Chapter 339

Olivia

When Nathan finished telling me his story, I felt as though the walls were caving in on me.

I stared at Nathan, my eyes wide with disbelief. “Let me get this straight,” I said, my voice edged with a tremor that couldn’t be denied. “If we kill this witch, our unborn child will die? Is that what you’re telling me?”

Nathan ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. I don’t know how she’d do it, but I have to believe that she wasn’t bluffing.”

My blood ran cold at the thought of this. Just as I had suspected, this pregnancy was the ‘gift’ that the witch had been referring to. And, also as I had suspected, she was using it against us as leverage to get what she wanted: Aurora.

“So what, we're just supposed to let her go? Leave her to do who knows what to who knows who?” My voice was tinged with desperation, bordering on hysteria. The walls felt like they were closing in, the weight of this impossible situation crushing me.

Nathan shook his head, his eyes clouded with conflicting emotions. “No, that’s not an option either. She’s too dangerous, Olivia. She’s caused too much pain already. But I can’t—”

I swallowed. “You can’t what? You can’t decide whether it’s better to save our unborn child’s life or Aurora’s life?” I interrupted, my voice raising a notch.

“No, Olivia, that’s not what I meant.” He paused, pacing across the room until he came to the window. He looked out for a moment, when tugged the curtains shut, sealing off the outside world and its horrors.

“It’s just… I can’t bear the thought of losing either,” he said, his voice a low growl, simmering with frustration and helplessness. “Aurora or the unborn baby. I want to save both, you know?”

I felt a shiver run down my spine, despite the warmth of the room. It seemed as though Nathan and I were on the same page about at least one thing: our children, born or unborn, were of equal value. We couldn’t risk the life of either to save the other. “So what’s your plan?” I murmured. “You’re the Alpha here. You always have a plan.”

“Not this time, Olivia,” he shot back, his eyes darkening. “This isn’t like some pack dispute or territory skirmish. This is dark magic we’re dealing with. Something that’s tied to the very essence of our children’s lives!”

I clenched my fists, struggling to keep my emotions in check. “So what are you suggesting? That we do nothing?”

Nathan sighed, his shoulders slumping as if he were carrying the weight of the world. “I don’t know, okay? I don’t know what to do. This is beyond anything that I’ve ever dealt with.”

“That’s really reassuring, Nathan,” I said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. “So what, we just wait for her to make the next move?”

He paused, looking at me with a seriousness that stopped me cold. “We might not have any other choice.”

My heart sank at his words, and a desperate laugh escaped my lips. “That’s it, then? We’re just sitting ducks, waiting to be picked off one by one?”

He glared at me, and for a moment, I saw the Alpha in him rise to the surface, the leader who had faced insurmountable odds and come out on top. “We are not sitting ducks. I won’t let anything happen to you or our children.”

I looked into his eyes and saw the resolve there, but it did little to quell the growing dread inside of me. “Nathan, I understand what you mean. But we need a plan, a way to end this once and for all.”

He paced back and forth, his eyes unfocused as if deep in thought. Then he stopped, his eyes meeting mine. “You know what? I might have an idea after all. And you might think I’m crazy for it.”

“You might have an idea?” I couldn’t keep the skepticism out of my voice, but I was intrigued. “What is it?”

Nathan hesitated for a moment, choosing his words carefully. “I think I should find the Elders—the ones I banished—and ask them for help.”

My eyes widened in shock. “You’ve got to be kidding,” I blurted out, staring at him like he had just spoken a foreign language. “Why would you believe those traitors would help you? You banished them for a reason!”

“I did, I did,” he said with a heavy sigh. “But they also know more about dark magic and ancient rituals than anyone else in the pack. And right now, we’re out of options. The salt and fire plan didn’t work; the witch is clearly too powerful for that.”

I sighed, grappling with my own desperation. It was a foolhardy plan, but maybe we needed foolhardy right now. “You think they’d help us, though? Even after everything?”

Nathan looked pained, his eyes darkening with an emotion I couldn’t quite place. “I don’t know, Olivia. But they also have ties here, a life that they left behind. This witch is a threat to them as much as she is to us. If they have a way to stop her, maybe, just maybe, they’ll tell us.”

My mind whirred, sifting through a dozen catastrophic scenarios that could arise from contacting the banished Elders. “Nathan, this could make things so much worse. We would be exposing ourselves, showing them that we’re desperate. What if they use that against us?”

“I know,” he admitted, his eyes locking onto mine. “It’s a risk. But every plan is a risk. And we’re running out of time.”

I felt cornered, trapped by the impossible choices that lay before us. My hand unconsciously moved to my belly, as if I could shield our unborn child from the chaos that surrounded us.

“Maybe you’re right,” I finally said, my voice tinged with reluctance. “But let’s not jump to it right away. We can consider it an option—a last resort.”

Nathan nodded, his face softening as he took in my words. “Alright, a last resort. That’s fair.”

For a few seconds, a heavy silence hung in the air, filled with the unsaid words and fears that plagued both of us. Then Nathan closed the distance between us, his arms wrapping around me in a tight embrace. I breathed in his scent, letting myself relax into him after a beat.

“I’m sorry for fighting with you earlier,” he said softly, “especially now, when we’re supposed to be a team.”

My eyes stung, but I welcomed the warmth of his body, the comfort of his presence. It was a small rock to cling to in a sea of chaos. “It’s okay,” I murmured. “We’re both under a lot of stress. It’s a bit hard to be a team when it feels like the world is against us.”

He kissed the top of my head gently before pulling away to meet my eyes. “I’m going to keep giving therapy a try. For us. I want to be better, for you and for our children.”

My heart swelled at his words, momentarily pushing aside the dark clouds that had gathered in my mind. “I appreciate that, Nathan. More than you know.”

He offered me his hand, a silent invitation, and led me towards the bedroom. As we climbed into bed that night and lost ourselves in the comforts of each other’s bodies, I felt like I was adrift in a sea of uncertainties.

But Nathan was my rock, my lifeline, and that was all that mattered.