SNOW
"She's burning up. Give her something for the pain."
"I cannot, Sharon. If I give her any more potion, we would be giving her an overdose."
"She's stronger than she looks. She'll pull through..."
The voices sounded like they were speaking from underwater. I turned my head and groaned softly, trying to catch what they were saying. Turning my head made the pain even worse.
I wanted to respond, to say something to them, but my body felt disconnected from me. My limbs were too heavy, my throat was too dry. It felt like I was breathing in thick air.
Faces flickered in my vision, blurring in and out of focus. Sharon. A man in a black coat... a healer. Someone else, someone that I didn't know. Their features twisted and melted together, stretching like reflections on rippling water. I tried to focus, but my eyelids keep closing.
Then came the pain.
It ripped through my stomach. My whole body arched as if something inside me was being torn apart. A scream lodged in my throat, unable to escape. Fire spread through my veins, and I clawed at the sheets, desperate for relief.
"It hurts," I whispered, or maybe I only thought I did.
A hand pressed against my forehead. "You'll be fine," the voice murmured. "Just breathe."
I didn't know if I was breathing. The pain blurred everything from time to space and the edges of my own mind. It swallowed me whole, dragged me under, squeezed until I thought I would shatter.
I was dying. I had to be dying. Maybe I was dead already and this was my hell.
I tried to fight it, but my body wasn't my own anymore. The darkness pulled me deeper, wrapping itself around me like a python.
One day—or maybe hours later, the pressure snapped and I gasped. My lungs expanded, my body jolted, and the pain that had gripped me so fiercely vanished like smoke.
My eyes flew open.
The world rushed back in all at once. I saw a bright light, smelled the scent of antiseptic, felt the smooth fabric under my fingers. I was alive, but barely.
A blurry figure loomed over me. A woman.
"Welcome back, sweetheart," Sharon smiled at me from above. "For a second there, I thought you were about to give up on us."
"Ugh!" I groaned as I pushed myself upright. My head was pounding like a war drum. A needle tugged against my skin, and I glanced down to see several potions all around the room.
"Finally awake, huh?" Sharon asked. "How was the moon goddess?"
I grunted. "More like how was hades."
She threw her head back and laughed. "You're probably right. You looked like you were fighting demons in your sleep."
I managed a weak smile, but as I studied her face, I saw just how tired she looked. Dark rings circled her bloodshot eyes, and her shoulders sagged like she hadn't slept in days. Guilt settled heavily in my chest.
"This is because of me, isn't it?" I muttered.
"Don't flatter yourself. I'm always this stunning." She patted my arm lightly. "I'll fix you something to eat. You look like you could use it."
As she turned, a question formed on my lips. "Did the healer say why I passed out?"
"Oh, the healer took a break. Said she'd be back soon."
I nodded and looked over Sharon's shoulder to find Alpha Zaydin standing by the door.
His head was tilted down, scrolling through his phone like he had better places to be. He didn't look remotely interested in whether I lived or died, but something told me he hadn't left this room since I passed out.
Sharon must have caught my line of sight because she gave me a sly smile before turning toward the door. "I'll be back. Don't beat my son up while I'm gone."
Then she paused beside her son, staring up at him with a look that clearly said, Behave yourself.
It was almost funny. Almost.
When the door shut behind her, I shifted against the bed. My body was sore from God knows how long I had been on the bed.
Zaydin didn't speak to me or even acknowledge me.
"Are you going to say something, or are you just going to stand there like a very large, very useless houseplant?" I grumbled.
He lifted his head and our eyes met. That same jolt I'd felt when I first saw him rushed through me, the same electric pull that made my heart stutter in my chest.
I cursed silently. Not this again.
I scrambled for something to say to make it better.
"Or maybe you're just waiting for me to thank you for allowing me to stay alive." My voice wobbles slightly at the end, and I wanted to strangle myself for sounding like our eye contact affected me.
Zaydin's eyebrows crawled up in surprise. "That's a first. I didn't expect you to be the type to beg for my approval."
My fingers curled around the bed sheets. "That's not what I..." I stopped myself and took a slow breath. "Forget it."
"I don't know what you're so worked up about." He muttered. "You didn't die, which is great because corpses are a pain to get rid of."
