Page 57 of Sold to the Alphas

He turned so he was lying on his side and didn’t say anything else. His fingers brushed over the wound, already starting to itch with healing, and the weight of the day settled on us. I held backfrom saying anything, instead closing my eyes and sighing as I forced my body to relax.

There was nothing more to say, and tomorrow was another day.

31

Marshall

The room was silent, save for the faint, steady sound of Elisabed’s breathing. She lay curled on the bed, her hand resting protectively over her stomach as though she could already sense what the healer had revealed. I leaned against the doorframe, my arms crossed over my chest, trying to process everything.

Pregnant. Elisabed was pregnant.

The thought had been circling my mind, sharp and insistent, refusing to settle. I’d spent weeks keeping her safe, dragging her through danger after danger, all while holding together the fraying threads of my bond with Finn and August. And now this—something that could either unite us or break us entirely.

Elisabed shifted in her sleep, a soft sound escaping her lips, and the knot in my chest tightened. A pup meant responsibility,permanence, a bond deeper than anything we had forged so far. And yet, we were a mess—barely functioning as a unit.

Finn was volatile, more unpredictable than ever, pacing his room like a caged animal after I’d locked him in there earlier. August had disappeared again, off doing god knows what. And Elisabed...Elisabed was exhausted, distressed about her sister, and completely unprepared for the storm ahead.

Hell, so was I.

I pushed off the doorframe, running a hand through my hair as I tried to shake the restless energy coiling beneath my skin. I couldn’t just stand there, doing nothing, not when everything felt like it was on the verge of crumbling.

I left the room quietly and pulled the door shut behind me. The house was dark and still, and the silence made my wolf uneasy. I could still smell Finn’s scent lingering faintly in the hallway, and I didn’t need to check on him to know he was still pacing in frustration.

I stepped outside and immediately detected August’s scent. It was faint at first but grew stronger as I kept walking. It was laced with the bitter tang of his frustration—clearly, he’d been angry and desperate when he left.

His scent led me past the main roads, where the lights of houses and taverns faded into darkness, and out toward the outskirts of town. The wind carried the smell of open fields and distant pine, but there was something else, too—something darker and more dangerous that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

Raol.

I quickened my pace, my breath puffing out in white clouds as the cold bit at my skin. The scent was stronger now, mingling with August’s in a way that sent a jolt of unease through me.

Damn it, August, what were you thinking?

I stopped for a moment, scanning the horizon, my senses on high alert. The scent trail led straight toward the darkness of the woods, where the air was heavier, carrying the distinct, acrid tang of Raol’s presence.

The memory of Raol’s face—his smug grin as he taunted us and took Mily—flashed through my mind, urging me forward as my anger rose. I started toward the treeline, clenching my fists.

But with every step, the knot in my chest tightened.

Our bond with August was faint, almost too faint, and that scared me. He’d been acting off for weeks, retreating further into himself, carrying some weight he refused to share with anyone—not me, not Finn, not even Elisabed.

And now, with everything that had happened, he’d gone after Raol.Alone.

What if he didn’t come back?

I shook the thought from my head, my jaw tightening as I pushed forward. The scent was stronger now, but there was still no sign of him.

My wolf was restless, pacing beneath the surface, urging me to run, find, and protect him before it was too late.

But then the image of Elisabed flashed through my mind—her hand resting over her stomach, the faint scent of her pregnancy still fresh in my nose—and I stopped dead in my tracks.

I couldn’t leave her.

Not now. Not when she was vulnerable, Finn was barely holding himself together, and certainly not when everything we’d built was hanging by a thread.

The anger simmering in my chest turned inward, twisting into frustration and guilt.

Why did August always have to do this? Why did he always have to act like he was alone in this fight, like he couldn’t trust anyone else to have his back?

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