Chapter 330

Axel looked like someone who had stared down hell and begged it to spare something precious. He didn’t speak at first. He just stood there, framed in the doorway like a shadow had gained mass. His shirt was wrinkled. His eyes were red-rimmed and dark underneath. His hands clenched at his sides like he’d been ready to punch a wall for hours.
The moment our eyes met, something in his expression broke. He crossed the room in three strides and knelt by my bedside, taking my hand in both of his.
“You’re awake,” he murmured, thumb brushing my knuckles. “You’re really awake.”
“I’m okay,” I whispered.
“No, you’re not,” he said hoarsely. “But you will be. I promise.”
I touched his cheek, fingertips trembling. “What did they say? After I fainted?”
“They adjourned everything. Couldn’t keep the mess under wraps. You dropped truth like a bomb, María. Even Álvaro looked rattled. They’re cornered now.”
That should have comforted me. It didn’t. I wasn’t there to see it through.
His jaw clenched. “They tried to spin it, of course. Said you were too emotional, that it was all dramatics.”
My stomach turned.
“I shut that down,” he said firmly. “I stood in front of that table and told them exactly what was in the files you dropped. I made them look at the blood contract. I made them read Rosa’s diary.”
Tears pricked my eyes. “You did?”
He nodded. “Lila got the witnesses out safely. Carmen helped. And I demanded that the Alpha himself call for a formal tribunal review.”
“And
“They agreed.” He paused. “The chamber is in recess until the tribunal reviews the contract and the diary. You caused enough of a storm to force them into action.”
I couldn’t breathe for a second. And then I did. Deep and full.
“I didn’t finish it.”
He sensed the shift in me and pressed his lips to the back of my hand. “You didn’t fail, okay? You changed everything. They can’t pretend anymore. Even the Alpha’s demanding a review.”
“I feel like I lost momentum.”
“You didn’t,” he insisted. “You lit the fuse. Now let it burn.”
I nodded. It was all I could manage.
But then… something changed in his expression. There was a pause. Like something sat heavy on his tongue, weighing down his breath. I knew my husband way too well to know when he had something left unsaid.
I narrowed my eyes. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” he said too quickly.
“Axel.” My voice was still raspy, but I could channel Beta’s wife’s tone when needed. “Tell me.” Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn
He hesitated, gaze flicking toward Lila and Carmen. Carmen caught it.
“We’ll give you two a moment,” she said, guiding Lila out before I could protest.
Axel didn’t look at me right away. He sat slowly on the edge of the bed and took a long breath like he was winding up for a blow that might never land softly.
Oh, gosh. Please, not another horrible news. I could already sense something coming up
My heart ticked faster. “Axel, what happened? Did someone—did something else
“No, no,” he cut in quickly. “It’s not that. You’re safe. Everything’s okay. It’s just… The healer ran some tests while you were unconscious.”
Tests?
“María,” he began in a reverent voice. “There’s something you need to know.”
“Then tell me, Axel. Come on!”
Axel didn’t look at me right away. He sat slowly on the edge of the bed and took a long breath, like he was bracing himself for something that might never land softly.
I knew that silence. I knew that breath. I’d heard it before—before bad news, before heartbreak, before every conversation that started with “I didn’t want to tell you like this.”
“Axel,” I said, trying to still the flutter in my chest. “What happened? Did something go wrong with the case? Did the elders
“No,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “No, nothing like that. You’re safe. The hearing’s on pause. No one can touch you right now.”
His hand moved inside his coat and pulled out a folded sheet of paper; one of those clinic test results with thin lettering and sterile creases. His fingers trembled slightly as he held it out, like it was holy. Or cursed. I couldn’t tell which.
I took it slowly, my pulse thudding in my ears. “What is this?”
“Like I said, the healer… ran a few tests after you collapsed. Just routine things. They wanted to make sure it wasn’t your heart or your wolf. But then He dragged a hand down his face, his voice going soft. “Then this came back.”
I unfolded it.
It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the printed lines, to find the part that mattered, the part my brain had already translated before I even consciously read it.
Positive.
Pregnancy: Confirmed.
The breath left my lungs in a whoosh like I’d been punched and kissed all at once.
“I I couldn’t even finish the sentence. My voice cracked.
I was… pregnant?
As in, a little small adorable life was growing inside of me? Heh.
Axel looked at me, eyes wide and impossibly soft. “We did it,” he whispered. “We’re having a baby.”
The words settled over me like falling snow; quiet, delicate, unreal.
Two months.
Two long months of hoping. Of tracking cycles. Of lying awake next to Axel with his hand over my belly during the times when we were on good terms and both of us pretending we weren’t terrified of another disappointment.
Two months of laughing it off when it didn’t happen right away. Of whispering maybe next time and pretending not to notice how tightly his jaw would clench. How I would cry in the shower because I wanted to be strong and rational and a warrior, but gods, I wanted this so bad it hurt.
And now?
Now it was real.
“I’m I blinked, tears streaming freely now. “I’m pregnant?”
Axel nodded, blinking fast, his hands cupping my cheeks. “Yeah, mi reina. You’re pregnant. Better, it’s a month and three weeks old. You’ve been pregnant all along, and we’ve been doing nothing but dealing with false negatives.”
I broke. A-all these while, I’ve been pregnant? My jaw dropped, awestruck. This was unbelievable. All along, Camilla had turned her pregnancy into an oppression, unknown to me that I was not left out in the motherly field.
I laughed and sobbed at the same time, that raw, ugly kind of cry that feels like it’s scraping decades of pain out from your ribs. He pulled me into his arms, and I buried my face in his neck, shaking, clinging, laughing.
“You hear that, baby?” I hiccuped against his skin. “You did it. We did it. We’re making a damn tiny werewolf.”
Axel chuckled, but his voice was wrecked. “A tiny version of you, with your fire and my bad ass attitude. Gods help the pack.”
I pulled back just enough to see his face. “We’re really going to be parents?”
“Yes.” He kissed my forehead, then my nose, then the corner of my lips. “You, me, and this little chaos seed.”
Oh, oh… to be an expectant mother.