two

"Stop…"

I gasped for air, my voice so hoarse it was barely audible.

"Tell him to stop."

The werewolf guard at the door folded his arms, not lifting an eyelid.

"The Alpha’s orders. The formation must not stop until three pounds are drained to stabilize the Luna’s constitution."

"She is not the Luna!" I tugged at the iron chains, tearing open the wounds on my wrists and drawing a sharp gasp of pain from me. "She never miscarried either! You are werewolves—can you not smell only dark magic from her side, no wolf‑cub bloodline at all?"

The guard frowned.

He sniffed, and his expression shifted.

He smelled it. He caught the scent of true wolf‑cub blood coming from me. To werewolves, that scent was as unique as a fingerprint.

Yet he did not move.

An Alpha’s order was absolute.

The next second, the communication crystal at his waist lit up.

Voices drifted down from upstairs.

Kael’s tone was nothing like it had been ten minutes earlier, when he had choked my neck. It was soft, as if he were soothing a child.

"Lie still, don’t move. I’m right here with you."

Then came the clink of a spoon against a bowl and the sound of him blowing gently.

"Careful it’s hot. Top‑grade blood‑replenishing soup. Drink this, and our baby will be fine."

Selene whimpered weakly. "Kael, I can’t drink any more… My sister is suffering down there, and my heart aches for her. Maybe we should stop. If we lose the baby… it is just our fate."

"Do not mention that poisonous woman," Kael’s voice turned cold. "Harming our child, draining her magic is far too merciful."

He shifted direction and spoke into the crystal. "Charles, how much have you drained so far?"

Guard Charles stood straight at once. "Alpha, two pounds have been extracted already. But…"

He glanced down at the pool of blood spreading beneath my feet, now reaching the edges of his boots.

"Lady Elara is hemorrhaging severely. Her condition is critical. Shall we continue?"

"Kael!"

I roared toward the crystal with my last ounce of strength, my voice hardly human.

"Make her give back what she stole! That is my life! I’m in so much pain right now…"

I could feel the tiny life inside me convulsing.

Not fighting for survival, but dying.

Its life was being siphoned away bit by bit by its own father.

"I’m carrying your child! Kael, please… stop the formation, send the healer down… the baby is dying!"

I let go of everything—dignity, confrontation, pride, all of it. I only wanted my child to live.

Silence hung for two seconds.

"Even now, you spin such pathetic lies."

Kael’s voice was flat and emotionless.

"Your voice is still loud enough, which means not enough magic has been drained. Charles, keep going. Move the communication stone farther away—she is disturbing Selene’s rest."

"But Alpha, the blood on the ground truly—"

"Do my orders mean nothing to you?"

Kael’s voice rose sharply. Alpha pressure crashed down through the crystal, making even the guard tremble.

"Speed up the formation! Until three pounds are extracted, let her die chained to those irons if she must!"

The crystal went dark.

The connection upstairs was cut off.

At the same time, the runic formation on the ground surged forward, its suction doubling in strength.

"Agh!"

My final magic circuit shattered.

Golden primal life force gushed out like a broken dam, an indescribable tearing pain spreading through me—as if someone had reached inside my chest, seized my soul, and wrenched it outward.

Drip.

Splash.

A torrent of dark red blood sprayed down my legs, splattering across the black runic formation with a sizzle.

At the center of the blood pool lay a shapeless mass of flesh and blood.

Smaller than a fist. The outlines of limbs and a head were visible, pale from soaking in blood.

My baby.

I stared at it for several seconds.

"My… baby…"

My voice was as faint as smoke.

I closed my eyes.

"Kael, in the next life, I will curse your entire clan to live under eternal torment…"

My consciousness blurred. I could barely hear the guard shouting. My heartbeat slowed further, like a machine winding down.

The moment I was about to sink into complete darkness,

a voice echoed inside my mind.

It did not come through my ears, but directly from deep within my consciousness—cold and mechanical.

[Warning: Host has sustained fatal emotional trauma and physical collapse. 95% magic loss, physical integrity below 12%.]

[Vitality below 10%.]

[Judgment: Imminent death.]

[To preserve host’s soul core, Mage Ultimate Defense Mechanism — Soul Freeze Protocol activated automatically.]

A cold wall surged up, separating me from the outside world.

[Severing pain receptors… Complete.]

[Clearing emotional center…]

It was as if a precise blade sliced something away inside my mind.

That something had lived inside me for five years—the first word I thought of each morning, the reason I had abandoned my status at the Mage Tower, the excuse I used to soothe myself through every sleepless night.

Cut cleanly away, without a trace.

[Target cleared: Emotional bond subject "Kael". Progress: 100%.]

[Purge complete.]

[Soul integrity: 97%. Emotional module isolated.]

[Host to awaken in thirty seconds.]

I opened my eyes.

Guard Charles caught the stench of dead blood, and the two‑meter‑tall strongman dropped to his knees with a heavy thud, trembling all over.

"My lady…"

He looked up, his pupils locking onto mine.

"This is… this is the Alpha’s child…"