DEREK
Aiden had barely stopped talking the entire visit.
He’d rambled about his favorite Moonstone warrior stories asked if I could teach him how to throw a proper punch once his shoulder finished healing, and told me very seriously that he planned to make his own Battle
Out of cardboard and duct tape, of course.
It was the most alive I’d seen him since the attack.
Stronger. Louder. Bolder.
Every day, he reminded me more of Elena–and myself. The version of me I used to be, before guilt and regret carved it into something colder.
It was getting harder to leave him after each visit.
I wanted to stay. To linger. To tuck him in and read him stones and be there when he woke up with bedhead and morning breath. But Elena kept her boundaries sharp and clear. I was grateful she was letting me see him at all.
Still, hope was a dangerous thing.
By the time I got back to Silverclaw, my chest ached from wanting more than I had any right to ask for. The estate was warm and quiet, smelling faintly of cedar and firewood, I hadn’t even made it to the stairs before Cassandra stepped out of the drawing room and blocked my path.
“You’re home,” she said with a bright smile. “Perfect timing”
1 blinked. “Hey. Everything okay?”
She tilted her head. “Better than okay. I have a surprise for you.”
I hesitated. “A surprise?”
She reached for my hand. “Come on. You’ll like this one.”
I let her lead me down the back corridor toward the guest house where she was sometimes stayed. The stone walkway curved between hedges and bare trees, quiet except for the wind.
On the way, I spoke without really thinking.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something,” I said “Aiden… he’s getting stronger. He’s got a silver wound that still acts up sometimes, but he’s healing.
Cassandra slowed her steps slightly, but said nothing.
I continued, “I thought maybe sometime soon, you could meet him. Just for a little bit. He could use someone to talk to someone who’s lived through a silver wound like that.”
Her smile tightened at the corners. “We’ll see.”
1 frowned. “You’d be good for him. You understand pain.”
“I said we’ll see, Derek.”
Chapter 132
+25 BONUS
Her tone wasn’t harsh, exactly, but it didn’t invite further discussion.
By the time we reached the guest house, I let it drop.
She opened the door and stepped inside, gesturing for me to follow. The space was warm and dimly lit, and a tall woman with strawberry–blonde hair stood near the couch, setting up what looked unmistakably like a sonogram
machine.
“This is Amy,” Cassandra said, glowing. “She’s an old friend. Works at a private clinic, and she brought some equipment so we could see the baby.”
I blinked. “Seriously?”
Cassandra beamed. “Seriously.”
Amy gave a small, polite wave. “Nice to meet you.”
I nodded slowly, my heart starting to pound in a different rhythm. “You didn’t have to do all this.”
“I wanted to,” Cassandra said. “So you could feel more connected.”
I didn’t expect the lump in my throat.
Didn’t expect to feel anything, really–not beyond duty and vague curiosity.
But as Cassandra laid back on the bed, pulling up her sweater and letting Amy apply the gel, I felt… something. A pull. An ache. A rush of protectiveness I hadn’t planned for
Then the monitor screen flickered on
And there it was.
A flutter.
Tiny, indistinct, just a blurry outline–but the steady flicker of a heartbeat pulsed in the center of the image.
I couldn’t breathe..
“That’s it?” I asked, voice rough
Amy smiled. “Very early in the pregnancy, so we can’t see fingers or toes yet. But that’s the heartbeat. Strong and steady.”
Cassandra turned her head to look at me. “I don’t need a big wedding, you know. I’d be happy with the courthouse. We could even go today.”
I didn’t respond
I couldn’t look away from the screen.
Amy adjusted the wand slightly, trying to move the image, and the heartbeat blurred, then refocused.
I stepped closer. “Can you show us more?”
Amy blinked. “Sorry?”
“I’d like to see more. Can we keep watching?”
Amy’s smile faltered. “Unfortunately, no. Not for much longer. I’ve got to get back to the clinic for my next
Chapter 132
+25 BONUS
appointment.”
Ituned to her. “What if I bought the machine from you?”
She looked startled. “I can’t. It’s property of the clinic.”
“I’ll pay whatever they want,” I pressed. “Or I’ll have Joe order one. I just want us to be able to see our baby whenever we want.”
Amy was visibly tense now. “Alpha Derek, I–I appreciate that, but I really can’t help you there.”
25 BONUS
Uded between her and Cassandra “Then what if I pay you privately to come by? You could do sessions just for us I’ll cover whatever it cons”
Amy’s eyes darted to Cassandra.
“I’ll think about it,” she said quickly, then began wiping off the probe and shutting everything down.
She packed fast,
And when she left, she didn’t make eye contact with me again.
CASSANDRA
1 lay back on the bed, smoothing my sweater up and folding my hands over my stomach like the perfect picture of maternal peace.
Amy was quiet as she applied the gel and set the monitor screen just out of Derek’s reach. Her hands were a little shaky barely noticeable, but I saw it. She was nervous. She had every reason to be.
The footage was a recording from a private clinic two towns over. A favor called in. A small bribe. The baby on that seteen was real, just not mine.
But Derek didn’t know that..
1 turned my head just in time to catch his expression when the heartbeat flickered across the monitor.
His breath hitched. His whole face shifted–eyes wide, lips parting slightly, like someone watching a sunrise they hadn’t expected to see.
Got you, I thought.
He was emotional, Emotional. Derek King, the Alpha who never let anything show, was standing at my bedside with that look in his eyes.
I could have cried.
Instead, I smiled softly and said, “I don’t need a big wedding.”
He blinked, still caught in the moment,
My voice low and tender. “I’d be happy with the courthouse, We could even go today.”
But he didn’t look at me. His gaze was locked on the screen like he couldn’t tear himself away.
He didn’t say yes.
But he didn’t say no either.
It’s working.
Amy continued narrating, keeping it simple! “You won’t see fingers and toes yet–it’s still ver heartbeat’s right there. Strong”
- ly. But the
And then Derek asked to see more. To continue with the exam. To buy the damn machine from her.
Amy’s eyes snapped to mine, wide with panic.
1.3
