A fresh wave of agony swallowed me whole.
Through the blur of fading consciousness, I watched Seraphina reach inside me and pull out a blood-soaked infant boy.
He was alive. His tiny fists swung on instinct, batting at Seraphina's arm as if in protest.
Seraphina stared at my son, eyes widening.
"A mongrel born from a human-born, and his life force is this strong?"
"What a pity. You're still nothing but human filth. Leaving you here would only taint the Shadowfang Pack's sacred ground. Today, I'll clean house on the Supreme Alpha's behalf."
Terror flooded every fiber of my being. My voice came out barely above a whisper.
"He is the Supreme Alpha's pup. You must not harm him."
Seraphina's brows twisted together, and she fixed me with a look of pure contempt.
"You wretched human-born. To save this bastard, you'd tell a lie that absurd?"
"The Supreme Alpha's power is beyond measure. A human-born body could never carry his offspring."
The other handmaidens chimed in.
"Exactly. The Supreme Alpha's bloodline is so potent that anyone with a weak wolf constitution would be destroyed just from the bonding alone."