Beads of sweat dripped down my forehead. I didn’t know what to expect. It was a rare occasion for someone to find out they weren’t the person they thought they were. In Aiden’s case, I was hopeful that he was really a Blair…but I still didn’t eliminate the chances of him being someone other than a Blair.

Heart pounding out of my chest, my knees trembled and my hands quivered. Sweat soaked my whole body. Butterflies roamed inside my stomach. The taste of the fluid dripping from my face across my lips was salty and bitter. Behind my effort to stay still, my brain couldn’t help but overthink all the possible chances of what Aiden could be…

The wind blew past me, but it didn’t help much as to dry the sweat on my face. I stood up from where I was seating and walked on the hallway, my hands clasped together as my teeth chattered. Quarter of an hour had ticked by, but it felt as though the day had already come to an end. I took a deep breath and exhaled. What was taking them so long? All Dr. Culler was to supposed to do was to tell Aiden the results; that was what we’d come here for in the first place.

Unable to hold myself, I rushed toward clinic and knocked on the door. “Aiden, we’ve got to go,” I said in an anxious tone.

No one answered.

Then again, I knocked to the extent that the door itself would break open. I couldn’t control the force I was exerting on the door regardless of my effort to take it easy. It was one of my downfalls. I was too carried away with my emotion. I was afraid of the uncertainty. I disliked being kept in the dark.

“Open up!”

I grabbed the doorknob and kept twisting it, but the security system in this clinic was its highest that even if I tried breaking the doorknob with my full force, it remained steady and undamaged. I banged my hand on the surface only to lose balance when it finally swung open. Without setting a foot forward, I would have smashed my face on the floor.

Stood before me was a guy in white. As I looked up, a frown deepened across my face. It was Dr. Culler, half-smiling and half-annoyed.

“He’s fine. You have nothing to be anxious about,” he said.

But I didn’t believe him until I reached Aiden sitting on a stool with an agitated look on his face as if his world had come crushing down. I cupped him by the jaw and examined him for any wounds or cuts, but he looked alright…or so I thought.

He grabbed my hands and pulled them down. “I-I’m fine,” he said, but his eyes said something else otherwise. They glazed with tears. Deep thoughts hollowed them. He didn’t dare look at me, which I found strange. Eye contact was our prime way of connecting to each other’s thoughts. We didn’t need to speak a word for us to hear each other’s mind. A glance was enough to tell us something wasn’t right.

And even if he tried to conceal it from me, I knew he was keeping something so dark he wished to keep it to himself.

I clasped his chin with my thumb and forefinger. When I tried to kiss him, he looked away and closed his eyes shut. Then, it registered to me that something was off. It wasn’t like him to turn me down.

“What’s the matter?”

He remained silent, which further alarmed me.

I turned to Dr. Culler for the answer, but he looked away and moved to the corner of the clinic where the drawer of files was. He didn’t look so troubled, maybe because he didn’t want to get involved with the matter. Was it too personal that he couldn’t intervene? I brought my attention back to Aiden.

I raked through his hair and wiped the sweat oozing from the pores of his delicate skin. “Let’s go home,” I said gently. “Whatever the result is, nothing will change. Keep that in mind. I will love you the same.”

Tears trickled down from the corner of his eyes. “I-I’m…” he paused, unable to let the words out.

“You’re what, Aiden?”

He looked at me straight in the eyes. “I’m pregnant, Tom,” he announced almost in a whisper, as if ashamed of the news. But then I realized, it was fear that held him back from saying it in the first place.

My face lit up. A smile stretched to my ears. An unexplainable sensation of excitement overshadowed me. The picture of holding a child in my arms sent shivers up my spine. I couldn’t imagine being a father just yet. All sorts of thoughts spiraled in my head. I thought about my parents rejoicing over it because they would finally have a future heir they’d been waiting for…the future leader after me. But then again, thinking of what people would make of this put me on the edge of a cliff. My baby was a hybrid.

