Chapter 35
“Alara!” I call out.
I pace the length of my small apartment, tapping my boots against the hardwood.
I touch my abdomen, trying to tame my heart. It’s beating like a caged bird flapping wildly, and that can’t be good for my child.
She sent me back—or rather, I sent myself back without having a clue how I did it—but now I have questions. So many questions.
I swallow the lump in my throat. Rogan is with his true mate now. I’ve lost him forever, and I must deal with that.
“Get it together, Hannah,” I mutter to myself.
But then…
The blood lust—that insidious whisper urging me toward satiation simmers beneath my skin. My child needs to feed…and I no longer have access to wolf blood.
Dominic. Dominic will feed me. But where the hell is he? Back in Las Vegas?
I dart my gaze around, looking for my phone. I need to call Dom, get back to—
“Oh my God!” I gasp and clamp my hand over my mouth.
An abyss has opened in the middle of my living room.
Descend, a voice says directly into my mind.
“Dad?” I whisper.
“It’s me, Hannah. Alara awaits you. Descend.”
“I have to feed. The baby…”
“Descend!” he roars.
I gulp. I no longer feel bound to obey my king’s command, but something deep within me feels I must in this circumstance. I step near the abyss, and a spiral staircase made of stone appears.
“Is this the ether?” I eke out.
But no more answers come.
I breathe in deeply and take the first step.
An oddly calm sensation envelops me, and the child inside me seems sated, at least for the moment.
How long has it been since I fed from Rogan?
Since I watched him bound toward his true mate and out of my life?
And since we were in the ether, where time apparently has no meaning, it could have been ages ago.
I nod to myself and take another step.
More calm.
And my baby seems calm as well.
I slowly descend the many stone steps that spiral deep into the earth until I’m in a large round chamber made from bedrock. Torches ensconced in iron cast flickering light that glows against the walls.
I draw in a deep breath and close my eyes. Power pulses through the air, as tangible as the chill that seeps into my bones.
“Welcome, Hannah.”
Alara’s voice. I open my eyes.
Alara stands poised, a haunting silhouette framed by the eerie luminescence, her violet eyes pools of ancient knowledge that see right through me.
“Every shadow holds a secret,” she says, “and every flame, a truth. Harness them.”
“Uh…I’m sorry. What, exactly?”
“Your craving for blood has decreased as you gained control over your body and descended to this training area.”
“Training area?”
“Yes. You are here to train, Hannah, and your first lesson will be in controlling the blood lust.”
I touch my abdomen. “But my child. He needs his father’s blood.”
“Does he?”
“Yes! Of course he does. He’s half wolf, Alara. You know that.”
“And what makes you think he requires the blood of his father?”
I swallow. “He tells me. The ache in my abdomen becomes so pronounced, and only wolf blood heals it.”
She smiles at me, and I’m again struck by her ethereal beauty. Her silver hair glistens down here.
“Hannah, your child has no need for blood at this stage in his development.”
I advance toward her, clenching my hands into fists. “You’re wrong. I know when he’s hungry. I know when—”
She holds out her hand, and against my better judgment, I stop talking.
“Your child is half wolf.”
“Which is why he needs Rogan’s blood. Or at least wolf blood.”
“Wolves have no need to ingest blood.”
I huff. “Don’t you think I know that? It’s his vampire half—or quarter—that needs blood.”
She smiles. “You are indeed in love with the wolf.”
“I don’t need anyone to state the obvious. But it’s over. I accept that. I have no choice. My father’s meddling has broken my heart, Alara, but at least I have Rogan’s child, and I will see to his needs. Right now, he needs wolf blood.”
“Hannah,” she says gently, reaching toward me with her hand. “Take my hand. Know the truth.”
I resist for a split second, but then something inside me compels me to take the vampire’s hand.
And I know.
I know as if I’ve always known.
My child doesn’t require the blood of his father. Those aches, those needs…
They came from me.
I jerk my hand away. “No…”
“It’s true. The only one craving Rogan’s blood is you, Hannah. Your child is only a quarter vampire. It’s unlikely he’ll even carry the blood gene.”
“And if he does?”
“Then the lust will hit during puberty or after, as it does for all vampires.”
“Mine hit later.”
“Yes, and his likely will as well.”
“Then why…”
She comes toward me, places her hands on my belly, and closes her eyes. She stays silent a moment and then opens her eyes, smiling.
“The child within you is healthy. He’s growing rapidly, but not abnormally. He already loves you very much…and he has no need for his father’s blood.”
I shake my head. “I don’t understand.”
“You were the one craving the wolf’s blood, Hannah.
You transferred the need onto the child to make it easier on yourself.
You no longer wanted to crave his blood, for you now know the truth that you are not his fated mate.
Still, you love him, and wolf blood is among the most potent elixirs to our kind. ”
I shrug with another huff. “My father did this to me.”
“He did.”
“What a manipulative bastard.”
She laughs softly. “I won’t disagree with you. Our king wasn’t born to be king, as you know. But in his way, he does what he thinks is right.”
“He thought it was right to leave his daughter—his heir—brokenhearted?”
“He had his reasons.”
“Tell me what they are, then. Why did he do this to me? To my child?”
“I will tell you in time. But first, you must learn to control the craving for the wolf’s blood.”