Chapter 79 Chapter 79
Tiana
The words echoed in my head like a bell that wouldn’t stop ringing.
I sat in the chair, my hands folded in my lap, staring at nothing while the healer spoke to Zane in low tones across the room.
I was pregnant.
Six weeks along, she had said. Six weeks of a growth inside of me that I hadn’t even known was there.
“Luna Tiana?”
The healer’s voice pulled me back. She stood beside me now, her expression gentle.
“Let me help you to your chambers,” she said. “You need rest.”
I nodded because what else could I do? My legs felt disconnected from my body as I stood, as if I was controlling them from a great distance.
She steadied me with a hand on my elbow. “The Alpha needs to speak with me about precautions and preparations. But I’ll check on you later today.”
I glanced back at Zane. He stood near the window, his back to us, one hand braced against the frame. His posture was like a man filled with so much tension.
I would not blame him because the pregnancy reveal was news even heavy for me to handle.
The healer, Iris, guided me out of the council room and through the corridors. I barely registered the path we took, as my primary need was to sleep, wake up, and confirm that this was not a dream.
Iris dropped me in my chambers with instructions to rest, to call if I needed anything, and not worry because everything would be fine.
Easy for her to say.
The door closed behind her with a soft click and I was alone.
I stood in the center of the room for a long moment, unsure what to do with myself. Then my legs gave out and I sank onto the edge of the bed, my hands moving automatically to my stomach.
Nothing felt different. No swelling, no movement, nothing to indicate that anything had changed.
But it had. Everything had changed.
I was pregnant with Zane’s child.
The child I’d signed a contract promising to bear. The child I’d endured months of brutal treatments to conceive. The child that should secure the pack’s future and give me my freedom.
The thought tasted bitter now.
I reached for the contract from the drawer where I had shoved it months ago. The pages were worn from the number of times I had to read and reread the terms, trying to find loopholes that didn’t exist.
My eyes found the relevant section immediately:
“Upon the child’s second birthday, the Luna will relinquish all parental rights and titles. The Luna will receive a settlement of 50,000 silver marks and safe passage to any territory of her choosing.”
Two years. I had two years with this child before I would have to walk away and pretend I never carried them.
Two years to fall in love with someone I would be forced to leave.
The contract fluttered from my hands to the floor, drowning the little piece of excitement I would have had.
I touched my stomach again, this time with more intention.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to the tiny cluster of cells that would become a person. “I’m sorry I’m going to leave you.”
The words broke the bit of me I had been holding back since the moment Iris made her announcement.
Fear crashed over me first.
Then grief. Deep and aching and completely irrational because how could I grieve losing someone I hadn’t even met yet? Someone who wasn’t even fully formed?
But I was. For the two years I’d get and the lifetime I wouldn’t with my pup.
Because the truth was…
I was always just the vessel to carry this pup. I knew from the start, but now it only felt real.
My hands slid away from my stomach and I pulled my knees up to my chest, making myself small on the enormous bed.
Time passed in a blur. The light through the windows shifted from afternoon to evening, shadows lengthening across the floor.
I should eat something.
But I couldn’t seem to make myself move.
The footsteps I heard from the corridor outside finally pulled me from my thoughts. Heavy, measured steps that I recognized immediately.
Zane.
He stopped outside my door and I heard him standing there, close enough that if the door wasn’t between us I could reach out and touch him.
A knock came on the door but I did not answer.
I wanted to but I could not find my voice past the tightness in my throat.
“Tiana?”
The way he said my name.
How many times had I heard him say it? Hundreds, probably. But it sounded different now. “I know you’re in there,” he continued.
Of course, he would know.
I was not sure why I was avoiding him, but the moment I heard the doorknob turning, I threw the duvet over myself and shut my eyes, forcing myself to sleep.
The door opened. I heard him step inside, and felt his presence fill the room.
Zane stood there for a long enough moment that I almost broke my perseverance and opened my eyes. Then the door closed softly, and his footsteps retreated down the corridor.
I listened until I couldn’t hear them anymore, and only then did I let myself breathe properly.