Lewis's POV

I sat in the hospital bed, listening to the doctor quietly. "Lewis, we are happy to say you've been making great progress! Your recovery is amazing! We just have to..." The voice droned on and I began to space out.

Why am I back here? Are they going to hurt me? Nurse me back to health to keep me from dying when they beat me? Why? They've done enough. They've taken everything from me. My wolf. My child. My life. All of it. No, not them... Him. Silas.

I shuddered to think that he is behind that door, out there in the pack with his new female mate. He had to rub it in. To prove that he's better than I'll ever be, and that I'm nothing.

"Lewis? There's one last thing we need to tell you." I looked back at the doctor, my blank face staring into his nervous one. "Well, you see," he pushed up his glasses, wringing his hands in his lap. "When you were out there - in the woods - you were... Starved. Because of this, along with the... Rejection... And the dehydration, the child inside of you... It is... No longer alive."

The room was silent as I listened to his words - words I already knew of. It was true from the beginning. I could no longer feel the same warmth, not even the soft heartbeat that kept me going for so long. I know it was all my imagination, and that the child hadn't even lived past the day after I was rejected, but I wanted to believe it had. That it was still alive. Maybe then I could have something to hold on to, to keep me going.

The doctor, either relieved or afraid of my reaction, cleared his throat. "Is... Is there anything we can do, to help?" I looked at him, my throat scratchy as I spoke. "Give me back my child."

Pain and guilt built up in his features, and I knew he regretted asking me that question. What could he do? I had just asked for the impossible, and he couldn't do anything but say no. It was partly his fault, being part of the pack that turned a blind eye to my suffering. Maybe that's why he's so kind right now.

Whatever the reason, it would all end when the Alpha gives the word. I'd be out in the forest once more, left to a fate decided by the wildlife.

The doctor refused to meet my eyes after that, but he continued to talk. "We... Are looking for a way," he said softly. "A way for you to get pregnant again. At the request of the Alpha, of course." I stiffened. "A-Alpha..?"

"Alpha Silas. He's the one who wanted the information."

"Why? So he can hurt me again? Kill my second child?! What makes you think I want another child?!" The doctor stood, immediately at my side to calm me. My breathing was heavy before I finally broke down, sobbing into my hands.

Large, warm hands came down my shoulders as the doctor silently consoled me, his eyebrows furrowed.

---

That night, I listened to the silent conversation outside my door.

"How is he?" A voice asked, desperately. It was Silas, I'm sure. That made the conversation all the more interesting. What's he going to do next? Yell at me for crying? It was his child. Does he feel nothing?

"He broke down today, the loss of his child a bit too much for him to handle." The doctor replied. It's always an excuse with them. They don't want to see the truth, so they make up an excuse, and pretend they know what I'm thinking about and how I feel.

"... I see. How much longer till I can see him?" And laugh at his scenario. Poor little Lewis, once again at my mercy.

"Well, I'm not sure. I don't want him to overreact to your presence. As I've said before, we'll ease him into it. I'll talk to him tomorrow, and see where we are. If it's all good, you should be able to see him tomorrow afternoon."

The conversation after that was just various updates on my health, and how I'd been doing. I didn't listen to that however, my mind still stuck on what he'd said before. Tomorrow. Silas is coming tomorrow. It'll all be over. Tomorrow.