Evening light filtered softly through the hospital blinds, casting long golden stripes across the room. I woke up slowly, my neck stiff and aching from sleeping with my head on the edge of Isabella's bed. My hand was still resting protectively on her belly, feeling the gentle rise and fall of her breathing.

For one terrifying second, the memory of yesterday crashed back - the blood on the floor, my fists slamming into Rafiq, Isabella screaming my name, the fear in her eyes when she saw what I had become.

Shame burned through me like acid. Fear followed right behind it. What if she looked at me now and saw...