"It's looking good," I said as I pointed towards my mark, glancing at myself in the bathroom mirror, attempting to get a look from all angles. Cole and I had just showered after a long sleep, and although the hot water did sting my wound a little bit, it helped clean it from the clear fluid it had started leaking.

Cole started to stress about how the mark might affect the baby, and even though we both knew it wasn't going to cause harm to it, I still agreed to go to the doctors appointment he had booked for me.

"Um." I clicked my tongue awkwardly as I kicked at the ground. I still hadn't questioned my mate on if he was aware of what Anthony and Amber's Mother had done, and I was concerned that he hadn't been informed yet and I was going to have to be the one to break the news that he had even more crap to deal with.

Cole glanced at me as he towel dried his hair, slipping a white T-shirt over his head before chuckling. "Are you wanting to ask me about Anthony's Mother?"

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Did the hospital tell you?"

He nodded. "Someone stopped by as soon as they discovered what had gone on. Additional information is needed as we want to understand why she did what she did and how she managed to slip it through the cracks."

I gulped. I knew why she had done it. Was I expected to explain it to Cole?

He eyed me up, and I groaned, flopping down onto the bed and running my hand down my face. "She told me why she did it. She also explained how she managed to do it."

Cole raised an eyebrow before nodding. "Okay, would you be able to write down everything she told you so that I can use it please? I've asked Rowan to go in and get her explanation. It'll be interesting to see if the stories match up."

As long as I didn't have to go in there and try and intimidate the woman. That really wasn't my style, especially since she was days away from her death.

"Is there much point in doing an investigation?" I asked. "She's not going to survive much longer. Is this not just adding unnecessary stress to both parties?"

"It's procedure, Reya. She broke the rules and could have endangered the pack and possibly her own children who she had a duty of care to. I don't know the story but she could have been in contact with people on the outside who now know things they shouldn't because of her carelessness."

Cole sounded angry, and I sighed, just allowing him to vent. I wanted to let him to give his intense emotions an out. He was suffering from a lot of stress.

"Okay, I'll write down what Anthony's Mother told me as soon as possible. What else is needed to be done today?" I was sure that there was a hell of a list.

Cole and I made our way downstairs as he hummed, seeming to go through everything in his head. "So I need to see what Anthony's Mother says to Rowan and cross check it with the story she told you. I need to show Finn and Kassandra their accommodation. We need to attend your Doctor's appointment, and I need to go and talk to the other humans again."

I furrowed my brows. "You need to talk to the humans again? Why? I thought you had already decided you were going to let them stay for the time being?"

"They are, but I want to make it clear to them that they are going to need to start planning what they are going to do about leaving. I don't know if they've started thinking about it yet, but we won't house them for too much longer. I think I'm going to cut their stay a little short because of certain issues we've had, but I am also going to be offering them help with planning their leave."

I smiled. "That's a good idea."

Cole chuckled, making his way over to me and planting a kiss on my lips quickly, taking another quick look at my swollen neck. It wasn't too bad since he was much gentler than last time, but it did ache.

"I don't expect them to give me any information on other human colonies and their whereabouts, but I think offering them advice on where to head will again show them that we don't want to leave them to fend for themselves. We have good intel on the location of a few human cities and towns we could give them directions to."

I arched my brows. "Cities and towns? Human ones?"

Cole shrugged, looking confused. "Yes?"

I had never known about humans living in cities or towns. We had always just been told that everybody lived in colonies and that everyone was isolated and having to learn to fight wolves in the forest like us. It was how humans survived.

Yet another thing Markus had lied to us about.

"Would it be silly to ask if I could visit a human city one day?" I asked, holding my hands behind my back and swaying forwards and backwards with a small smile on my face, looking hopeful.

Cole cleared his throat. "I mean, maybe one day when everything blows over, but if anybody finds out who you are, they wouldn't be very welcoming. They might even hurt you, although humans within the large towns and cities don't often get involved in the werewolf drama since they're so far away from us. Wolves never venture that far from the forest. They don't keep up to date."

"Does that mean that you wouldn't come with me?" I muttered, feeling a little deflated.

Cole chuckled, shaking his head. "Wolves aren't welcome there, that's for sure. I wouldn't want to interfere with their lives. City humans fear us greatly. The majority of them have never seen a werewolf and I would stick out like a sore thumb."

It was true. Although Cole appeared human, he was extremely tall and muscular and it would raise a few eyebrows. He screamed wolf.

My body buzzed. The idea of visiting a town or city sounded incredible. I wasn't too sure what to expect, and I knew that I wasn't going to be visiting it anytime soon, but just the prospect was enough to make me excited. I would have to ask my Father to come with me. It would be a great way to bond.

"I need to see my Father soon," I told Cole. "I'm sure he's going stir crazy in his house all alone. I know he feels uncomfortable going out without anyone he knows."

