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“Yes, though it isn’t very far along yet. In just eight months, you will hold the Rigel pack’s next heir in your arms,” the oldest ofthe crones confirmed. She gave me a frown before she turned back to the others, huddling together.
“Do you not want this child?” I looked up at the youngest crone with surprise.
“Of course, I do. It’s just that it’s so soon. I only met my mate half a month ago. How could this have happened so fast?”
“All it takes is one time when the body is ripe,” the middle crone chuckled. “The Fates have their plans for us all. Though we are still granted our free will.”
“You always have choices,” the eldest Crone agreed with her sister.
I looked down at my flat stomach and couldn’t help but smile. “I want my baby,” I confirmed. “But I would like to keep this turn of events to myself. At least until after the coronation.”
The three crones all nodded at once and turned back to their potions. Two worked on the first potion as the oldest crone began a fresh bottle of a unique mixture. I watched them silently from the cot as they worked. I could recognize many of the herbs and oils they mixed – all friendly to pregnancy – but both potions were different in their uses.
The oldest crone finished first. She turned with a large potion bottle in her hand and placed it into a bag as she waited for the others to finish. When they had, she wrapped the second potion in its own darker bag before placing it with the first bottle.
The eldest crone explained her bottle. “This bottle I have made is the potion you need to hide the scent of the growing pup. I designed this potion in such a way that no one will detect even the slightest hint of your child’s magical blood pulsating through their veins. Not until you are ready to share it. Drink a tablespoon a day for each day you wish to hide your pregnancy.”
“The smaller bottle we made is a prenatal potion. It will help make certain that you have all the nutrients you and the baby will need. It is difficult to grow a magical child, especially one with so much alpha blood. Take the potion every morning after breakfast.”
I nodded to the middle crone as I took the bag from her sister. “Thank you. Please, don’t let my parents know.”
“Of course not dear,” the youngest of the crones chuckled. “We are, after all, bound by our oath.”
I thanked them again and stood to leave just as the eldest crone stopped me. “Here, take the potion before you leave.” She held out a spoon and nodded to my bag of potions.
The potion tasted earthy with a bit of grit to it, but I could feel the effects of the magic as I swallowed it. It wasn’t exactly like the potion Mother had used to hide her scent when she was pregnant with me. My pack and family could still sense me, but I could feel the side effects already manifesting.
I looked at the crones, who all smiled and nodded. “It will completely hide your scent from any outsiders. It is best to protect the mother of the future during these uncertain times.”
“The Fates demand it.”
“Have a nice day, dear.”
With that, they dismissed me from their office and called in their next patient. I walked out of the waiting room of the medical complex and made my way back to the packhouse with my potions in hand. Despite wishing to keep my pregnancy a secret, there was one person I was excited to share the news with. He would be the only person I shared the precious news with until after the coronation, and I couldn’t wait to see his reaction.
Xander and I haven’t been mated long, but since the night that I marked him, we have grown closer. I knew his desire to bring the rogues back to the pack and his hope that we all blend into a full pack once again. It was a dream of my family’s as well, although we had never come up with a way to convince them to come back and accept our family as the alphas.
We had a few former rogues in the pack now. They came to us years ago when Brady and Madie had lost some pups at a Christmas party; he was only seventeen. The rogues were children themselves, although according to them, their parents had become feral and could no longer care for them.
Those children helped the lost pups and ultimately brought them back into the pack under my parent’s custody until we could find their bloodlines within the pack.
I had told Xander about them, but I also explained some in the pack didn’t trust the rogues. Bringing them directly into the pack would have to wait until after the coronation. He said he understood, and that was the last we had discussed it.
Dad and I, on the other hand, had been making plans for those rogues who chose to join us and be sworn back into the back. He agreed that it would have to be after the coronation; they would then take their oaths of allegiance to Xander and me. We figured it would be the easiest way to bring them in without too much of a change to their allegiance.
For me, this baby would help even more to gain the rogue’s trust and loyalty. The baby would be just as much one of them as one of the Rigel pack. The baby would be the perfect bridge between us.
I was almost at the front door of the packhouse when I caught sight of Xander slipping into the forest. He hadn’t mentionedgoing anywhere. I knew he didn’t have patrol duty, so I became curious about what he was doing.
Quickly, I sat the potions in the bushes beside the front door, before running off to the tree line to follow my mate. As the day was progressing, it was starting to grow late.
Xander was moving faster than I had expected. I relied mostly on his scent to follow him until the path became familiar. He was heading to the Feral Tides, and I couldn’t understand why.
He could have easily told me that he wanted to visit his people. I wouldn’t have stopped him. I probably wouldn’t have even questioned him like I would have before I had given him my mark. So, why did he feel the need to sneak around behind my back to see his people?
I moved carefully so as not to bring attention to myself as I neared the bar. As the sun was almost set now, I could slip through the shadows with no one seeing me. Thanks to the potion I had taken to hide the baby, none of the rogues had caught my scent; they kept their attention on Xander as he approached.
“He’s inside,” a short girl called out to him from a group of rogues. “Be warned, Xan. He isn’t in a good mood.”
