<b>+15 </b><b>BONUS </b>


    <b>Chapter </b><b>227 </b>


    E


    My eyes snapped open and I sat bolt upright with a gasp, clutching at my chest.


    My… bare chest.


    I frowned, blinking. As my surroundings came back into focus, I realized with a start that I was no longerying in the guest bed in Sophia’s home, but rather on the ground in a forest. My clothes had beenpletely stripped, leaving me nude and vulnerable in the middle of nowhere.


    Sophia had double–crossed me. What a fool I was, thinking that she had had a change of heart! If I hadn’t been so consumed bybor, then I would have known-


    Wait. Labor.


    My son. I needed to know where he was, if he was safe–and Lilith, too. I had to find them.


    Surprisingly, my body felt nimble and free of pain as I leapt to my feet and looked around, trying to collect my bearings. Only my wolf felt a little groggy when I reached deep down within myself in search of her presence.


    “I’m here,” she croaked, sounding as if she’d just woken from another dormant state. “I just feel… funny<b>…</b>”


    I bit back a curse as I turned this way and that in search of a familiar tree orndmark. Unfortunately, all that stretched around me was untrodden forest.


    “She must have drugged me,” I said, finding north based on the sun’s position and heading in that direction. Ashw, where my son likely was, was that way.


    “Hmm… Maybe.” My wolf yawned and stretched. “I’ll just need some time before I can lend you my


    strength.”


    “Take all the time you need. I feel plenty strong now, surprisingly.” I looked down at my hands as I walked, finding myself clean and free of blood or dirt. Strange, because thest thing I remembered was blood gushing out from between my legs.


    My belly was t, too, which was also odd. A pregnant belly rarely went down this quickly, not to mention the fact that I was free of the stretch marks I’d grown throughout the pregnancy. Perhaps whatever drug Sophia had given me had put me into a sort of stasis where my wolf’s healing abilities were inadvertently enhanced.


    But there was no time for specting on my condition. My son could be in danger, and I had to get to him before it was toote.


    I picked up my pace after that until I was all–out running through the forest, trees and boulders rushing


    +15 <b>BONUS </b>


    by me on either side. Soon, I arrived at the edge of the treeline, where arge farmer’s cornfieldy beyond. I saw a house sitting off in the distance and set my sights on it.


    I began carefully working my way through the rows of corn. Surely someone would help me, give me a ride back to Ashw. For all I knew, I was already marked as missing by now. Maybe Alexander was


    looking for me.


    Alexander.


    His name filled me with a strange mixture of hope and dread. I was almost certain now that Sophia had been lying when she told me about Alexander’s intentions, but I couldn’t be entirely sure. And then, of course, there was the matter of him locking me up in that house.


    What if he still thought I was a spy? What if he wouldn’t let me see my son when I returned and just locked me up again?


    The very thought made my fists clench with rage.


    “Hey! You there! Show yourself!”


    I looked up to see an old man in overalls stepping out onto the front porch of the house and raising the barrel of a shotgun. Cursing under my breath, I held my hands up and walked out of the cornfield.


    “I mean no harm,” I called out. “I was kidnapped and abandoned in the woods. I need help.


    <i>” </i>


    The man stared at me for a long moment as if in disbelief. Shrewd eyes scanned the field behind me for potential aplices like I might try to rob him, but when he found none, he sighed and held out his jacket.


    “Put this on, youngdy. You’ll catch a cold runnin‘ around like that.”


    “Thank you.” I hurriedly took the coat and shrugged it on. It was just long enough to cover all of the important bits. “I don’t suppose you could give me a ride back to Ashw?<b>” </b>


    “Ashw pack?” The man furrowed his brow. “That’s a hundred miles from here.”


    A hundred miles? What the fuck? How did Sophia get me all this way before I woke up? Whatever she gave me must have been strong.


    “Well, I have to get there,” I said firmly, lifting my chin. “I’m the Luna of Ashw, and there’s probably a search party out already. I can pay you if you take me home.”


    The old man’s bushy eyebrows lowered. “Luna of Ashw, eh? Alpha King Alexander’s wife?”