PREGNANT AND BANISHED

The Blood in Their Veins. Lana's Pov The door to the lab shut behind us, cutting off the happy sounds of the boys eating. I turned on Asher immediately. My hands were shaking, and my chest felt tight. "What is wrong with you?" I whispered. I wanted to scream, but I didn't want the kids to hear. "You were going to tell them. Right there at the breakfast table, are you thinking what will happen to them?" Asher didn't look sorry. He leaned against a table and looked at me. His blue eyes were dark and full of a stubborn fire. "They have a right to know, Lana. Every second I spend acting like a stranger is a lie. I am tired of lying." "You are a stranger to them!" I said. I stepped closer, poking a finger at his chest. "To them, you are just the man who brought them pancakes. They don't know about the pack, they don't know about werewolves. And they definitely don't know that their father is the man who kicked their mother out into the dirt." Asher's face hardened. He grabbed my wrist, not to hurt me, but to make me listen. His grip was warm and firm. "Do you think I don't see it? I look at them and I see the future of this pack. Do you even understand the blood that flows in them, Lana? They aren't just random kids. They are the sons of an Alpha. They have a power in them that they don't even understand yet." "They are my sons," I snapped, pulling my arm back. "I raised them. I protected them. Their blood doesn't give you the right to own them." "They belong here," Asher said. His voice was low and heavy. "This is their home. This is their legacy, they need to be trained, they need to know who they are. You can't keep them in a human city pretending to be something they aren't." I laughed, and it felt bitter in my throat. "They were perfectly happy in that city. They were safe. They had a father figure who actually loved them and didn't care about 'legacy' or 'power.' Once I find this cure, Asher, I am leaving. And I am taking them with me." Asher stepped into my space. He was so tall that I had to tilt my head back to look at him. "You aren't going anywhere. I've already told you that. I missed eight years. I am not missing another day." "You can't keep us here forever," I said. "Watch me," he replied. I couldn't look at him anymore. The air in the room felt too small. I turned away and walked toward the door leading back to the hallway. "I have work to do. If you want your people to live, stay away from my kids and stay away from me." I didn't wait for him to answer. I walked out and headed straight for the main lab. My head was spinning. I was so pissed off that I could barely see straight. I got to my desk and threw my notebook down. I hated him. I hated how he thought he could just move us around like pieces on a board. But more than that, I was scared. I was scared that he was right about the boys' power. I was scared that if they stayed here too long, they wouldn't want to leave. I sat down and put my head in my hands. "What am I going to do?" I whispered to the empty room. I missed Jasper so much it felt like a physical ache in my heart. Jasper would know what to say. He would have a plan. He was my rock, the one who had stayed when everyone else left. I needed to hear his voice. I needed to know he was looking for us. "I need a phone," I muttered. I started looking through the drawers of the lab. I checked the cabinets and the cupboards. Everything was strictly medical. No phones, no tablets, nothing that could connect to the outside world. Asher had been very careful, this pisses me off more than anything. He had built a wall around me, and I was starting to feel the weight of it. I sat back in my chair and stared at a test tube. I had to stay focused, I had to find the cure. That was my only ticket out of here. If I saved the pack, maybe I could negotiate. Maybe I could find a way to flip the script on Asher. I started running another set of tests on the blood samples. My mind kept drifting back to the breakfast table. The way Lucas looked at Asher, the way Jacob laughed. It was all wrong. A few hours passed. I was looking through a microscope when the door burst open. I jumped, nearly knocking over a tray. A guard was standing there, out of breath. His face was pale, and he looked terrified. "Doctor!" he gasped. "You need to come. Now." I stood up, my heart starting to race. "What happened?" "Another one has gone down," the guard said. He was leaning against the doorframe, trying to catch his breath. "It's bad. Very bad. The fever is higher than the others." I grabbed my medical bag and started throwing things into it. "Who is it? Is it one of the elders?" The guard hesitated. He looked at the floor, his hands shaking. "Answer me!" I shouted. I walked over to him and grabbed his arm. "Who is it? Is it a child?" The guard looked up at me. His eyes were full of a deep, dark sadness. He swallowed hard, but he didn't speak. "Who is it?" I screamed, the fear finally breaking through my skin. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words seemed stuck in his throat. "Tell me right now!"