Chapter 3

Vesper's POV

The rotors spin up again and kick snow everywhere.

I don't turn around. Not until the sound is gone.

My body's done. All I can do is push toward the groomed runs, toward people.

My vision starts going. The pain in my stomach grinds through everything inside me.

A second before I lose consciousness, I see a few wolves in plain snow gear running flat out in my direction.

"Over here! We've got a pregnant woman!"

That's the last thing I hear before everything goes black.

When I come around, the first thing that reaches me is antiseptic, sharp enough to sting.

I open my eyes to the white ceiling of Cedar Hollow Clinic.

"You're awake." A middle-aged nurse comes over.

My hand goes to my stomach before I can stop it.

It's flat.

Part of me already knew. But knowing and having it confirmed are two different things, and something closes around my heart and crushes down.

That was mine. The only blood I had left in this world.

"The pup didn't make it." The nurse lets out a breath. "You came in severely hypothermic, and you'd taken a hard hit to the abdomen. Placental abruption. I'm sorry. We did everything we could."

I close my eyes and tears run down the sides of my face.

Last time, he died while I was being cut open on that table.

This time I lost him early.

Maybe that's a mercy. He never has to be born into a world this full of betrayal and lies. He never has to face a father who's lower than an animal.

"Thank you." I open my eyes again. "Can I ask who brought me in?"

"Some loggers working the area. Regular wolves." There's heat in her voice, like she's been sitting on it. "They said they watched the Guard's helicopter land right there. Delta Karl's people picked up one woman with a couple of scratches on her and left you lying in the snow, covered in blood, pregnant. You tell me how that's any different from murder."

"Did any of them get it on video?" That's the part that matters.

"They did. They were furious about it. It's already up on PackNet." She's worked up just saying it.

I nod, borrow her phone, and pull up PackNet.

There it is, spreading fast.

Somebody filmed it from up the slope. The picture shakes, but you can see it clearly enough. Karl carrying Delilah onto the helicopter. Me, alone, down in the snow.

At first everybody's coming down on the Guard and on Delilah. Then, half an hour ago, Delilah posted this on her own account.

I'm so sorry for taking up everyone's attention with this. Vesper got the wrong idea about me and Karl. She lost control, she ran past the closure, and that's what brought the slope down. He made the call for the good of everyone and got the person who couldn't walk out first. She's healthy, she's stronger than I am, I'm sure she's fine. Please don't come after him over this. He's a good captain and he does his job.

The photo underneath is her in a private room, ankle wrapped in a thick bandage, and off to the side you can see half an arm in Guard tactical gear.

The second that post goes up, the whole thing flips.

The comments fill up with the people she's whipped up, and the bot accounts on top of them.

So the washed-up wife did it to herself. Jealousy is an ugly thing.

Serves her right for getting left out there. If I were Delta Karl I'd have gone for the sweet one too.

A woman like that, whatever she was carrying would've come out a little monster. She's better off dead.

I read through them, and the only thing I feel is how funny it is.

Then the phone in my hand buzzes. Karl.

I hit answer and start recording.

"Vesper! What the hell do you think you're doing?" He doesn't even wait, he's already roaring down the line. "That video online, did you put somebody up to it? You want to get back at me so bad you'd go outside the pack and drag the Guard through the mud? Do you have any idea what this does to my career?"