?


    My father sat behind his antique desk, the gleam of the walnut wood reflecting in his sses. It was times like this, when his jovial face took on a more serious tone, that this man wasn''t just my father, he was the Alpha King. "Sit," hemanded, gesturing to the leather chairs in front of his desk. Enzo and I exchanged a nce beforeplying.


    "Nina," he began, setting his sses down, "do you want to exin what happened tonight? And why you took off like that?"


    I felt my blood run cold at his question. My father was thest person who I wanted to talk to about my strange visions, especially right now, right after I had just insisted to him that I would be fine staying in Mountainview. But there was no point in lying; I at least knew that much.


    "It''s...plicated," I said quietly.


    My father leaned back in his chair, sying his hands out to the sides. "I''ve got all the time in the world, Nina."


    I exchanged nces with Enzo, but his gaze just solidified my thoughts: I had to tell my father the truth.


    And so I did. Every bit of it. The shadow entity, the nightmares, all of it. Everyst detail. When I was finished, my father''s face was pale, and his eyes were ever so slightly wide.


    "Nina, you know that being alone at this stage of your pregnancy isn''t eptable now. It''s too risky with all of this going on."


    "I know," I said quietly, staring down at myp. "But I just "


    "There can be no buts," my father interrupted. "Nina, you cannot be alone."


    "Why?" I asked, growing agitated. "I''m not a child. I know that these visions are scary, but I''m still an adult who can make my own decisions."


    My father was silent for a few moments. He kept opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but couldn''t bring himself to say whatever it was.


    "Tell me," I murmured, my voice so low it was almost a whisper.


    With a sigh, my father pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned forward on his desk. "Nina, there''s something you should know. Your mother, the first Luna of our pack, also had experiences simr to yours during her first pregnancy."


    His words sliced through the tension in the room, freezing me in ce. "First pregnancy?" I stuttered, unable to mask the bewilderment thatced my voice. I had thought that her pregnancy with me and Selena was her only


    one.


    My father''s eyes softened as if the weight of the memories settled upon him. "Yes. Before you and Selena, there was another."


    The words hung in the air like a weight about to drop. Another pregnancy? Why was this the first I had heard about this? "I didn''t know that," I murmured, my thoughts racing. "What happened?"


    "It was a stillbirth," he confessed, his voice barely above a whisper. "She had simr symptoms-dark visions, bouts of sleepwalking. We feared for her, and we lost the baby. Your mother never spoke of it again, but I think part of her was always haunted."


    Silence fell over the roop. The clock ticked mockingly on the wall, each second stretching into an eternity. Enzo reached for my hand under the table and squeezed it as if to assure me that this new revtion, like every challenge before, could be ovee.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    But this was different. This wasn''t just about my mother or the baby she lost; it could potentially be about me, too. And our baby.


    "I never knew," I finally said, swallowing the lump in my throat. "Why didn''t you tell me?"


    "I''m sorry, Nina. Some things are too painful to dredge up," my father said with a regretful sigh. "But I''m telling you this now because I think it''s time you hear it. With your current symptoms, you might be at risk. That is why I''ve been so adamant about you staying here; because I don''t want to see you and your child reach the same fate."