Marked By His Brother: A Luna's Revenge

Chapter 2: He Didn't Survive

Astrid's POV

"Where's my baby?"

My arms moved off the mattress before I even processed the ceiling above me, before I knew I was awake. My hands found nothing.

"Astrid." Dr. Hale said. "You're awake, don't try to sit up yet."

"Where is he?" My voice came out wrecked. "Where is my baby?"

Dr. Hale glanced at the nurse beside her.

"What happened?" My voice was rough. "What happened to my baby?"

"Astrid." Hale pulled her chair close and sat down. "The birth was very difficult and you lost a significant amount of blood."

"What are you trying to say?" I asked, voice low.

"He didn't survive." She said. "It was a stillborn. I'm so sorry. There was complications in the final stage..."

"No." I said, cutting her off.

"No." I pushed myself upright despite every muscle aching. "I heard him, I heard his cry."

"You were losing consciousness." Her expression didn't change. "The severe blood loss could have done things to brain."

"No, I did hear a cry." I pressed my hand flat against the mattress. "It was short, sharp, he cried and I heard it."

"Your brain was under stress." Hale's voice was gentle. "It's very common for the mind to begin to hallucinate as a coping mechanism."

"But I saw it, I was there." My jaw tightened.

"We were also there," Hale said quietly

I opened my mouth and closed it, replying everything. The cry was short, sharp and real, except I'd been going under. The edges had already been blurring and I had been fighting to stay awake. How long had I actually been conscious?

I replayed the glimpse, the dark hair, bloodied skin. But I'd only seen her for a second, before the nurse turned and moved.

"I want to see her," I said finally.

"Astrid..."

"I Want To See Her." I said again, voice sharp.

"That's isn't something I'd advise you do right now." Hale folded her hands. "You need to rest. Your body..."

"Belongs to me." I swung my legs off the bed.

The pain was instant, my whole lower body ached like I'd been cracked open and reassembled badly. I gripped the bedrail and stood anyway, taking deep breaths.

"You shouldn't be moving," the nurse said.

"Then try to stop me." I stood there, teeth pressed together, waiting for the dizziness to pass.

My chest ached, not just from the labor but from the place where the bond had lived was now quiet, like something had just been moved.

My wolf paced underneath my skin. Like reaching for something mid-motion, like my body was waiting to complete a task it hadn't been allowed to finish.

He's not gone, she insisted.

But I had no proof, only a half second of memory which Dr. Hale had already handed a medical explanation for.

My clothes were folded on the chair by the window. Someone had brought them at some point or they found them in my bag. I dressed slowing, one hand always holding onto something. Hale watched me without me speaking, she'd stop trying to stop after she knew I was going to ignore her.

"Where is Kaiden?" I asked without looking at her.

She didn't say anything.

"Tell me he at least..." I paused and pulled my shirt over my head. "Tell me he knows."

"The Alpha was informed of the birth."

"Does he know about the death?"

No one answered. I didn't need them to answer, I already knew, the bond had told me everything. Three hours or three years from now, it didn't matter, he wasn't here because he had chosen not to be here.

I pressed my arm against my chest without thinking as I reached for the door. I pushed the door open and walked into the corridor.

The medical wing was quiet but the far end of the hall wasn't. I could hear music rolling under the closed double doors at the end of the corridor, voices and laughter, the kind of crowd noise that meant the great hall was full.

I walked towards it. The doors were heavy but I pushed it open anyways. The great hall blazed with light, lanternd from ceiling to floor, tables pushed to the walls, the pack filling every corner, laughing, drinking, celebrating. My adoptive parents stood near the fireplace with glasses raised, their faces filled with pride and joy like they'd won a lottery.

The crowd shifted and I saw her. Layla, standing at the center in a white dress I'd never seen before, her dark hair loose, cheeks flushed. Kaiden stood behind her with his arm around her waist, his chin angled down toward her.

His mark was fresh on her neck, still red at the edges.

"To the Alpha and his true mate!" Someone said from across the room.

The cheer that followed shook the lanterns.

Kaiden smiled, I hadn't seen him smile like that in months.

My father raised his glass higher. "A new era for Bloodfang! Our daughter, our true daughter, takes her rightful place!"

The air left my lungs.

They had planned this. Not just the claiming, the timing, the labor. While I was in that room, pushing his child into the world.

Layla's eyes found mine across the crowd. She didn't look away, she smiled.