The whispers started quietly at first.
Rachel noticed the change during her morning walk in the garden. For weeks, the servants and pack members had avoided her eyes or muttered cruel things behind her back. But today, something was different.
A group of women near the flower beds stopped talking when she passed. One of them — an older warrior’s wife — looked at her rounded belly with softened eyes.
“She’s carrying the Alpha’s heir,” the woman said, not bothering to lower her voice. “Look at her. The child is already showing.”
Another nodded. “The Moon Goddess has blessed this union after all. Maybe peace really has come.”
Rachel kept walking, her hand instinctively resting on her stomach. The loose dresses she wore could no longer fully hide the growing curve. At nearly four months,
