Chapter 36

~Farren POV~

I sat unnaturally still, unconsciously scanning the pages of the book of vampiric history I'd put together long ago. It was one thousandth thirtieth time, I know, because I'd counted. It was what I had to do, to keep from looking at him.

Spencer sat with me, reading a book of his own. His warmth was close, and it made me want to do something I'd never done in my life, which was cuddle close to someone. I snapped my eyes shut instantly, just in case he might glance my way.

I hated that about being a vampire: my eyes changed with my mood. As of late, they had been turning pink, a color that had never before entered my eyes. It was infatuation, love, and in my opinion, weakness. I couldn't afford to fall for Spencer, not with the war right here and the danger of our lives being taken inevitable. I wondered why we even still tried. We'd accumulated nearly forty-six people now, counting those who had been showing up recently since Natalie's attack. But with so few, we couldn't hope to take on dear old Dad.

I felt my anger spark again, lighting my eyes up red. I forced myself not to rip the book apart. I wouldn't allow him to win again. If we all went down, if we were all going to die, so was he. I wouldn't let him live, continuing what he was doing to destroy this world.

Suddenly, calm came over me. Spencer's hand had reached out and rested on my shoulder. "Farren, what's going on?" "Nothing, why?" I asked, leveling my voice and raising an eyebrow. "You're tense, I can feel it from across the room." "I'm not tense," I refrained from snatching my shoulder away from his touch, "I'm bored." I regretted my words instantly.

"Come walk with me," he said, putting his book aside and standing, holding a hand out for me. I don't know why the flashback appeared.

"Come with me." Lorcan Kern stood above me, demanding my hand. I was scared, but I gave him my hand and he yanked me up, not letting me regain my footing before he was pulling me across the marbled floors of the castle. "What did I do?"

As usual, he didn't answer, but jerked to a stop in front of one of the doors in the West Hall. I wasn't allowed down this hall, as this was where he kept guests.

"Remember I told you, that as my daughter, you are to obey my every command." I was little, and I felt myself shrinking away from him. "I've been told by a little birdy that you're disobeying my wishes concerning the wolves…" It was true, I'd been playing with Vana, the head of staff's daughter. She was also a werewolf, and one that did right by me regardless of the shit my father put her through, and her daughter was the first friend I'd made that wasn't harsh.

"B-but daddy-" The sharp crack of his hand on his cheek echoed in the hallway. I fell to the floor, dizzy, as my cheek began swelling immediately. Tears streaked down my face.

"NEVER, under any circumstances, are you to fraternize with wolves!" He screamed, adding in a kick to my back for good measure. "You're as useless and weak as your mother! Well, I'll show you what happens when you disobey my orders." With this cold tone, he snatched me up from the ground, nearly dislocating my shoulder and pushed me through the door. I fell to the ground, instantly assaulted by Vana's mother's screams. Vana was lying on the bed, crying. Her eyes were squeezed closed, but her mother…

Ella's body was beaten to nearly a pulp. Red blood and black bruises covered her body, but the worst was the vampire on top of her. The dark haired man laughed cruelly. At six years old, I was forced to watch as he raped and murdered Ella, and then proceeded to kill Vana. When Vana had gurgled her last breath, he turned and smiled at me before tsking and walking out.

After the last of my tears fell, I let anger consume me.

One day. Lorcan Kern would die for the lives he'd unjustly taken.

I snapped back into reality suddenly. Just a few seconds had passed, but I felt like a lifetime had been exposed. I lowered my eyes, ignoring Spence's outstretched hand, and stood. "I'm going to go to the basement and work on a few things." I murmured before racing out the door and down the stairs.

That cruel bastard would pay, and soon.

~Aaden POV~

I got up as best I could from the cold table. With a lot of struggle, and some help from Silas, I sat up, trying to ignore the pain from my bruised ribs and pelvic bone. "I'm not really liking how this is turning out Aaden," Silas said, "the baby is getting stronger every day now. Now that you've entered your eighth month, the baby will be developing rapidly." I wasn't surprised.

In every pregnancy, the eighth month is when the baby completes development and gains a lot of weight, as well as strength. "I've got to do the best I can, Silas. It's too early to try and have the baby. I'm thirty-four weeks along. I need to be at least thirty-eight to even consider an early birth."

Silas sighed but nodded in agreement. I gasped as the baby kicked me hard, struggling for room I assumed. Silas laid a gentle hand on the spot, rubbing the soreness out gently before looking closely to me.

"Would you like to know the sex of your baby?"

I shouldn't have felt shocked, but I was. I both wanted and didn't want to know what the baby was, because then the surprise was gone, but if I knew, I'd have a name to call him or her. I nodded.

When he told me the gender, I was very surprised. I felt a new type of awe as I cradled my belly. I then thanked Silas and floated on cloud nine the rest of the day. I did so look forward to telling Derek about our baby!

~Derek POV~

"You're doing great Isaac, keep sprinting!" I felt more like a coach than an Alpha right now, as I pressed Isaac to do better on his timing. I turned to watch Jessica and Jared batting it out. "Watch your head!" I shouted as Jared missed the opportunity to duck and Jessica's knee connected to his head.

"Every time!" I felt my stress levels rising, "You miss that every time, Jared! What's going to happen if one of your packmates is defending themselves and cannot get to you in time to save you? You have. To get. The timing down!" I slammed my fist into my palm with each new short sentence. I felt my temper flaring, but it wasn't at Jared.

