I turned and finally met her eyes.
A hurried knock landed on the door and by the scent I realized it was Clark, one of our betas. I groaned but didn’t ask him in. He knocked again and I got irritated.
“Don’t leave,” I said before I could stop myself. “You can come in.”
A soft rustle behind me snapped me out of it. I turned. There, by the edge of the path, stood Rebecca. She was halfway turned, clearly trying to sneak away unnoticed.
“I could kiss you.”
Anita was screaming. Blood soaked the sheets under her, the metallic scent so thick it made my wolf recoil. She gripped the sheets, crying and writhing as pain wrecked through her body.
“I don’t know what love is,” she admitted. “Everything feels blurred. And Damien once loved a lady. And… I don’t know if what I feel is comfort, or something deeper. I can’t tell the difference.”
“Because I don’t love her,” I said.
I blinked. “What?”
She didn’t say a word. Just stood quietly near the doorway, her eyes on Anita.
She looked at me, her brows slightly furrowed.
She kept begging between sobs. “Please… save my babies… please…”
Rebecca said nothing, just watched me closely.
“And she never will be,” Lennox snapped.
Her head turned sharply, her eyes widening. “What?”
“We’re not doing that,” I said flatly.
“I miss you,” I whispered, though the wind carried it away before I could even believe
I’d said it out loud.
I didn’t look at her. I just stared ahead, my jaw clenched. Because I couldn’t explain it. Not fully. So I gave her the only truth I had.
I felt my heart harden instantly. Lennox scoffed and looked away. Louis clenched his jaw. I let out a cold breath.
I looked away again.
I sat on the stone bench near the rose bush she once planted and ran my fingers through my hair. My thoughts were a storm-Olivia, Anita, the child we’d just lost… the way Rebecca had walked into that room and effortlessly shattered my focus.
“You can take that option off the table,” Louis finished.
That answer hit harder than it should’ve. And that’s when I said it.
When she got closer, her scent hit me again-soft, warm, familiar in a way that shouldn’t have been possible. I inhaled deeply, and my wolf stirred again, tugging at my soul like it was reaching for something it had lost.
I nodded slowly, but something inside me bristled. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like the idea of her trying to force love for someone else. Especially not him.
I didn’t move closer. I didn’t even blink. I just stood there, arms crossed, watching as she twisted in pain.
“She’s hemorrhaging again,” one of the healers said.
And then, before I could stop myself, another question came out of me.
“What!” I barked at him.
“I…” she frowned. “It’s just a kiss. Warm. Gentle. Nothing intense. It doesn’t feel… electric or anything. Sometimes, I don’t feel anything at all.”
For a moment, she didn’t speak. Then, very softly, she said, “That must’ve been hard to say.”
I frowned. “And what’s wrong with her?” I asked sharply, my voice laced with irritation.
“She is having complications,” he said.
“She’s not our mate,” I cut her off. “She never was.”
“To help you know,” I said softly, my voice lower than before. “So you can tell the difference. Between what’s real… and what’s just comfort.” 2
The healer tried to speak again, but none of us stayed to listen. We turned and walked out together.
“She played a game and lost,” I said, my eyes still on Rebecca. “This is her consequence.”
“It wasn’t hard,” I replied quietly. “It’s just the truth.” And the silence returned… but this time, it didn’t feel tensed.
Her eyes widened even more. “What?”
She looked between the three of us, worry in her tone. “The last child. It’s not just blood loss anymore. Her connection to the father is weakening. If none of you mark her… she may lose the remaining baby.”
Throughout the night, I couldn’t sleep… so many things were in my head. Firstly, we had just laid Olivia to rest but deep down I still can’t accept it… somehow, deep down I feel like she is still alive… it is delusional of me, but I just can’t get away from those thoughts.
I should’ve felt something. Pity. Worry. Even concern for the babies…
A long silence followed.
Her eyes snapped to mine. The question hung between us, awkward and heavy. I didn’t even know why I asked. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe jealousy. Maybe something deeper I didn’t want to name yet. 1
“She made her choices,” Louis added.
Finally, she broke the silence.
I stared at her, not knowing what to feel. That might’ve been our child. But there was no ache. No panic. No sense of loss twisting in my gut. Maybe I was too numb. Or maybe, deep down, I’d already disconnected from everything tied to her. 2
The healer’s eyes widened. “But-if you don’t-“
What was this? How could someone pull us in like this-so easily, so completely?
Levi’s POV
She didn’t deny it.
Once outside, I drew in a deep breath and tilted my head to the sky. The garden was still. Silent. I thought of Olivia, how she used to walk here every evening. I could almost see her now-barefoot, smiling, humming something under her breath. My chest tightened.
The head healer stood upright, her gloves stained red. She let out a breath. “She’s stabilized… but…” she paused and looked at my mother. “There’s only one baby left. The other baby is gone.”
“It’s Anita…. I think something is wrong…”
Before I could think more, the door creaked open and Rebecca walked in. The moment her scent hit me, my wolf stirred-again. It was like my heart recognized something before my mind could even catch up.
“How do you feel when you kiss him?”
“But you don’t love him yet,” I said quietly.
My wolf has been oddly silent, and I could tell he was mourning Olivia, just like me. It was already late in the morning, but I just couldn’t get out of bed… I felt drained, staring at the portrait of Olivia all through the night… I had shed silent tears and never for once, blinked my eyes… I stayed all night imagining this wasn’t real… our Olivia couldn’t be gone just like that…
My gaze snapped to her like a magnet. Everything else vanished. The blood-soaked bed. Anita’s sobs. The hollow ache in my chest. All of it. Gone. All I saw… all I felt… was her.
“I won’t let her tether me,” I continued, my tone firmer. “Not with guilt. Not with pain.
And not with a child I never asked for.”
I cursed under my breath and followed him, the urgency in his footsteps forcing my own.
Even Olivia.
My arms around her.
It was full of need. Hunger.
“Exactly,” I said, sitting up straighter. “And why would someone send us a warning if there wasn’t truth in it?”
“Where’s Rebecca?” he asked.
She didn’t say anything.
And there he was.
But she didn’t.
And just for a second, Olivia’s face flashed over hers. 3
Lennox frowned. “Yeah… I remember.”
Not angry. Not annoyed. But really worried.
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.