Chapter 166
Chapter 166 Unexpected consequences
“Doris! What on earth are you doing out of bed?” Beth tore Doris out of her half sleep and into the
blinding daylight. She felt as if a cloud was all around her and fogging up her vision to the point that it
was hard to focus on her friend. “How long have you been on this lumpy couch?”
Doris sat up when Beth helped her. “I woke up sick again. I feel so nauseous and dizzy all the time, so it
kept me awake.”
Beth froze for a moment until she lightly seated herself next to Doris. “I’ve been meaning to ask you
about your symptoms.”
“I don’t think I was poisoned”
“No, no. That’s not what I’m concerned about.” Beth cleared her throat. “Have you and William been
intimate yet?”
Doris felt her cheeks me instantly, as well as a bit of shame swell up inside her chest to the point
where she wanted to choke. Beth quickly silenced her. “You don’t have to say anything. I just want to
know if you were… careful during those times.”
A new sort of panic formed to rece all that tried to scare her before. “Careful?” Doris whispered.
“Yes… with protection…?” Beth said gently as if she didn’t know how else to exin without going into
gory details that would make Doris melt into the floor. 1
It was like all their heated moments shed before her eyes and one thing was missing. One obvious
thing that made her want to scream. Doris dropped her head in her hands. “How could I be so stupid?”
She mumbled. 2
Doris’s mother had never taught her the first thing about sex or when to be careful, she learned all of that
from books but somehow her mind didn’t consider the consequences for her own actions in the heated
moments. Why hadn’t it crossed her mind once? Why did she live so blissfully in ignorance to her
consequences? 1
It was like a light went off in her head when Beth mentioned protection. How stupid could she be? How
stupid
“No, no no. This can’t be happening!” Doris closed her eyes tightly and prayed it was all a dream. That
her symptoms weren’t because of her careless behavior. 2
“It’ll be okay, Doris… the prince will make sure you’re taken care of. He wouldn’t leave you in the dark on
this!”
“I know he wouldn’t but, I’m not ready to have a baby with him, Beth. I’m still confused on half of the
things I feel when he’s in the room, how am I supposed to be the mother of his baby?”
Beth rubbed Doris’s shoulder soothingly. “I know this wasn’t what you nned, but perhaps it’s a sign.”
“A sign of my stupidity?” Doris sunk deeper into the couch.
“You weren’t the only one who forgot, Doris. William is much more experienced on these things and
knew better-so don’t you dare try to me it all on yourself for this.” Beth wrapped her arms around
Doris and trapped her in a hug that tried to erase all of her horrible thoughts. “Haven’t you ever
wondered why wolves have so many children? They rarely care for things like protection.”
“I just… I suppose I can wipe the idea of freedom away from the pce out of my future. If I have his
baby, he will make me stay.”
“Do you truly want to be free from him? If you had the chance, would you leave right now even if there
wasn’t a possible baby?” Beth asked.
Doris stared down at her hands. Would she be able to get up and leave right this moment? Would she be
able to forget the way his blue eyes turned to storms whenever he was worried about her?
“1-I don’t know.” Doris admitted. “I don’t know if I could, even though it’s all I ever wanted. I hate these
walls and I hate this pce, I want to be free from all of this but now… ”
“Love changes us.” Beth whispered. “It changes what we want in life and it changes who we think we
are.”
“Freedom is all l’ve thought about for the past five years. I swore to myself I wouldn’t let anyone change
that dream for me. And now…* “Now it feels as if it’s changing?” Beth asked gently. “That’s love knocking
down all of your past ns you had for yourself, because now there’s someone else on your mind.”
Doris felt her wave of dizziness start to pass. She dropped her head against Beth’s shoulder . “What am I
supposed to do now? William won’t want this, Beth.”
“You’re his mate! There’s nothing else he would want more.”
“A war is about to brew between him and his brother. I don’t think a baby is going to make him happy
right now.” Doris said bitterly. She nced at the window and watched the snow fall slowly.
“There’s a possibility it isn’t a baby, we won’t know for sure until we have you checked.” Beth stood and
went to the stack of bags by the door. “Do you want to go now before we leave—“ “No, he should be
here soon. I’ll have to… find a way to tell him after we’re settled at the new camp.” “I just came from the
servants quarters and all of the staff has already been divided. Surprisingly, William had a lot more
followers than I expected.” Bethid out warm clothes for Doris to change into. “I heard that they sent
ahead quite a few groups to set up a new camp area for his army.”
“They’ve already got it picked out?” Doris asked.
“Oh yes. Apparently they’ve been talking about this since you all returned from the north. It’s been
imed for days-hopefully there’s a good ce for you all to rest when you get there.”
“And you.“ Doris bumped Beth lightly with her hip and smiled.
William’s guard showed up an hourter to take their things to the stables. Beth held Doris’s hand tightly
as she walked with her down the pce halls for what felt like thest time. For all she knew, it very well
could have been thest time either of them stepped into this pce.
For some reason, that didn’t sit right with her.
William stood tall by the carriages that lined the cobblestone path. His eyes found her instantly, she
wondered if he could sense her nearby as she always sensed him.
He said nothing as she approached, only held out his hand to help her into the carriage. The uncertainty
thickened in her stomach, she wondered how long she could keep it from him or if she would blurt it out
the second she opened her mouth.
Beth scooted in close followed by Patrick and William on the other side. She gripped Beth’s hand tightly
when the carriage lurched off. It felt as if her insides were about toe right out of her from the
movement alone.
“Are you alright?” Beth whispered. Doris nodded quickly and nced up to see William watching her with
those stormy eyes. He said nothing, but his eyes asked so many questions that she didn’t want to
answer at the moment.
“How long until we get there?” Beth asked quickly as if she could sense the building tension that crowded
the small area.
“We should be there within an hour. It’s not far but the roads are covered in snow.” Patrick said, oblivious
the the air around him. 1
Doris tore her eyes from William’s and stared out the window for the rest of the trip. No one else said
anything besides Patrick making small talk with William about things they had to ready once they arrived.
Doris couldn’t have felt further from her body.
Once it rolled to a stop, she was thest one to get out. William’s grip tightened on her as he set her on
the ground. His eyes searched every inch of her for some sort of injury that wasn’t there.
“William, we need you to look this over before we approve it.” Patrick called from behind him. William
narrowed his eyes slightly when their gazes met. “We’ll talk soon.” Was all he said before he left her by
the carriage with her friend.
Beth let out a long breath. “He’s intimidating, I swear a hole was going to burn through you in
that carriage.”
“How did he know something was wrong?” Doris whispered and followed her friend through the camp. It
had severalrge tents set up and arge fire in the middle of it all. They were brought to one of the
bigger tents near the center of the camp.
“Wolves can sense when their mate is under distress. Plus, it was obvious from how pale you are. You
don’t look well at all.”
This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
Doris brought her cold hands to her face. “I suppose there’s no use in trying to hide it, then.”