E & Alexander


    E


    Dr. Evelyn’s examination was thorough, checking everything from my pulse to my reflexes to the fresh mark


    on my neck. Every test came back better than it had in months.


    “Your wolf’s return haspletely reversed the dormancy effects,” she said, making notes on her clipboard.


    “Your heart rate is strong, your blood pressure is normal, and even the pregnancy seems to be progressing


    healthily. The marking worked perfectly.”


    I couldn’t stop smiling. For the first time in months, I felt like myself again.


    Just with… a little bit extra.


    Like that pulse that wasn’t my own, but rather the one steadily thrumming in my mate’s chest.


    “Finally,” my wolf purred, stretching as if waking up from a long nap, which was technically true. “I was


    starting to think you’d never figure it out.”


    “You disappeared on me for months,” I bit back. Using the mental bond we shared after all this time felt like slipping back into a favorite old pair of shoes. “I thought you were gone forever.”


    “I was protecting us. Better to go dormant than live a life where our mate won’t mark us.” That familiar smugness in her voice hadn’t gone away during her dormancy, it seemed. “But look how well that worked out. Now we’re marked and there’s a pup on the way.”


    “You’re so dramatic.”


    “I prefer the term ‘strategic?”


    Dr. Evelyn finished her examination and handed me a clean bill of health. “Everything looks perfect, Luna


    E. You and the baby should be fine now.”


    The baby. Our baby. Alexander’s baby.


    As Lilith drove us home, the euphoria of having my wolf back began to fade slightly, reced by a more


    sobering reality. Yes, Alexander had marked me. Yes, he’d saved our child’s life and cured my condition. But


    that didn’t mean he loved me.


    I touched the fresh mark on my neck, still tender from Alexander’s bite. He’d done this out of duty, not love. He had made that perfectly clear when he referenced the contract just before marking me.


    I couldn’t let myself forget that. I couldn’t let my heart get broken all over again by reading more into his actions than what was actually there.


    But deep down, I was still happy that he had done it. Even if it wasplicated, at least now I could keep our baby–and I could rest easy knowing that Alexander wanted it.


    When we pulled into the driveway, I could see Gabriel waiting on the front steps, likely waiting for


    Alexander, who had driven his car behind us. The moment I stepped out of the car, The Beta’s eyes


    immediately zeroed in on my neck.


    His expression went from confusion to shock to something that looked an awful lot like rage.


    “Well, well,” Gabriel said as we approached the front door. “Looks like someone finally got what they


    wanted.”


    “Excuse me?” I stopped walking.


    “The mark.” Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. “Quite the convenient timing, isn’t it? Right after Alexander starts showing interest in you, suddenly you’re pregnant and marked. Very strategic.”


    “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”


    “Come on, E. We both know you’ve been ying the long game here. Poor, sick Luna, wasting away because her cruel husband won’t mark her. What Alpha could resist that sob story, especially when his heir


    is involved?”


    Rage flooded through me at his tone. But this time, instead of feeling weak and helpless, I felt powerful. My wolf snarled in the back of my mind, and suddenly I was moving faster than I ever had before.


    I grabbed Gabriel by the throat and mmed him against the front door of the mansion with enough force to rattle the hinges. His eyes went wide with shock as 1 held him there, my hand firmly pressed against his


    windpipe.


    “I didn’t manipte anyone into anything. Alexander marked me because he chose to, not because! somehow tricked him into it.”


    Gabriel tried to struggle, but I was stronger now. My wolf’s strength was flowing through me, making me feel like I could take on anyone who dared to disrespect me. And unlike before the dormancy, I was no longer the meek and mild Luna who would never do anything to cross anyone else.


    I was different now. Stronger, not just physically, but in so many other ways.


    And I wouldn’t let the likes of Gabriel walk all over me again.


    “<i>You </i>forget yourself time and time again, Beta,” I hissed. “From now on, you will show me the respecti deserve as your Luna.” I pressed him harder against the door. Not enough to crush his windpipe, but just enough to cut off a bit of air. Just enough to make him panic. “And you will never, ever speak to me like that again. <i>Do </i>you understand me?”