"That's your idea of concern?"
He nodded. "I think it's touching."
"Maybe you should start with an apology for being an insufferable jerk."
Zaydin snorted. "I'd rather fight a hundred rogue wolves than apologize to you."
I narrowed my eyes. "I'd pay to see you fight that many rogue wolves."
"I will win."
I scoffed. "I doubt it."
"Shows what you know."
We glared at each other from across the room. He didn't look like he liked me much and the feeling was mutual. Still, something about him nagged at me.
"Were you in here the whole time?" I asked, watching his face closely.
Zaydin didn't confirm or deny it. He just rested against the wall beside the door. "I had to. As Alpha, it's my job to make sure strays don't die under my watch. Also, my mother forced me."
I should have been irritated, but instead, I felt pleased. I berated myself immediately. What the hell was wrong with me?
I turned my head and stared at the ceiling, pretending like I hadn't asked, pretending like his presence here hadn't affected me at all.
But I knew the truth and so did he.
Just then the door opened again, and Sharon strolled in balancing a tray of food in her hands. Behind her, a young woman in a white coat followed inside.
"I see you're still breathing," Sharon said as she set the tray on the bedside table. "That's good."
I glanced at the food: scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with a glass of OJ on the side. My stomach twisted into knots at the sight of it. I hadn't eaten in what felt like days, but my appetite was nowhere to be found. Still, I didn't want to seem ungrateful, not after everything Sharon had done for me.
The woman in the lab coat stepped closer, offering a small smile. "I am Newman," she said. "Good to see you awake."
Sharon plopped down in a chair beside the bed and nodded toward the tray. "Dig in. You look like a stiff breeze could knock you over."
I picked up a strip of bacon and took a small bite. It was crispy, smoky and better than I expected. One bite turned into another, and soon I'd eaten half the plate.
Miss. Newman was checking the potions I had just taken, muttering something about how quickly I seemed to be recovering.
"How long was I out?" I asked between bites.
"Forty-eight hours," she answered, adjusting the drip.
I nearly choked on my toast. Two days?
Miss. Newman glanced at me. "You do know you're pregnant, right?"
I nodded. "I know. Six weeks."
My heart lurched, as I remembered the events leading up to my discovery of my pregnancy. I remembered Jasper acting like I didn't exist, I remembered the way he'd pushed me aside the moment Aria showed up. I wanted to forget it all forever, and yet I couldn't.
"You're pregnant?" That was Zaydin.
"If you had been nicer to me when I first got here, you might've known sooner." I muttered, setting down the remaining half of my toast. My appetite was gone again.
"I wouldn't have been so quick to tell you to leave if I knew." He said.
Sharon clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Good to know you draw the line at throwing pregnant women to the wolves." She smacked his arm as she stood up.
He scowled. "I get it, Mother."
I turned away from their bickering and faced Doctor Newman again. "Why was I in so much pain?"
She tapped her pen against her clipboard. "The rogue attack must have affected you more than we thought."
"It bit me." I pulled my sleeve down to reveal my left shoulder. The wound was still raw and the edges were an angry shade of red. It's strange. I was supposed to have healed.
Doctor Newman studied it for a second before nodding. "That looks deep. We'll treat it properly now that you're awake. You should be as good as new soon."
She turned and left and Sharon followed her out, leaving me alone with Zaydin.
I tried to force the rest of my food down, keeping my eyes down. When I finally finished, I glanced up and caught him staring. He looked away so fast that it almost made me laugh.
I wiped my mouth with the napkin and leaned back against the pillows.
"So," I dragged out the word. "Do you still want me to leave your pack?"
"I've had a rethink."
I snorted. "A rethink, or did your mother bully you into it?"
He ignored my jab and shook his head instead. Blonde locks fell into his face. "You're pregnant," he continued. "And there are dangers out there, especially for a woman in your condition. I couldn't in good conscience, send you away."
I sat up. "So I get to stay?"
"For now, yeah."
He turned to leave but hesitated at the door. Without looking back, he added, "But if you want to stay, you'll have to prove yourself."
As Zaydin left, I bit hard on my lips. I tried to hold my bottled up emotions until I heard a voice in my head. A voice I never thought I could hear.