Louis growled. “Get the healer! NOW!”
Olivia’s lips parted like she wanted to say something else, but nothing came out. She just stood there, tears streaking down her cheeks as she watched us cradle Anita.
The pack’s whispers grew. From where I stood, I didn’t even know what to feel.
And then another realization hit me like a punch to the gut.
Anita was carrying our pup.
Our pup.
Shit. It was possible-so possible. Most of the time, we used protection. But there were nights. we hadn’t. Nights where instinct and need had taken over.
I looked at Lennox. He met my gaze with the same horrified, conflicted look in his eyes.
The healer arrived, rushing to Anita’s side, pressing gentle hands against her stomach. The tension in the air was suffocating.
And then… her frown deepened.
I saw it in her face before she even spoke.
A heavy silence fell over the room as the healer whispered the words that made my world tilt.
“She was pregnant,” she confirmed, voice laced with sorrow. “But… the pups are gone.”
Olivia gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.
Anita let out a broken sob as she continued shaking her head in denial.
The murmuring grew, but Olivia shook her head. “I didn’t do it!” she shouted, her voice cracking. Tears streamed down her face as she turned in desperation, looking at me, then Lennox, then Louis. “I swear on my wolf, I didn’t push her like that! It wasn’t-“
“You did it, Luna,” a she-wolf accused from the gathered pack. “We saw it.”
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd..
“You shoved her!”
“She lost the Alphas’ pups because of you!”
“You wanted this, didn’t you?”
“No!” Olivia shouted, stepping back as the pack’s whispers turned to accusations. “I didn’t-!”
Louis shot to his feet. His head snapped toward Olivia, his eyes blazing with anger.
“You expect us to believe this is just a coincidence?” he growled, voice laced with anger.
“I didn’t mean for her to fall!” Olivia’s voice was hoarse with desperation. “She grabbed me firs, but I just pulled away!”
Lennox took a slow step forward, his expression unreadable. “Why were you even near her?”
“I” Olivia hesitated, glancing around as if realizing she was alone in this. “I was trying to leave the hall… she-she stood in my way and grabbed my arm. I didn’t even push her that hard!”
Lennox’s jaw tightened. “But you did push her.”
A fresh wave of murmurs spread through the pack.
“I-I-” Olivia’s breath came faster, panic setting in as the judgment in the room thickened. She looked at me then, her eyes pleading. “Levi, you know me. You know I wouldn’t-“
I wanted to believe her. But Anita was lying on the ground, covered in blood, our blood. The life we didn’t even know we’d created… gone.
My wolf growled low in my head, restless.
“She lost our pups, Olivia,” I said, my voice coming out hollow.
Olivia flinched like I had struck her.
“I didn’t-” she choked out, taking a trembling step toward me, but before she could reach me, someone else grabbed her arm.
A warrior.
I stiffened as I realized what was happening.
“She should be punished,” another voice rang out from the pack. “She killed the Alphas’ heirs.”
“No! No, I didn’t!” Olivia struggled, but more warriors stepped forward, surrounding her.
Olivia’s POV
I could see the hate, the anger, in the eyes of the pack members. They all had one wish in their eyes, and that was punishment-for me to be punished for a crime I didn’t even commit.
It was strange, so strange.
All I did was shove Anita out of my way when she refused to let me pass. It wasn’t even a hard push, nothing that would send someone to the ground. But Anita threw herself to the floor, and she hit her stomach on the arm of a chair.
That was how it happened.
The next thing I saw was blood trailing down her thighs. And now, I just heard she was pregnant. -but lost the pregnancy just like that? How?
My mother stepped forward, pressing her palms together in a pleading gesture as she faced the triplets. “I beg of you, believe me-Olivia didn’t push her that hard. She didn’t even know Anita was pregnant,” she said, her voice trembling with desperation.
“Really?” Anita’s mother strode forward, eyes burning with anger. “Are you saying my daughter threw herself to the floor? That she caused her own miscarriage?”
Mother’s expression darkened. “We are both mothers. We have carried children in our wombs. You know as well as I do that a simple fall like that cannot cause a miscarriage.”
Lennox growled at my mother, his patience thinning. “What are you saying?” he asked, irritation clear in his voice.
Mother turned to him, her frown deepening. “What I am saying is that such a light fall shouldn’t have caused a miscarriage. Something else caused this miscarriage, not my daughter.”
A wave of anger surged through the crowd.
“How dare you!” one woman hissed, stepping forward. “Are you calling Lady Anita a liar?”
“She’s blaming the victim!” another man snarled. “How shameless!”
“Your daughter pushed a pregnant woman!” someone shouted. “And now she’s trying to deny it?”
“You should be ashamed!” an elder spat at my mother. “Your daughter is nothing but a murderer!”
“She should be punished!” another voice called from the back.
“Lock her up!” an elder demanded. rint
“Throw her in the cells where she belongs!” another snarled.
The crowd grew more restless, their voices rising in anger, their faces twisted with rage and disgust. My mother tried to speak, but no one would listen. The insults continued to pour in, a storm of hatred crashing down on us.
These were people who once adored us, people my mother had treated while working in the pack hospital, people my father fought for, protected, and today, they were all screaming for me to be punished, punished for a crime I didn’t commit.
“Enough!” Levi’s voice boomed through the hall, silencing the pack. His eyes were dark, filled with restrained anger.
Lennox’s jaw was clenched, and Louis stood with his arms crossed, his expression unreadable. But I could see the way his fingers tightened over his biceps, as if holding himself back.
Louis turned to the guards standing by the entrance. “Take her to the cells.”
My breath caught in my throat. “What?”
The murmurs in the crowd turned into cheers of approval.
“You can’t do this!” My mother gasped, stepping forward. “You know my daughter isn’t at fault!”
“We will investigate, Lennox said coldly. “Until then, Olivia will remain in the cells.”
The guards moved toward me. I took a step back, my heart pounding against my ribs. “No-“
Rough hands grabbed my arms, yanking me forward.
“Mother!” I cried, my voice breaking.
She rushed toward me, but a warrior stepped in front of her, blocking her path.
“Let her go!” she screamed, desperation in her voice.
“Take her away, Louis ordered.
The guards dragged me toward the exit, their grips like iron. My mother’s cries echoed behind me as she struggled to get to me.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.