TWO MONTHS LATER
Katie POV
I spot Quinn at a back table of the cafe. Her blonde pixie cut is hard to miss. She waves over, and I waddle toward the table, squeezing into the booth with so difficulty. By now, I am very pregnant, and the anxiety I have been woken with every day since arriving here started to morph into excitent for my pup’s arrival.
“Goddess, you’re about to pop!” Quinn exclaims excitedly.
“I know,” I roll my eyes. “I’m fucking huge.”
Quinn’s lodic laughter fills the café the sa way it did when I bumped my trolley into her in the supermarket a few weeks ago when I t her. Her bubbly personality and infectious smile have drawn to her instantly.
“I only have a few weeks left,” I say, rubbing my belly out of habit.
“How do you feel about raising the pup in Stillwood?” She asks softly. “You know, since it’s ...”
“Since it’s a rogue town?” I finish her sentence. “Honestly, relieved. I can’t rember how things used to be, but the lifestyle here is laidback and everyone is kind. I can’t think of a better place to raise a child.”
“It’s good to see you happy,” Quinn reaches out, placing her hand over mine, and I take her hand gratefully.
“Since I still don’t know who the father is?” I raise my eyebrows.
“That’s not the only reason,” she replies softly. “I rember how sad you were when you moved here. It’s good to see you happy.”
“I’m lucky, all things considered.” I squeeze Quinn’s hand. “I have all of you here to support , and my pregnancy’s been smooth sailing so far.”
“Thank Goddess for that,” she says, taking a big gulp of coffee.
“Oh, before I forget,” she puts her cup down. “Asher has been on my case to invite you over on Sunday for lunch. He really likes you.”
“Quinn,” I groan. I like Asher, he is just as vivacious, curious and kind as his sister. But I am not ready to date – baby or no baby. “I like him, but ...”
“Just give him a chance, Katie,” she looks at pleadingly. “I know you’re not ready for sothing serious, but who knows? Maybe Asher is just what you need.”
“Let think about it, okay?” I lower my gaze, trying to wiggle myself out of an uncomfortable situation.
“Speaking of,” Quinn trails off as she looks over my shoulder at soone. “He’s right over there.”
I turn my head to look, and my face goes hot the second I see him.
“So,” Quinn teases. “Are you going on a date with my brother, or what?”
Axel POV
Kane and I pace around the room like zombies, waiting for Mother. Alice is in labour, and we are not allowed into her room. I guess she is still mad at us for locking her up after she slipped out with Father.
Kane and I still cannot shake the idea that Alice’s baby might not be ours, but we cannot prove anything until the baby is born.
Alice has been ill through most of the pregnancy, which, as terrible as it sounds, made things easier. We could visit her at her bedside on the rare monts she felt like seeing us and just squeeze her hand until another wave of nausea ca over her and she scread at us to go away.
I am plagued by an emptiness deep in the pit of my stomach, and Kane is not much better. His near-constant despair rolls off Kane in deep, depressing waves, and Mother is growing impatient with us for failing to pull ourselves out of this funk.
She keeps reassuring us that once the baby is born, our spirits will lift, and if it does not, she warns that the pack will start turning on us, and that the Council will question our positions as alphas.
Once upon a ti, that threat would have rocked us, but now it rolled off our backs like nothing. We feel betrayed by Alice and Father, and there is a void which we cannot seem to fill.
A sudden wail echoes in my ears.
“Alice,” Kane sighs, sitting down. “She must be in excruciating pain.”
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I admit with a heavy heart.
“You will, though,” he says, glaring at . “You want to be there for her. That baby still could be ours.”
I know it is true, and we truly loved her once. I still cannot recall why we ever stopped.
“Fuck this,” Kane growls when Alice screams again. “I don’t care what she says, I can’t sit here a minute longer.”
“Agree,” I nod, and together, we rush upstairs.
“Boys, wait,” Mother stops us when we reach Alice’s room. “She’s not doing well.”
I brace myself and nod before entering the room, but nothing could have prepared for it. If Alice’s screams were not obvious enough, her face is a dead giveaway.
Her face is ashen and glistening with sweat. Her usually bright blue eyes are dulled into foggy grey. Her chest is rising and falling much too quickly, and she grasps at the sheets beneath her, writhing against the pain as she pushes.
Kane and I lock eyes, and I see the sa pain and fear which are pestering . Without a word, we stand on either side of her bed.
I pray that I will feel so glimr of sothing as I look down at our mate: hope for our future pup, excitent for new life to co, but there is only that sa nagging emptiness that has been plaguing us both for months.
Kane leaned down, brushing her blonde hair off her sticky forehead.
“We’re here,” Kane whispers, leans forward, and brushes her blonde hair off her sticky forehead.
We each take one of her hands, but she groans and pulls her hands away from us.
“I don’t ... want you,” she whispers with great difficulty.
“Alice, it’s us,” I say urgently, reaching for her hand again and squeezing it gently.
“No,” she shakes her head wildly, a desperate look in her eyes. “I want your father.”
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