~Layla~
Nathaniel smiled when he looked into my eyes. I felt Clara clawing to the surface, and her growls were echoing against the walls of my mind. “You what?!” I growled and pulled his hand away from my face.
“Ahh, yes, I was wondering whether or not you’d react to that.” He put his hands in his pockets and took a step back. Nathaniel scanned my face with a sinister smile and the darkest, most inhumane eyes I had ever witnessed.
He was so hungry for power. His bones were made for only one thing, as was his mind: to destroy and reinvent the world in his image. He was the embodiment of evil and would only ever spread terror, blood, and pain wherever he went. All around him, I saw that black shadow, the blood-stained path he so willingly walked on. When he looked at me, despite his sinister ways, I saw the adoration he held for his most prized possession. He needed me; I was the key to his dreams, and all of his plans would come to fruition with me by his side.
“Imagine the world of ease you would face if only you weren’t burdened by something so insignificant as love.” He clicked his tongue and turned around. “I’ll send someone to fix the door. Why don’t you rest? You’re not leaving the house today anyways,” he said and left the room.
I fell back against the wall and slid down until I sat on the floor.
Clara, how is my child?
“The baby is fine, with a healthy heartbeat and good blood flow.”
Tell me, why have you not said anything before? Please, Clara, the truth.
She was quiet for a moment. Then, she said something that made so much sense that it hurt my heart when I realized she was right.
“The only way for us to win this and to protect the werewolf species and destroy Nathaniel is if you don’t exist… the only reason I didn’t tell you about the baby was because Analise told me what you had to do, and she said that the baby might not ever see the light of day. The only way for us to take Nathaniel down and stop his plans is if his weapon is gone. Do you remember what that woman said during the sacrificial ritual?”
Yes, she told me that sometimes we need to take ourselves out of the equation.
“The reason they died was because they spoke against him, and they spoke for you. They were on your side.”
Take me out of the equation… to stop him, I need to be gone. I need to die.
I growled, and my claws extended.
If you think that I am killing my child…
“No, that’s the thing. Analise has found a way for you to birth the baby before anything has to happen. It’s all thanks to the fact that Jackson failed in his orders. That event changed the future and created another path. A path where your baby can survive.”
But I won’t.
“I’m sorry.”
I stared at the floor and saw the broken door through the corner of my eye. The only way for us to win this was for me to be taken out of the equation. Suddenly, I was in a position where I had never wanted to live as much as I did right now. I put my hand on my stomach and leaned back against the tiles.
“You will be safe, and you will be loved. I promise,” I whispered to the fetus growing inside me.
How long do I have left?
“A little more than a month, but you’ll start showing soon.”
I’ll make sure Nathaniel doesn’t notice.
I stayed in the bedroom after that. As the lights turned dark and night fell over us, Nathaniel didn’t return. I didn’t know where he was, and truthfully, not knowing was worse than having him near. Now, I went in constant fear of him finding out I was pregnant or sending someone else to finish what Jackson started.
My mind was railing around the possibilities of how this would go. However, I felt defeated in every possible way, and I knew now how this would end.
I crawled under the covers. I didn’t know if it was the pregnancy or the world closing in on me, but I had never fallen asleep so easily before.
The wind was calm around me, with small breezes that kissed my skin. My heart was steadily beating with no fear or anxiety, and my mind was relaxed. I opened my eyes and saw the light surrounding the cottage. The light was back. It had gone away the last time I was here, and though it wasn’t as bright as it used to be, it was back.
“Layla.” Her voice seemed to have more power now. Analise stood by the door with a somber smile painting her bleak face.
“Analise,” I said and walked up to her.
Her cheeks had more color but not much, her lips were rosy, and her eyes weren’t as dull as I remember them. She resembled the woman I met here in the beginning, the strong, regal woman with poise and power. Whatever the reason, I was glad she was getting that back.
“I hear Clara had talked to you.”
I nodded.
Analise led me inside. A strong scent was lingering on the couch and in the corner of the cottage. A scent I wasn’t sure I’d ever smell again.
“Why am I smelling him here?” I asked and looked at Analise standing by the tea kettle on the stove.
“Because I want you to. I want you to know that he was here and that he’s all right.”
I felt my brows furrowing and my eyes narrowing in on her.
“You haven’t spoken to me in weeks, and now you bring me here to tell me that my mate has been here? You tell my wolf about my baby before you ever tell me, and now, when it suits you, you bring me here to see all that I’m missing,” I snapped.
“I brought you here to let you see that your pain and suffering is not for nothing,” she said as she grabbed my hands and stared deeply into my eyes to let me see her truth.
We walked over to the couch, and I drew a breath. Kade had been on the chair next to the couch. I sat down and leaned back, closed my eyes, and pretended he was there for a few seconds. When I opened my eyes again, Analise was watching me with a smile.
“I’m sorry for what you’re going through,” she said.
I ignored her words and leaned forward. “You look like you’re doing better,” I said.
“I am, thanks to you,” she said calmly.
I stayed quiet and looked at her while patiently waiting for her to explain. I was enjoying Kade’s scent, and the thought of him having sat here was enough for me not to be in a hurry.
“Do you remember the last time you were here? I told you how you were the key to Nathaniel’s plan but also how you were the one who could stop him. Back then, there was only one path, and it was hard even for me to understand why that was. Then, when Alpha Kade came with his sister and Justin—”
“Justin was here?” I asked and felt my eyes widening.
“He was, and he is okay,” she said and smiled.
I drew a double breath before a sharp exhale, and my shoulders slumped.
“Alpha Kade was supposed to be dead,” she said, looking at me.
It was as though someone took a knife to my heart and twisted it.
“So you can imagine my shock when I saw him walking in here unharmed. It was then that things changed. Another path was made because Alpha Kade changed his future by breaking from the path he was supposed to take. He wasn’t supposed to leave the pack, but he did, and so faith remains the same. But with him gone, Jackson got ordered to go after Anna, and she was saved by Danielle’s interference. Layla, first it was Kade, and then it was Anna. Their deaths were meant to alter your perception of what was right and send you down a spiral of anger and hatred.”
“But they didn’t die,” I breathed as I tried to wrap my head around everything.
“They didn’t, but the future also changed.” Her face took on a more serious expression as she scooted back.
I knew that now was the time I would get my answers.
“The reason I told Clara not to tell you was because your baby wasn’t supposed to survive.”
