Chapter 34

Iris's cool fingers pressed against my skin, her touch gentle yet probing. I held my breath, waiting for her verdict. I knew everything was fine, but for some reason this was still nerve-wracking.

"Well, Olivia," Iris said, her voice soft and melodic, "I'm pleased to say you're in perfect health."

Relief washed over me, not that I was actually surprised. “I told him so,” I shook my head as if it didn’t soothe me to hear it too. Iris chuckled as she packed away her instruments.

“First-time parents often get a little…wound-up,” she said. “Cut him a little slack. It’ll happen to you a million times too, and that’s okay.”

I cringed, thinking about the panic attack from earlier today. Hopefully that wouldn’t happen a million times—but then again, I comforted myself, how many times in this pregnancy was I going to have to talk a grieving mother off the edge? Honestly the fact that it had happened once was unusual enough.

“Does that mean I’m going to have to deal with him hovering?” I half-joked. Iris laughed.

“Oh, I’m afraid so,” she said. “He’s much more excited to be a father than he’ll show you, I think, so when minor things go wrong he’s probably going to spiral.”

My eyebrows rose. That was news to me.

“Is he really?” I asked. Iris nodded.

“Olivia, darling, you have no idea. He wanted kids from a very young age, actually, and he was always so excited when pregnant women came in to see me. I didn’t see many infants, but when I did Elroy couldn’t get enough of them!”

“I…huh,” I said, unable to imagine Elroy as a child, let alone a child who would look at a baby with wonder and excitement. “I didn’t realize.”

“He holds his cards close to his chest sometimes,” Iris shrugged, “even from me. He thinks he’s protecting everyone around him, as if I’m not his mother. I can always see when there’s something he doesn’t want to talk about, and about half the time I can figure out what it is just from the way his eyebrows twist when I call him out on it.”

I laughed. “My mom could do the same thing,” I said, accepting the dull throb that came with thoughts of my mother. She was still in that hospital, where I couldn’t visit.

“And you’ll be able to, too, just you wait. It’s not immediate, or foolproof, but a mother’s intuition is a very real thing. That’s why I know he’s so damn scared.”

I frowned. “Of the responsibility?” I asked. That was fair enough, honestly, becoming a parent was a huge life shift, but I got the feeling that wasn’t what Iris meant.

“Of becoming like his father,” Iris said, with a small, sad smile. I sucked in a breath.

“Oh.”

For a minute it was silent, and a nagging curiosity tugged at my mind. This might be my only chance to ask the questions that had been plaguing me, the ones I knew Elroy would bristle at.

"Iris," I began hesitantly, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but... what was Elroy's father like? As Alpha, I mean."

Iris's hands stilled, her back to me. When she turned, her amber eyes held a haunted look that made my heart clench.

"He..." she paused, swallowing hard. "He didn't care much for the pack, I'm afraid. Leadership was never his strong suit."

“I gathered that much,” I cringed, remembering the way Elroy had spoken about his father in front of the council. Iris huffed an unamused laugh.

“I’m sure. But as bad an Alpha as he was, he was…he was a much worse father.” I sat up straighter—something in me said this was important.

“He never saw Elroy once, not until the day everyone found out Elroy was an Alpha, and then all of a sudden he was coming around grooming Elroy to be the perfect heir. Worse, Elroy had to play along to keep me safe. I can’t imagine what that did to him.”

By now a sense of dread had fallen into my stomach, unable to even imagine the life Iris was describing. I wanted to ask more, to understand the pain behind her words, but the shadow in her eyes made me hold my tongue. Some wounds were best left undisturbed.

Changing tack, I ventured, "And Astor? I've noticed he and Elroy aren't particularly close."

Iris sighed, settling into a nearby chair. "Ah, yes. Well, they're half-brothers, you see. I'm Elroy's mother, but Astor's mother was Catherine, the former Luna."

My eyebrows shot up. "I had no idea."

"Few do," Iris admitted. "Elroy spent most of his childhood here in the tower with me, while Astor was raised elsewhere. They never really had the chance to build a brotherly bond."

"That must have been difficult for both of them," I murmured, thinking of the strained interactions I'd witnessed between Elroy and Astor.

Iris nodded, a wistful smile touching her lips. "It was. But Elroy has always been strong, much like you, Olivia. He's faced his challenges head-on, just as you have."

Her words stirred a mix of emotions within me – pride, guilt, and a gnawing uncertainty about my place in this complex family dynamic. As I met Iris's warm gaze, I couldn't help but wonder what she truly thought of her son's new Luna, and whether she suspected the true nature of our arrangement.

Iris reached out and gently clasped my hand, her touch warm and motherly. "I want to thank you, Olivia," she said, her voice thick with emotion. "For standing by my son through all of this."

I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry. "I... of course," I managed, forcing a smile.

"Elroy has been struggling for so long," Iris continued, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "Trying to change the pack's outdated ways, fixing everything his father neglected. It's been such a burden on him."

"He's lucky to have you," I said softly, meaning it despite my conflicted feelings about the man. He’d been a child once, and this woman was the one good thing in his world.

Iris squeezed my hand. "And we're lucky he's found you. A true partner, someone who understands him." She beamed at me, her joy palpable. "I'm so glad he's found happiness with you."

I felt my smile falter, unease coiling in my stomach. What was I supposed to tell her, that her son's wife and Luna had mixed feelings about him? She clearly thought there was more going on between us, which meant that Elroy hadn't told her we were contract Mates.

I could see how happy she was at her son's perceived joy, though, and I didn't have it in me to tell her it was all a lie.