I lay dying, my vision fading, the world around me blurring into shadows. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was how I was going to die. I felt it was a pity. I couldn’t avenge my dead child and here I was, going to accompany him soon.
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Three years into my pregnancy, I had felt the life inside me stir for the first time. As the months went on, the fetal movements became stronger, more insistent, like the beating of war drums inside my belly.
I could feel it—my child was coming.
A vision descended from the moon itself, a sign of the child’s importance.
Lying in bed, I waited, my body aching with the effort of labor. But just as I thought I might finally bring my child into the world; I heard voices outside the cabin.
“The Alpha comes here every day,” said an unfamiliar voice, hushed but brimming with curiosity. “I want to see what treasure he’s been hiding.”
Another voice followed, filled with uncertainty. “But this is sacred ground. No one is allowed to enter, not even us.”
“Yes, Lady Lila,” came a third. “The last time someone wandered in here, the Alpha killed him without hesitation. It caused a war between the Demon Wolves and Immortal Wolves. Should we really be doing this?”