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“It's rare for mothers to bring their friends,” the woman said, still smiling. “Should they all stay here?”

“Yes,” I said quickly.

Alone, I would most likely run out of here again.

The doctor nodded and gestured across the room.

“Please take off your blouse and lie down on the table.” Then she put on a pair of glasses and smiled warmly. “I’ll be right back.”

With that, she disappeared again, and I took off my white blouse, leaving me wearing only my white bra and gray low-rise suit pants.

When I turned to the other three, I noticed Larissa staring at my belly as if she were lost in thought.

Bayla smiled and asked, “You're already four months along, right?”

I nodded.

I would soon be entering my fifth month, and I already felt like I was carrying around several extra pounds.

Recently, a slight pulling sensation had settled in my lower back, which grew stronger whenever I walked around for too long.

Emely, who had been wandering around the room the entire time, sat back down on the last empty chair next to the examination table.

I carefully lay down on the table and scanned the room. Observant, I looked at the baby pictures on the wall. Their blue eyes, their bright, smiling faces, their little feet...

It felt so surreal to be here, carrying one of these innocent beings inside me. I didn't feel ready to be a mother yet. Nevertheless, I wanted to keep this child with me at all costs. There was no way I would let the Circle or the Council take it away from me.

I inhaled deeply because the weight on my chest threatened to become more and more massive. Tears gathered in my eyes.

“Hey,” Emely said with a calm voice beside me, reaching for my fingers with her warm hand. “We’re here. Everything will be fine.”

I looked at her, wanting to believe her, but she didn’t know what this baby was.

“You all know what the Circle thinks,” I began, my voice much too shaky. “And I know what your clan thinks.” I looked from Larissa to Emely. “Your father...” I blinked away a tear. “This baby, no matter what it is, will never have a safe life.”

Emely's hand closed more tightly around mine.

“I promise you, I'll make the pack see reason.” She looked at me insistently. And even though I couldn't read her expression, her words felt like she meant what she said. “No one will hurt you or your child. Nash will listen to me once he's Alpha.”

I took another deep breath, contemplating pulling my hand away from Emely's because coldness was building up in my fingertips, but to my surprise, she began to gently rub my fingers between hers.

“I wish I could promise you the same,” Larissa sighed. Something in her gaze changed abruptly, becoming more serious. “But as long as I'm in Blairville, no one from the clan will touch your child. I promise.”

I forced myself to smile, even though I knew that when push came to shove, I would protect my baby myself. They didn't know that it wasn't their species I feared most. It was my own.

“What do you think? Girl or boy?” Bayla tried to distract me, moving her chair closer to the examination table, followed by Larissa, until all three were sitting right in front of me.

Since the Quatura society didn't know that the child's father was a male Quatura, no one assumed that I could give birth to a boy. And then again, the chances were far too slim.

“I don't care as long as everything is okay,” I lied, turning my gaze away from the three of them and staring at another picture on the wall, where a smiling mother was holding her newborn in her arms.

I didn't want to explain to them what Gloria had done. I couldn't even admit the truth to myself without burying everything around me under a thick layer of ice.

“What shouldn't be okay?” Bayla asked, as if everything was really fine, as if I had nothing to worry about. But I had thousands of worries weighing me down. And Salma was the smallest of them.

Bayla looked me over and opened her mouth as if she wanted to ask something else, when the doctor strode into the room and closed the door behind her.

Larissa took a barely noticeable breath, and a red flicker flashed through her eyes before she stared after the doctor.