Chapter 3

Loretta's POV

A subtle hint of my luna aura slipped out, freezing Susie right in her tracks.

"If you ever forget your place again, I won't mind having a little chat with Margaret about how well you've been 'taking care' of me." Since I was leaving the Blade Pack anyway, why on earth should I keep putting up with these people?

Susie's face drained of color, and she snapped defensively, "Alpha Zane is waiting for you in the dining room!"

When I stepped into the dining room, Zane's gaze snapped up to me.

I knew exactly what I looked like right now—the plain white tunic was stretched tight and ugly over my bloated, misshapen body, and my blotched face was so swollen my eyes were practically slits.

Disgust and revulsion flashed unmistakably across his brow.

I gave a bitter, self-deprecating smirk and silently took the seat farthest away from him.

Zane's tone was ice-cold, carrying that habitual, condescending reprimand of an alpha in charge. "You're just pregnant, not paralyzed. Stop expecting everyone to cater to you."

I stirred the broth in my bowl, the needle marks from my IV still bruised across the back of my hand.

"If they feel so hard done by, they might as well all go back to the Packhouse." I looked up, keeping my voice as steady as possible. "I can take care of myself."

Besides, who did all the laundry, cooking, and cleaning anyway if not me?

Those omega maids only ever put on an act when Zane was around.

Zane's look darkened instantly.

He was used to being the undisputed master, the one whose word was law. No one had ever dared to talk back to him like that to his face.

"Loretta," he said, his voice freezing cold and laced with unquestionable dominance, "I'm warning you, not asking for your input."

I said nothing.

Zane stared at me, his expression black enough to storm.

He turned his head and ordered Susie coldly, "From now on, she handles her own stuff. No more waiting on her."

My fingers tightened slightly around the fork.

After breakfast, Zane slammed the door and left.

And I headed straight to Brody's office at the University of Los Angeles.

Behind the desk, Brody sat in a cool-gray bespoke suit, rimless glasses perched on his nose, looking strikingly handsome and intensely composed.

At just twenty-nine, he was the youngest professor at ULA and a certified genius whose name echoed across the entire financial world.

Brody looked up, visibly stunned.

I spoke first, "Professor Winslow."

Brody quickly masked the shock in his eyes and replied, "You're here. It's been a while. I almost didn't recognize you."

I gave a self-deprecating twist of my lips. "Look at me—I'm a total mess. I honestly almost didn't show my face."

Brody stood up, rounded the desk, and spoke in an exceptionally gentle tone, "Body changes during pregnancy are completely normal. Things will go back to normal after the baby is born. Have a seat."

Brody glanced down at my heavily rounded stomach. "Classes start late January next year. That looks like it clashes right with your due date."

I looked up, pleading, "I want to ask you a favor. Is there any way I can defer my enrollment?"

Giving birth was unavoidable, but this once-in-a-lifetime fellowship opportunity? I was never letting go of it.

Brody's expression turned serious. "Why are you so dead set on this?"

I lowered my gaze, my voice steady yet resolute. "Once the baby is born, Alpha Zane is gonna reject me. I'm done wasting my life on this. I want a fresh start."

"I'm just glad to see you waking up and getting your drive back," Brody said earnestly. "Once you leave him, you'll definitely find your true mate."

"Professor..." I suddenly looked up. "In your eyes, what kind of person is Zane, really?"

Brody paused, considering it, before letting out a cold evaluation. "Ruthless when it comes to his goals, and entirely driven by interests. A guy like that doesn't know what love is."

"Is that so..." I murmured.

Yet, the gentleness and absolute spoiling Alpha Zane showed that she-wolf—how could any of that possibly be fake?

I reined in my emotions and dropped the subject.

"Since you've made up your mind, leave the deferral paperwork to me," Brody reassured me.

Once I finished filling out the application form, Brody suddenly asked, "And the baby? Are you leaving it with the Blade Pack?"

I offered a bitter, mocking smile.

With the power and influence the Blade Pack held, there was no way I could take the child with me anyway. "The Blade Pack will take good care of the baby."

Brody didn't press further, smoothly offered instead, "I actually need an assistant for a month. Just a short-term gig—interested?"

I barely hesitated. "Yes!"

Ever since the pregnancy, Zane had stripped me of my position in the core department and shoved me into some dead-end backwater.

I desperately needed this job—I needed to get my life moving again.

The next day, I slipped my printed resignation letter into an envelope.

The moment I stepped up to the front of the corporate building, I ran right into Zane as he was getting out of his car.

He was dressed in a sleek, dark-customized suit, tall and imposing, radiating an aura of elite luxury and the commanding, mature presence of an alpha at the top.

I snapped out of it, quickly dropping my gaze and stepping back a couple of paces to make myself invisible.

Zane looked straight ahead, striding right past me as if I were nothing more than air.

Heading up to the office, I slid my resignation letter across the desk to Josephine Harper.

Josephine used to work under me.

How the tables had turned. Now that I'd fallen from grace, I was stuck running errands for her.

In Josephine's eyes, I was nothing more than a pathetic social climber trying to seduce Alpha Zane.

She glanced at the resignation letter, her gaze dropping to my prominent baby bump, the mockery at the corner of her mouth practically screaming out loud.

"It's called knowing your place. Do yourself a favor and look in the mirror every once in a while. Just because you've got some bastard in your belly doesn't mean you're flying high. Take a good look at what the Blade Pack actually is, and then ask yourself what the hell you even are."