Chapter 324: The Bad News!

​Rebecca’s POV

​Blood.

It was warm and thick, quickly soaking through my nightdress. For a few seconds, I just stared at it, unable to understand what I was seeing. My mind seemed to stop working. I could hear people moving around me and someone shouting, but all I could see was the blood spreading beneath me. No. This couldn’t be happening.

"No!" I screamed, pressing both hands against my stomach. "No, no, no!"

"Get the healer! Right fucking now!" Kaden roared somewhere beside me. His voice shook the room, but I barely heard him because another cramp twisted through my stomach, making me cry out and curl forward. Tears blurred my vision as I tried to breathe through the pain, but it kept coming. One cramp would ease just enough for me to catch my breath before another followed, and deep down, I already knew something was wrong. I didn’t need a healer to tell me that something was wrong with my baby.

Laura? Is the baby okay?

My wolf didn’t answer. All I heard was a low, frightened whine that made my fear worse.

"Please..." I whispered, pressing my hand harder against my stomach. "Please, baby. Please be okay."

"What happened?!"

My mother’s voice suddenly filled the room. I lifted my head and saw her rushing toward me. She looked confused at first, but the moment she saw me on the floor and noticed the blood beneath me, her face went pale.

"Rebecca!"

"Mother..." Whatever little control I had left disappeared the moment I saw her. I reached for her with one shaking hand. "Mother, help me. Please. Something is wrong with my baby."

She dropped beside me and touched my face. I could see the fear in her eyes even though she was trying hard not to show it. "Stay still, Rebecca. I’m getting the lead healer."

"Don’t leave me."

Mother hesitated, her face softening. "I’ll be back in seconds. I promise."

She stood and opened a portal. The second she disappeared through it, another terrible pain tore through my stomach, and I screamed. Kaden was beside me almost immediately, dropping to his knees and reaching for me.

"Rebecca, let me..."

"Don’t touch me!" I screamed, moving away from his hand even though the movement made the pain worse. "Don’t touch me! Get away from me!"

Kaden froze. His hand remained in the air for a moment before slowly falling to his side. His face had gone completely pale, and there was blood on his shirt from his fight with Callum, but he didn’t seem to notice. His eyes kept moving between my face, my stomach, and the blood on my thighs.

"I’m sorry," he whispered.

I turned my face away. I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t even know what he was apologizing for. The fight? My fall? Everything that had happened between us? All I knew was that if he and Callum hadn’t been fighting, I wouldn’t have rushed down those stairs. Maybe it wasn’t fair to blame him. Maybe I should have watched where I was going. But I couldn’t think about what was fair right now. I was terrified that I was losing my baby.

Another portal opened before I could say anything else, and Mother rushed through with the lead healer beside her.

"Move," the healer ordered as she hurried toward me.

Everyone immediately gave her space. She knelt beside me and placed one hand against my stomach while looking at the blood covering my nightdress.

"Is my baby okay?" I asked.

She didn’t answer.

"Please. Is my baby okay?"

"We need to get you onto a bed first."

My heart sank. That wasn’t an answer.

Kaden immediately stepped forward. "I’ll carry her."

"No."

My answer came so quickly that everyone looked at me. Kaden stopped, and I shook my head.

"Don’t touch me."

The hurt on his face was obvious, but he nodded and stepped back.

"Guards, help her," Mother ordered.

Two guards came forward. One carefully slid an arm beneath my shoulders while the other supported my legs. Even with how gentle they were, the moment they lifted me, another cramp tore through my stomach.

"Ah! Wait!"

They stopped immediately.

"Easy," the healer said. "Move slowly."

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to breathe, keeping one hand pressed against my stomach.

Mother opened another portal directly into my bedroom, and the guards carried me through before gently lowering me onto the bed. The healer followed immediately and asked me to lie on my back. I tried, but the pain made me curl onto my side again.

"I can’t."

"You have to try, Rebecca. I need to examine you."

Mother helped me onto my back, and the healer placed both hands over my lower stomach. A soft green light appeared beneath her palms and slowly spread through me. I stared at the ceiling and held my breath as the entire room became quiet.

Then I noticed Kaden standing in the doorway. He hadn’t entered the room. He remained just outside, almost as if the doorway was a line he was afraid to cross after I told him not to touch me. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides, his eyes were red, and tears had gathered in them.

I quickly looked away.

The green light around the healer’s hands grew brighter, and slowly, the pain began to ease. After a while, I realized I couldn’t feel any more blood flowing between my thighs.

"The bleeding stopped," I whispered.

The healer didn’t answer, but hope had already entered my chest. The bleeding had stopped. Surely that was good.

