Mated To The Crippled Alpha-Chapter 398: Luther Again

"I’m pregnant."

Both men turned to look at me at the same time, and both said it in unison "You’re pregnant?" loud enough that half the people waiting outside the clinic turned to stare. Lewis and Julian were standing on either side of me, and I could practically see the thoughts forming on the faces around us. Two extremely good-looking men, one announcement, a hallway full of strangers with too much time and too much imagination.

I grabbed Lewis’s arm and pulled him away before anyone could say anything else.

Neither of them had fully processed it yet that much was obvious. Lewis knew I had visited the small town and learned what I’d needed to learn there, but he didn’t know about the medicine I’d taken afterward. The pregnancy was genuinely a shock to him. His whole face had gone still in the way it did when something hit him that he hadn’t seen coming.

I threw my arms around him right there in the corridor, not caring who was watching, the tears already coming before I could stop them. "Lewis, I’m finally pregnant. We’re going to have a baby."

He made a sound low in his throat and folded me into his arms so tightly I felt the tremor moving through him. "Elena," he said, like my name was the only word he had left. "My sweet Elena."

Something warm and wet touched my neck. I pulled back just enough to look at his face.

He was crying.

I had never seen that before. Not once. I reached up and touched his cheek, trying to steady him, trying to say something, but nothing came out just more tears, and the two of us standing there in a hospital hallway holding on. "We’re having a baby," I managed finally. "We’re really having a baby."

Julian stood a few feet away, watching us. His face was very still, but the sadness in it was plain. I knew what he was thinking about. The last time I had been pregnant, it had been his child and he had been the one to end it. He had pushed me down with his own hands, and that baby had never had a chance to take a single breath. Watching Lewis now, seeing the exact opposite of everything Julian had done that day, had to cut somewhere deep.

I didn’t dwell on it. I turned back to Lewis as he swept me off my feet, pressing a kiss to my cheek. "You’re incredible," he said against my skin.

"Put me down, I’m perfectly fine."

"The first trimester is delicate. We need to be careful."

"The doctor said I’m healthy and the baby is strong. In two more weeks "

"We’re still being careful."

He carried me to the car as if I were made of something fragile, while Julian climbed silently into the back row without a word. Lewis held my hand the entire drive home, his thumb moving slowly across my knuckles, his eyes when they met mine so full of warmth it almost felt like too much. The weight that had been sitting over us for so long all of it had lifted, just like that. Something bright had moved into its place.

Back at the Hale residence, I was eager to find Jeffrey. But as we stepped out of the car, I noticed Sera near the entrance and the soft, unmistakable curve of her belly stopped me where I stood.

It had been so long since I’d seen her that I had almost forgotten how much she still carried for Julian, quietly and without complaint. She greeted us with a small, composed smile. "Uncle Lewis. Aunt Riley."

I looked at her belly with a warmth I hadn’t expected to feel quite so strongly. "How far along are you?"

"Almost five months. The doctor says it’s a girl." She rubbed her stomach in that gentle, unconscious way that pregnant women did, like they couldn’t help reaching for what was already there.

"A girl," I repeated softly. "That’s wonderful. Can I feel?"

"Of course. She’s been moving quite a bit lately. In another two weeks I’ll be able to do the detailed scan and see her face properly."

I crouched down and laid my hand carefully against the curve of her stomach. Something moved beneath my palm faint, fluttering, unmistakably alive. Like a small fish turning in warm water. My chest tightened with a feeling I didn’t have a word for. In my past life, my baby had been gone before I ever reached this stage. I had never felt a movement. Now, in just a few months, my own child would be doing exactly this.

My heart turned over completely.

"I think I can feel her," I said quietly.

Sera smiled. "Once yours is further along, it’ll be much stronger. You’ll feel everything."

I straightened up, keeping my expression easy and neutral. I wasn’t ready to share my own news yet. Old instincts sharp, deep ones told me to keep it close for now. Even among people I trusted, caution had kept me alive more than once. I exchanged a few more words with Sera before heading inside.

Behind me, I heard her approach Julian. His response was flat and distant, barely a greeting. I shook my head quietly. He had never known how to hold on to what was right in front of him. He had let things slip away again and again, and he was still doing it.

I found Jeffrey in his room, settled against his pillows looking more rested than earlier. When I told him quietly, his expression warmed, though he kept it measured and calm.

"Has anyone else heard?"

"Only Carl and Julian."

He nodded slowly. "Keep it that way for now. There are people watching this household some openly, some not. You’re carrying a Hale child. That makes you a target if the wrong people find out."

"I know." I glanced toward the window. "What about Sera’s baby?"

"I brought her here for exactly that reason. Whatever happens between her and Julian is their business, but that child is Hale blood. There can be no accidents." He looked at me steadily. "Same goes for yours. Be careful, Elena. Extra careful."

"I will."

We had dinner with Jeffrey before leaving, and as we pulled out of the driveway I remembered Whitney her first day at the finance academy, alone in a city she was still learning to navigate.

"Carl, let’s swing by and pick her up."

"Are you sure you’re not too tired?"

"I’m fine. She doesn’t know anyone here yet. It’s her first day and I’d rather check on her than wonder."

The academy was the kind of place that used its own tuition fees as a filter. Prestigious professors, visiting financial experts, a clientele that came either to sharpen real skills or to collect the kind of connections money couldn’t buy outright. Someone like Whitney no traditional schooling, no existing network, stepping in from years of complete isolation was an unusual presence there. The real world had edges that a classroom couldn’t quite prepare you for. I wanted to make sure no one had tried to use those edges on her on day one.

The class was still running when we arrived. Through the window I could see Whitney in her seat, posture straight, pen moving steadily across her notes. Focused. Unhurried. She was fine.

Then I noticed the man beside her.

Black-framed glasses, leaning slightly too far in her direction, his gaze moving over her in that slow, assessing way that had nothing to do with finance. The kind of look that was measuring something. It made my skin crawl immediately.

Sure enough, the moment class ended and Whitney rose to leave, he stepped directly into her path. "Hey Whitney. Let’s exchange numbers."

Whitney didn’t even blink. "I don’t have a phone."

"Come on, don’t be like that. We’re all here to build connections, right? I’m " 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"I’m not interested in what you do."

She moved to walk around him. He reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "Wait "

The anger that moved through me was instant and hot. Where was Theo? Someone needed to remove this person from the situation immediately.

I was still scanning the room when a voice cut through low, unhurried, carrying that particular kind of quiet authority that didn’t need to raise itself to be heard.

"Let her go."

I knew that voice.

I looked up. Tall, straight-backed, prayer beads visible at his wrist below a clean sleeve.

Luther.

I stared. First at the school that morning, now here, in the same evening. The coincidence was too neat. The man with the glasses turned to face him with the kind of look that preceded poor decisions. "Who are you? I saw her first. Unless you want a problem, walk away."

Whitney glanced at Luther with the same cool indifference she’d given the first man equally unimpressed and simply turned to leave on her own.

I stood very still, watching Luther’s face.

"How is it him again?" I murmured to myself.