Chapter 22: Abortion
(Aria's POV)
The sterile smell of Silvercrest Hospital brought back painful memories. Just weeks ago, I'd watched my mother take her final breath in one of these rooms. Now I was back for a different kind of loss.
"Are you sure about this?" Olivia squeezed my hand as we sat in the waiting area of the reproductive health department.
I nodded, struggling to keep my expression neutral. "I have to be."
My mind drifted to the night Alexander and I first mated. How desperately I'd wanted to bear his pups then. How proud I'd been when I finally conceived after years of trying. Now that dream had twisted into something unrecognizable.
"I can't tie myself to him forever through a child," I said quietly. "I just can't."
My wolf whimpered inside me, instinctively pr
