Chapter 72

Third Person’s POV

“Calm down, Kyle. There’s no way the prophecy was talking about us if Charolette said it was only one child born at midnight,” Camilla tried to calm her frantic mate but to no prevail. He was lost in his own thoughts as he scoured the room, trying to find any items that may be of importance to them. “Kyle, please. You’re upsetting me…”

He finally stopped pacing the room to look at her; his eyes were wild, and it brought chills to Camilla.

“Don’t you remember your dream you had a few days before you gave birth?” He asked. “I told you I’d find out what it meant, and I did. The Moon Goddess came to you and told you to protect these children with your life because they are special. Twins are a rarity in our world, so we already knew they were special. Now, the prophecy… it’s not a coincidence,” he told her firmly.

Camilla remembered this dream quite vividly; it frightened her that something might be wrong with her children. But she classified it as new parent jitters. Once her babies were born, she all but forgot her dream.

Her heart thudded violently against her chest as she peaked down at her babies. They were nestled comfortably in his arms after they stuffed themselves full of milk.

Kyle walked to Camilla’s bedside and ran his fingers through her greasy hair; she hadn’t been able to get up and take a shower in a couple of days. She felt disgusting, but Kyle still looked at her like she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

“Cammy, you know I love you and would do anything to protect you and our babies,” he told her, his voice calming. “The Alpha knows you had a baby, and it won’t be long before he finds out the time of their birth and the fact that there’s more than one. The Alpha of the Crown Pack offered a very high reward to whoever found that child and the parents. They are searching each hospital as we speak. We have to leave.”

“We are the Betas of the pack,” she said, astonished. “They wouldn’t kill us… would they?”

“The Alpha of the Crown pack is leading the search and he said during the meeting that he will scour the earth to find that baby and the ones who produced it… his words,” Kyle shuddered.

“Our Alpha will protect us,” she insisted, but even her heart knew that he wouldn’t.

Kyle didn’t have to say anything, the look on his face was enough to make a sob escape Camilla. She was so tired and now it looked like her family was in danger. Her babies were in danger.

Kyle wrapped his arms around his mate and their babies, holding his family close for just a moment, not wanting to let them go.

“We can’t take any chances,” he whispered against her temple.

Tears ran down her cheeks, and Kyle wiped them away with his thumb before peppering kisses along her jaw until he reached her lips. He gave her a lingering kiss, which took her breath away as it always did. The kiss gave her a sense of clarity and she knew she had to protect her family at all costs.

She looked down at her children, tears burning in her eyes. Then, with confidence, she raised her head and nodded, masking the emotions that were once so clear on her face. She didn’t want her husband to know how much pain she was in, but she knew what she wanted to do and what she needed to do in order to protect her children.

She quickly got out of bed and placed the babies down for a moment so she could get dressed. Once she was dressed in her jeans and a t-shirt, she scooped her babies up again, holding them each close to her chest.

“Stay here for a minute,” she said simply.

He narrowed his eyes.

“What are you about to do?” He asked.

“Just trust me,” she told him, her heart aching, but her words had no emotions in them.

He was worried, but he nodded his head once and watched as she left the room. Camilla traveled the hallway, letting the nurses know she was taking the babies into the nursery for a few. They barely even batted an eye as Camilla walked down the ward and into the hospital nursery.

There was a nurse in the nursery, feeding one of the babies, when Camilla walked in. The nurse looked up and smiled at Camilla.

“I’m glad you are feeling up to walking around now,” the nurse said, sounding pleased.

“I’m feeling better,” Camilla answered, which wasn’t a complete lie.

Camilla looked around at the other babies in the nursery. There were only a few of them and they all had pink blankets.

“Are they all girls?” She asked thoughtfully, trying not to sound suspicious.

“Yes,” the nurse answered as she finished feeding the baby girl in her arms. “Two of them were born last night and one of them was born the night before.”

Camilla’s head shot up; that was the night Camilla gave birth as well. So, someone else gave birth to a little girl on the full moon.

“What time was that baby born?” Camilla asked. “The one born on the full moon.”

The nurse frowned at the question.

“5 pm,” she answered.

Camilla’s heart sank and the hope deteriorated.

“I see,” she murmured.

“I was just finishing up feeding Silver,” the nurse said thoughtfully.

