Fuck!!!! I'm Having The Alpha Princess's Baby.

It had been two whole days since the tape incident, and I hadn’t seen a single sign of Princess. I couldn’t feel her presence anywhere in the halls, and believe me, I was looking. It made me wonder if she was even coming to school at all or if she was stuck in her therapy class.

The video had been scrubbed from the internet by Tuesday evening. It just vanished, like it was never there. My brother hadn’t seen it, mostly because he’d been way too busy with work and his own drama to check what was trending online. As long as he doesn’t know about the tape, I was safe from a total meltdown at home.

He was still mad at me, though. He was deep in his silent treatment era, refusing to say a word when we were in the same room. Kaye had basically become our official translator, talking for both of us and acting as the middleman just so we could get through dinner without someone throwing a fork.

The Trios were pretty much a memory at this point. They weren’t hanging out together anymore, and the vibe in the school was completely different. Kiara hadn’t been in school either. She’d been absent since Tuesday, and I still didn’t really get why she hadn’t shown up. I wondered if the break between her and Princess was hitting her harder than she wanted to admit, or if she was just hiding out.

As for Beam, she got hit with a two-week suspension. Honestly, she should have been expelled for what she did, but her father had a lot of influence in this town, he is second in power after the Kings. Two weeks was a slap on the wrist, but at least it kept her out of my face for a while.

We were trying to eat our lunch in peace, but we didn’t even get to finish before Peamah showed up again. He didn’t say hello. He just walked up and flashed his left palm at us. It was still unhealed, looking raw and angry. He told us straight up to fix it or he was going to chop off our heads on Friday. He wasn’t joking.

I knew I had no choice. I had to do something before the basketball finals, so I went to the shop and asked Uncle PP for a concoction. I needed something strong to heal his wound.

Uncle PP disagreed at first. He didn’t want me messing around with traditional remedies for school drama, but after I spent ten minutes explaining how much trouble we were in, he just shook his head and gave in. He looked like he was just tired of my non-stop talking and wanted me to shut up.

I watched him closely as he started grabbing ingredients. He picked out fresh lavender flowers and some witch hazel, then told me to start crushing them together in a small petal bowl. I grabbed the pestle and went to work. Once it turned into a dark, fragrant paste, he had me add a big dollop of aloe gel. I kept mixing until it was smooth. Then he added a spoonful of honey, just enough to make the whole thing into a thick, batter-like paste.

It looked exactly like mashed potatoes, only a bit purple and smelling like a spa.

Just when I thought we were finished, Uncle PP reached under the counter and handed me a sharp dagger. I stared at the blade, then at him.

He told me my blood was the final ingredient.

I asked him why it had to be my blood specifically. He just looked at me and said it was because I was an omega, and my energy was what the medicine needed to balance out. I didn’t argue. I did as I was told, making a small cut and adding the required amount into the bowl. My wounds always healed fast anyway, so I wasn’t worried.

I didn’t ask any more questions. It reminded me too much of the time I had to give my blood to the were-witch so she could make medicine for her sick son.

The next day at lunch, I brought the medicine to school in a small container and handed it to Peamah.

He didn’t take it right away. He just stood there with his arms folded over his chest, staring down at the bowl on the table like it was a bomb about to go off. Sasha and Malo were also staring at it with awkward expressions on their faces.

”What the fuck am I looking at right now?” Peamah asked. He didn’t look impressed.

”This is the remedy for your woundy,” I said. I tried to sound confident and professional, but my friends weren’t exactly helping me sell it.

”That looks disgustingly terrible, Faye,” Malo muttered. He made a face like he was about to gag.

I turned to him, annoyed. ”This isn’t even for you, Malo. Why do you look so bothered? Nobody is asking you to eat it.”

”I expected a pill or something, not this weird shit,” Peamah said. He still hadn’t moved.

”What’s that red stuff on the top?” Sasha asked, leaning in closer to get a better look.

”That is... a secret,” I said quickly. Uncle PP had one main rule, you never reveal your ingredients to the patient. It keeps the magic in the medicine.

”Look, just try it,” I said, pushing the bowl an inch closer to him. ”If it doesn’t work, we’ll find another way to fix your hand. But you said the pills weren’t doing anything, right? So try this.”

He hesitated for a long second, staring at the purple mash like it was some kind of abomination. Then he finally sat down at the table. He picked up a spoon, scooped up a big glob of the paste, and tasted it.

”It tastes good, right?” I asked, leaning forward.

”I guess...” he muttered. He didn’t stop eating. He kept going until he was scraping the bottom of the container. He didn’t seem to mind the flavor at all.

When I glanced over at Sasha, she was staring at the empty paste bowl like she actually wanted to try some too. She looked almost jealous.

After Peamah finished the whole thing, the bowl was completely empty.

We all sat there in total silence, staring at his left hand. We were waiting for something, anything, to happen. I knew if this didn’t work, he was going to make the rest of our school year miserable.

Slowly, right before our eyes, we watched the edges of the wound start to pull together. The redness faded, and the skin began to knit itself back together. It was working.

Relief washed over me like a cold wave, and I couldn’t stop the smile from breaking across my face. That was the very first medicine I had ever made, well, with a lot of help from Uncle PP. But I had done it.

”Yes! I knew it would work!” Malo suddenly jumped up from his seat. He looked more excited than I was.

”You knew?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

”Yes, I was cheering for you the whole time in my head,” he said. He sat back down casually, trying to act like he hadn’t just been terrified five minutes ago. ”Anyway, Peamah, your hand is healed now. So you can leave us alone and stop threatening our poor heads, please.”

Peamah stood up. He flexed his hand, opening and closing his fist. He looked satisfied.

”Good,” he said. He looked at the three of us with a dark expression. ”When I win that game tomorrow, I’m coming for my revenge.”

He turned and walked away, leaving us all with chills running down our spines.

”Looks like he’s never actually going to leave us alone,” Sasha muttered, slumping back in her chair.

”Okay, now that that’s done and Peamah isn’t going to kill us today... Malo, where the hell is Princess?” I asked.

Now that the Peamah problem was fixed, I had to deal with the other thing eating at me. It had been three days since I set my eyes on that bitch, and it felt way longer than that. I needed to see her.

”I don’t know... I can’t tell you as it’s part of my job,” Malo said. He wouldn’t look at me.

”Dude, look me right in the face,” I said, leaning over the table.

He finally looked up, his eyes darting around.

”If you don’t start talking right this second, I am going to beat the shit out of you,” I threatened. ”I will send you into a coma so long that you won’t be able to work ever again. So you better start fearing me more than you fear her.”

”She’s at the Lunny Club, for God’s sake!” Malo blurted out. He looked terrified, like he expected me to pounce on him right there in the cafeteria. ”Check there before you start making people piss their pants, Faye!”

I sat back. The Lunny Club. Well... I probably should’ve checked there first. It was her home, after all.