Page 53 of Fat Forced Mate

Time seems to slow. The wooden ball spins through the air toward the child's head. I'm too far away to physically intercept it. No one else moves fast enough.

Pure instinct takes over. I throw my hand up, magic surging through me like an electric current. Power erupts from my palm in a visible wave of silvery light that catches the projectile mid-air, suspending it just inches from Cole's wide-eyed face.

The clearing falls silent. The wooden ball hovers for a heartbeat before dropping harmlessly to the ground.

Cole stares at me, mouth open in wonder, as his mother rushes forward to snatch him away. But she doesn't look at me with the fear I expect—instead, there's something like gratitude in her eyes.

“Just like Elara," someone murmurs from the crowd, an older woman I don’t know.

The whispers spread through the gathered pack, a mixture of awe and uncertainty. Some—many—are still just as hostile as always. But I hear conflict in other voices, discomfort. I stand frozen, suddenly aware of what I've done—shown my magic openly, instinctively, in front of the entire pack, after the revelations of the past day.

Everything is different now, with what we all know. With the bodies of two pack members barely cold in the basement of the pack building. The weight of what I’ve demonstrated is impossibly heavier.

Victoria strikes her staff against the ground, reclaiming attention.

"The Trial of Spirit is complete," she announces. "Luna Morgan has demonstrated her willingness to protect pack members, even at risk to herself. She has passed all three trials successfully."

I should feel triumphant. Instead, a hollow sensation forms in the pit of my stomach as Victoria continues.

"As our traditions dictate, the bonding ceremony will take place at the full moon, three days hence. Dominic Blackwood and Luna Morgan will be bound as the Alpha pair of Silvercreek."

Three days.

Three days until I'm permanently tied to Nic.

Three days until I undeniably have to tell him about the child—his child—growing inside me. The thought makes me lightheaded.

As the crowd begins to disperse, I catch Nic's movement from the corner of my eye. He's approaching, his expression intense, determined. He looks, for a moment, like the boy he was before—the boy who forced me to leave this place, stern and authoritative, and for an absurd moment, I am terrified of him.

I can't face him right now, can't bear whatever might be in his eyes, whether it's duty or regret or something else entirely.

"Luna!" Ruby appears at my elbow as if summoned by my desperation. "That was amazing! Are you okay?"

"Fine," I manage, already backing away from Nic's approaching figure. "I just—I need some air."

"But we're outside—” Ruby begins, then sees my expression and understands immediately. "Oh. Right. Let's get you some water, somewhere quiet."

She deftly maneuvers us through the crowd, placing herself between me and Nic's line of sight. I glimpse him being intercepted by Council members offering congratulations, his eyes still searching for me over their shoulders.

"I can't talk to him yet," I confess once we're safely away from the clearing. "I just can't."

Ruby squeezes my arm. "You don't have to explain."

But I do, to someone. I was so focused on surviving, so focused on passing these trials, and now the third is over—and it was far easier than I expected it to be, something I now suspect was deliberate after yesterday’s revelations. They no longer want me dead. Maybe they’d expect me to be grateful for that.

Instead, I’m just terrified. Because, for the first time, it feels real.

"In three days, I'll be bound to him forever. By pack law. By magic." My voice catches. "And he doesn't even know about—" I gesture vaguely toward my still-flat stomach.

"You'll have to tell him soon," Ruby says gently.

"I know. Just... not today." Not when everything is still raw from yesterday's revelations, from today's public display of magic. Not when I'm still trying to process what it means to follow in my parents' footsteps—potentially to their same fate.

Ruby nods in understanding. "Go rest. I'll run interference."

As I walk back to my temporary quarters, my hand drifts instinctively to my abdomen. Whatever happens with Nic, whatever dangers we face from the Cheslem Pack, whatever myrole in maintaining the wards my parents created—one thing is certain.

This child will never grow up feeling like an outsider in their own pack. Not like I did. I'll make sure of it, even if it means accepting a position I never wanted, beside a man who once broke my heart.

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