It was because I knew I wouldn't be able to protect him when it came down to it.

My priorities, regardless of her species at the time, were Aaden first, and then the packmates. I hated having to choose, but the Luna came first in the Alpha's defense list. Amy came up behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder. I looked down at the tiny little vampire. She had a way of calming everyone, even without saying anything.

She offered a small smile of encouragement before walking over to Jared and helping him up. I had to keep from laughing at the height difference. Jared outshone her by at least a foot, but she didn't seem to mind. The only difference was the age. Amy was probably pushing fifty in human years, though she'd been changed at seventeen. Jared was about to turn nineteen. It occurred to me then that I'd just paired them together.

When the hell did that happen? I asked myself. It was obvious how Jared felt, and she tenderly touched the bruise forming on his temple. I could have face-palmed. In all the distraction of the war, I failed to notice my young Beta falling in love. I couldn't blame the guy, Amy was a jewel.

Jared must have felt my confusion, for he looked up quickly, met my eyes and smiled sheepishly. "See you later?" He asked her, sneakily pressing a kiss to her palm. "Sure." She murmured, then disappeared.

"I didn't want to come to you with the dumb distraction of that," Jared said, visibly lowering his body in submission, "we've got a war to deal with, I know, and the Luna's pregnancy. I won't make a habit of-" "Stop."

His body language indicated that he believed that he'd spoken too much. When he shrunk away, I put my arm around him, squeezing his shoulder. "I apologize for not noticing kid," I said, and I felt his shock through the Alpha-Beta bond. I withheld from laughing before continuing, "I got busy with everything. Aaden is due in six weeks, the war is at hand, and all this other bullshit that I put aside really watching out for you all."

I turned him to me, my eyes going red as I watched his pupils. I homed in on his heartbeat. "Do you love her?" "Yes." His heart didn't stutter and his pupils stayed where they were. I let the red leave from my eyes and kept my hands on both of his shoulders. "I approve then."

"Really?" Jared's voice held a lot of hope. No wonder I hadn't known. Even with me not noticing everything, he'd kept a tight lid on his feelings. "Yes, now go train." I nudged him forward.

It was cruel, but Betas needed the permission of their Alphas to select a mate. Unlike Alphas, they didn't get the 'gift' of having a Luna. I thought back to when Aaden became mine. She had had no clue who I was, or Farren. Farren had scoped her out one day, feeling great power come from this small human. When she expressed to me that she'd found my Luna, I didn't believe her, that was, until I saw Aaden the first time. Being so close to her that day we picked her and Spencer up was one of the hardest days of my life. It was then that I realized that, not only would she weaken me, she'd strengthen me. I fought the affections like hell until she found out. By that time, I was mentally exhausted of fighting what had to happen.

And now, we were married and having a kid that I had no idea how to raise.

I secretly hoped that Jared and Amy could make it through this war. It surprised me how much I wanted their happiness together, but I did. I felt like I was going soft.

"Alright everyone!" I said, my voice resonating throughout the gym, "You all did perfectly. We'll train more on Thursday, for now, go rest."

All the wolves and vampires sighed and began heading back. But as I was heading up the stairs myself, a sudden rush of feeling hit me. It wasn't coming from Aaden, but behind me. Of course, it meant one of my wolves was feeling something strong. I needed to check it out.

I followed the feeling, which eventually grew to a scent. What the…? I surprised Jessica when I snatched open the door on the other side of the gym, one that led to a room with extra sets of weights. "What the hell is going on in here?" I asked, completely puzzled to find Vlad with her. "We're talking," she said. "Why did your feelings get so strong?" "He asked me about Tyler."

I didn't have to guess what feeling I'd felt. "All right." I said, closing the door and rushing back out. I was on the second floor when it struck me again. Jessica and Vlad. What the hell was going on in this mansion?! It was past spring time, no more love in the air, what had come over everybody?

I made my way to my room, where I was surprised to see Aaden sitting on our bed, her enormous belly settled on her lap. She looked very weak and tired, her skin no longer rosy, but pasty. I felt worry consume me, but pushed it away to give her a half smile. "Hey babe, what are you doing?" I asked, walking over to sit beside her.

"Baby's just kicking a lot, needed to sit." she sighed, her tired eyes bloodshot from sleeplessness. I pushed away the anger that suddenly rose up from deep within me and stood. "Oh. What did Silas say?" "Everything is going well, though he's expressed slight worry." "Worry?" I asked, turning to look at her, feeling my anger well up again. "The baby's going to be getting stronger every day now. I hit eight months today. Silas says that, as he expected, I'm weaker and I'm going to continue to get worse until the baby is here. He says that as soon as I hit thirty-eight weeks, we need to try and get my labor in progress."

I felt my heart clench. I'd known to expect this, but having it actually happen hit me in all the wrong ways. "What can we do to try to get your labor started?" "He'll give me medicine to help, but there are some good natural ways too." She gave me a flirty smile, but I knew she wouldn't be strong enough to do anything like that. "We'll see," I said, stripping my shirt and jeans and grabbing a towel.

"I'm going to take a quick shower. I'll come lay beside you in a bit." "Okay, but first Derek, I need to tell you something." "Okay?" I said, turning in the doorway to look back at her.

"We're having a son."

**A boy for Derek and Aaden! What do you think of that? I hope you're all still enjoying the story, please R&R! Have a good day!**