I looked into Aiden’s fearful eyes. Uncertainty glazed on the surface. Beads of tears welled up in the corner of his eyes. His lips quivered from anxiety as if worried of what I would make of what he’d said. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t quite spell it out.

With my lips tilted into a smile, I laid my hands on his shoulders and pulled him closer. I planted a kiss on his forehead, hoping it would make things less burdensome for him. I knew it wasn’t the best time to have a baby, but what else could we do now? We couldn’t just abort the child to make things feel less distressing.

“Don’t worry too much, Aiden. It’s not good for the baby. You need to keep yourself emotionally and mentally healthy for our child,” I said.

He buried his face on my arm and wept. “Why do things have to go this way, Tom? Why?”

“Life is unfair. We shouldn’t expect things to go our way. Life throws rocks when we’ve asked for bread, but just take those rocks and make them the cornerstone of your fortress,” I said, not really knowing the meaning of what I’d said – as if I knew any better.

“How are we gonna raise him? My father is gonna kill me if he finds out I’m pregnant. He’ll definitely disown me this time, and there’s a high chance that he’ll kill the baby too.”

“Fuck him!” I snapped. No one could touch Aiden, and most especially my child. “We’ll find a way. Stay in my house. We have to talk to Drake and Steven first before any decision is made.”

Aiden wiped the tears from his face as his countenance slightly brightened. “What about your parents? I don’t want to stay at your house because I don’t want your parents to get involved in all this chaos, Tom. They’ve been so kind to me, and I don’t want to render their kindness with this.”

He was right. Just thinking of how I would approach my parents scared the hell out of me. I didn’t want to inflict further distress on Aiden by keeping myself quiet, but I couldn’t help it. For a fraction of a time, I thought of possible ways of telling my parents that I got Aiden pregnant, but the fact that he was a Blair caused me to rethink. Perhaps it was a safer choice to keep his pregnancy a secret.

The way Aiden gazed at me with a hopeful expression on his face made me swallow. He must be thinking that I had a better plan, but unfortunately, I was as blank as he was. My brain froze from exhaustion.

I sighed and forced a tight-lipped smile. “Since the baby is a hybrid, I think it would be safe to keep it hidden until the child is born,” I said with my fingers crossed of what Aiden would say. I didn’t want him to assume that I was ashamed of his child, our child. I was just uncertain of how my parents would react to such a news. Having a hybrid was seen as an abomination as two breeds could never mingle and give rise to a new specie.

Aiden’s eyebrows deepened into a frown. “A hybrid?” he repeated.

“You’re a rabbit and I’m a werewolf,” I said, frowning in confusion.

Dr. Culler turned around and cut in. “Should I break the news to him?”

As immediate as he’d said it, Aiden shook his head. “I’ll tell him.”

“Tell me what?” I snapped, unable to hold my curiosity.

He pursed his lips and took a deep breath as if preparing himself to announce something so big it induced a feeling of anxiety in me.

Sweat coated my whole face.

“I’m not a Blair, Tom,” he said plainly. This time, his eyes didn’t hint any sign of distress. He was rather relaxed, which helped me stay calm and not freak out of where I stood.

“It’s true then,” I said.

“My gut was right; I am not Lord Blair’s real son. That explains why I lack the mole on the side of my mouth–”

“It also explains why you can’t transform into your rabbit form.”

“True.”

“Now that we have a strong ground to fight him, there’s no way that he could sell you off so that means we’ve got nothing to worry about. You’re free. You’re no longer under his deceit,” I said, relieved at last.

He brought his head low as a look of defeat had shawled his face. “Only if things are as easy as they seem…”

The expression of dismay I had before returned to my face. “He’s kept you in the dark for over two decades and that’s a violation of your rights. He should’ve known better. He knows what could happen should he be found guilty of violating the decree set to protect your rights. He’ll be thrown off the throne in no time, and that’s a good thing for us.” When I glanced down, I saw the results on Dr. Culler’s desk. I held it up, smiling. “We’ve got a strong evidence against him.”

