Chapter Ten: pregnancy Revealed

Chapter Ten: pregnancy Revealed

Freya’s POV

The carefully brewed pot of jasmine tea Maya made me came back up as fast as it went down, and I found myself on my knees in the cold bathroom on the marble floor covered in tears. It was the third morning in a row and I knew I couldn’t keep it secret much longer.

"Luna?" Maya's worried voice responded from behind the door, and she knocked softly. "Are you unwell?"

I wiped my mouth with a trembling hand and stood up, catching sight of myself in the ornate mirror hanging over the sink. My skin was pale and my eyes were sunken, and I looked fragile in a way that hadn’t been there a week earlier. It was all taking the toll on me – mate bond, Ryan’s challenge, and secret which is growing inside of me.

“I’m okay!” I shouted back, but even to my own ears my voice seemed scratchy and insincere. "Just... just give me a moment."

But as I attempted to stoop and then rise all the way up, the room spun. Black spots sparkled in the corners of my site, and I found myself stumbling backward, head smacking into something solid before everything went dark.

I awoke in the sick ward of the castle, still able to smell the antiseptic and healing herbs which filled my nostrils. It was Godric, seated in a chair by my bed and looking at me with dark violet eyes full of worry... and something else I couldn't quite pin down. Dr. Helena, the pack doctor held a tablet and had a wise woman’s look in her old face as she watched from the side of the bed.

“Ah, you’re awake,” Dr. Helena said in a soft but professional voice. “That was a fuck of a sight, Luna. King Alpha Godric discovered you unconscious in your chambers."

My heart just started to hammer as I realized where this was going. The secret I had been hiding so carefully was about to come out, and there wasn’t anything I could do. "I'm fine, really. Just tired—"

“You’re pregnant already,” Dr. Helena cut in gently but firmly. "About 8 weeks pregnant, what I could calculate. The fainting spell was probably a result of morning sickness compounded by stress and not eating enough to sustain both you and the new life inside you.”

There was a deafening silence after she had said this. I couldn’t look at Godric, didn’t want to see the expression that must be on his face. Disappointment? Anger? Guilt for being that woman with another man’s child?

"How long have you known?" His tone was rigidly controlled; he betrayed nothing of how he might be feeling.

"I suspected before..." I sucked in a breath, forced my eyes to find his. “on that night at your feet. I was actually going to tell Ryan later that night. I had it all planned out — a candlelit dinner, the perfect time for us to share our joy.”

“Instead, you found him at his fated mate,” Godric replied and he almost sounded gentle.

“I found him with Shirley,” I said, the memory still hot enough to slash. “Very pregnant and glowing with happiness as he introduced her to the world as the mother of his heir. So I held in my secret, because there wasn’t any reason to tell him at that point?”

Dr. Helena coughed pointedly in her throat. "I'll leave you to talk about this. I want to see you back here in a week, Luna, for a proper prenatal.You have to begin looking out for yourself better — you both need it.”

The silence gaped between us like an abyss after she left. I looked down at my hands, nestled in the freshly laundered white sheets and braced for rejection I was certain would be forthcoming. What Alpha would be willing to accept someone else’s offspring, especially when that someone had only moments before protested against him in mortal combat?

"Freya, look at me," Godric called quietly.

I looked up at him hesitantly. No anger, no disappointment that I’d anticipated — but something that was something close to wonder.

“You’re pregnant,” he says and touches the side of my face with unexpected tenderness. “Life begotten in love, even if it was misapplied. Do you believe such a thing can make you less precious to me?”

“It ought to,” I murmured and even leaned a little closer into his hand, though that wasn’t what I meant to do. "This complicates everything. The challenge, our bond, the future you’re offering me. I'm damaged goods, Godric. Used, pregnant with another man’s baby —”

"You are mine," he cut in, his voice bearing utter certainty. "My counterpart, my equal, the one chosen for me by the moon goddess. This child you carry? The moment it takes its first breath, it will belong to me. My offspring, reared within my pack, bearing my name. Ryan's contribution ends at conception."

The words were practically the same as when he'd spoken them to Daniel, but spoken to me, seeing that honesty in his violet eyes snapped something tight inside my chest open -- something I hadn't been able release since the day that had turned my life upside down.
"Why?" I inquired, my load breaking my voice. Why would you bear this burden? You could have any unattached female in the territory. Someone who is young and innocent; someone who can bear you children that are really your own.”

