Use Me, Royal Stranger (mxm)

Chapter 26 - Deserving, Undeserving

"Who is the father, warrior? I asked a simple question. You seem to know the answer, stop stalling." Nana chided, her hands working to grab some vials nearby, "Is it you, warrior? The father."

Alaric let out a possessive growl. His inner wolf had enough of talks like this. It wasn't going to entertain another thought that his mate had laid with another man. "No, the child is mine. That's my baby. Carlen would never stray to another man. He has never looked at another man." Alaric bit his lips till it bled as he glanced over at Lance momentarily.

Nana's hands froze for several moments as she looked over at Alaric stunned. How could it be? "Are- Are you his mate?" She asked in a whisper, shaking her head, unable to come to terms with what she was hearing. Her precious baby, pregnant with the King's child. When had they have the chance to be with one another? How could it be? How could she have not known? They were close, that she knew, but they never showed signs that there was something more.

Alaric nodded his head, his wolf was unsettled with her apparent denial of the fact. How dare anyone suspect differently?

Nana had resumed her work on Carlen, her disbelief still noticeable, "This is why we could never find a mate for you, we were looking at the wrong gender! How could you keep your bond a secret? Have you thought of how your mate, how Carlen would have felt? Did you even consider him your mate? How could you have let this happen to someone so sweet? I had high hopes for you Alaric! I never thought- How could you have taken a wife when you had a mate!" Healer Naomi berated viciously.

"I had to! I had no other choice. It was hard for me to choose this end!" Alaric shouted, his eyes darting around nervously as his inner wolf whined, as his motherly figure chastised him, "I never meant to hurt him." Alaric never looked more weak and small.

Naomi scoffed, "For the sake of your kingdom, you sure gave up a lot. Must have been hard on you." She bit on sarcastically, "I can't imagine how easy it was for my baby throughout all these. You never meant to hurt him? He lays on my work table Alaric, he lays here fighting for his life, his child's life. King or not, be prepared to pay for this." She threw a used vial at his feet as though to make a point.

Nana's hands moved quickly and swiftly, but the bleeding was still rampant and rapid. Carlen's body suddenly jerked violently under her, and Nana wailed as she held onto her child, pushing Lance and Alaric out of the way as she tried to sense the child that was within Carlen. It was silent, it had lost its battle. The moon goddess had taken it.

"We have lost the child, we have lost the child." She whispered under her breath, tears falling from her eyes, as she removed all the towels off her precious Carlen. She had to remove the child now, the bleeding was a secondary issue. "We can do nothing to save it." She announced again, a sob escaping her throat as she tried her best to stay professional, but could not. How could she? Her baby was lying unresponsive on her work table. If she could save him, she would have to break the news of his loss when he wakes. How was he so unlucky to have to be put through this? "Oh, moon goddess. Goddess, no." She wailed, her hands working as well as she could to expertly remove the fetus from Carlen's body, "You cannot take my child, goddess please, no." She pleaded fervently.

Lance and Alaric had lost their minds. They were simply standing by, staring, mouths hanging open, hearts aching, words lost. The very idea that the unborn child in Carlen's body was no longer breathing, no longer with this world, was not an easy notion to handle. They had seen death so many times, but never like this. What had the unborn child done to deserve this?

Removing the fetus from Carlen's body had been easier than expected, with the gaping hole in his belly. Even though it had passed on, Nana still wrapped the dead child in a clean linen cloth, placing it gently down on a cushion. She glanced at Alaric sadly, "I'm sorry."