When My Mate Murdered Our Unborn Pup

The blisters on my legs from the silver water were weeping again, staining the white sheets of the infirmary bed. I had collapsed during the morning prayer—or rather, the morning torture session Mavis called ‘cleansing.’ My body felt heavy, not just with pain, but with a strange, new exhaustion that settled deep in my bones.

Dr. Evans, the pack’s elderly healer, pulled the stethoscope from his ears. His hands were shaking. He looked at Gunner, then at me, his eyes wide with disbelief.

“Alpha,” he stammered. “It’s… it’s a miracle. The Luna is pregnant.”

For a heartbeat, the room went still. The oppressive weight of the dying pack, the failing wards, the suspicion—it all vanished. Gunner’s face, gaunt and gray from weeks of stress, suddenly cracked open. A light I hadn’t seen in years flooded his blue eyes. He dropped to his knees beside the bed, ignoring the smell of burnt flesh coming from my legs, and pressed his face against my stomach.

“A pup?” he whispered, his voice trembling. “Titan… Titan is purring. We’re going to have a pup, Cam.”

Tears pricked my eyes. For the first time since Mavis arrived, I felt a flicker of hope. Maybe this was the sign we needed. Maybe a new life would heal the pack.

Then, the temperature in the room dropped.

“A miracle?” Mavis’s voice was like shattered glass. She stood in the doorway, her white robes pristine, her face twisted in a mask of horrified pity. “Oh, you poor, foolish Alpha.”

Gunner froze. He looked up, his hand still resting on my belly. “What do you mean? It’s an heir.”

“Is it?” Mavis walked into the room, the scent of lilies and rot trailing behind her. She pointed a manicured finger at my stomach. “Think, Gunner. The wards are failing. The warriors are losing their ability to shift. The pack’s magic is being drained at an accelerated rate. And now, suddenly, a wolf-less vessel conceives?”

She leaned down, her dark eyes boring into mine. “That is not an heir. It is a parasite. It is an abomination created by the curse to suck the last drops of power from your bloodline. It is feeding on the pack to survive.”

Gunner snatched his hand away as if I had burned him. The light in his eyes died, replaced by a cold, dawning horror.

“No,” I whispered, reaching for him. “Gunner, don’t listen to her. It’s our baby.”

He didn’t take my hand. He stood up, backing away, his gaze fixed on my stomach with revulsion. “A parasite…”

***

The hopelessness was suffocating. I tried to find Molly, my only friend in this nightmare. I found her in the hallway outside Gunner’s office, her face pale, clutching a bucket of water.

“Luna!” she hissed, pulling me into an alcove. “I heard her. I heard Mavis by the reservoir. She wasn’t praying to the Moon Goddess. She was chanting in a language that made my ears bleed. She was pouring something black into the water supply!”

“We have to tell Gunner,” I said, gripping her arm.

We burst into the office. Gunner was pacing, Mavis sitting calmly in his chair.

“Alpha!” Molly cried, dropping to her knees. “She’s a witch! She’s poisoning the water! That’s why the warriors can’t shift!”

Mavis didn’t even blink. She reached into the pocket of her robe and tossed a handful of small, bone-carved totems onto the desk. They rattled like dry teeth.

“I found these under the Omega’s bed,” Mavis said softly. “Cursed objects. Bound with dark magic to block the pack’s connection to the Moon.”

“Liar!” Molly screamed. “I’ve never seen those!”

Gunner looked at the bones, then at Molly. The paranoia that Mavis had cultivated for weeks snapped into place.

“You dare?” Gunner’s voice was a low growl. “You dare sabotage my pack while we are dying?”

“Gunner, please!” I threw myself between them. “Molly is loyal! Mavis is lying! Look at her!”

Gunner grabbed my arm, shoving me aside with enough force that I stumbled. “Get her out of my sight,” he commanded the guards. “Exile. If she returns, kill her.”

“No!” I screamed as two warriors dragged a sobbing Molly away. “Gunner, you’re making a mistake! She’s innocent!”

He refused to look at me. “Take the Luna to her room. Lock the door.”

***

That night, the silence in the Pack House was heavy, broken only by the weeping of the wind. Dinner was a somber affair. The long table was full, but no one ate. Earlier that afternoon, a rogue skirmish on the southern border had resulted in three injuries because our warriors couldn’t shift. Their wolves were gone, silent in their heads.

Mavis sat at Gunner’s right hand—my seat. I sat at the far end, isolated, clutching my stomach.

Suddenly, Mavis stiffened. Her fork clattered onto her plate. Her head snapped back at an unnatural angle, her spine arching violently.

“Mavis?” Gunner stood up, alarmed.

A sound tore from Mavis’s throat—a distorted, multi-layered voice that vibrated the silverware on the table.

*“The rot deepens,”* the voice hissed. It wasn’t Mavis. It sounded ancient and angry. *“The vessel is full of poison. The abomination grows.”*

The entire room gasped. Warriors fell to their knees in terror. They thought the Moon Goddess was speaking through her.

Mavis’s eyes rolled back, showing only the whites. She pointed a trembling hand down the length of the table, directly at me.

*“To save the body,”* the voice shrieked, *“you must sever the rotting limb. The blood of the cursed one must be spilled, or the Blood River Pack will cease to exist before the next full moon.”*

Mavis collapsed forward onto the table, panting.

Every eye in the room turned to me. There was no pity left in them. Only hunger. Only the desperate need to survive.

Gunner looked at me. His face was a mask of torture, sweat beading on his forehead. He looked at my stomach, then at his trembling hands.

“Sever the rotting limb,” he whispered to himself.

I wrapped my arms around my belly, shrinking back into my chair, but I knew. The walls were closing in, and the man who promised to protect me was holding the knife.