For a moment Godric was silent, thumb tracing the line of my cheekbone as he appeared to weigh his words. “Do you want to know what I see when I see you?” he finally said. “I see a woman who was willing to give up her world, her everything for the happiness of her child. What I see is a woman who endured months of humiliation and heartache without sacrificing her dignity or her resolve. I see a woman who, faced with a potential breaking point, fought back rather than gave up.”

He stopped, looking into my eyes. “And now I see the mother of my children — all of them, blood or no. You think that for me DNA is more important than our emotional connection? You think I give a damn about biology when I can hear your wolf’s voice singing to mine?”

Tears flowed from my eyes while he said that, but for the first time in months they weren’t tears of pain or loss. "You really mean that."

“I never said anything I didn’t mean,” he answered, leaning down to rest his forehead against mine. Only for this child to be raised with love and security, surrounded by a pack that would die to protect him. They need not want for anything, certainly a father's love not least amongst that."

Ryan will come for them," I said, saying aloud the thing I feared they would have to remember. "Even if you win the challenge, he will consider this child as his. There will be complications—"

"We deal with them as they arrive, then," Godric said, plain and simple. "Together. As friends, as co-parents, as parents. You're not alone in this any longer, Freya. You'll never be alone again."

The vow laid something deep in my chest to rest, a peace that had eluded me since my world collapsed. But even as I convinced myself to believe him, I understood that the complications had only just begun.

The door leading to the medical wing flew open and Maya came charging in, her usual cool countenance very much disrupted. "Alpha, sorry to disturb, an update. Word of the Luna's... status... has extended across the wall of the keep."

My blood turned to ice. "How?"

“Dr. Helena’s aid was overheard discussing your case with the kitchen staff,” Maya apologized. You know it spreads like wildfire in a herd, especially news of this sort. Surely both territories already know they are carrying the offspring of Alpha Ryan.

Godric rose abruptly, his jaw locked in a near rage. “Add a pair of guards to Freya’s chamber.” No one is allowed near her without my permission release. And I want to know who this person is, and find out what were they saying, and there will be consequences.”

“Already taken care of, Alpha,” Maya replied with morbid satisfaction. "The assistant has been dismissed from duty and deported. But the deed has been done – Aplha Ryan is clued in."

As if called by her words, there was a howl in the mountains long and sad and filled with such depth of grief my own wolf shriveled away from it. Even at this range, I knew the voice and heard the agony.

Ryan knew.

“He’s in so much pain,” I whispered, my hand inadvertently going to my still-flat stomach. “All he wanted was children, and I was pregnant with his baby while he was telling me all that time that I was barren.”

Godric snorted, though his eyes showed the struggle he was having with the idea. "He made his choices, Freya. The responsibility is directly on him.

But I was aware it wasn’t so simple. Ryan continued to howl, others of his pack joining in until the mountains echoed with their mourning. Because they weren't just mourning a Luna any longer – they were now also morning the heir that had never known she existed, the baby that would be raised in enemy lands from now on.

“This is changing the challenge,” I said, finally realizing that. ‘“He’s not only fighting for a lost mate no more. He's fighting for his child."

Godric's face went icy and murderous. "He is struggling to regain what he lost owing to his own weakness. This shall be my babe, Freya. On paper, in legal theory, for all intents and purposes. Ryan can try to undo me until he's dead and buried – it won't change the truth."

Before I could reply, Maya glided up to us once more, her face white with news. "Alpha, there's more. Shirley has apparently … not reacted well to the development. She’s been locked in her chamber after what witnesses say was a total breakdown.”

Kennedy, I thought, and closed my eyes, as though the burden of everyone’s pain had settled least spiritually on my shoulders. Shirley and her rage, Ryan and his fear, the pack tensions coming to a head… something that could unravel everything I’d ever known.

"I've destroyed everything," I whispered.

"No," Godric said, his voice full of absolute certainty as he clasped my palm between both of his. You have taken the path to build anew. Something better. The only question is whether you are strong enough to see it through.

Another howl rolled over the mountains — this one Shirley’s, high and wild with rage — and I understood that my pregnancy was no longer a mere complication.
It was a declaration of war.