He breathed out. He seemed unconvinced. Lord Blair had instilled a strong spirit of fear in Aiden that even now that we had the upper hand, he still feared his ‘father’ would do something to harm us.

When he refused to speak, I dared to ask something that had been bugging me lately. “So if you’re not a Blair, what are you exactly?”

It took him awhile to respond. Before he opened his mouth, he darted a tensed look to Dr. Culler. Then, he returned his attention back to me and looked right into my eyes. The way his eyes pierced mine drove me against the wall. I didn’t know what to expect. Anything could happen now. Worse thing that could happen was for him to be a hybrid just like our child, but I doubted it was the case, but still, I didn’t eliminate it out of all the chances.

“I’m a Falston,” he said plainly.

My jaw dropped to the ground and my eyes grew wide open. Air escaped out of my body as my throat felt dry. My eyesight blurred. I felt like passing out. The news should have gladdened me and spiked up my spirit to cheer him up that he was one of us, a mighty and fearless Falston, a warrior who had the guts to fight to death. But somehow, his words choked me for a moment.

Aiden took my hands and held them tightly. “Aren’t you glad about it? Our baby isn’t a hybrid, he’s a full blooded Falston, Tom, a werewolf at his finest.”

My lips quivered as I spoke. “How did it happen?”

“It doesn’t matter how it happened. What matters is that our child isn’t a hybrid, so we don’t have to keep him hidden.”

“Are you sure the result is right?”

“Well, it’s what Dr. Culler said.”

Dr. Culler stepped in. “The machine is 98% accurate, and testing DNA isn’t really rocket science for a professional like myself. I’ve been doing it for over a century now and not once have I got it wrong,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Don’t believe what I said, but just see the result for yourself. I will not gain anything from lying, and besides I’m practicing my profession not for money; I have more than enough to spend for a lifetime.”

Gazing into Dr. Culler’s black eyes, I could tell that he wasn’t lying. His eyes held an expression of honesty. I looked back to Aiden and motioned him to follow me out of the clinic. We had a serious matter to discuss.

* * *

Far enough from Dr. Culler’s clinic, I started opening up about how years ago Falston tribe lost a potential Omega heir, not that I possessed much knowledge about it. It was rarely talked about in the castle. The last time I’d heard about it was ten years ago when it was declared that the Omega heir was dead.

Aiden was quiet. A glance at him told me that he’d been trying to make sense of how all these circumstances came into play. A lot of things had happened in a blink of an eye, and it was hard to digest. I could only imagine how confused and lost he felt right now. I glanced at his stomach. His bump wasn’t so obvious just yet, but in a couple of weeks or so, he, no, we could no longer hide it.

He startled out of his daze as I sparked a conversion. “Years ago, the Falstons were chased out to the next state and an Omega heir who was supposed to give birth to the future lineage of purebred Falstons suffered an undistinguishable death.”

He nodded, still out of himself. “Right.”

“I think you’re the long lost Omega heir, Aiden.”

He shook his head and brought his eyes back out the window. “That’s highly unlikely. I have a photographic memory and I remember my childhood well.”

“So then can you explain how you ended up in Lord Blair’s household?”

“I’ve been there since birth, Tom. He must have stolen me from somewhere in your pack during the ‘dark ages’,” he said.

My eyebrows met halfway. “Dark ages?” It didn’t sound so familiar. Never had I heard such an event as ‘dark ages’.

“It was during the time when people didn’t really know what they were doing. They’re doing things wrong and took it as right.”

“Huh?” This time, I was the one lost in his made-up world, as it didn’t ring any familiarity to what I’d been told about Falstons’ history.

“Like…people killed each other because they thought it was right.”

What? Where did he even get that from? I would presume that the drugs injected in him hadn’t worn off yet – if there had any. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Aiden, but my gut is telling me that you’re really that person.”

He rolled his eyes at me, which I found strange. He never dared make me feel bad about myself. I guessed it was all part of being pregnant. Mood swings.

