Moonlit Heir

Chapter 2

“Wait. What do you mean, wrong donor?”

The words came out of Clara’s mouth before she could stop them. Her hands were clenched so hard around the edge of the clinic chair that her knuckles had gone white. The doctor in front of her would not look at her face.

Around them, the room felt too clean, too quiet. Even the air seemed thin.

The doctor adjusted his glasses with a shaking hand. “We are still reviewing the process. There may have been an error in the sample handling.”

Clara stood so fast the chair legs scraped the floor. “There may have been an error?” Her voice rose, sharp and trembling. “I came here for one thing. One. And you are telling me there may have been an error?”

The doctor swallowed. “Miss Bennett, please lower your voice.”

“No.” She took one step closer, her chest tight. “You lower your voice and tell me the truth. Whose sample was used?”

He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

That silence was enough.

Clara turned to the receptionist, then to the nurse beside the door, as if one of them might suddenly grow a spine and answer her. No one moved.

Then the tall man in the dark coat spoke behind her.

“You should sit down.”

Clara spun around. Julian Wolfe stood near the wall, still as stone, his face hard and unreadable.

She glared at him. “I do not know you.”

His eyes held hers. “No. But you know now that this is not a simple clinic mistake.”

The doctor looked between them, pale and sweating. “Mr. Wolfe, please.”

Julian did not even glance at him. “Say it plainly.”

The doctor’s lips pressed together. “The donor sample used for Miss Bennett’s procedure was not the one on her consent file.”

Clara felt the words hit her like a slap.

Her mouth parted, but nothing came out at first. The room tilted. She looked down at her hands, at the tiny tremble in her fingers, as if they belonged to someone else.

“Not the one?” she whispered.

Julian’s jaw tightened. “Who approved the sample transfer?”

The doctor shook his head. “We do not know yet.”

Clara laughed once, but there was no humor in it. “You do not know. You do not know.” She pressed a hand to her forehead and tried to breathe. “That is your answer? You do not know how the wrong man’s sperm got put inside me?”

The nurse flinched.

The doctor closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again. “We are very sorry.”

“Sorry?” Clara turned on him. Her voice cracked, but she kept going. “I trusted this place. I paid for privacy. I asked for one decision that belonged only to me. And now you are telling me it was ruined because someone was careless?”

Julian moved a step toward her. Not close enough to touch. Just close enough to remind her he was there.

His voice came low and even. “Careless is not the word I would use.”

Clara swung back to him. “Oh, and what word would you use?”

His eyes were cold, but his body was tense in a way that made him look ready for something she could not see. “Planned.”

The word chilled her more than the doctor’s answer.

She stared at Julian. “What are you talking about?”

He did not answer at once. His gaze moved to the doctor, then to the hallway door, then back to her. “Someone wanted this pregnancy to happen.”

Clara took a sharp breath. “No.”

“Yes,” Julian said.

She shook her head hard. “No. That is insane.”

“Is it?”

Clara’s pulse beat in her ears. “I came here because I wanted control. I wanted one thing in my life that did not depend on a man who could leave me, lie to me, or ruin me.” Her throat tightened. “And now you are standing here telling me this was planned.”

The doctor stepped forward, desperate. “Miss Bennett, please understand that we are investigating. We will fix this.”

“How?” she shot back. “How do you fix this?”

No one answered.

That silence was worse than any lie.

Julian’s expression shifted, just a little. Not softer. Sharper. As if something inside him had moved into place.

Then he said, “Come with me.”

Clara let out a bitter laugh. “Absolutely not.”

“You are not safe here.”

“I do not care.”

“That is a lie.”

She glared at him, breathing hard. “You do not get to come in here, tell me you are the father of a child I never agreed to carry, and then start giving orders.”

His eyes darkened. “I am not giving orders. I am warning you.”

“About what?”

Julian looked toward the door again. His shoulders had gone still. Too still.

Clara followed his gaze and saw two men entering the hallway outside the room. Black suits. Hard faces. Too alert. Too careful.

Her stomach dropped.

“Who are they?” she asked.

The doctor made a sound of panic behind her. “They are not with us.”

Julian’s voice turned low and dangerous. “No. They are not.”

One of the men looked straight at Clara and began walking toward the room.

Julian moved in front of her at once.

Clara’s heart slammed hard. “What is happening?”

Julian did not look back at her. “Stay behind me.”

She wanted to argue. She wanted to push past him and demand the truth. But the first man was already at the door, and the second was closing in from the side corridor.

Then the man in front said, very clearly, “We need the woman.”

Clara froze.

Julian’s hand curled at his side. “Leave.”

The man smiled, but it did not touch his eyes. “This does not concern you, Wolfe.”

It seemed to happen in a blur after that.

Julian stepped forward, fast and silent, and struck the man before he could reach for Clara. The impact made the stranger stumble back into the wall with a sharp grunt.

The second man rushed in.

Clara stumbled away with a gasp as Julian turned and blocked the second attack. The room exploded into motion. A chair fell. Someone shouted. The doctor ducked behind the desk.

“Miss Bennett,” Julian said, his voice cut through the noise like a blade. “Run.”

She could not move.

The first man was already getting back up.

“Clara,” Julian snapped, this time with enough force to shake her loose.

She ran.

Her heels slipped on the polished floor as she shoved through the side door and into the corridor. Her breath came fast and shallow. She heard shouting behind her, then the hard sound of something slamming into a wall.

She did not stop.

She ran past an office, past a water station, past a nurse who stared at her in horror.

Then she heard it.

A low growl.

Not loud. Not fully human.

Clara’s body went cold.

She looked back once, just once.

Julian had one of the men pinned against the wall. His head was turned slightly, and for one terrible second she saw it. His eyes were not fully human anymore. They flashed gold in the dim hallway light.

The man he held was shaking.

Clara’s breath caught in her throat.

This could not be happening.

This could not be real.

Then Julian turned his head and looked straight at her.

“Go,” he said, voice rough now. “Now.”

The other man broke free and started toward her.

Clara turned and ran again, faster this time, fear burning through her legs. She heard footsteps behind her and the crash of glass breaking somewhere near the front of the clinic.

Someone shouted, “Find her.”

Her hand flew instinctively to her stomach.

Find her.

The words struck like ice.

Not me.

Her.

And in that instant, Clara understood with terrible clarity that this was no longer only about a clinic mistake.

Someone wanted the child.

And if Julian was telling the truth, then the child was not just hers.

It was his too.

Behind her, the clinic door flew open.

Clara ran straight into the night.