Chapter 170

KNOX

When Isabella woke up that morning, I could tell something was off. Her face was pale, and she moved like every step took twice the effort. She was trying to hide it, but I saw through her.

“You sure you’re okay?” I asked, spooning some oatmeal into Luca’s mouth. He was happily kicking his legs in the high chair, oblivious to the worry that was creeping in the back of my mind.

"Just a headache," she mumbled, rubbing her temple. "Probably nothing."

I wasn’t buying it. Not with how she winced at every noise, like the sound of the chair scraping on the floor was nails on a chalkboard.

"You sure you’re not pregnant?" I teased, raising an eyebrow to lighten the mood. I threw in a grin, hoping to pull one from her, too.

She rolled her eyes. "No, Knox. Definitely not."

I watched her closely as she tried to move around the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water, but I could see it was taking more out of her than it should. She was struggling to stay upright, and every step looked like it was too much effort. It didn’t sit right with me.

After a bit, she went back upstairs to lie down, and I let her go, thinking she just needed some rest. Luca and I hung out for a while, played with his toys, and I kept an ear out in case Isabella needed anything. But when I checked on her later, that’s when things took a turn.

She was out cold, curled up under the blankets, but her skin was covered in sweat. I reached out and touched her forehead—it was burning up, like she had a fever that came out of nowhere. My heart skipped a beat.

"Isabella?" I shook her gently, but she barely stirred.

I stood there for a second, panic building in my chest. This wasn’t right. Something was seriously wrong.

Grabbing my phone, I called the healer first, then Asher and Jax, and finally Mom. They all needed to get here fast because I had no idea what to do. The strong, calm front I usually had—it was slipping, replaced with the gnawing worry that something terrible was happening. Luca was babbling in the background, but I could hardly hear him over the pounding in my ears.

I tried to stay calm, pacing the room as I kept an eye on her. Her breathing was shallow, and she looked so fragile, like all the strength she usually carried had drained out of her. This wasn’t Isabella. I didn’t know what to do, and the helplessness was suffocating.

I just hoped the healer would get here soon because the fear of losing her, the mother of my son, was more than I could handle right now.

JAX

As soon as Asher and I got the call from Knox, we raced to the house. The anxiety was gnawing at my insides, twisting tighter with every passing second. Isabella had been fine just a few hours ago—how could things have gone south so quickly? I could hear Asher’s heavy breathing beside me, though he tried to mask it. I knew he was just as panicked as I was.

When we pulled up, Mom was already there, scooping Luca into her arms like the protective grandmother she was. I caught a glimpse of Knox standing in the hallway, looking more freaked out than I’d ever seen him. It wasn’t like him to lose his cool, and that made everything feel a hundred times worse.

The healer had taken over, rushing into Isabella’s room the moment he arrived. We all stayed in the hallway, watching, waiting. Every second stretched into eternity.

Finally, the healer came out, wiping sweat from his brow, and gestured for Knox to explain what had happened. Knox ran a hand through his hair and started talking, recounting how Isabella had been sick that morning, how it had escalated so fast. By the time he finished, the healer’s face was still set in a deep frown.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he said, shaking his head. His voice was low, but there was a tension behind it, like he was struggling to make sense of what he’d just seen. “Her vitals, her temperature, her entire system—it’s like she has werewolf genes. I couldn’t find any difference between her and one of us.”

The air left the room like a vacuum had sucked it all out. Werewolf genes? I looked at Asher, then at Knox, and from the way their eyes widened, I knew they were just as stunned. It didn’t make sense. How could Isabella—she wasn’t born into this. She didn’t come from our world.

“What are you saying?” Asher asked, his voice tight, like he was bracing for something even more unbelievable.

The healer shrugged, clearly still piecing it together himself. “I need to do more research, monitor her closely. But if what I’m seeing is accurate, she might be able to shift once she recovers.”

Shift? My stomach twisted. Isabella—a shifter?

I couldn’t wrap my head around it. The idea of her shifting, going through what we had as kids, the pain and the power—it was too much. She had no idea about this world until recently, and now she might be part of it in a way none of us had ever expected.

We stood there in stunned silence, the weight of his words settling in. How was this even possible? None of us spoke, but I could see it on all of our faces—what did this mean for her, for us?

Isabella was one of us now. Whether she wanted to be or not.