“Doesn’t really matter if it is me or not,” he said. “Do you have food in there?”

“Um…” I checked on the drawers, but the guy who owned this car didn’t stack any food in here. “I don’t think there’s any.”

He rolled his eyes at me again. “Oh, that’s right. You just stole this vehicle from that poor dude.”

“Yeah, right, thanks for the reminder.”

“You’re welcome.”

“What the hell is wrong with you, Aiden? I know you’re pregnant and all that, but you don’t have to act up on me. I’ll get you some food when we get home. You just wait,” I said, a little pissed off.

Then, out of nowhere, he hushed me up.

“Oh, please, spare me that. I’m as tired as you are.” He stared out of the window. “Father’s chariot is here,” he said in a troubled tone.

I turned my head in his direction. “What?”

“He’s here.”

The driveway came into view, only then I realized we’d reached my house in that short time. Well, it took us an hour to get here, but the trip felt shorter than that. “Duck down,” I instructed Aiden. “He might see you.”

He ducked down as I said. “He’s got poor eyesight. He can’t see farther than a couple of meters.”

“But he can surely smell you.”

I pulled over and accompanied Aiden through the side door leading to the backyard where the kitchen was. Pushing the door open, Steven was there preparing dinner. He looked at us as if he saw a ghost or something.

“Where is he?” I whispered as low as I could.

“Who?”

“Aiden’s father.”

“He’s…he’s in the living room with your father.”

I nodded and led Aiden out of the kitchen toward the guest room where we could hide for the meantime until Lord Blair left.

“Tom.” Ethan made us stop. It had been awhile since I’d seen him. He was an Omega from the family of the long lost heir, the last pure Omega who was supposed to give birth to the rest of his kind. He had a thing with numbers, which explained his rather stern nature. “Don’t go that way,” he murmured while his eyes roamed around the place as his nose twitched, sniffing the air for any danger. “Go that way instead.” He pointed to the opposite side of the hallway.

I frowned. “Why?”

“He’s accompanied by a man named Darren and he’s standing by the guest rooms. He looks rather pissed and I’m sure it has something to do with Aiden. Better keep him safe. You don’t want blood to shed in this place. Not again, Tom. It isn’t a glorious scene to behold,” he said, reminding me of that day when Lord Blair and Father’s eldest brother got into a brutal fight during which the Omega heir was rumored to have died.

Aiden hid behind me, trembling as his stomach crumbled in hunger.

I grinned at Ethan and dragged Aiden forward toward a random room. It didn’t take long before the sound of the front door slamming awakened our already tensed nerves. We peeked through the window, cautious not to make any sound as to hint we were here. Lord Blair and Darren drove off, whipping the horses forward as they neighed in pain.

A sigh of relief escaped from Aiden’s lips.

The devil had left at last.

But just when we thought storm had left, another one came knocking on the door. Drake burst into the room without warming, his face burned red in frustration. “What do you think you two are doing?”

“We didn’t do anything,” I said absentmindedly.

“For goodness sake, Tom!” he spat out. “Have you lost your mind? You two could have been killed by the outcasts and reported to the Circle of Justice for trespassing. We all know we can’t go beyond the borders and mingle with the mortals, and yet you dared break the law!”

“We did what is right, Drake, so stop overreacting. We’re fine as we are,” I said, unable to hold my temper.

“You did what you think is right, Tom. And don’t you dare raise your voice at me because I’m just trying to look after Aiden,” he said, biting his bottom lip.

“If we hadn’t done it, we would’ve never found out that Aiden is a Falston,” I said without taking a precaution of what Aiden might think about it. I should have asked him first, but I was too carried away in trying to justify my action that revealing his private information just slipped out of my lips.

I brought my eyes to Aiden.

He seemed fine with it.

“No,” Drake said, shaking his head. “You’re a Blair, right?” He looked at Aiden, tears danced in his eyes.

Aiden shook his head.