Camilla’s eyes shifted to the baby girl in the nurse's arms as she placed her down in her bassinet.

Camilla’s chest tightened as she looked down at her own daughter; the one she had yet to name because no name seemed good enough for her babies.

“I just got a call that the Alpha is here and requesting to speak to me,” she said. “I’m sure it has something to do with his child and the Luna.” Camilla saw the remorse on the nurse's face as she walked towards the door. “Will you be alright here?”

“Yes,” Camilla was quick to respond.

The nurse nodded thoughtfully and then left the room, leaving Camilla alone with the babies.

Camilla stood there for a moment, staring down at her own babies. She had an idea about trading her babies with one of the others, though she knew it would put another baby at risk, her only priority was saving the children.

This was such a terrible idea, she thought to herself.

She needed to do what she could to protect her babies. This was what the Moon Goddess wanted. This was what her dream was about. Camilla walked over to baby Silver and smiled thoughtfully at the baby before she looked at her own daughter.

They were just similar enough to pull this off. Camilla brought her baby to her lips, kissing her soft cheek.

“I love you so much. When it is safe, I’ll find you again. Until then, live a good life,” she whispered, hugging her daughter close to her.

She placed her baby in the same bassinet as baby Silver and then scooped Silver into her arms.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered to this new baby.

Camilla looked down at her baby boy with a heavy heart.

If there were any boys born, she would have done the same. But there wasn’t, which meant she needed to find another way to save her son.

With one final look at her daughter, she left the infirmary with the babies. Kyle was still in her room when she returned.

“What happened?” He asked frowning, standing from her bed and the look of concern etched in his worn eyes.

Camilla burst into tears, not believing what she had just done but knowing deep in her gut that she did the right thing. At least for her daughter she did. For this new baby, Silver, not so much and the guilt was eating away at her chest.

“I did something awful,” she croaked. “But I didn’t know what else to do.

He wrapped his arms around his mate.

“Tell me, what it is?”

“I switched the babies. This isn’t our daughter,” she whimpered. “I didn’t know what else to do. This baby looked enough like our daughter, so I switched them.”

His face had gone pale as he looked down at baby Silver.

He cursed under his breath.

“What are we supposed to do with this baby, Camilla? We can’t put her at risk like this,” Kyle scolded.

She felt ashamed of herself but the idea of her daughter being safe in the nursery was enough to give her strength.

“We can figure it out as we go. But for right now, our daughter is safe. But we need to figure out what to do with our son,” Camilla told him firmly.

His eyes shifted to the baby boy in her arms.

“Why didn’t you switch him too?” He asked, his brows furrowed.

“There weren’t any boys in the nursery,” she answered. “They would have known the babies were switched.”

He ran his fingers through his hair, looking frustrated.

“Okay, look. We don’t have time for this. They are searching for hospitals, and it won’t be long before they find out you had a baby during the full moon,” he said, grabbing her bag off the bed and draping it over his shoulder. “We need to leave.”

“The nurse in the nursery said the Alpha was already here,” Camilla told him gravely.

He groaned but said nothing as he led her out of the hospital room and to the elevator. They didn’t bother checking in with the nurses at the front desk, knowing they would only try to stop them from leaving.

Once the elevator neared the bottom floor, Kyle lifted his nose in the air and sniffed.

“The Alpha is here,” he confirmed. “He smells angry.”

Camilla shook where she stood, and Kyle pulled her into his arms. As they reached the bottom floor, they could hear the Alpha yelling at the nurse and demanding who gave birth at midnight on the night of the full moon. The nurse was shaking as she typed on her computer.

This was the moment of truth; the Alpha was about to find out the truth. Kyle knew that other Alphas around the region were also checking in with their pack hospitals as well. There wasn’t anywhere they were going to be able to hide; especially with the Crown Pack Alpha taking charge of this search.

Kyle managed to get Camilla outside and to his car. Tears fell down Camilla’s cheeks as she looked back at the hospital where she had left their daughter. She looked down at the stranger's baby and her baby boy who were still cradled in her arms, wrapped in their pink and blue blankets.

“I’m so sorry…” she whispered to them. “I’m so very sorry…”

Kyle drove away from the hospital and neither of them looked back.