Page 174 of His Sunshine Baby

Reagan wasn’t responsible, she just… triggered things, I guess. Whoever attacked them was probably lurking and waiting for a long time.

“So you don’t know who did it?”

“At first I thought it was vampires. From the fighting, many vampire bodies were left. But there was something odd.”

“My mother was alive,” I suddenly realize.

Right. If it was a vampire attack, why would my mom have survived? Of all people, she was the only human! It doesn’t make any sense.

“Exactly. As soon as I saw the first bodies, I headed for the castle, where your family and Queen Diane should have been. The only person left was your mother… and you. You were both alive, but your mom was badly injured. She managed to hide somehow, but she had been injured by some debris. She begged me to take you away. She made me swear to protect you and leave. She died right after I left.”

“What about the others?” asks Danny

“I never found their bodies. My guess is… they might have been burned.”

“Burned?”

“The Good Witch that was on our side was a Fire Witch. There were burnt corpses in the castle when I got there, some of them that could very well have been your father, aunt, and grandmother. I spent a long time thinking about it. If the attack wasn’t really the doing of vampires…”

“A Dark Witch might have been behind it. Like the one we had here in Silver City.”

“Exactly. And if she was after the Royals, Denica, our witch, might have burned their bodies to keep her from using them against others. Denica’s body was the only one I found.”

“And if she didn’t find what she wanted back then, because Denica burnt the Royals’ bodies…”

“She might try somewhere else. Like Silver City,” I whisper.

That’s why we were attacked.

Nora is slowly unveiling her wolf’s power, and that Dark Witch was probably waiting for an event like this to happen. Ifshe is still looking for Royals, Nora’s power must be attracting her to Silver City like a firework in the night sky. This vampire attack was probably only the beginning.

Moon Goddess, and I am pregnant with another possible Royal baby…

Chapter 23

The next morning, after talking a lot with Reagan and Daniel, all three of us agree on the same thing.

The truth about my origin should remain a secret. It’s all about protecting my child, now. According to Sylviana, my baby girl will be a Royal, like Nora, and I’m going to protect her from whoever wants to harm her. She is still safe while she’s in my womb, but in five months, it will be a different story.

I’m happy I talked to Reagan, too. For the first time, I could finally thank her for taking me in and protecting me, like she promised my mom. I finally understood why she never told me the truth before; she had valid reasons. Thinking back, my mentor could have left me behind so many times, but she never did. She protected me, trained me until she made sure I would be safe on my own, and even so, she found me a good new pack and parents to be with.

She got mad for my sake and stayed around for me. When I tell her all that and how grateful I am, though, she’s back to her old self, telling me to shut up.

“Let’s go talk to your imbecile godfather,” says Reagan. “I’ll let him know what I think about his stupid elders and their rules! This city is impossible as it is nowadays. So many packs, living together yet not allowing their werewolves to mix? So crazy!”

“The peace is probably only because of the King and the alliances between the packs,” sighs Daniel.

Yeah, he’s probably got that right. I can still vividly remember that feeling when the King was next to us… Damn, no wonder no one can stand up to him. I wonder if Nathaniel and their younger brother Liam are the same? It’s hard to tell. Those three are feared for good reason.

I sigh. And one of those three monsters is my baby’s father. How will he react when I tell him? It’s so hard to tell.

“Anyway, babe’s got a doctor appointment all day today,” says Daniel. “Let’s have dinner with my family after that. My dad and Clark are close. Maybe he’ll be able to convince him.”

The doctor’s appointment is as long as Daniel said. Abigail insists on making me go through a whole bunch of tests, but there’s good reason for all that: my baby is now officially stable, I’ll be able to move around again without spending all day on the couch. I get a second ultrasound and get to see my thirteen-week-old baby girl once again. I try hard not to cry. She’s moving and all, alive and kicking, even. I ask for pictures, wondering if it’s okay to show Nate this the next time I see him.

Gosh, now I’ll be able to go and tell him! I can’t stop thinking about it at dinner with the Lewis’. I love Danny’s family. They are all so happy for me about this pregnancy, regardless of who the father is.

When we get back from dinner with Danny’s family, walking as I insisted, it’s a calm evening in the streets. Like always, the dinner at his parents’ ended pretty late. Everyone around here must be busy preparing for Christmas. It’s funny how we celebrate it as werewolves too, but a lot of the families in our neighborhood are Hispanic and very pious.

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