Chapter 2

"This is your fault! How dare you fight my power!"

Morwen’s voice echoed in my head, full of offended rage.

The next second, a pain so deep it felt like it was tearing my soul apart shot through me.

I let out a shriek and my body arched violently before slamming back onto the ground.

Morwen's mind magic was recklessly draining the life from both me and my child.

I curled into a ball, a hand clamped over my stomach. I could feel the strong kicks inside me grow faint, then fainter still.

"No... please, no..." I begged, but it was useless.

Warm blood trickled from the corners of my mouth, my nose, my eyes.

My vision blurred. The world was spinning.

All I could hear was Morwen's cold cursing and the faint, fading beat of my own heart.

My consciousness started to slip away. I felt Death's cold fingers on my cheek, beckoning me closer.

Just when I thought it was over, Morwen seemed to realize something was wrong.

Seeing me bleeding from my eyes and nose, my breathing shallow, her face went pale.

She hadn't expected this. She never imagined my hybrid child could make her magic spiral out of control.

She seemed to panic, fumbling to stop the spell, but it was too late.

The force draining my life was a vortex she could no longer command.

The secret chamber was dark. She had to grab me by the hair and yank my head up just to see my face.

Suddenly, she grunted and slammed my head back against the bottom of the coffin.

"You pathetic bitch. Not screaming now, are you? Keep pretending!" she spat, trying to cover her own guilt.

Her eyes filled with disgust, but I saw something else behind it. Fear. She was afraid of her own power.

"You think this will make Justin feel sorry for you? It will only make him more disgusted!"

She stormed out.

Before she left, she sprinkled a circle of silver dust and moonpetal ashes around me. A ward. It smothered my senses and cut me off from the world.

The sharp, cold scent of the mixture made my already shattered mind ache even more.

In the endless dark, I heard my baby's cry—not in the air, but in my soul. A tiny voice, already fading, pleading for "Mama."

I broke down, sobbing.

I was supposed to meet my baby today. Hold him in my arms.

I was so close.

Why was fate so cruel to me and my child?

A guttural, animalistic howl tore from my throat.

Helplessness pierced my heart.

The hope of rescue was almost gone.

I stroked my belly through the pain and spoke to my baby.

My baby deserved better. He should have been born in a loving pack. He should have had a father who cherished his mother. He would have been happy.

My breathing grew shallow, the blood turning to ice in my veins.

Suddenly, the secret chamber door was thrown open and a magical torch flared to life.

A young blood thrall startled when he saw me lying in a pool of blood.

I used my last bit of strength to inch forward, whispering, "Help... me."

His voice trembled with fear. "Who are you? What did you do to be punished by the lord like this?"

He was wary.

"I'm... Justin's mate," I said, my voice a dry rasp.

With a blood-smeared finger, I struggled to pull down the tattered collar of my dress, revealing the mate's mark Justin had left on my neck.

It was stained with blood, its light dim and barely visible, but the unique shape of the brand was unmistakable.

"This is his mark."

He recognized the mate's bond and started to move toward me, but then he hesitated, immediately opening a blood bond to Justin.

"My lord, I'm in the secret chamber. I've found Lady Gracie. She's... she's lying in a pool of blood. Should I take her to the Bloodspring Sanctuary?"

Justin's reply was full of confusion. "You're mistaken. It's not blood. It's an illusion, a symptom of her wolf going feral. The entire secret chamber is contaminated by it. No wonder my mother was so angry."

His voice hardened. "Don't take her to the Sanctuary. She's fine. She's just pulling another desperate trick to give birth first and ruin the Progenitor's blessing. Leave her. I'll come get her myself."

The thrall tried to explain, but Justin had already cut the connection.

He looked at me with pity, then walked past me to move some supplies.

Just when I thought he was going to abandon me, he came back.

War waged within him.

The lord's command terrified him, but the gruesome scene before him pricked at his conscience.

"You're pregnant," he said, his voice firming. "I can't just let you die."

He looked down, his voice full of sorrow. "My sister... she's human, and she's carrying a child. I cannot stand by and let a curse fall upon her family because I did nothing."

He had finally overcome his fear of the lord.

Without another moment of hesitation, he strode forward, carefully lifted me from the coffin, and rushed toward the clan's main healing chamber.

I finally let out a breath of relief.

I was saved.

But when we reached the healing chamber, there were no alchemists. No potions.

There was nothing. No way to deliver my baby.

Worried about Isolde, Justin had moved every available resource and person to her sanctuary.

I was still in mortal danger.

Chapter 3

The clan’s alchemist saw the state I was in and knew he had to get me to a true place of healing.

He sent a frantic message to Justin through their blood bond.

"Lord Justin, this is an emergency! Please, come to the Sanctuary! Gracie's condition is critical, she's suffering from a severe psychic backlash!"

Justin's voice was full of irritation. "Gracie! You're more resourceful than I thought. You actually escaped and found someone to help you."

"I don't care what trick you're pulling. I'm not coming. I know your body better than you do, Gracie. You're not in any real danger."

"I told you, it's my child, too! Your turn is after Isolde. What's the rush?!"

The alchemist looked at me with deep sympathy, then turned to an apprentice. "Get her to the outer sanctuary. We have to try."

I never imagined they would take me to the same sanctuary as Isolde.

The alchemist pleaded with the guards there, but Justin's orders had been given.

Not a single drop of healing spring water was to be spared for me.

Through the wall, I heard Justin's cold, firm words. "I don't care who it's for. I won't risk anything with Isolde. I need this to be perfect."

I collapsed onto the floor in despair.

Just then, my eyes met a man’s at the doorway.

It was Justin's second-in-command.

His eyes widened in shock when he saw me, but he seemed unsure.

He rushed to Justin's side.

"My lord, there's a woman outside, covered in blood. She… she looks like Lady Gracie."

Justin frowned, rubbing his fingers together.

"Impossible," he snapped. "She can barely walk. She couldn't have made it this far."

The second-in-command tried again, his voice low. "Perhaps you should go see, my lord. If it is her, she and the child are in extreme danger."

Justin glared at him.

"I said it's impossible! If it were her, she wouldn't be so quiet. She would have stormed in by now. Besides, a proud she-wolf like Gracie would rather die than be seen like that. Weak. Covered in blood."

The alchemist was still arguing, trying to secure even a single potion.

Justin threatened him with his position, and he fell silent.

The alchemist returned to my side, his face an apology.

There was nothing more he could do.

I tried to tell them not to worry, but my vision was starting to fade.

The psychic trauma and blood loss were pulling me under.

I could hear the healers whispering, their voices growing distant.

"The magical trauma... it's too severe... she can't heal herself..."

"The second heartbeat is fading..."

"Quick, get the Heartsease Draught! Now!"

I tried to ask, to scream, but no sound would leave my throat.

I could only watch the blurred shapes of people rushing around me, helpless.

My hand drifted to my belly. The frantic kicking was gone. The life I’d sheltered for months… was silent. An empty, cold stillness had taken its place. My baby was gone.

Tears blurred what little vision I had left.

I'm sorry, my heart cried out. My baby, Mama's so sorry. I couldn't protect you.

A single tear slid from the corner of my eye.

Then, the darkness swallowed me whole.

---

Justin's POV

Justin paced outside the ritual sanctuary.

The moment the doors opened, his first thought was of Isolde.

He rushed to her bedside and gazed at the infant, conceived by a blood curse, now sleeping in a halo of magical light.

His eyes filled with hope for the future.

"He looks like a true noble," he whispered. "So pure."

For a fleeting moment, he wondered about Gracie's child. A girl, perhaps. With her mother's wild, untamed beauty.