Mated to Her Alpha Instructor Chapter 20

Eileen

I turned, my heart sinking, and found her holding out her hand expectantly.

"Leave some money for Gareth's training fees," she said. "They've gone up this term, and we're a bit short."

I stared at her, my throat tight, and then slowly reached into my bag and pulled out the small pouch of coins I'd been saving. I counted out what I could spare, leaving just enough for the fare and the healer's fee, and placed it in her palm.

She glanced at the coins, her mouth tightening. "Is that all?"

"It's all I have," I said quietly.

She made a dismissive sound and waved me away, and I turned and walked out of the house without looking back.

As the door closed behind me, I heard her voice, faint but unmistakable: "She could have left more."

I didn't cry. I didn't even feel angry. I just felt... empty.

---

The clinic was exactly as I remembered it—a small, weathered building on the outskirts of the town near the academy, tucked between a blacksmith's shop and a weaver's stall.

Inside, the air smelled of herbs and old wood, and a middle-aged Beta healer looked up from her desk as I entered, her expression kind but weary.

"Can I help you, dear?"

I swallowed hard, my hands twisting together in front of me. "I... I need to be examined. I think I might be... I mean, I need to know if I'm..."

She nodded, understanding immediately, and gestured for me to sit. "Come. Let's take a look."

I followed her to a small side room, where she had me sit on a low wooden bench while she moved to a shelf lined with bottles and jars. She brought out a shallow glass dish and a small vial of clear, faintly luminous liquid—moonflower essence, I recognized it from the medical texts. When mixed with a pregnant she-wolf's blood, it would glow silver-blue.

"I'll need a drop of your blood," she said gently, holding up a small needle. "Just a prick."

I held out my hand, unable to speak, and watched as she pricked my fingertip. A single drop of blood fell into the dish, swirling through the liquid in faint red tendrils.

For a moment, nothing happened.

And then—slowly, impossibly—the liquid began to glow.

It started as a faint shimmer, barely visible, but within seconds the light intensified, spreading through the dish in soft, pulsing waves of silvery-blue that illuminated the healer's face.

I stared at it, my breath caught somewhere between my lungs and my throat, and felt the world tilt sideways.

The healer looked up at me, her expression shifting to something more complicated—surprise, concern, maybe even a trace of pity.

"You're pregnant," she said gently. "About two weeks along, I'd say." She paused, her gaze flicking over me, taking in my lack of scent markers, the absence of any visible bond mark. "You're wolfless, aren't you?"

I nodded, unable to speak.

Her brow furrowed. "This is... very rare. Wolfless women almost never conceive, especially with an Alpha. Your body..." She hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "Your body will have a harder time carrying this pregnancy than a full-blooded she-wolf would. You'll need to be careful. And you'll need to decide quickly what you want to do."

"I..." My voice cracked, and I pressed my hands to my mouth, trying to hold back the sob that was building in my throat. "I don't know. I don't—I can't—"

"It's all right," she said softly, reaching out to touch my shoulder. "You don't have to decide right now. But you should know that if you choose to terminate, you'll need at least a week to recover. And if you choose to keep it..." She trailed off, her meaning clear.

I nodded again, tears streaming down my face, and she handed me a clean cloth to wipe my eyes.

"Do you have someone who can help you?" she asked. "The father, perhaps?"

"No," I whispered. "He doesn't know. And I... I can't tell him."

She looked at me for a long moment, and then she sighed. "All right. But you need to think carefully, dear. This isn't a decision you can make lightly."

I left the clinic in a daze, the healer's words echoing in my head, and found myself sitting on a bench at the edge of the town square, staring at nothing.

Two choices. Both impossible.

If I terminated the pregnancy, I would need to explain the recovery time to the academy, to my family. I would have to lie, and even then, I wasn't sure I could go through with it. The thought of ending this—this tiny, fragile thing that was somehow mine and his—made my chest ache with a pain so sharp it took my breath away.

But if I kept it... I would be expelled. I would lose everything I'd worked for. I would be cast out by my family, scorned by the pack. And I would be raising a child alone, with no resources, no support, no future.

I pressed my hands to my stomach, feeling the faint warmth there, and closed my eyes.

*What do I do?*

The only answer that came was the one I'd been trying to avoid, the one that terrified me more than anything else.

I would have to tell him.

I would have to tell Regis.

And I had no idea how.