He glanced at me dismissively. "Once the child arrives, what happens to you doesn't matter. If you want to leave then, be my guest."
With that, he left this prison disguised as a hospital room, taking the nurses with him.
The door slammed shut behind him. I collapsed onto the bed, forced to accept this reality.
After all, I was alone.
No pack. No family. Against the might of the Vernal pack, I was completely at their mercy.
But I hadn't given up entirely. The thought of escape never left my mind.
Early in my confinement, the doctors said a happy mother was good for the baby, so I was allowed one hour outside my room each day. My range was limited to a small courtyard, but I had mentally mapped out the sanatorium's layout.
The building had about three floors, with several auxiliary structures nearby. Every exit was guarded, and surveillance cameras were everywhere.
At first, I had hoped there might be other patients here, potential allies. But eventually I realized this entire sanatorium had been built specifically to imprison me. Everyone here was my jailer.
To prevent escape, they monitored me around the clock and forbade anyone from speaking to me beyond medical necessities. One young nurse had chatted with me briefly while I took my pills. The next day, I never saw her again. After several failed escape attempts, I gave up. Security had tightened with each try. Escape had become an impossible dream.
Even now, if I merely suggested going for a walk, the nurse's eyes would fill with suspicion as she would refuse.
She put away my empty medicine bottles and left me with words that were half advice, half threat. "Ma'am, your body has been deprived of your mate's pheromones for too long. You're already in bad shape. If you don't want to lose the baby, you should do as we say."
I touched my swollen belly but didn't argue. Pregnant wolves needed their mates' comfort and pheromones to keep both mother and baby healthy and strong. But Alfred would never allow me to see Elias, and I doubted Elias wanted to see me anyway.
Even though he had given me a temporary mark without my knowledge.
Thinking of that mark, I reached up to touch the back of my neck. The bite mark had long since faded, but it felt permanently branded on my heart. I had wondered countless times why Elias had marked me.
Wasn't he supposed to be busy with Liv? He should have forgotten all about me.
I hadn't forgotten what happened after the Moon Ceremony. When I woke up at the mansion, the guard outside my door had been loudly discussing how perfect Liv and Elias looked together leading the ceremony, how sweet and in sync they were…
To compensate for Elias's absence and its effects on the baby, I needed extensive medical intervention just to keep the child healthy.
"I'll behave," I said, making myself look cooperative.
The nurse relaxed. "Good. If you're feeling restless, try listening to some music. A happy mood is good for the baby."
A happy mood?
I almost laughed.
How could I possibly be happy? Even my baby could feel his mother's despair and pain. He kicked hard against my belly, expressing his own discontent in the only way he could.
The only thing that brought me any joy was imagining what life would be like after he was born.
Even though this child would never be mine.
Before I knew it, my due date arrived.
Once I delivered this baby, I could leave this prison. But when the day finally came, I couldn't even get out of bed. After my water broke, all I could do was frantically press the call button through the waves of contractions.
Doctors and nurses swarmed in and rushed me, bed and all, into the operating room.
"Cervix is dilated! Get me the forceps!"
"The baby's positioned wrong. It's not coming out easily…"
