. After seven rounds of injections, after crying in the car on the way home from every failed appointment, after all those quiet prayers I whispered into the dark... it was finally happening. I am a human Luna. My fated mate, Damon Vale, is a powerful Alpha werewolf. When the moon first tied us together, it shocked everyone. Werewolves and humans almost never end up as fated mates. Some said the moon made a mistake. Others said Damon was too strong and too proud to be tied to someone so plain, so breakable, so human. But Damon never said those things. Not once. Our life together has not been easy. The Ironwood Pack, one of the most powerful packs in this part of the country, did not welcome me with open arms. They whispered behind my back at every gathering. They looked at me like I was a pretty flower stuck in the wrong garden. Too soft. Too weak. Not wolf enough. The worst part? They were not wrong about one thing. Damon deserved a seat on the Alpha Council. He had built Ironwood Pack from a struggling group of scattered wolves into something fierce and proud. Every other Alpha respected him. But the Council had one hard rule: an Alpha must have an heir before he could join. And that was my fault. Or so everyone believed. For two years, Damon and I had tried everything. Special teas. Strange diets. Doctor after doctor, all telling us the same sad thing: a werewolf and a human could not create a child together. Their bodies were just too different. Then came Dr. Lena. She was different from the first moment I sat in her office. She did not give me a sad look or a slow shake of her head. She held my hand while I cried and she said, "I believe I can help you, Luna Astrid." She had been working on a new kind of treatment. Monthly injections designed to strengthen my body and help it carry a werewolf child. The shots hurt. Some nights I curled up in bed and just breathed through the pain. But hope kept pulling me back to her office each time. And now, here we were. "Are you sure?" I whispered. My voice came out small and shaky. "This is really happening?" Dr. Lena smiled so wide her eyes crinkled at the corners. "It is really happening." I grabbed my phone before I even thought about it, already pressing Damon's name. I paced the small exam room as it rang, unable to stay still. I could picture him laughing at me from across the city, calling me his little storm cloud, always moving, always buzzing with energy. The call went to voicemail. I hung up. Maybe it was better this way. I wanted to watch his face when I told him. I wanted to see the exact moment those dark eyes went soft. Dr. Lena crossed the room and touched my arm gently. "This is wonderful news. But let us run more tests first. One result is a good sign, but we need to be sure everything is growing the way it should." She was right. I knew she was right. I told myself to breathe. My phone buzzed. Damon. "Hey, sweetheart. Sorry I missed you. Is everything okay?" Just hearing his voice made my whole body loosen up. Deep. Warm. Like a fireplace on a cold night. "Everything is fine," I said, keeping my voice light. "I just wanted to hear your voice. What time will you be home tonight?" "Later than I planned," he said. I could hear faint noise in the background. He sounded distracted, like his mind was already somewhere else. "It has been a strange day. Do not wait up for me if you get tired." "Okay," I said softly. "I will see you when I see you." We said goodbye. I put the phone in my pocket and followed Dr. Lena out of the exam room and up to the upper floor of the clinic. The hallway up here was painted a calm, pale blue. Baby photos lined the walls, tiny faces wrapped in soft blankets, new parents beaming beside them. Looking at those pictures, I could almost see our baby up there someday. Damon's dark eyes and my hopeful smile. "Just down here," Dr. Lena said. "We will get you into a gown and begin the tests right away." We turned a corner, and that is when I saw them. A couple stood at the far end of the hallway with their backs to us. The man was tall with broad shoulders, the build of someone who carried power naturally. The woman beside him had one hand resting on the soft curve of her belly, the round shape of someone several months along. Something made me slow my steps. A strange, cold feeling crept up the back of my neck. The man moved slightly, turning just enough that I caught the line of his jaw, the set of his shoulders. My chest went tight. That looks like Damon.