Chapter 8
Dominic :
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I walked out of the Infirmary, each step heavier than the previous one. My mind played with the image of Eloise refusing to even look at
her own child.
The way that she looks away from her, the way that her face twisted with pain and rejection made my chest ache. And though I couldn’t
decide whether it was out of pain, anger, or just the rejection itself that made my chest tighten, I knew that it was something darker,
something that I did not like, something that I wanted to push away.
The hallway was quiet. The faint hum of the heart monitor from her room echoed in my ears, But as I turned to the corner, wanting to
leave, one of the nurses hurried towards me, her head bowed respectfully, as if she waited for me to tell her to leave, as if she waited
for her command. But I knew that if she had come to me, then there was something that she had in mind.
“Alpha,” she said hesitantly. “I know that this might not be the time…”
“What is it?” I snapped, stopping her. My patience was already a thin line, as it was for her to have a conversation with me right now.
It’s not one that I wanted to think about.
“The baby,” she began softly. “She still doesn’t have a name.”
“Isabella,” I said, stopping her. “Her name is Isabella.”
The nurse was corrected on the before she looked down on her feet, allowing me to leave. I stood there for a moment, debating as I
stared at the closed room of Eloise’s door. So starting now, slowed by the medication that she had been given, the thought of her just
lying there, broken and hollow, made me feel like something was burning inside of me.
She somehow fought to bring Isabella into the world. She did not want to ignore her. She did not want to let
er go. And despite me
rejecting her at first, she chose to keep fighting for the baby. And yet she was rejecting her now. Nothing about the
sense at this point, I just found myself being in conflict.
Si made
I walked out of the room without saying another word. The silence greeted me and I was thinking for it. The less noise I heard a
me, the better the outcome was going to be.
any
“Dominic.” My mother’s voice startled me, and I turned to see her standing in the dimly lit hallway. Her sharp eyes studied me, her
expression unreadable. I knew that she did not like the whole situation and I knew she had a lot to say about it, but right now I did not
want to be talking about it. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to just go to my office and get lost in my thoughts.
I needed to get things settled and I needed them straightened, but I also knew that she was not going to allow that. “Mother,” I said,
straightening. “Is there anything that I can help you with?”
She stepped closer, her footsteps deliberate. “How is she?”
“Eloise?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No,” Ivanasaid flatly. “The baby. Isabella. I heard that you had named her.”
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“Word spreads fast around here. I just named her. How could you have gotten the notice of it?” I asked her sarcastically, knowing that
she had heard me, knowing that she was listening and wanting to understand what I had in mind. Of course, she would want to do so.
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
“She’s fine,” I replied. “The doctors are monitoring her. And she’s going to stay under monitoring until she is okay to leave.”
Ivana’s gaze didn’t waver. “And her mother?”
“You just said that you didn’t want to ask about her, that you wanted to ask about the baby.” I I muttered as the weight of the question
pressed on me. “She’s recovering.”
“*Recovering,*” She repeated, raising an eyebrow at me. “And you? What are you doing, Dominic? Are you helping her? Supporting her?
Or are you just standing by, blaming her for everything? I saw how you looked at her and I saw how she was looking at you. What are
you doing to help her out, Dominic ?”
“I didn’t ask for this,” I said through gritted teeth. “I didn’t ask to be tied to her. And now there’s a child, a child I didn’t plan for. You can’t
just expect me to accept that so easily.”
“That child is your blood. Whether or not you planned for her, she’s here now. And Eloise, as much as you may resent her, is the one
who carried her and nearly died doing so.” Mom said, snapping Godfrey.
TH
“She’s pushing Isabella away,” I said, my frustration boiling over. “She won’t even hold her, Mother. She’s rejecting her. She won’t even
be able to feed her as her milk won’t be enough.”
Wanted any of this? Do you
think
“Of course she is,” Ivanasaid, her tone softening slightly. “She’s overwhelmed. Hurt. Do you think
she wanted to be dragged back here, judged and cornered? And of course, how do you expect her milk to be enough when she’s weak?
She nearly died Dominic”
“She had a choice,” I snapped. “She could have let the baby go. She wouldn’t have been dealing with all of that.”
“And so did you,” Ivanashot back, her voice rising for the first time. “You rejected her, Dominic. You treated her like
and now you’re angry that she’s not acting the way you want her to? That’s not how this works. That’s not
was nothing,
life works.”
