Chapter 30

~Derek POV~

I watched as Aaden strolled across the floor of the den. She hadn't seen me yet, I was covered by the shadows I stayed in forevermore. I studied her: her stance, her calm demeanor, her interest in what she was doing. She was beautiful, as always. Her serene face, her dark hair nearly brushing her hips, her purple eyes intent on the book she was flipping through.

No doubt studying up on the little growth.

My temper flared. I had been doing my best not to look at her stomach, but the thought reminded me of why I'd kept myself distant. It had been two months since Silas had told us that she was pregnant, and I refused to be happy about it. Why should I be happy over a pain in the ass kid who would undoubtedly destroy my wife? My eyes slid to her belly, risen slightly. Her hand gently slid down to the bump as if she knew I was watching her. She protected that thing like someone would hurt it. I wouldn't waste a minute protecting something that could kill me. It was foolish.

"How much longer until it decides to make its way here?" I asked sternly. She jumped, turning to me, zeroing in on my face. "I'm fourteen weeks. Essentially three and a half months, not that you care." My vision wolfed and I stood, sauntering into the light. "Watch your mouth little Luna," I said darkly. "You don't," she challenged, "You call the baby 'it' or 'thing'. You speak as if he or she is not living." "It's not!" I shouted. "The baby's heart is beating, he or she is moving around, despite the fact that I cannot feel it, the baby has hands, feet, organs, just as you and I do. The baby is alive."

She knew all the buttons to push to infuriate me. I had to make myself stop looking at her. Her explanation I supposed could be valid, but I refused to acknowledge that. I turned, once again feeling defeated, but I didn't make it two steps before I felt her warm little hand in mine. It shocked me at first. I hadn't touched her in just a little over two months now, and it felt new again. I suddenly craved to run my fingers through her hair, and kiss her. But I stomped the feeling down. "I love you Derek. I wish that things were better between us, that you would come to love this baby. I do." Her face turned soft, loving. Releasing my hand, she cradled the little bump in her arms. Every part of me screamed to just walk away, but it was hard to do that with the look she was wearing. She really did love this kid, this thing that wasn't yet materialized and that would kill her. The Alpha in me rose to challenge it. I wouldn't sit here and watch it kill Aaden, not without doing everything I could.

I dropped Aaden's hand, and turned sharply. I wouldn't look back, because her face would make me want to scoop her up and I wasn't giving in to this. She could forget that bullshit. I was going to talk to Farren, and see if we could rewrite this mistake.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Jessica's voice appeared, sharp and angry, in my clouded thoughts. "Nothing that concerns the thoughts of my Beta." I growled. "News flash asshole," she said, "that girl in there is just as much my Alpha as you are. Just because you've chosen to not recognize her as that anymore does not change it. In the same way I would fight or die to protect you, I will do the same for her. More so in this case, even if I have to protect her from everyone here. That includes every part of her, in particular the baby she's pregnant with." "Don't tell me she's wormed her way inside your head with this shit. Look, I know that-" "You know NOTHING!" She screamed, drawing some looks from down the hall. "I know that losing Tyler and Carmen hurt you." I said. "Losing Tyler and Carmen killed me. I will NOT let you destroy something she's working so hard for. You may not care about the baby, but you should. They're the greatest gifts life has to offer, in the middle of making everything else a shit fest. And look at you," she said, her eyes glowing gold, "You're doing your best to end the life before it's even began. Shame on you."

With that, she turned on her heel and into the den. Quietly, I honed in on their soft voices coming from the room. "I don't think he'll ever love the baby." The pain in Aaden's voice sliced through my chest. The pumping of my heart became painful. But again, I pushed it away. I caught Ethan's stare and in my anger, leapt on it. "What are you staring at?" I growled, feeling my fangs grow. Ethan didn't answer, but instead backed down, closing the door from which he'd exited.

"Were you yelling at Aaden?" Spencer's voice. "No, I was not yelling at Aaden, what's it to you?" "Stress her out, make her lose the baby, and I'll put a wolfsbane bullet in you myself." Spencer closed the distance between us, looking me in the eye. "I'm serious Derek, I don't think I've ever been so serious." "Two days ago, you were fighting for this too." Spencer dropped his eyes, looking at his hands. "Yeah, I was. And I'm ashamed of it. But as a man who has always wanted children, and from the looks of it, never will, I'm more than willing to support my best friend. Do you not know how lucky you are, Derek?" "Lucky? LUCKY?!" I felt the last little tendrils of my temper and patience waning. "My wife is nurturing a malignant little monster who, in less than six months' time, will rip its way out of her. She will die, and eventually, it will too. Don't you dare speak of luckiness." The cold tone couldn't express the murderous rage I felt. Turning away from his somewhat stunned and annoying face, I strode off angrily in search of Farren.

~Aaden POV~

"Malignant?" Feeling a tear slide down my cheek, I pressed my hand against the baby. "No," Jessica said, "she or he isn't malignant, but Derek is in a rough spot. He didn't mean it." "He did," I contradicted, "he meant it." My head felt foggy, and I shook it. I stood, "I need to talk to him. One way or another, we have to sort this out." "I don't think that's such a great idea right now," Spencer said, sitting me down again, "Let him cool off, then go talk."