    Alexander shot to his feet and caught me easily, pulling me against his chest as I dissolved into tears. I buried my face in his shoulder, breathing in his familiar scent.


    “I couldn’t do it,” I sobbed against his shirt. “I was lying there and I just couldn’t-”


    “Shh,” Alexander murmured, his arms tightening around me. “It’s okay. You don’t have to.”


    “But the baby–my condition–I don’t know what to do-”


    “E, look at me.” Alexander pulled back just enough to cup my face in his hands, forcing me to meet his eyes. “I found the test. And the pamphlet.” His thumbs brushed away my tears. “I don’t want you to have an abortion. I want us to raise this child together.”


    The words sent a shock through my body. “You… what?”


    “I want to mark you. Complete our bond properly. I want to give <i>you </i>the family you deserve.”


    For a moment, hope bloomed in my chest so fierce it was almost painful. Maybe Alexander had finally realized he loved me. Maybe our night together had meant as much to him as it had to me.


    “We’ll need to extend our contract, of course,” Alexander continued, and my heart immediately sank. “It will need to be much longer than before.”


    The contract. Of course. Even now, even when he was offering to save our baby’s life, Alexander was thinking about legal documents and binding agreements. Not love. Not the family we could build together out of genuine affection.


    But at least he didn’t hate me. At least he wanted to be responsible for our child.


    And most importantly, he was offering me a way to save the baby I’d already fallen in love with.


    “Yes,” I said without hesitation. “Yes, I agree.”


    Alexander’s eyes searched mine. “Are you sure? Once I mark you, there’s no going back. We’ll be bonded for life.”


    I thought about the alternative–watching our child grow up knowing their father had rejected us both, or worse, not growing up at all because we had both died from this fucking illness.


    “I’m sure.”


    Alexander nodded once, then looked around the waiting room. There were a few other people scattered throughout the space, but he didn’t seem to care about the audience.


    “This might hurt,” he warned, his hands moving to frame my neck.


    “I know.”


    Alexander’s eyes shed a brilliant green for just a moment before he leaned down and pressed his lips to the spot where my neck met my shoulder. I felt his canines extend, sharp points against my skin, and then


    he bit down.


    The pain was immediate and intense, like being struck by lightning. But it onlysted a second before it transformed into something else entirely–a rush of energy so powerful it made my knees buckle.


    I felt it the moment our bond snapped into ce. Like a missing piece of myself had suddenly been returned. The hollow ache that had been living in my chest for months, no, years, was gone, reced by warmth and strength and a connection to Alexander that felt as natural as breathing.


    But the energy kept building, flooding through my system faster than I could process it. My vision went white around the edges, and I felt myself falling.


    Thest thing I remembered was Alexander calling my name as everything went dark.


    I woke up to the sensation of strong arms holding me and a sharp, stinging pain in my neck. My body felt tired, but also humming with a strange energy…


    “What… happened…?” I groaned, pressing my hand to my aching neck. When I cracked my eyes open, i found that my fingers hade away bloody.


    I blinked slowly, trying to focus on the faces hovering above me. Alexander was cradling me against his chest, backlit by the fluorescent hospital lights. Lilith was there too, her hand pressed to her mouth as she


    stared down at me.


    “You passed out,” Alexander said gently. “Right after I marked you. You’ve been unconscious for about thirty


    seconds.”


    I tried to sit up, wincing as my newly marked neck throbbed with the movement. The bite was still tender, but underneath the pain was something else.


    Completeness.


    And a pulse that wasn’t mine.


    “How do you feel?” That was Dr. Evelyn’s voice, and I looked over to see that she was kneeling over me too. She was… smiling. Had I ever even seen her smile?


    Furrowing my brow, I took mental/inventory of my body. The constant fatigue that had been weighing me down for so long was gone.


    “I feel…” I paused, trying to find the right words. “Amazing.”


    Lilith, Dr. Evelyn, and Alexander all beamed. “Look,” Dr. Evelyn said, holding up the metal piece of her


    stethoscope so I could see my eyes. They were glowing a bright golden color, like molten honey. My breath caught, and I shakily lifted my hand to touch my cheek, just below my left eye.


    “Miss me?” a familiar voice purred in the back of my mind.


    My wolf had returned.