I clenched my fists, her words hitting harder than I wanted to admit.
“Eloise needs time, Dominic. And so do you. But don’t make the mistake of abandoning that little girl. Isabella is innocent in all of
this. She didn’t ask to be born into this chaos, but she’s here now. And she needs her parents.” She said, taking a step closer to me.
“Parents?” I scoffed. “You think Eloise’s capable of being a mother right now? Do you really believe that she would ever have been able
to be a mother?”
“She is stronger than you think,” Ivanasaid firmly. “And so are you. But you need to decide whether you’re going to be the kind of man
your daughter deserves, or if you’re going to let this destroy you.”
The infirmary was quiet when I returned. Most of the nurses had already gone to sleep. Those who were in charge for the night stood
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by the incubator or were out tending to the other patients.
I approached Isabella ‘s incubator, my chest tightening as I looked down at her. She was so small, her tiny fingers curled into fists. For
a moment, I allowed myself to feel something other than anger, something fragile and terrifying.
“We got her to get her milk. She’s resting right now.” One of the nurses said, her voice low as she spoke.
I didn’t respond as my eyes were fixed on her, her small body as she lay inside that incubator. My hand hovered over the incubator,
hesitating before I finally rested it on the glass. Even the idea of accepting her seemed absurd to me. “You didn’t ask for this either,” I
murmured.
The nurse said nothing, quietly stepping away to give me space.
For a moment, it was just me and Isabella, the weight of the future pressing heavily on my shoulders. I didn’t know how to fix this, but
one thing was certain, walking away wasn’t an option.
“I promise you I will not walk away from you. Not as long as I’m breathing, little one…
Eloise
“Good morning,” Luna Ivanasaid, entering the room. I was already awake. I hadn’t eaten anything. I refused to do so. I just thought as I
stared into space, wondering how it was going to be dealing with everything that I had to deal Wondering how I was going to
cope with things here.
And noticing my disorientation, Luna Ivana raised her hands in surrender.
I with
“Relax, Eloise.” She said softly. I wanted to open my mouth to speak, however my eyes landed on the bundle in her arms. It was my
baby.
The guilt that I felt in my chest was one that I could not describe. I looked away, unable to look at her, unable to
was resenting her this much, especially after I had fought for her. I was more than willing to fight for her. I
protect her. But now I couldn’t.
Stolain to myself why I
willing to
“What you are feeling Eloise, it is normal. After everything that you’ve been through, your fear, the pressure, that’s all overwhelming.
Mothers that did not go through half of what you did sometimes resent their own children, sometimes reject them too.
But look at her, Isabella has nothing to do with her. She’s innocent of all of this. She needs you. You are the one person that she
knows, and she needs you by her side.”
“Isabella ?” I repeated looking at her as I processed which she had said.
“Dominic named her,” Ivanasaid, glancing down at the baby. “He chose Isabella, short and sweet. I believe that it suits her. Do you
want to take a look at her?”
I swallowed hard, the weight of the name settling over me. Isabella. A name that felt so small and fragile, much like the baby it belonged to. But I knew this looking at her was going to make me weaken and I was not going to be able to protect her.
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“She’s beautiful, Eloise,” Ivanasaid, stepping closer. “Would you like to hold her? All you have to do is look at her. Your body is going to
take charge. Her instincts are going to do so too.”
“They said I wasn’t fit to be her mother,” I whispered. “Even he thinks so…”
“You carried this child alone for months. You endured unimaginable hardships. You protected her when no one else. If that does not
make you fit to be her mother, I don’t know what does.” Luna Ivanasaid softly. “People are going to speak, they are going to tell you that
you’re not right as a mother. Some of them are going to keep throwing you into situations where you are going to want to give up.
Others are going to keep shaming everything that you do. Will that make you any less of a mother? No, it will not. You are this baby’s
mother and she needs you right now. More than anything, she needs the one person that she knew. And I think that you need her too.”
I hesitated, my hands trembling as Ivanastepped closer. She held Isabella out to me, and for a moment, I couldn’t move. The baby
whimpered, her tiny hands twitching, and the sound pierced through my hesitation. Slowly, I reached out.
“Support her head,” Ivanaguided, her voice calm. “It’s okay to feel frightened the first time you carry her. I am going to be by your side
and I’m going to help you out.”
