Hands trembling, I pulled up my own scrying image from the last healer visit and compared them side by side.
I wasn't wrong. That was my child she was flaunting.
No wonder I couldn't catch any trace of my own scent-signature in those images.
I tapped into her profile and found her previous viral howl-stream.
"Documenting my intended's whelping simulation experience "
Her intended's face wasn't visible, but I caught something else.
The bonding mark on his left ring finger. The hand he kept clenched tight.
Identical to Kael Ironclaw's.
My heart seized. I gripped my swollen belly, gasping for air.
No wonder Kael had recoiled every time I mentioned doing a whelping simulation together.
He'd already done it. With her.
He knew exactly how excruciating birthing a pup was—bones shifting apart, the agony of full transformation during labor.
And he'd decided to use my body to give another female a child.
The comments below were vicious.
"Everyone spread this! That poor she-wolf needs to see it. She can't be tricked into being a vessel for some shadow-mate!"
"Even if she whelps, there's no way she's handing over that pup. Once a rogue consort, always a rogue consort."