Chapter 53: No PUP
KADEN’S POV
I stood there by the window, my chest tight as I watched them.
The royal midwife stepped forward, her face completely blank. "Lie down on your back," she told Rebecca, pointing toward the long velvet couch in the middle of the room.
Rebecca moved with a stiff, painful slowness. As she climbed onto the couch and lay down, I could see the pure panic radiating from her small body. Her chest moved fast with short breaths, and her fingers dug into the soft velvet, gripping the fabric as if it were the only thing keeping her steady. She was terrified. She looked like a prisoner waiting to be executed.
But I wasn’t scared. Not even a bit.
There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind. I was one hundred percent sure that my seed was already growing inside her. If she wasn’t carrying my baby, then how else could anyone explain this sudden, massive need to possess her? How else could anyone explain this brutal, magnetic pull drawing me toward her every single second? My wolf knew. My body knew. She is carrying my pup.
The midwife stepped closer, her old hands steady as she lifted the edge of Rebecca’s thin gown, exposing her flat, pale stomach to the cool air of the room. I stepped away from the window, my heavy boots making no sound on the rug, but my shadow hung over them like a dark cloud.
I watched carefully, my dark eyes completely fixed on the midwife’s face, tracking every twitch of her jaw, every look in her eyes. She pressed her palms against Rebecca’s lower belly, moving her hands as she felt for the unmistakable magical heartbeat of a pup.
Then, the midwife frowned.
A sharp, angry flash of irritation shot through my veins. Out of pure impatience, my voice boomed through the quiet room. "What is it?"
The midwife didn’t flinch, though she kept her eyes down. "Alpha King, please. We are still examining her."
My frown deepened, my jaw clenching so hard it hurt. I forced myself to take a step back, folding my arms across my chest to keep from ripping the answers out of her. I tried to reason with the anger twisting in my gut. It’s fine, I told myself. She can only be a week pregnant at the absolute maximum. The pup is too young, too small. It makes complete sense for a midwife to miss the signature this early. It’s too early to detect.
The midwife sighed softly and looked up, nodding at the pack healer to take over.
The healer stepped forward, her old face lined with worry. She closed her eyes, raising her hands above Rebecca’s bare stomach. A soft, pale light began to glow from the tips of the healer’s fingers—the old magic used to read the life inside a female’s womb. She lowered her palms, letting the light wash over Rebecca’s skin.
I waited for the light to spark. I waited for it to recognize the fiery, dominant power of my bloodline.
Instead, the healer’s breath caught in her throat. Her own forehead twisted into a deep, troubled frown.
The air in the room instantly turned freezing cold. My silent wolf inside me clawed at my chest, feeling that something was completely wrong.
"What the hell is going on?" I growled, stepping forward. The raw power of my Alpha energy leaked into the room, making the heavy wooden furniture shake. "Speak."
The midwife stood up straight, wiping her hands on her apron. She looked at me, pure confusion in her eyes. "Alpha... why exactly do you think your breeder is pregnant?"
My eyes narrowed into a deadly rage. "Because I know," I snapped, my voice loud. "I can feel it. The pull toward her is completely taking over my mind. My wolf reacts to her touch, to her scent, in a way it never has before. The need to protect her, to feed her, to keep her locked in this room—it is tearing me apart. She has my seed inside her."
The healer slowly lowered her glowing hands, the light fading into nothing as she stood up straight to face me. She let out a heavy, sad breath.
"Alpha... your feelings may be due to completely different reasons," the healer said, her voice shaking slightly under the weight of my glare. "Because your breeder is not pregnant."
The words hit the room like a physical punch.
My eyes widened, a harsh shock freezing my muscles. "What did you say?"
"I checked every channel of her lifeforce, Alpha King," the healer explained quickly, terrified of the explosive rage building in my eyes. "I even searched to see if she had been pregnant and perhaps lost the pup due to the sleeping pills she took. But no... there is no trace of a conception. She hasn’t conceived at all. Her womb is entirely empty."
I froze...
It felt like the entire world just stopped spinning. The words rang in my head over and over again. Not pregnant. Empty. The absolute anger and confusion that crashed into my chest was enough to tear the entire pack house down to the ground. If there was no baby... then what the hell was this terrifying, undeniable pull I was feeling toward her?
"Check again," I ordered, my voice dropping into a deadly whisper that was far more terrifying than a roar. My hands clenched into tight fists at my sides, the skin over my knuckles turning white. "You are wrong. Both of you are completely wrong."
The midwife and the healer exchanged a quick, terrified look. They knew better than to argue with an angry Alpha King whose power was currently shaking the very walls of the room.
"Alpha King, we are sure—" the midwife started to say, her voice shaking.
"I said, check again!" I commanded, letting a sharp blast of my command slam into them.
They both flinched, nodding quickly as fear filled their eyes. Without another word, they turned back to the couch to check her a second time. The healer raised her hands again, forcing another bright spark of pale magic from her fingers, while the midwife pressed her palms firmly back onto Rebecca’s bare skin.
I looked down at Rebecca. She lay there perfectly still, looking completely tired out, her eyes wide and blank as she stared up at the ceiling. Her small body was shaking slightly from my outburst.
I shook my head, my mind spinning into a dark, crazy storm. There is no way, I told myself fiercely. There is absolutely no way my seed isn’t growing inside her. How can it not be?
If there was no baby, then what was this intense, crazy need to possess her that I had been feeling for days? What was this savage need to feed her, to lock her away from the world, and to keep my hands on her every single second? Was all of that for nothing? Was my own wolf playing tricks on me?
I refused to believe it. An Alpha’s feelings do not lie. They never lie.
After several long, painful minutes of silence, the pale light faded away once more. The healer slowly stood up straight, her face pale but completely sure. She turned to face me, taking a deep breath to steady her shaking hands.
"Alpha King," the healer said, looking me straight in the eyes despite the deadly energy coming off my body. "I can bet my very life on this. She is not with a baby. Her womb is entirely empty. If you still doubt my words, you can send for other healers from neighboring packs. But they will tell you the exact same thing."
