The Alpha Captain's Secret Baby novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: The Healer's Water
The silver bowl sat on a stone table in the middle of the Hall, and the whole pack stood around it in a ring.
Hattie rolled her sleeves to the elbow.
She had washed her hands twice at the sink in the corner and dried them on her cardigan, because nobody had thought to bring her a towel.
The old Alpha sat in the retired Alpha's chair with a blanket over his knees, and Rhys stood on the dais beside him.
I stood at the front of the crowd, where I could see Pia's face.
She came in last, in a black dress.
Black, on a woman who had been in white every day for six years.
The pack parted for her, and a murmur ran along the walls.
She walked to the table with her head high and her eyes red.
"I'll say it before she touches me," Pia said, and her voice carried to the back. "So nobody can say I hid from the water."
Hattie's hands stopped over the bowl.
"I woke last night with cramps," Pia said. "I thought it was nerves. At the rink, after he came at me, it got worse. I lost the baby in the car on the way home."
The Hall groaned all at once.
I heard a woman say Oh, no, and a man curse.
Pia put both hands over her stomach and bowed her head.
"I'm sorry, Rhys," she said. "I wanted to give you an heir, and you frightened it out of me. I don't blame you. I only wanted you to know."
The tears came down her face on cue.
I looked at Rhys.
His jaw was set hard, but he did not say a word.
He had learned that much since the rink.
Keep reading free with an account. Start The Alpha Captain's Secret Baby from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 16 · All chapters · Chapter 18 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend