Chapter 4

Kael's mother hung up in a rage.

Half an hour later, Kael sent a message: My mom said you had a terrible attitude. We're already over, don't make it look so ugly.

I didn't reply.

I placed my phone face down on the bed and gently pressed my hand against my lower belly.

In three months, I would start showing. By then, I would return to the Thorne Pack as the sole heir who had conceived a child, taking over everything.

Kael's hard-earned trading post was valued at three million dollars. In the territory of the Thorne Pack, that wasn't even worth a fraction of a single mining division.

In the afternoon, I went to a clinic to register my pregnancy. While waiting in line, my phone rang again.

It was Lila, calling from Kael's phone.

"Elara, sorry to bother you. I found a bottle of fertility herbs in our old bedroom. I wanted to ask if they're yours or if they were left by the previous owner?"

Fertility herbs.

The ones I used when we were trying to conceive.

I clenched my phone tightly.

"Throw them away. They're expired."

"Okay. Oh, Kael wanted me to ask when you're going to cancel the secondary card."

"Tomorrow."

"Great. Bye!"

After hanging up, my hands were shaking.

Not out of anger, but from a sudden, unexplainable wave of panic.

Lila had found the herbs.

Could she have guessed something?

The day my pregnancy report came out, I sat on the clinic hallway bench, lost in thought.

The doctor said everything was perfect. The pup's bloodline was incredibly pure—a strong Alpha pup. He told me to get plenty of rest and nutrition.

The words the baby is very healthy repeated in my mind.

"Elara?"

I looked up. Lila was standing at the end of the hallway, holding a bag of fruit.

She smiled and walked over. "What a coincidence. You come to this clinic too?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Visiting a friend." She sat next to me, her eyes casually scanning my hands.

I immediately flipped the pregnancy report over, but her eyes had already caught something.

"OB-GYN?" Lila's tone instantly changed, losing its sweet warmth.

She stared straight into my face.

"Elara, you aren't... pregnant, are you?"

I stood up. "Lila, that's none of your business."

"Of course it's my business," she stood up too. "If it's Kael's child, then it's my business."

There were pack members walking back and forth in the hallway. She lowered her voice and leaned close to me.

"Are you planning to hide the pregnancy and give birth in secret? And then what? Use the pup to blackmail Kael and force him back to you?"

"I don't need to blackmail anyone."

"But Kael won't want this child," Lila said with absolute certainty.

"He told me his children should only be born into a complete family. And in that family, there is no room for you."

"Did he tell you that?"

"He tells me everything." Lila pulled out her phone and played a voice note.

Kael's voice came out of the speaker:

Lila, once this busy season is over, we'll have our wedding. We'll figure out the rest later. Just settle in and don't worry.

"Hear that? He's already planning our wedding. Running around pregnant now will only make everyone think you're desperately clinging to him."

I took a deep breath.

Looking at my reaction, Lila seemed to confirm her suspicions.

"Elara, I have a suggestion. Get an abortion and go your own way. I won't tell Kael, and I won't tell anyone else."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I'll tell him myself. What do you think he'll do once he knows?"

She pulled an envelope from her bag and handed it to me.

"What's this?"

"Open it and see."

Inside the envelope was a pregnancy report. Lila's name was written at the top, dated two weeks ago.

It clearly stated: Intrauterine pregnancy, 7 weeks, stable bloodline.

"I'm pregnant too." Lila lost her smile and looked at me seriously.

"Kael already knows. He's thrilled. He bought a ton of pregnancy supplies."

"So, do you get it now? His firstborn can only be mine."

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