The blood test was scheduled for noon.
Healer Mara’s lab. Sterile. Cold. Smelled like antiseptic and lies.
Darius held my hand. Too tight. Like I’d disappear if he let go.
“You don’t have to be here,” I told him. Third time I’d said it.
“Yes,” he said. “I do.”
His eyes hadn’t left my stomach since Rafe left. Eight hours ago. Eight hours of him touching me. Checking me. Whispering “mine” to her through my skin like she’d forget.
Kieran arrived at 11:59.
Not alone.
With Elder Rook.
Traitor.
Kieran looked worse. Thinner. Eyes wild. But standing straight. Alpha posture. Even banished.
He saw us.
Saw Darius’s hand on my stomach.
Saw my bump. Real now. Eight weeks.
His face crumpled.
“Lyssa,” he said.
“Alpha Blackwood,” I corrected. Voice flat. “You lost the right to my name when
