Chapter 420

Nina

After watching my mother stalk away with her hands curled up into fists at her sides, I couldn’t help but place my hand over my belly. Her words kept echoing in the back of my mind, and it stung.

“If you can’t even be responsible with your nineteen-year-old brother, how can you be responsible with a… with a.. Baby?”

Her words cut deep, but part of me wondered if they were true.

“Don’t fret about it,” my wolf, who was normally quiet, said. Her voice echoed in my mind, a sensation that had once felt foreign but now felt no different than breathing. “She’s just upset and scared. It’s not your fault.”

“But I should have known better,” I muttered with a sigh. “Tyler is still sick at the end of the day. I shouldn’t be so reckless with him.”

“But it doesn’t mean you can’t be a good mother.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

My wolf’s voice fell silent after I spoke, but I could still sense her presence. She was trying to be strong for me, but I think she wasn’t always so sure herself.

I sighed. I needed to think.

I wandered deep into the woods, my steps slow and contemplative, until I reached a familiar clearing. It was a place that held both solace and sorrow for me—a simple grave marked by a weathered headstone, nestled under the ancient trees.

Selena’s grave.

I knelt down in the soft grass beside it, my fingers gently brushing aside the wildflowers that had grown there, and I took a deep breath.

“Hey, Selena,” I said softly, as if she could hear me from wherever she was. “It’s been a while since we talked.”

My twin sister had passed so tragically and so suddenly during the battle. Sometimes, if I closed my eyes, I could still see the light leaving her. I wished I had more time to get to know her, to really understand the girl who I shared so much with.

It wasn’t fair that we never got to know each other. It wasn’t fair what the Luna had done to her mind. And it especially wasn’t fair that the spell had only worn off for a flicker of a moment before she was taken from us.

But still, whenever I could, I tried to come here. When I visited on occasion during the winter, it had been covered with snow and the trees had been barren. Now, with summer here, the air smelled like fresh soil and the trees blotted out the sun, dappling the soft grass with dots of light that swayed in the breeze.

“Selena, I’m…” My voice trailed off. I didn’t know what to say.

Lately, life had felt like a never-ending merry-go-round, spinning faster and faster, and I was struggling to find my footing. I always tried to appear put-together, to be the responsible one who had everything under control. Hell, I even tried to convince myself that I had everything going just the way I had planned.

But beneath that facade, I was often terrified, confused, and uncertain. Like right now; because even with this amulet around my neck, I still didn’t know exactly what would come next.

“I’m pregnant, Selena,” I confessed to the quiet woods, my voice trembling with a mix of emotions. “I’m going to be a mother, and sometimes, I don’t know if I’m ready for it. I want to be, but I feel like I’m being pulled in two different directions.”

I stared at the grave, my eyes welling up with tears. “What if I stay here, Selena?” I continued, my voice barely more than a whisper. “What if I don’t ever go back to Mountainview? What if we all drift apart like in those movies, where they promise to stay in touch after college but never do?”

My friends—my pack—meant the world to me. But here, in the werewolf realm, our pack wasn’t taken as seriously as we thought it would be, as I had just learned. Humans in this world weren’t treated the same, and I couldn’t ignore the stark differences.

And truthfully, I didn’t know how to reconcile those differences. How to balance family and friendship, the blood of the covenant and the water of the womb.

Tears spilled down my cheeks as I confessed my inner turmoil to my sister, even though I had no idea if she could hear me, if there was even an afterlife or if it was nothing but a meaningless void.

“I want to reconnect with my werewolf roots,” I muttered with a wry chuckle. “I want to know more about who I am, who my child will be… but I don’t want to lose who I am in Mountainview, either. I don’t want to lose the people I love. Sometimes, it…”

My voice trailed off, and I shook my head, swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat.

“Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a realm to call home. Like I’m caught between the two.”

As I spoke, a strange sensation swept over me, a wave of dizziness and nausea. I pinched the bridge of my nose, taken aback by the sudden feeling.

The sensation passed just a few moments later, but it left me feeling strangely disoriented. “Morning sickness, I guess,” I muttered to myself, rubbing my temples. “I should head back before it gets worse.”

Getting back on my feet, I turned to leave when something caught my eye. There, right on top of Selena’s grave, sat a small feather.

It was a delicate thing, with hues that shifted from deep black to iridescent blues and greens as I carefully picked it up and tilted it in the dappled sunlight.

“Huh,” I whispered, furrowing my brow. “I didn’t see that before.”

I held the feather, its texture smooth beneath my fingertips, I felt an inexplicable connection to it. It was as if Selena had left it there for me—a gift from beyond, a sign.

Or maybe it was just a feather and nothing more. Either way, it was beautiful, and it gave me an idea.

“I’ll offer this to the Moon Goddess tomorrow night,” I whispered to the feather, slipping it carefully into my pocket. Maybe it would be enough to bless my pregnancy and guide me through the uncertain path ahead.

Returning to the house, I found Tyler in the backyard, gazing at the setting sun. He turned to me, a somber expression on his face.

“Where’s mom?” I asked as I approached.

Tyler sighed. “She went straight up to her room,” he said, following me inside. “She’s pretty pissed.”

“I know,” I muttered. “I could tell.”

At that moment, just as I was kicking off my shoes by the door, my father’s familiar presence made its way into the room. I expected a scolding, but none came.

“I overheard everything,” he said gently. “Your mother’s under a lot of stress right now, Nina. Don’t be too angry with her for her outburst, alright?”

I nodded. “I know, dad,” I said quietly. “I’ll go talk to her.”

My father paused, then nodded himself and held his arms out to me. I walked into his embrace, letting his warmth spread through me.

“You’ll be alright,” he said gently. “Fights happen.”

When we finally pulled apart, some of my tension had dissipated. I slipped my hand into my pocket, feeling the smooth feather sitting there as if it had been waiting for me.

And so, with a deep breath, I made the way up the stairs to my mother’s room. It was time to talk.