Sitting back down, I had to smile, as both Spencer and Jessica gently laid a supportive hand on my belly. "Thought of any names?" Jessica's question turned my thoughts away from Derek. "No, actually. I've been very wrapped up in everything going on." "Well, we've got to have something to call him or her." She cooed to my stomach, rubbing the baby. "You know," Spencer smiled sheepishly, "Spencer can be a unisex name." I laughed, "I don't know, it would be a little weird with two Spencers walking around." "Nah," Jessica said, "Just stick my name in front of it, then it would be fine. We could call her Jessie!" "Oh, so it's a girl now?" "Oh shut up." Jessica and Spencer's teasing made me feel a world of better. Knowing my baby had others to love her or him other than just me made me feel not so hopeless.

"Okay, it's been twenty minutes. I'm going to talk to Derek now," I sighed, standing and looking down at them as they sat on the floor. "Want backup?" "He won't hurt me. He might stay angry, but he won't hurt us."

Quietly, I made my way down the hall, stopping to speak with Vlad as he came down the opposite way. "Hey Preggers," he winked. "You're okay with it?" I was shocked honestly, but I shouldn't have been. Leave it to Vlad to make a joke about it, as gentle as it may be. "Why wouldn't I be? It was kind of frustrating at first, I'll admit, but hey, we're going to have a new little face around. I haven't held a baby in nearly thirty years. Might be kind of nice." He smiled then, reaching out to press his fingers softly against my hardened abdomen. I smiled as well, laying my hand on top of his on my stomach before asking, "Have you seen where Derek has gone? I need to speak with him." "Yeah, I saw him and Farren heading out the back door a bit ago. Be careful on those stairs." With that, he walked on, playing with the pages of the book he was holding.

Carefully, and more slowly than I'd ever walked, I made my way down the stone stairs in the backyard. I caught a glimpse of Derek and Farren talking before losing them behind the rosebushes, and I hurried across the grass before they got too far and I couldn't catch up. I don't know why it never crossed my mind to call for them, and later, I would have wished that I had. By the time I found them again, I was breathing heavily. If it was already this bad, I wondered what I'd feel like at eight or nine months.

"…She'll be upset if it ever comes back to her." "Right now, I really don't care about future consequences. I just want her safe again." Their conversation was heated, so I hid behind the big white oak tree close by. I felt really guilty about eavesdropping, but I knew they were talking about me and from the sound of it, I didn't like it. "Derek, I'm beginning to think any type of option here isn't good enough. You just should have been more careful in the first place." "I didn't realize she could get knocked up!" He yelled, "My mother told me countless times that werewolves, particularly Alphas, could not impregnate humans. I didn't just ignore her words and go on my merry way Farren, I believe them. More and more, I find that Aaden defies the rules of the supernatural world, but I don't think she can defy the obvious: birthing this baby will. Kill. Her. I don't know about you, but I would really not be able to live with that." His pain just about made my knees buckle. More than ever, I loved him, but I still could not go through with having an abortion.

Farren sighed then. "I suppose I could try." "It's simple, I've seen you do it before in different situations. I trust your skill, and I don't say that to anyone." "I know." "When she's asleep. Work your power, long enough for Silas to get rid of it and then wipe her memory. If she doesn't remember that she was ever pregnant, she can't be hurt, and she'll live."

I felt my heart stop, then cold fury ignite within my chest. My heart thumped uncontrollably, my fingers itching to tear into them both. How dare they try and do this to me! How dare they try to rob my daughter or son of their life! HOW DARE they try and make this decision for me! I'd had enough, and I could take it no longer. I stepped out from behind the tree, marching up into their view. "Aaden!" Farren said in a surprised voice. "Aaden, what-" "HOW DARE YOU!" I screamed, unable to even fully express my rage. My hands were trembling, my chest heaving. "How. Dare. You. If I had known this was the fucking outcome I'd have to deal with, I would never have let you fucking touch me." I growled, glaring into Derek's eyes. His own hardened, and went red. "At least I'm not slowly killing myself and making you watch." He seethed. "No, you're just trying to brainwash me into letting you murder our child." His fists balled, his teeth grew and he growled fiercely. I was unmoved, I was too angry to be scared of him. "Aaden, please-" Farren reached out to touch my arm. "How could you?" I asked her, letting some of my anger fade. The fact that she seemed hesitant to pull such a horrible trick on me was what saved her from my anger. "I didn't want to," she admitted, her eyes sliding to Derek for a half a second before looking back to me, "Aaden, I'm sorry." "Yeah, me too." I mumbled, suddenly heartbroken beyond belief. "You're my best friend. How could you even be persuaded to try such a thing?" I turned with those words, the pain in my chest sending achiness throughout my limbs.

Jessica came flying out of the back door. She was in front of me in one second exactly, her eyes gold and her teeth grown out and bared. Her challenging growl resonated off of the trees, bouncing all around, and Derek jumped from the gazebo, over the stairs, and landed in front of her, his red eyes bloodthirsty. "Back off!" She growled, her stance changing to defensive. "She's MY mate!" "She's my Luna!" "Don't! Please." I said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder. No matter how it ended, the outlook wasn't good, and I'd die inside. She might rise and kill him, which would pretty much destroy me, but the greater outcome would be that Derek would kill her, gain her power, and I'd lose a Beta with him. "No, don't, please." I said again. Jessica stood, drawing her fangs back, but her eyes stayed yellow. Derek also let his eyes stay, but he left his crouched position, and wheeled around, taking off into the woods. "Derek," I whispered, feeling my stomach lurch. I finally couldn't help it.

Jessica wrapped her arms around me, and I sobbed into her shoulder.

**Well there you have it. What a mess! Do you guys think that Aaden and Derek will pull through? I'm sorry for such a long absence, but the wedding is very near! I'm about to have an extremely full house, so you can imagine how busy my family and I are. Thank you again for your patience, followings and favorites! I hope you're all enjoying the story!**