I heard whispering while I fought with my subconscious, but I was unable to hear anything of what they were saying. When my eyes finally fluttered open, the room went dead silent and I suppressed a groan as my eyes adjusted to daylight.“Aria, are you alright?” I recognized the pack doctors voice before his face came into view. I squinted my eyes, a frown creasing my eyebrows as the memories of all that happened came flooding back, and then I gasped, my hands flying to grip my stomach.“My baby,” a lone tear dropped from the corner of my left eye “My baby,”“Relax. Your baby is fine,” the doctor smiled at me “You are a strong woman Aria. Your baby is a fighter as well, and it’s a good thing your mate got to the scene when he did,”It was after those words I realized Slade was in the room as well. He was standing so close to the door as if he was scared to come close, his face downcast. When I tried to sit up, I felt pain in my lower back, and Slade was beside me in seconds, his ha

ARIATwo days later, the doctor discharged me and confirmed my child is perfectly okay. An ultrasound also revealed that we are expecting a boy and Slade gave me an I-told-you-so look. Things were still strained between us but in all the days I was at the hospital, not once did he leave my bedside except when he wanted a shower, and in each case, he made sure someone was there with me and returned with utmost speed.Our ride back to the penthouse was mostly quiet. My eyes were trained on the road while Slade was constantly glancing at me with a worried expression that I pretended not to notice. He didn’t try to make any form of conversation though and I was grateful for it. He helped me out of the vehicle when we finally stopped in front of the penthouse, but I pulled my hands away from his as soon as I could and didn’t say a word. I took a shower first, slipped into my night clothes, and headed straight to bed.It was a few minutes later that he joined me in bed. He’d gone to do

My gaze remained fixed to the door several minutes after he closed it behind him. Xaria wanted me to stop him from leaving, but I could not bring myself to do so considering I’d been the one to ask him to leave in the first place. I was learning things about my mate I didn’t know of, the kind of things I only thought were possible in books and movies, and I wasn’t sure how to react to it. I have spent many months in this bed with Slade, but hearing him tell me about his past made me feel like we were total strangers. ‘You wanted him to open up to us, and that is what he is trying to do, yet you push him away,’ Xaria murmured. I sighed, trying to put a wall between us. Xaria could never stay mad at her mate, no matter the situation. She’d felt betrayed after we learnt of his curse, she’d been angry with him, but she got over it really fast, throwing caution to the wind and admonishing me to go to him. Truthfully, Xaria had been more worried about losing her mate than acknowledging his

I tapped on the door once, and without waiting for a reply, I barged into his office. Slade had a man by his collar, lifted mid-air, his legs thrashing in the air. He released the man as soon as he saw me, straightening to his full height while the man scurried to escape from the alpha. “I-I didn’t know you were coming,” he rolled his sleeves down slowly, buttoning one after another carefully. I’d not visited his office in a long time, and I noticed nothing had changed since I was last here. My desk still remained the way I’d left it at the far end of his office. The only difference was the untidy state of his own desk. It wasn’t unusual for his desk to be scattered with a lot of paper work, but there were more files on his desk than usual. I wonder how he can deal with all of this and still find time to look into Sapphire and Lennox’s whereabouts.I’d noticed more freedom now than before. He passed a strict warning to every member of Dark Wolf that I wasn’t allowed out of the pack

I rolled on my side and opened my eyes slowly, feeling the bed to find Slade’s side empty. He was still sleeping in the other room, but I had a feeling he’d not come to the penthouse the night before. He must have been engrossed in all the trainings and all the work he’d pushed over while he was with me at the hospital.I groaned, pulling myself up with one hand on my stomach. When my eyes met the clock, I gasped. It was almost midday. I hurried to take a bath, determined to go to the training field to watch the warriors train, but Gwyn came bearing my food first. “Good Morning Aria. I came earlier but you were still fast asleep,” she smiled at me. I thanked her and we made little talks about what has been happening in the pack. I resolved to join the others in the kitchen to prepare the meals for those in training, but Gwyn told me the alpha wanted to see me first. I dressed up casually and went to his office. His workers were busy but they stopped to greet me and acknowledge my