158- The Weight of Silence
POV Lunara Grimwald:
He came out of me and held me in his arms, cradling me as if I were a crystal about to break.
Edric was being a perfect partner, like a good male should treat his female. He fed me, looked after me and was always close by if I needed anything.
The males of our species tended to become even more protective when their females became pregnant. And that's exactly how he was acting.
Nothing I once thought I felt for Alessio could compare to what I truly felt for him. It was so deep, different, rooted in me.
It was never love, at least not until he came along.
He climbed into my arms and prepared our bath. He sat in the bath and settled me on top of him, sliding his palms down my body, cleaning, massaging and caressing me.
"No one has touched the nest while I've been away," I said.
"I've forbidden anyone to enter this room."
"Why?"
"Because I knew you were coming home and I wanted things to be just as you left them."
I purred, rubbing my head against his chest and closing my eyes.
“I think my she-wolf approves of that attitude, she still feels a bit obsessed with that nest.”
He laughed, shaking his shoulders.
"And, according to my few experiences with it, she won't let anyone touch it. At least, not until the baby is born."
I opened my lips in derision.
"Am I going to be surrounded by that mess, as if I were a bird, for nine months?"
"Yes, you are," she confirmed.
“That's the best news I've ever received,” I scoffed.
"Leave our nest alone, she-wolf. He's not in anyone's way."
I snorted, trying to hide my smile when I heard him say “our nest”.
(...)
POV Edric Eldoria:
Days later
I analyzed the timber export reports from the last few days I had been away, entirely focused on my mate, watching over her health and safety. Before, it was Anton who handled these things.
I set the papers down on the desk and fixed my gaze on an inanimate object, getting lost in thought.
He had been a good friend and would be terribly missed; life would never be the same without him around.
I let out an exasperated breath, allowing the sorrow under the weight of his death to settle over me.
I tried to avoid thinking about it for days, but at times, like that one, it was inevitable.
Andrei’s scent drifted to me before the sound of his footsteps made itself known. He entered my office with his hands in the front pockets of his pants and an easy, relaxed posture.
“What did you think?” he asked, tipping his chin toward the papers on the desk.
I ran a hand through my hair, pushing the curls back. I leaned into the back of the swivel chair and lifted my legs, resting my feet on the desk.
“Everything’s normal.”
He nodded, moving closer to one of the chairs positioned in front of my desk. He set his hands on the backrest and leaned forward, pressing his lips together.
“I just got back from Beniamin’s house, and earlier I went to Florin’s. They’re both fine, despite the injuries they suffered against the Eclipses.”
“Any really bad injuries?”
“Beniamin will only be left with the scars from the arrows that hit him. Florin, on the other hand, lost three fingers on his left hand.”
I clasped my hands in front of my body.
“Have them hunt two deer and send one to each of their houses as a gift, a thank-you for their contribution in the battle.”
None of my men had died in the fight against the Eclipse. The element of surprise had been crucial; they didn’t imagine they would be attacked, nor were they ready for us.
Beniamin was caught in a wave of silver arrows, left between life and death. But the wolf was strong, resilient—he managed to survive. Florin had his fingers ripped off by a transformed wolf. The others came back with a few scratches and silver scars, but nothing that put their lives at risk.
“They’re happy to have been there, to have entered the history of the Eldoria,” he murmured, shifting his weight onto one leg. “Now that everyone knows Lunara is your fated one and that she’s expecting the heir, they’re even happier.”
A smile curved my lips.
My little she-wolf had renewed my people’s hopes—hopes they no longer even had. I would be the first alpha of the Tharnak to have an heir, to carry on my bloodline.
A curse had been cast over us, something no one could yet understand. Our people only produced heirs if it was with their fated one, condemning us to extinction, little by little. Fated ones were not so common and, many times, proved to be rare. I waited three hundred and thirty-eight years to find mine.
“How is Lunara?” he asked in a low voice. I drew a deep breath and ran my tongue over my lips.
“Lunara has been through a lot in the past few months. She’s strong—much more than she imagines, actually. But… it’s not always possible to shrug off everything that happened.” I shifted, restless. “She managed to overcome many traumas, but the latest events shook her.”
“Lyris noticed that,” he commented, serious.
I nodded, pressing my fingers hard, feeling the hatred for that damned Eclipse alpha throb.
“She’s afraid of being taken, afraid of being alone, and she has nightmares at night. But we’re going to get through this. I’m always by her side, so she understands that nothing is going to happen to her. Never again.”
“Alessio is dead,” Andrei snarled, his hatred for the alpha as pungent as mine. “I made damn sure he couldn’t come back. We gathered all the pack’s bodies and set them on fire, along with the rest of the houses. Eclipse—and everything it stood for—turned to ash. I didn’t take my eyes off Alessio’s body, not until it vanished and came apart in the middle of the flames.”
While I ran with Lunara in my arms back home, I left him and the others in charge of making sure no one who didn’t deserve it had survived.
I didn’t stop running—not until I got home. Not even when my body was exhausted and I was being driven forward by my wolf. My beast took over everything we were and made me keep going, without eating, without drinking water, without stopping to rest, while I focused on feeling what she was feeling, and on listening to her breathing and the puppy’s heartbeat, which was weak.
I couldn’t take her to any human healer. They wouldn’t understand her body’s regeneration, and the medicines would be toxic for both of them, further damaging her health. They couldn’t help her in any way.