Cole hummed. "We can visit him on the way back from the hospital if you would like? Rowan will be heading over to the hospital around about now to question Anthony's Mother, and I need to escort Finn and Kassandra to their house after your appointment, so you can go and see your Father while I'm doing that? Or you can wait until after if you want me to join you?"

"It's okay, I can go alone. Where are Finn and Kassandra staying?"

"In your old cabin."

My eyes widened slightly, and I clicked my tongue. That wasn't big enough for the both of them. "It only has a single bed though?"

"I know," Cole said as we slipped on our shoes and exited the house, him grasping my hand in his. "Amara and Tirus are swapping it out for a bigger one as we speak. It won't leave much room for anything else, but it will be a temporary home. We don't know if they intend to stay after the other humans have left."

I nodded, my stomach dropping slightly thinking about Finn and Kassandra leaving. I didn't want them to. Having other humans here was nice, and I knew that when everything was over, I would thoroughly enjoy having them to relate to and spend time with. It would make my Father feel a hell of a lot more comfortable too, but I understood that if they wanted to go, they could. They weren't tied to us and didn't owe me anything.

My mind wandered to Cassia as we walked through the pack grounds, taking the less busy route since businesses were starting up again and we wanted to avoid having to talk to people. We didn't have the time.

Cassia and I's friendship would have really blossomed if she had made it, and her funeral sprung to mind. I wanted to make a speech "When is the funeral for everybody we lost?"

Cole hissed as he furrowed his brows. "Unfortunately the planning of it did take a little bit of a back seat, but Amara has volunteered to organise everything with the help of a few of her friends. She suggested having you on board too, but I was a little worried to ask you in case it triggered anything."

"No, I need to keep busy," I told him, the hospital coming into view, and I grimaced, worried we would see Rowan in there ready to intimidate Anthony's Mother. I had a feeling he was going to take out his distaste of Amber out on her, and after my appointment, I was going to ask Cole to go and check on them to make sure he wasn't being too much of a dick.

Perhaps she deserved it, but at the same time, the woman was about to pass away and had done what she had done believing it was going to help.

"Okay." Cole nodded. "I'll let Amara know. She wants the funeral to happen in a few days, so be prepared to be bombarded. I did tell her that if you did agree, to keep the pressure off of you though."

Even though I was tired, that was what I needed to distract myself.

We made our way into the hospital, and Cole made his way to the desk, checking me in. I waited on a chair in the corner of the room, trying to hide away from everybody. It wasn't overly busy, and I peered down a few corridors, wondering where the spare room was that Finn and Kassandra had been allowed to stay in.

"Reya?" called Doctor Rygard as he slipped out of a door, waving me over, Cole following. He led us down a windy hallway just like last time, opening up a door right at the back of the hospital, gesturing for us to enter. "How can I help you today? I understand that you booked in with me quite suddenly. Has something happened that you're concerned about?"

"Cole marked me yesterday," I mentioned, noticing the Doctor's eyes trailing up towards my neck. He hummed as he shuffled his seat closer to me, gazing at my skin. "He was worried that it would have done something to the baby."

Doctor Rygard glanced over at Cole with questionable grows, and I almost burst out laughing at how sheepish Cole looked. He appeared embarrassed for bringing me in for something so minor. Marking wasn't going to harm the baby, but I could tell that Doctor Rygard wasn't going to flat out say that.

"Marking doesn't usually affect babies in any way shape or form, but I understand the concern since you're human and we don't know what this baby is going to turn out like. You're around three weeks along now, is that correct?"

I tried to add up the numbers in my head. "That sounds about right."

He gestured for me to lie down on the little cot, and he pulled back a curtain, revealing a strange looking contraption. I had never seen anything like it, and I recoiled slightly, afraid.

"This is an ultrasound machine," Doctor Rygard informed me, my eyes fixated on the large white metal blob. It had a small screen on it that wasn't turned on, multiple red and blue buttons along the edge of the metal. "This is the newest model, so it does look a little different to the others we have."

"I've never seen one," I told him, cocking my head at it. I really wasn't used to all of the technology the wolves had.

"Oh, well, it's pretty simple. It will allow me to get a picture of your baby up on the screen. It will be very blurry and will be in black and white, but you'll be able to see the faint outline of it. I'm afraid it won't look like too much right now though, but I want to listen to its heartbeat and see how it's getting on."

I nodded, laying back, Cole standing at the foot of the cot with wide eyes, staring at the screen as Doctor Rygard squirted a cool gel onto my abdomen. He moved some strange metal object around on my belly, and I shivered, Cole placing his hand on my shin comfortingly.

Doctor Rygard hummed, pushing the object harder against my skin, causing me to narrow my eyes and gulp. The room was deathly silent apart from the annoying beeping of the machine, and I shuffled uncomfortably, glancing at a worried looking Cole.

"What's going on?" he demanded, biting at his thumb nail.

"I'm not sure," Doctor Rygard muttered, pressing at a few buttons. "Something doesn't look right."

•••

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