"Is that good?" I asked quickly. "The bleeding stopped. That’s good, right?"

Still, she said nothing. She kept her hands over my stomach, her eyes closed as she continued healing me. I looked toward Mother and found her standing beside the bed with one hand covering her mouth.

"Mother?"

She immediately reached for my hand and held it tightly.

That frightened me more.

"Why isn’t she saying anything?"

The healer finally opened her eyes. The green light slowly disappeared, and her hands moved away from my stomach. I watched her face carefully, waiting for her to smile or tell me everything was okay, but instead, her eyes lowered.

My heart started pounding.

"What’s wrong?"

She didn’t answer immediately.

"What’s wrong?" I asked again. "Please tell me. Is my baby okay?"

The healer looked at Mother.

"Don’t look at her." I grabbed the healer’s wrist. "Look at me. Please. Just tell me what’s happening. Is my baby alive?"

The room became painfully quiet.

The healer finally looked at me, and the sadness in her eyes made my stomach drop. "You already had a difficult pregnancy before the fall, Lady Rebecca. Your body had been through a lot, especially because of the suppression earlier in your pregnancy. The baby was developing, but the pregnancy was still very delicate. The fall caused too much damage."

I shook my head immediately. "No."

"I’m so sorry, but the pup is gone."

For a few seconds, I simply stared at her. I had heard the words, but my mind refused to accept them.

"No."

"I’m sorry."

"No, you’re wrong." I shook my head harder as tears filled my eyes. "You’re wrong. Check again."

"Rebecca..." Mother whispered.

"Don’t!" I pulled my hand away from her and looked desperately at the healer. "Check again. Please. Maybe he’s just weak. Maybe you can’t feel him properly. You stopped the bleeding, so you can save him too. Please."

"I’m so sorry, Lady Rebecca."

"Stop saying you’re sorry!" I screamed, hitting the mattress with my fist. "Just check again! Please!"

The healer hesitated before placing her hands over my stomach again. The green light returned, and I immediately became quiet, watching her face and barely breathing.

Please let her be wrong.

Please let my baby still be there.

The healer kept her hands over my stomach for what felt like forever before slowly pulling them away. She didn’t say anything this time.

She didn’t have to.

I saw it on her face.

"No..." I whispered, my hands slowly moving to my stomach.

I had been able to feel my baby before. The pregnancy was still early, but nothing about me or this baby had ever been normal. From the moment I knew I was pregnant, there had always been something there—a tiny warmth inside me that I couldn’t explain to anyone else. I could feel that little life every single day.

I searched for it now.

There was nothing.

"Baby?" I whispered, pressing both hands against my stomach. "Please. Mommy’s here."

Nothing answered me.

Laura made a soft, broken sound inside my head before letting out the most painful howl I had ever heard from her. Then she went completely silent.

That was when I finally understood.

My baby was really gone.

"No!"

Mother climbed onto the bed just as I broke down. She pulled me against her chest, and I grabbed onto her clothes with both hands as the sobs tore through me.

"My baby!" I cried. "Mother, my baby! I was supposed to protect him. I was supposed to keep him safe."

"I know, sweetheart." She held me tighter. "I know."

"But I fell." I could barely speak through my crying. "I should have been careful. I should have watched where I was going. I should have..."

"No." Mother pulled back enough to hold my face between her hands. Tears were running down her cheeks now too. "Don’t do that to yourself."

But I couldn’t stop.

My hand went back to my stomach. My baby had been alive when I woke up that morning. My baby had been alive when I went downstairs and found Kaden waiting for me. My baby had been alive when I argued with him and walked back into this room.

A few hours ago, I had been thinking about my first pregnancy checkup.

Now there was no baby to check.

That thought broke whatever was left of me.

I buried my face against Mother’s chest and cried until my throat hurt. "This isn’t real," I whispered. "It can’t be real."

I squeezed my eyes shut. A stupid part of me kept hoping that if I closed them long enough, I would wake up back in bed that morning. Laura would be yelling Mate! inside my head. I would look at the clock and see that it was six. Kaden would still be downstairs, my baby would still be inside me, and I would have another chance to do everything differently.

God, if only life worked like that.

"Mother..." I whispered.

She rubbed my back slowly.

"Tell me it’s a dream. Please." I held onto her tighter, unable to stop crying. "I just want to wake up."

My gaze slowly moved toward the doorway, and that was when my eyes met Kaden’s. He was still standing there, staring at me with tears running down his face.

For a moment, I just looked at him.

Then the image of him fighting Callum flashed through my mind. The shouting. Me rushing down the stairs. My foot slipping. The pain.

Something inside me snapped.

"It’s your fault," I spat, my grief suddenly turning into anger.