Kieran's POV
Cass collapses before I can catch her.
I lunge forward despite the gashes in my side, managing to break her fall with my body. Pain explodes through my wounds, but I don't care. My wolf is howling in panic.
Mate hurt! Protect mate!
"Cass!" I shake her gently. Her face is pale, lips slightly parted, breathing shallow. "Wake up!"
She doesn't respond.
Luna runs over with Jamie still in her arms. "What happened? Is she—"
"Alive. Unconscious." I scoop Cass into my arms, ignoring how my wounds scream in protest. "She said her System shut down. Something about energy depletion."
My beta Marcus approaches cautiously. "Alpha, your father... he's really gone this time?"
I look at the pile of ash that used to be the Wolf King. The corrupted wolves around us are also dissolving—whatever dark magic animated them died with him. "He's gone. She killed him."
The entire pack is staring at us. At her. This tiny human female who just destroyed an undead alpha with a single strike.
"How did she know where to hit?" Marcus asks quietly.
"I don't know." I hold her closer, feeling her heartbeat against my chest. So fragile. So impossibly strong. "But she saved my life. Again."
Then I notice it—everyone is staring at Cass with something new in their eyes. Not contempt or pity like before. Fear, yes, but also respect. Maybe even awe.
She just killed the unkillable.
"Get the wounded to shelter," I order. "Post guards. My father might be dead, but whoever gave him that cursed System might send others." I turn to Luna. "Take Jamie and follow me."
We head to my den—the most secure place in the territory. I lay Cass on my sleeping furs, and she looks so small there, so vulnerable. It's hard to believe she just destroyed my father.
"Uncle Kieran?" Jamie's voice is still weak but clear. "Is the pretty lady okay?"
"She will be." I hope. "She used too much power saving us."
"She saved me too. Before." Jamie wiggles out of Luna's arms and toddles over to Cass. He pats her hand gently. "Thank you, pretty lady."
Something in my chest cracks. This cub—my nephew, the future alpha—is alive because of her. I've seen the spirit sickness kill dozens of cubs over the centuries. It's a death sentence. Always.
Until today.
"Luna, what do you know about System magic?" I ask my sister.
She shakes her head. "Nothing. Systems are rare—legends mostly. I've never met another user." She hesitates. "But Uncle Kieran... her scent changed."
My wolf perks up. "What do you mean?"
"Before she passed out. Her scent shifted." Luna looks uncomfortable. "It's sweeter now. Richer. Like..." She trails off, eyes widening.
No. She can't mean—
I lean down and smell Cass's neck, and my wolf goes absolutely wild.
MATE! MATE CARRYING YOUNG! PROTECT!
"Impossible," I breathe.
But it's there—the unmistakable scent of pregnancy. Faint, new, but definitely present. She's carrying a cub.
My mind races. Three weeks. That's how long she's been in Beastworld. Which means it happened here. With someone in my pack? Another alpha? When?
My wolf snarls with sudden jealousy so fierce it surprises me.
"Kieran?" Luna's watching me carefully. "What is it?"
"She's pregnant." The words feel foreign in my mouth.
Luna's jaw drops. "What? But she's been here less than a month! And she's always been with you or me, I never saw her with any males—"
"I know." My claws extend involuntarily. Some male touched her. Got her with cub. And I want to tear him apart even though I have no right to feel this way.
She's not mine. She never agreed to be mine. We have no mate bond, no claim, nothing.
So why does my wolf act like someone stole our female?
"Maybe it happened before," Luna suggests. "In her world. She said she was engaged to that Marcus snake."
The thought makes my rage worse somehow. That weak, poisonous human getting her pregnant? No. My wolf rejects the idea completely.
But the timing doesn't work anyway. Three weeks gestation means it happened here.
A thought strikes me—cold and terrible. "What if it's mine?"
Luna blinks. "What? Kieran, you never... did you?"
"No! I mean, I don't think so?" I run my hands through my hair, frustrated. "But I wake up sometimes with no memory. The nights after my father's curse started affecting me. The healer said I was sleepwalking, that the dark magic was making me lose time."
The implications hit me like a physical blow. What if I did something to her while cursed? What if I forced—
No. I'd rather die than hurt a female that way.
But I can't remember. And that terrifies me.