I took isabella into my arms, her warmth spreading through me like a blooming flower. My breath hitched as I looked down at her for
the first time. Her eyes fluttered open, meeting mine, and a sob escaped my lips.
“Hi, baby,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “I’m your mom…”
Isabella’s small face scrunched up before she let out a cry, startling me. I wanted to give her back to Ivana, only she shook her head at
me and put her hand on my shoulder.
“She’s hungry,” Ivanasaid, placing a steadying hand on my arm. “That’s how babies let us know what they need. Would you like to try
feeding her? I think that it’s going to be good for the two of you.”
“I–I don’t think I can,” I stammered, panic rising in my chest. “What if I do it the wrong way? What if I don’t feed her enough? What if
she’s not fed…?”
“Easy…” Ivanahanded me a blanket and helped me drape it over my shoulder. “There’s nothing more natural than a mother feeding her child. Guide her to your breast. She’ll know what to do. It’s their instinct, they know how to do it.”
Hesitantly, I followed her instructions. The moment Isabella latched on, a strange mix of pain and warmth spread through me. Tears
streamed down my cheeks as I watched her feed, her tiny hands curling against me.
“She’s strong, just like her mother,” Ivanasaid with a small smile. “And I’m pretty sure that as she grows older, she’s going to be a lot
stronger.”
Ivanawatched as I kept my eyes on my daughter. I watched as she fed. I had to close my eyes as [1] prevent myself from crying more
than I wanted to.
“I’ll have her crib moved to your room,” Ivanasaid, standing. “She’ll need to stay close to you. Babies feel safer when they can hear their
mother’s breathing. They even learn how to breathe even easier by their mother.”
“But Dominic won’t approve,” I said hesitantly, glancing up at her. “She still needs to be in an incubator.”
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“I’ll speak to him,” Ivanasaid firmly. “This is your child, Eloise, not the nurse’s. You have every right to care for her. As for the incubator, I
believe that her being by her side is going to be good for her. As for the incubator, I believe that her being by her side is going to be a
lot more beneficial. She is the daughter of a wolf. She’s no human. Her body needs to fight for her to grow stronger. She might be the
weakest of the litter. But this is her first challenge show. Even as an infant, she’s going to need to fight to survive.”
“What if I can’t do it?”
“Eloise…” Ivanahesitated at the door, her tone shifting. “Raising a child is never easy, especially under these circumstances. But you
have a chance to build something here. For you. For her. Even for Dominic .”
“I don’t understand,” I said, frowning.
1871
“You’re a beautiful woman with a strong heart,” she said, her voice softer now. “You can win him over. Show him what he stands to lose.
Create a home he won’t want to leave. Every woman has the capability of doing so. All you have to do is be smart about it.”
I stiffened at her words. “You’re suggesting I manipulate him?”
“No,” Ivanasaid, meeting my gaze.
“I’m suggesting you fight for your family. You kept Isabella alive when no one else would.
a
mate.”
You’ve already proven your strength. Now prove your worth as a mother, and as
“I won’t be a replacement for Lucy,” I said, my voice hard. “He rejected me. I’m no longer his mate anyway.”
“No one is asking you to replace anyone, Eloise. But if you want your daughter to have a father in her life, sacrifices will need to be
made.” She said before taking a step back as she walked out of the room, leaving me alone.
ve and uncertainty.
I looked down at my daughter, her tiny face peaceful as she fed. My heart ached with a mix of love
“I’ll figure it out, baby,” I whispered. “I promise.”
presence inside the room
Dominic entered the room without knocking, his presence filling the space like a storm. Right now–en his part
was not one that I wanted. The idea that he could be a threat to her to me, was one that I couldn’t just
I tensed, my arms instinctively tightening around Isabella.
“How is she?” he asked, his tone clipped.
“She’s fine,” I said, meeting his gaze. “Is there anything that you need, Dominic?”
“She’s stronger than I expected.” He said, ignoring my question.
“She’s your daughter,” I said coldly. “What did you expect? Me being her mother does not change the fact that she is the Alpha’s
daughter.”
“Don’t mistake my tolerance for acceptance, Eloise. This doesn’t mean things will go back to how they were.” He said, glaring. Got me.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I shot back, my voice sharper than I intended.
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