The Comments Told Me To Run, He Wouldn’t Let Me Chapter 10

Alden pulled up his holo terminal and opened a wall of classified files.

Lab records. Pages and pages of them.

“During the day, I was at base training Tessa to handle my workload.”

“Every night, I practically lived in the genetics lab. Pushed the team to extract my toxin and

isolate antibodies for a serum.”

“And the reason I kept my distance…”

He nipped my ear, his voice dropping low.

“Aquatic shifters go into heat too. With you pregnant and that close to me every night, I was afraid I’d lose control and hurt you.”

I turned to the records on the terminal.

The data was blunt. Repeated toxin extractions had left him dangerously weakened.

Every early morning, every late night. All of it had been for me.

That was when it happened.

The comments hovering in my vision started glitching. Hard.

[Warning! Plot deviation has reached 100%!]

[World line restructuring…]

[Observer disconnected]

A burst of garbled color flashed across my vision. Then the comments blinked out and never

came back.

They were never prophecies.

Just the wrong guesses of a system too small to understand what it was watching.

I leaned into Alden, and for the first time in months, the fear finally let go of me.

“Alden… I’m sorry.”

I curled my fingers into his collar, my voice barely there.

Alden’s hand found my belly, and the look in his eyes went so soft it almost broke me again.

“No. I’m the one who’s sorry.”

“I didn’t make you feel safe enough.”

He went quiet for a beat, and when he spoke again, his voice sounded far away.

“I knew something was wrong the second I smelled that cookie years ago.”

My head snapped up.

“I was just a kid. All I thought was, ‘Don’t eat it.’ It never crossed my mind that your mother

would take it.”

Something raw and old surfaced in his eyes.

“She died in my place.”

“That day, I swore I’d spend the rest of my life keeping you safe.”

“I owe you everything. And somewhere along the way, you got all of me too.”

“There was never going to be anyone else.”

He dipped his head and kissed the corner of my eye.

“I’ve only raised one rabbit in my life. And she’s the only one I’ve ever wanted.”

My eyes blurred again, but this time, the tears were warm.

I looped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

“The serum… did they finish it?”

He laughed against my mouth. “Finished and tested. Our babies are staying right where they belong.”