Chapter 4

Anna's POV

Two months. That was all it took for Alpha Jasper to claim my heart. 

I sighed as I plucked out a tiny white rose and brought it to my nose, sniffing it in appreciation. I was surrounded with acres and acres of white and red roses. In the two months I had spent here, I'd come to fall in love with the pack house's gardens—

And I'd come to grow used to the man, Alpha Jasper as well.

Alpha Jasper made me feel nothing if not protected. He was unpredictable, as I'd seen on several occasions, and it was saddening seeing him kill people on my account. Anytime I disobeyed his orders, one person had to die.

I had given up hope of ever trying to escape, several weeks back, and I had settled quite nicely into my role as his breeder. I wasn't happy, and neither was I sad. I'd merely resigned to my fate.

I wasn't a hundred percent sure, but I could as well be carrying his heir already.

Rubbing my belly absentmindedly, my mind wandered to my parents, and most especially my mother. I could not care less about my stepfather—the man could rot in the seven hells for all I cared, but I was worried about my mother.

She wasn't the strongest of werewolves, and without me there to protect her, I wondered how my stepfather would be treating her now. I knew him very well, and I knew his penchant for hitting things and people that were smaller than him.

Deep within me, I ached for her safety and protection.

"Luna Anna, we should head back inside. It's getting late." My handmaiden called out.

I snapped back to reality and threw the white rose to the ground, crumpling it beneath my feet. "Yes, you're right, Lena. Come on."

But as I turned, I knew something was wrong immediately. The sharp pain that accosted my forehead wasn't normal, and neither was the sense of fatigue that came with it.

"Luna Anna?" Lena called out. "Are you alright?"

"Y...Yes, I think so. It's nothing, I can manage." I mumbled in response. Ignoring her outstretched hand, I took another step forward.

And this time, I didn't make it. 

The world around me spun like a web as the headache grew more insistent. My balance wavered, and somehow I found myself on the cold, hard ground.

"Luna! Luna Anna!" I heard Lena call out to me, but her voice was slowly becoming muffled. I could hear a thundering of footsteps, and through my rapidly blurring vision, I saw that several guards were rushing towards us.

Panic struck my heart as I realised that I would slip into unconsciousness any time soon.

No....

What was happening to me?

I stretched out my hands, frantically searching for something or someone to hold on to, but it was too late. The darkness was already seeping into my vision now, and I could not stop it.

I let the darkness claim me.

*********

"What do you think happened?"

"She was probably fatigued from spending so long out in the sun...."

"I wonder what Alpha Jasper would say if he hears of this...."

I grimaced as the different voices seeped into my ears and bounced around like billiards in my head. My head still ached, though not as terribly as before, and the surface beneath me was softer than the packed earth in the garden where I'd collapsed.

A tired sigh escaped my lips. "What....where am I?"

"Shhh...." Came a new, more soothing voice. Then in a more brusque tone, it continued. "Move back, all of you. Let me take a look at the Luna."

I felt the surface under me recline a little, and gentle but experienced hands felt around my face, my neck, my temple.

"Open your eyes, Luna." The voice ordered.

I didn't want to open them. I wanted to continue floating in the ignorant bliss that was unconsciousness—anything to escape this headache, but I knew I had to.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, and the first thing I noticed was that the room I was in was dark. The windows had been drawn, even though it was day, and there were no candles lighting up the place. Shadows filled the room.

A figure made of darker shadows danced around before my eyes. I groaned and tried to sit up, but firm hands forced me down again.

"You're sweating a lot." The voice noted. "That's a good thing."

"What....?" I tried to sit up again, and I was forced back down with even stronger hands.

"Lie down. Rest. You'll need it." The voice replied. Turning to another person in the room, the voice ordered. "Open the curtains."

In a matter of seconds, the curtains were pulled back, and light rushed into the room through the windows. I squinted at the man who sat before me; he was elderly, with gray hair, gnarled hands and a kind face.

The pack's physician.

"You'll need all the rest you can get." He continued, still smiling at me. "For you, and of course, the heir growing inside of you."

My eyes widened immediately. "Heir?"

"Yes, Luna. You're pregnant!"

"The Moon Goddess be praised!" Echoed the physician's assistants who stood in one corner of the room.

The feeling that flooded into my heart knew no bounds. Clutching my stomach, I glanced down at what I hoped was an already developing bump. I couldn't tell whether I was happy at the news, oe devastated.

I needed to break this news to Alpha Jasper.

Then perhaps....finally, he would let me go back home.

Throwing my bedcovers aside, I sprang to my feet and made straight for the door, ignoring my headache. 

The physician's voice made me stop for a moment. "Luna Anna!" He called out. "Hold on."

I paused and turned to him. "For what?"

"I should break the news on your behalf," he explained. "You need all the rest you can get."

A feeling of apprehension surged through me as I stared into the kind physician's face. But I knew what might happen to him if Alpha Jasper managed to discredit him.

I didn't want anybody else dying on my account.

"Do not worry." I replied. "I will deliver the news myself."

"But you mustn't bounce around that way. You need your rest!"

"My rest can wait." I retorted. "For now, the Alpha needs to hear this piece of good news!"