Chapter 1—BETRAYED AND REJECTED.

BREA

"Congratulations, Luna. You're pregnant."

For a second, I simply stared at Dr. Warren, convinced I had imagined those words. My ears rang so loudly that everything else in the room faded into silence. The smell of disinfectant, the soft hum of the ultrasound machine, even the rain tapping gently against the hospital window disappeared as my heart pounded harder than it ever had before.

"I'm sorry... could you say that again?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper because I was afraid that if he repeated the words, they might somehow disappear.

The doctor smiled. "I said you're pregnant, Brea."

I blinked again and again.

My lips parted, but no words came out.

Pregnant?

Me?

I had spent the last three years convincing myself that perhaps motherhood simply wasn't written into my destiny. Every month, I prayed before the Moon Goddess. Every month, I hoped. Every month, I cried in silence when another cycle arrived. The women in the territory had stopped asking when I would have a baby because even they had begun to assume it would never happen. Some pitied me. Others whispered when they thought I couldn't hear them, calling me barren as though they knew more about my body than I did.

And now...

Now this wonderful man sitting in front of me was smiling as though he had just handed me the entire world.

"No..." I laughed through the tears already gathering in my eyes. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"I've confirmed it twice just to be certain. You're around six weeks pregnant, and from everything I'm seeing, your baby is healthy."

A sob escaped before I could stop it.

I covered my mouth with both hands while tears streamed down my face, not because I was sad, but because I had forgotten what it felt like to receive a miracle after waiting for one for so long.

"Oh, Moon Goddess..." I whispered. "Thank you."

Dr. Warren slid the ultrasound picture toward me.

"This belongs to you."

My fingers trembled as I picked it up.

The picture was blurry, with tiny shapes, almost impossible to understand.

Yet somehow, I couldn't stop staring at it because somewhere inside that little image was the child Michael and I had prayed for every single night since our mating ceremony.

"Our baby," I whispered, pressing the picture against my chest. "Michael... we're finally going to be parents."

The thought alone made me laugh through my tears.

My mate was going to lose his mind.

He had dreamed about this for years. Every time he carried one of the pack's children on his shoulders, he would smile at me and say, "One day, our little pup will make this territory their playground."

Every single time, I smiled back even while wondering if that day would ever come.

Now it was finally here.

My hands moved before I could think. I reached into my handbag, pulled out my phone, and found Michael's name at the very top of my screen.

Darling Mate ❤️

My thumb hovered over the call button.

I could already imagine how the conversation would go.

"Evelyn? Is everything alright?"

"No."

His voice would instantly panic.

"What happened? Where are you?"

"I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

Then I'd make him wait just a little longer before whispering the words that would change both our lives forever.

"We're having a baby."

I smiled so hard my cheeks began to ache.

No.

I shook my head and locked the phone instead.

"This news deserves more than a phone call," I whispered to myself.

I wanted to see his face.

I wanted to watch his beautiful blue eyes widen with disbelief before he picked me up and spun me around the room like he always did whenever he was happy. I wanted to feel his hands on my cheeks while he laughed and kissed me over and over again because that was the Michael I had loved for three years.

I wanted this memory to stay with us forever.

"I'm going to tell him myself," I said with a grin so wide that even the doctor laughed.

"I think he'll appreciate that."

"So much."

I carefully slipped the ultrasound picture into my handbag as though it were the most precious treasure in the world.

The drive home felt shorter than it ever had before, although I knew that wasn't possible. My hands rested protectively over my stomach every few minutes, almost as though I was afraid the baby would disappear if I stopped touching it. Every red light seemed to take forever, and every car in front of me suddenly became unbearably slow. I laughed at myself more than once because I had never been this impatient in my life.

"I'm coming, Michael," I whispered with a smile that refused to leave my face. "Just wait until you hear what I have to tell you."

I had already imagined everything.

He would probably be in his office going through pack reports, looking every bit the responsible Alpha he always tried to be. I'd walk in behind him without making a sound, cover his eyes with my hands, and ask him to guess who it was even though he'd recognize my scent immediately. He would pull me onto his lap, kiss me, complain that I had interrupted an important meeting, and then I would hand him the ultrasound picture.

The thought alone made me giggle.

I could already picture the disbelief on his face.

Perhaps he'd even cry.

Michael wasn't ashamed of his emotions when it came to me. During our mating ceremony, he had cried before I did, promising before the Moon Goddess that he would love only me until his last breath. Three years later, I still remembered every word.

Those promises echoed in my head as I pulled into the Alpha mansion.

The guards bowed respectfully the moment they saw me.

"Luna."

I smiled brightly.

"Is Michael home?"

"Yes, Luna. He hasn't left the house all afternoon."

Perfect.

My heart fluttered excitedly.

I hurried through the front doors, barely noticing the servants greeting me. One of them offered to take my handbag, but I declined immediately.

"No, thank you. I need this."

If she carried it away, she might accidentally discover the ultrasound picture.

This surprise belonged to Michael first.

I climbed the staircase almost two steps at a time before stopping.

His office door was open, but it was empty.

I frowned.

"Michael?"

No answer.

Maybe he was in our bedroom.

The smile returned to my face as I made my way down the familiar hallway. Every framed photograph on the walls told the story of our marriage. There was one from our wedding day, another from our first Moon Festival as Alpha and Luna, another from the winter celebration where he had insisted on dancing with me in front of the entire territory despite claiming he hated dancing.

