My vision blurred. My lungs strained to pull air. My baby was coming—too fast. Too soon.
I twisted in the ropes, frantic, sobbing. My hands bound. My legs spread. I couldn’t even protect the life inside me.
A scream tore from my chest as the final contraction crashed through me. I tried to hold on, to clench, to delay—but there was nothing I could do.
And then, it happened.
Something passed through me—warm, alive, heartbreakingly small.
Then the sound.
A wet, heavy slap against frozen earth.
The world held its breath.
I couldn’t see. I didn’t want to.
But I knew.
My child had fallen.
---
Hours earlier, Rydan had stood beneath me—his fury burning like a torch in the darkness.
His eyes, once familiar, now held nothing but contempt. His fists were clenched so tightly the veins in his forearms bulged like ropes.
“This is justice,” he announced to the gathered pack, his voice hard as steel. “For attempting to kill Amara.”
“I didn’t!” My voice cracked as I shouted down at him. “Rydan, I swear on everything—I never touched her! She slipped—she—”