Page 99 of Wolf Queen Ruin
When we finally broke apart, she rested her head against my chest once more, her fingers tracing patterns on my skin.
As I looked down at her, grazing my engagement ring along her back, I saw myself reflected in her gaze—not the revenge-obsessed fae vampire I’d become over the centuries, but the man in me.The man I wished could stand beside her, who could be her partner and her protector, her lover and her friend, for as long as her mortal life allowed.
But deep down, I knew I couldn’t.Not truly.Not without breaking her heart, my own be damned.Not without putting her in danger.
And that was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.
Not with her.
Chapter thirty-one
Luna
Parisawaited,butmybody had other plans.
The morning of our departure began with me sprinting to the bathroom, barely making it before emptying what little remained in my stomach from the previous night’s dinner.I braced myself against the cool porcelain, waves of nausea rolling through me in merciless succession.
“Just stress,” I muttered to myself, running cold water to splash on my face.“Perfectly normal pre-Paris-vampire jitters.”
A knock on my upstairs apartment door interrupted my self-assessment.
“Luna?We leave in thirty minutes,” Damien said, his deep voice carrying through my front door.
“I’ll be ready,” I called back, wincing as another wave of nausea threatened to send me diving for the toilet again.“Just…finishing up.”
A pause.“Are you unwell?”
Damn vampire hearing.
“I’m fine,” I insisted, straightening and taking a deep breath.“See you downstairs.”
His hesitation was almost palpable before his retreating footsteps indicated he’d accepted my dismissal.I exhaled slowly, willing my rebellious stomach to settle.We had a plane to catch and ancient catacombs to raid.Morning sickness would need to take a number and wait its turn.
Wait.
Morning sickness?
The phrase echoed in my mind, triggering an avalanche of sudden realizations.I gripped the sink’s edge as the implications crashed over me.No.Impossible.The timing, the symptoms…but surely it wasn’t…
A swift calculation of dates made my heart race.That time three weeks ago after escaping the Wolf Queen Crypt.The adrenaline, the relief of survival, the unexpected intensity between us…
“No,” I whispered to my reflection in the mirror.“No, no, no.”
Vampires couldn’t reproduce biologically.Everyone knew this.Their undead state made conception impossible.This had to be stress, or something I caught in the jungle, or both.
Still, I couldn’t shake the suspicion now lodged in my mind.During my pregnancy with Aria, the first sign had been identical—violent morning sickness that arrived suddenly and without mercy.
“Not now,” I muttered, straightening my shoulders and forcing composure.“Deal with Paris first.Confirm or deny impossible pregnancy later.”
Yet I needed to know, right then, how far into the shit I’d stepped.I sent a quick text to Felix:
Meet me in your lab in 2?
I arrived there first and reclined on an examination bed while focusing on my breathing.When Felix arrived, he looked at me in confusion.
“I thought you were leav—“
“Do a blood test on me.Or make me pee on a stick.Whatever’s fastest and the most discreet.”
