DELPHINA

I opened my eyes to a ceiling I didn’t recognize.

The white light above me buzzed softly, too bright against my raw, stinging vision. My body felt like it had been split in half and sewn back together wrong, my limbs heavy, my bones aching, my skin stinging like I’d rolled in thorns. My wolf whimpered faintly inside me, weak and curled tight in the hollow of my chest, as if hiding from the world.

For a moment, I couldn't remember where I was… or why.

Then the pain rushed in.

The rejection.

Helio’s voice still echoed in my ears, “I, Alpha Helio Vargsson of Silvercrest, reject you…” I felt the bond tear, the mark vanish, and my wolf crumble silently inside me.

I remembered shifting, running through the forest, blinded by pain, my paws stumbling over roots and rocks. I hadn’t known where I was going, I just needed to get away. Far from the packhouse, from that dining table, from the ruins of my bond.

There had been a cliff.

Yes... I remembered the drop. I remembered slipping on the muddy edge, my wolf too disoriented to find her footing. I remembered falling, branches scraping my sides as I tumbled down and hit the rocky ground hard. My vision had gone dark just as I landed near the side of a wide road that cut through the lower part of the forest.

After that... nothing.

So, someone found me.

But who?

I shifted slightly under the blanket, my muscles protesting the movement. That’s when the door opened.

I immediately straightened, or tried to. My body screamed in protest, and I winced, holding back a growl.

A man stood in the doorway. Tall, broad, with jet-black hair and eyes that reminded me of dark storm clouds before a summer downpour.

Alpha.

I could smell it in his aura, feel it in the way the room seemed to shift the moment he stepped in.

I bared my teeth slightly in warning. My wolf, though weak, stirred.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he said calmly, raising both hands in a gesture of peace. “You were unconscious when I found you. Near the forest, not far from the south ridge. You fell hard.”

He took a step inside, careful and slow.

“Do you belong to a pack?” he asked.

I hesitated. My throat was dry, my voice stuck. The answer should’ve been obvious. But for the first time in my life… it wasn’t.

“No,” I rasped. “I’m… a rogue now.”

There was a beat of silence.

He nodded once, not pressing. “This place is neutral. You’re safe here.”

I blinked. “Where exactly… is here?”

“A hospital,” he said, offering a faint smile, “but not a typical one. This facility’s meant for rogues, wolves without packs. We treat anyone who needs healing, no questions asked.”

I stared at him. A hospital for rogues? That was unheard of. Rogues were usually shunned, hunted, blamed for every attack or disappearance. No pack would willingly help them, let alone build an entire place for them.

He must’ve seen the disbelief in my face. “I’ll bring the doctor,” he added, before stepping out.

I was left alone with my thoughts, and a growing discomfort in my chest. Not just from the physical pain… but from the emptiness. Like part of me had been torn out and discarded.

Because it had been.

The doctor came in shortly after. She was an older woman with warm eyes, graying hair tied into a bun, and a scent of sage and peppermint that reminded me of healers from the old ways.

“I’m Doctor Malen,” she said gently. “You’re lucky to be alive. The Alpha said you were found barely breathing. Your body went into shock from the rejection. It’s not uncommon.”

I swallowed. “How bad?”

She exhaled slowly, checking a chart. “You're stable now, but the damage was serious. Your wolf is drained, and breaking the bond like that almost shattered everything inside you.”

My heart clenched. “Is… is she okay?”

“She’s resting,” Malen said softly. “But she’s strong. You both are. Honestly, most wolves don’t survive a full rejection when the mating mark was sealed, especially not if it was one-sided.”

I stared at the ceiling, willing myself not to cry. I didn’t want pity. I didn’t want to be seen as a broken thing.

She flipped through a chart, murmuring to herself. “The baby’s fine, too. Strong. A little miracle, honestly. The stress from the rejection and that fall should’ve… well. It’s rare to see a pup hold on through something like that.”

My heart stopped.

“What? What baby?” I breathed.

She looked up, blinking. “Yes, your baby.”

My mouth fell open, but no words came. The sound of blood rushing in my ears drowned out everything else.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “You… didn’t know you were pregnant?”

“No,” I whispered.

I stared at her, numb.

Pregnant?

My hand drifted to my abdomen, resting just above the blanket. There was no swell nor movement yet. But now that I knew, I felt it. That tiny spark of life.

Helio’s child.

Our child.

A sharp, silent ache pulsed through my chest. This was supposed to be something beautiful, sacred.

I used to dream about this.

Back when everything still held a little light, when I was still foolish enough to believe that love could grow between us, and that maybe, just maybe, Helio would look at me the way he looked at her.

I thought a baby could be our beginning.

That it would make him smile at me differently, speak my name with tenderness. I used to imagine him holding my hand, brushing his thumb along the curve of my belly, telling me he was proud. That he was ready to build something real with me. I thought it would be the answer to all the silence and all the half-empty rooms between us.

But here I was, broken in a rogue hospital, abandoned and rejected, carrying a piece of someone who had thrown me away like I meant nothing.

A baby. I was going to be a mother.

And Helio had no idea.

I turned my head away so she wouldn’t see the tears prickling at the corners of my eyes.

The doctor didn’t press. She stepped back. “You’re free to stay here as long as you need. No one’s going to turn you out.”

The Alpha with his storm-eyes returned a moment later. He and the doctor spoke quietly in the corner. I caught fragments.

“…she’ll recover…”

“…lucky she didn’t reject the pup…”

“…strong for a rejected female…”

I turned my face toward the window, letting the sunlight filter over me like it might burn the sorrow off my skin.

I was carrying Helio’s child.

I wasn’t just a rejected mate, I was a mother now. Or would be. And somehow, that truth hit harder than anything else ever had.

Helio was gone. That life was gone.

But something new had begun growing inside me. A life that hadn’t asked to be abandoned. A life that deserved better.

And I would give it to them.

I didn’t know what came next, where I’d go, who I’d become. But I knew one thing:

I would survive.

I would deliver this child safely, raise them strong, and build a life that Helio would never be part of.