His Heir Lived, His Luna's Baby Died

"You are taking her to the healing center today," I said the next morning. "I filed the bloodline request myself."

Knox adjusted his watch at the kitchen island. "I will give them my sample. Bianca can give hers after the Founders' Feast."

"That defeats the point of an urgent test."

"She spotted overnight. The healer told her to avoid stress."

"And while everyone protected her from stress, Theo spent breakfast measuring the old nursery for a crib." I kept my voice low. "He asked whether my desk should be moved out so Bianca can sit with the baby at night. You are allowing a paternity claim to reorganize our family before the claim is even proven."

Knox rubbed a hand over his face. "Theo is excited. He has wanted a sibling for years."

"Excitement is not consent. You are the adult. You are supposed to keep him from attaching his entire identity to a result we have not verified."

"Then the healer can collect a blood sample while examining her."

Knox finally looked at me. "Lift the restriction on her living quarters. She stays in the main wing until this is settled."

"I am already managing her security, her appointments, and half the pack's gossip. I am not giving her unrestricted access to my home because she brought you a report from a private lab."

"She is carrying a Blackwood."

"She is carrying a child whose paternity has not been independently verified. You know the heir protocol as well as I do."

His eyes hardened. "Is this actually about protocol, Evelyn? Or are you punishing her because we never had another child?"

The words landed directly over the life inside me.

My palm moved to my stomach before I could stop it.

I had imagined telling him in private. I had imagined Theo screaming with happiness for a baby I was carrying, not one Bianca had taught him to claim.

I opened my mouth.

"Look what I made!"

Theo rushed into the kitchen holding a black-and-silver braided bracelet. Plastic beads spelled BIG BROTHER across the center.

I recognized the knots. I had taught him the pattern last summer.

"Dad, you have to wear it for the announcement," he said.

"Buddy, we are waiting for the new test."

Theo's excitement faltered.

Bianca appeared in the doorway wearing an oversized sweater. Her eyes were red.

"It's all right," she whispered. "If Knox wants to keep the baby private, I understand."

Theo spun toward her. "He isn't a secret."

Bianca gave him a trembling smile. "Some people will always think he doesn't belong."

Knox crossed the room and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Tomorrow night, I will publicly acknowledge my responsibility to protect the child," he said.

"Without a verified test?" I asked.

"I said responsibility. Not bloodline."

"The pack will hear the same thing either way."

Knox's gold flashed in his eyes. "Enough. Do not make Theo believe you hate an unborn baby."

Theo immediately pulled the bracelet against his chest.

Two hours later, I lay on a paper-covered exam table at a neutral clinic beyond Blackwood territory.

The healer studied the monitor, then glanced at me. "Heartbeat is strong. Eleven weeks exactly."

Relief loosened my lungs.

"But you have light spotting," she continued. "Your stress hormones are elevated. Avoid heavy impact, overexertion, and unnecessary conflict for the next several days. If the bleeding increases, come back immediately."

"I will."

The healer muted the machine and studied me. "Do you feel safe going back to Blackwood today?"

The question startled me more than the medical warning.

"My husband has never hit me."

"That was not what I asked."

I looked at the ultrasound monitor instead of answering. There were forms for physical injuries. There were no simple forms for a household where every decision had begun to make me smaller.

"Document the spotting and the stress restriction," I said. "Send a copy only to my private account."

She printed a fresh ultrasound and handed it to me.

I tucked it into the blue envelope. The sweet reveal I had planned was gone. I would tell Knox after the Feast, then decide what remained of our marriage.

At reception, I asked the clinic director to send the Blackwood lab a formal request for Bianca's independent sample. I also filed a written Luna reservation against any public heir confirmation until the test was complete.

My phone buzzed before I reached the parking lot.

Theo had posted a photo to our family chat.

Knox knelt in the garden tying the BIG BROTHER bracelet around Bianca's wrist.

Dad says our baby is staying, Theo had written.

A second photo arrived thirty seconds later. Theo stood in the upstairs room with a measuring tape stretched across the pale green wall. One of my old storage boxes had been pushed into the hall.

I saved both images to a private folder. Not because I planned to build a case against a child, but because I was beginning to understand how easily Knox rewrote events once he decided his intentions had been good. I wanted a record of what was happening while I was still calm enough to recognize it.

That evening, I slid the independent clinic request across our dining table.

"One sample ends this," I said. "Why are you fighting so hard not to get it?"

Knox did not touch the paper. "Bianca is resting. She had another cramp after lunch. We wait until after the Feast."

"Pack law does not pause for a cramp."

"I said we wait."

Theo shifted his chair closer to Bianca's empty place.

"Mom," he whispered, "can you please stop until my brother is safe?"

I forced myself to separate the boy from the adults using him.

"I am not hurting anyone, Theo. I am asking for the same proof every heir claim requires."

Then I looked at Knox.

"If you publicly confirm an unverified heir tomorrow, I will not endorse the announcement as Luna."

His fork hit the plate with a sharp clatter.

"If you embarrass me and Theo at the Founders' Feast," he said, "we will deal with it at home."

"That sounds like a threat."

"It is a warning not to make a private dispute into a public spectacle."

He left the table.

Theo followed him without looking back.

I stayed seated, one hand over my stomach.

A movement in the dark hallway caught my eye.

Bianca stood between the velvet drapes, no trace of pain on her face.

She lifted her wrist into the light and slowly turned the bracelet so the words BIG BROTHER faced me.

Then she smiled.