"We need to wait until she wakes up," Luna says firmly. "She'll tell us what happened. Don't assume the worst."
Before I can respond, Cass's eyes flutter open.
"Kieran?" Her voice is hoarse. "What... did I pass out?"
"Your System shut down." I help her sit up slowly. "You destroyed my father's cursed System and saved my life. Thank you."
She touches her head, wincing. "Your father's gone? For real this time?"
"Dust in the wind." I watch her carefully. "Cass, there's something we need to talk about. Your System showed you a message before you collapsed. Do you remember what it said?"
Her face goes white. "Oh god. That wasn't a dream."
"You're pregnant." I try to keep my voice calm. "Three weeks along. The scent doesn't lie."
Tears well up in her eyes. "That's impossible. I haven't... I mean, I never..." She looks at me with growing panic. "Kieran, I swear I don't know how this happened. I've been careful. I haven't been with anyone since I got here!"
"Then how—"
"I don't know!" She's crying now, genuine confusion and fear on her face. "The last person I was with was Marcus, and that was over a month before I ended up here. The timing doesn't work. But I haven't touched anyone in Beastworld, I swear!"
I believe her. She's not lying—I can smell the truth in her words.
Which means something else is going on. Something impossible.
Luna gasps suddenly. "The System. What if her System did this?"
We both stare at her.
"Think about it," Luna continues excitedly. "Her System gives her knowledge, heals wounds, creates medicine from nothing. What if it can create... other things too?"
"You're saying her System made her pregnant? Without a male?" I shake my head. "That's insane."
"No more insane than everything else we've seen today!" Luna argues. "She killed an undead wolf king by destroying his cursed System. She turned her healing magic into a weapon. Why couldn't a System create life?"
Cass has gone very still. "The Medical Salvation System," she whispers. "It's designed to help me build a civilization. To survive. What if Luna's right? What if it decided I needed... heirs? Future rulers?"
The thought is disturbing on multiple levels.
"Then whose genetics—" I start to ask.
A new voice cuts me off. "The System chose mine."
We all spin toward the door.
Draven Blackscale stands there in human form—the Dragon Lord I fought six months ago over territory rights. Black hair, gold eyes that glow like molten metal, and an arrogant smile that makes me want to punch him.
"Hello, wolf," he says casually. "I've come for my mate and our unborn child."
My wolf roars in fury. "She's not your mate!"
"Not yet. But the System chose me as genetic donor. Which means that cub she's carrying?" His smile widens. "Is half dragon. And fully mine."
Cass looks between us, her face pale with shock.
"How did you even—" she starts.
"Know you were pregnant? I felt it the moment it happened three weeks ago. Dragon bonds work differently than wolf bonds." Draven steps into the room with predatory grace. "I gave you time to figure things out yourself. But now that you know, we need to talk about our future. Together."
"We have no future!" I growl. "She's pack. She stays here."
"She's carrying my heir. She comes with me." Draven's eyes flash gold. "Unless you want to start a war between wolves and dragons over her?"
The tension in the room is suffocating. My claws are extended, his hands are starting to smoke with dragon fire.
And Cass sits there looking like her whole world just shattered.
"Stop!" she yells. "Both of you, just stop!"
We freeze.
She stands up on shaky legs, hands protectively over her stomach. "I don't belong to either of you. And this baby—if it even exists, if this isn't some insane System glitch—isn't a prize to fight over."
"Cass—" I start.
"No! I just woke up from passing out after killing an undead king. I found out I'm somehow impossibly pregnant. And now two alpha males are in my face claiming ownership." She's shaking with anger or fear or both. "Everyone out. Now. I need to think."
"I'm not leaving you alone with him," I snap, glaring at Draven.
"I'm not leaving at all," Draven counters.
Cass's eyes flash with something dangerous. "Fine. Stay. Fight. Kill each other if you want." She heads for the door. "I'm leaving."
"Where are you going?" Luna asks.
Cass pauses at the threshold, her hand on her stomach, and says words that freeze my blood:
"To find Ash Shadowclaw. Because if a dragon can bond with me through my System without my knowledge, I need to know who else might have already claimed me."
Then she's gone, running into the forest alone.
And I'm standing in my den with my worst enemy, both of us realizing the same terrible truth:
The human female we're fighting over might already belong to someone else entirely.