Chapter 5

I stared at the pregnancy report.

Seven weeks.

Lila had just returned to North America yesterday. Seven weeks ago, she was still in Europe.

Yet, this report was stamped by a local clinic in our city, dated two weeks ago.

The timeline made absolutely no sense.

But I didn't expose her on the spot.

Now wasn't the time.

"Think about it," Lila patted my shoulder. "Before things get ugly."

She turned and walked away.

I clenched the fake pregnancy report, my fingertips turning cold.

Lila, what game are you playing?

At ten the next morning, Kael showed up at the door of my rented room.

"I know."

He stood outside, his face showing a complex mix of emotions—not anger, but more of a patronizing pity.

"Know what?"

"Your pregnancy. Lila told me."

She really didn't keep her word.

Kael walked in, scanned the tiny room that was barely a hundred square feet, and frowned.

"Elara, what are you going to do about the baby?"

"I'm keeping it."

"And then what?" His voice rose a bit. "With your thirty-five hundred dollar salary, you can barely feed yourself."

"You don't need to worry about my life."

"I'm worrying about my own."

Kael sat on the only plastic chair in the room, clasping his hands.

"Lila is pregnant too, you know. She's further along than you—seven weeks."

"She showed me the report."

"Right," Kael nodded.

"My stance is clear. My firstborn should be with Lila. This child of yours... it's not a good idea."

"Kael, are you sure you want me to kill your child?"

"We've already ended our marriage contract. Even if this child is born, growing up in a single-parent home isn't good for anyone."

He stood up. "Get rid of it. I'll pay for the surgery and the recovery. Is five thousand dollars enough?"

The door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

It was Kael's mother.

She walked in carrying a paper bag, looking around the room with pure disgust.

"You're living in a dump like this?" She threw the bag onto the table.

"There's two thousand dollars in there for the procedure. Plus the three thousand from Kael, that's five thousand. It's enough for you to start over."

"I said, I'm keeping the baby."

My former mother-in-law's face instantly darkened.

"Elara, don't be ungrateful. You know Lila's background. She is Kael's rightful mate. You, carrying a bastard child..."

"This isn't a bastard. It's Kael's child."

"If my son doesn't acknowledge it, it isn't," Kael's mother yelled. "You think you can leech off our family just because you're pregnant?"

Kael didn't stop his mother. He leaned against the wall, looking down at his phone.

"Elara, I'm saying this for the last time," Kael said without looking up. "Get the abortion, and we'll part ways peacefully. If you don't, I will petition the Pack Council for a bloodline test and fight for custody. I have a house and a trading post. You have nothing. The Elders will grant custody to me."

"And then, I'll let Lila raise the child."

Let Lila raise my child.

Those words were like an ice-tipped dagger plunging straight into my heart.

Kael's mother shoved me. "Did you hear that? Don't think a pregnancy is leverage. You're nothing to us."

Kael's phone screen lit up. A Snapchat message from Lila popped up. I caught a glimpse of it:

Kael, is it handled? I bought your favorite cheesecake.

Kael quickly typed a reply, locked his phone, and looked up at me, waiting for my answer.

His mother stood beside him with her arms crossed, looking like a warden.

I reached down and touched my belly.

This child was the sole heir of the Thorne Pack's current generation, a bloodline the entire clan had waited over a decade for.

Kael wanted to fight for custody?

He had no idea what kind of existence he was challenging.

I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I hadn't touched in three years.

It connected after just one ring.

"Dad, come pick me up. I'm pregnant."