The Comments Told Me To Run, He Wouldn’t Let Me Chapter 06

I knew I was pregnant.

Rabbit shifters know early. Our bodies just know.

I ran home.

The test strip changed color. Just as I knew it would.

[Comments]

[WAIT. Is Willa pregnant??]

[I suddenly don’t want to keep reading…]

[Yeah, this baby is the trigger for everything. The ML is already in love with the FL. Willa tries to use the pregnancy to hold onto him and refuses to end it, so he snaps and throws her into

the sea to feed the fish.]

[A shark bites her in HALF and four unborn baby rabbits fall out. I’m still not over it.]

I was terrified.

When Alden got home, I tested the waters.

“Do you like baby rabbits?”

He’d changed into his loungewear. I was curled up against him on the couch while he trimmed

my nails.

He paused, nudging his nose against mine.

“Baby rabbits? Like you?”

I nodded, my eyes shining. “Yeah. Maybe four of them. They’d be so tiny. Probably cuter than me. Definitely smarter.”

“And with your genes, they might have blue eyes. Blue ears, even.”

Something in his face closed off. He understood what I was really saying.

“Baby. Are you saying you want kids?”

I searched his eyes and couldn’t answer.

He stroked my ears.

“It’s not the right time for kids.”

“Maybe in a few years.

I pressed my lips together. “What if I already am?”

He went still.

The room went quiet.

The clock on the wall kept ticking.

Alden looked at me. Something in his expression had hardened.

When he finally spoke, every word was measured. “‘We’ll go to the hospital.”

“Rabbit shifters are already fragile. You were premature on top of that. Your body can’t handle

it.”

“A high-ranking aquatic shifter’s genes are too dóminant. A cross-species pregnancy could

kill you.”

He stood up. Looked down at me. There was nothing left to discuss.

“If you’re pregnant, I’m scheduling the procedure for tomorrow.”

Everything inside me went cold.

My ears were ringing.

The comments blurred past, one after another.

[See?? What did I say!]

[The ML wants the FL. That’s all this is. What a convenient excuse.]

[His genes are “too powerful”? Please. He just doesn’t want anything tying him down.]

[Once the baby’s gone, Willa’s useless to him. Next stop, shark food.]

I bit my lower lip until I tasted iron.

Alden reached for my head. I flinched before I could stop myself.

His hand hung in the air.

“Listen to me.” He pulled his hand back, and his voice dropped a notch. “Once you’ve recovered, we can talk about other options.”

Other options.

He meant with Tessa. Didn’t he?

I dropped my gaze and swallowed everything burning behind my eyes.

I nodded. “Okay. Whatever you think is best, Alden.”

Early the next morning, an emergency at the base kept Alden away. He sent his adjutant to take

me to the first interstellar medical center instead.

I rode in the back of the hovercar with one hand pressed over my stomach the entire

At the hospital, the adjutant went to check me in.

I told him I needed the bathroom and slipped around the corner into a stall.

I locked the door and pulled a shard of glass from my pocket.

I’d broken a water glass the night before. Kept this piece.

way.

One deep breath. I pressed the sharp edge against the metal tracking anklet and sawed with

everything I had.

The metal held.

The glass bit into my skin instead. Blood ran down my ankle.

No pain. Just fear.

Fear of being caught. Fear of being dragged back. Fear of the sharks.

A soft snap. The anklet split open.

I dropped it into the toilet and flushed.

I shoved open the ventilation window, shifted into a lop rabbit small enough to fit in the palm

of a hand, and crawled into the duct.