We were happy.

I reached our bedroom door to find it slightly open.

I smiled to myself.

He's probably working in there.

Without knocking, I pushed the door open.

The smile froze on my face.

Michael was kneeling.

Not to pray. And not to exercise.

He was kneeling in front of Rhonda. His hands rested so gently on her swollen stomach that my brain refused to understand what I was seeing.

Rhonda smiled down at him, her fingers buried in his dark hair.

"My little wolf is going to be just as handsome as his father," she whispered.

Michael chuckled before lowering his head.

Then he kissed her stomach softly and tenderly, like a man greeting his child.

My child...

No.

Not mine.

Hers.

The room spun around me.

Every sound disappeared except the violent pounding of my own heartbeat.

I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't think.

My fingers loosened around my handbag, and it slipped from my shoulder before crashing onto the wooden floor.

The sound echoed through the room.

Both of them looked toward the door.

Michael's smile disappeared.

Rhonda's face turned ghostly white.

For several endless seconds, nobody moved nor spoke

I searched their faces desperately, waiting for someone to laugh.

Waiting for Michael to stand up and scream 'surprise' and tell me this was some ridiculous misunderstanding.

Waiting for Rhonda to explain that I hadn't seen what I thought I'd seen.

Instead, silence followed.

My voice finally returned.

"Rhonda..."

It came out broken. I couldn't even recognize it anymore.

"What's going on here?"

Neither of them answered.

I looked at Michael.

"Michael... can someone explain what I just walked in on?"

Rhonda slowly stepped backward.

"Brea..."

"No."

I raised a trembling hand before she could continue.

"You don't get to say my name until somebody explains why my husband was kissing your stomach."

Michael stood slowly.

His expression wasn't guilty.

It wasn't even surprise anymore.

It was... tired.

That frightened me more than anything else.

I looked from him to Rhonda and back again.

Then realization slammed into me so hard my knees almost gave way.

The baby.

The baby she had always claimed belonged to her boyfriend.

The boyfriend nobody in the territory had ever actually met.

I stared at her swollen stomach.

Then at Michael.

Then back again.

My entire body turned cold.

"No..."

I shook my head violently.

"No..."

Rhonda burst into tears.

"I'm sorry..."

My breathing became uneven.

"No."

She cried harder.

"I never wanted you to find out like this."

I laughed.

It sounded horrible and empty.

"So there was another way you planned to tell me that you've been sleeping with my husband?"

"Brea..."

I turned toward Michael.

"You answer me."

He remained silent, and it made my heart shatter a little more.

"Tell me I'm wrong."

He said nothing.

"Michael!" I screamed, tears burning my eyes. "Look at me and tell me that baby isn't yours."

His jaw tightened.

Then he finally spoke.

"It's mine."

The world stopped.

I felt something inside me crack so completely that I wondered if hearts could actually break.

"No..."

I whispered.

"No, you're lying."

"I'm not."

"You promised me."

"I know."

"You swore there would never be another woman."

"I know."

"You looked into my eyes before the Moon Goddess and said I was enough."

"I know what I said."

"Then why?"

The question ripped itself out of my chest.

"Why would you do this to me?"

Michael closed his eyes briefly before opening them again.

"I waited three years, Brea."

I frowned through my tears.

"What does that even mean?"

"I waited."

His voice remained calm.

"I waited for you to give me an heir. I waited for the doctors to tell us something would change. I waited while every elder in the territory reminded me that an Alpha without a child weakens the future of the pack."

I stared at him in disbelief.

"So... you cheated?"

"I did what I believed was necessary."

I laughed.

He called betrayal necessary.

"I love you."

"I know."

"Then how could you touch her?"

He glanced toward Rhonda.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

My tears wouldn't stop.

"She's my best friend."

"I know."

"I trusted her."

"I know."

"I defended her every time people spoke badly about her."

"I know."

Every answer sounded like another knife twisting inside me.

I looked at Rhonda.

"You sat at my table."

She sobbed.

"You cried on my shoulder."

More tears.

"You let me rub your back when your pregnancy made you sick."

She covered her face.

"And all that time... you were carrying my husband's child."

She couldn't even deny it and that hurt me the most.

Michael took a slow breath.

"I've made my decision."

I stared at him.

"What decision?"

He looked directly into my eyes.

"I'm rejecting you as my mate."

Everything inside me went still.

"No..."

"I've already spoken to the elders."

My entire body began shaking.

"No..."

"I'll announce Rhonda as the new Luna before the territory tomorrow."

My lips trembled violently.

"You can't..."

"I can."

"I..."

I reached instinctively toward my stomach.

Just for a second.

Just long enough to feel the tiny life growing inside me.

The words rose to my lips.

They were right there.

One sentence.

One truth.

One miracle that could change everything.

But then I looked into Michael's eyes and there was no love, no hesitation, no regret.

Only cold determination.

"You called me barren," I whispered, my voice breaking. "After everything we've been through... that's all I am to you?"

His silence answered me.

The ultrasound picture rested inside my handbag only a few feet away, hidden beneath the contents that had spilled across the floor.

So close.

Yet suddenly impossible to reach.

I opened my mouth one last time, desperate to tell him he was wrong, desperate to place the picture in his hands and watch this nightmare disappear.

But before a single word escaped me, Michael looked at me with the same eyes that had once promised me forever and said, without an ounce of mercy,

"I, Alpha Michael Blackwood, reject you as my mate and Luna. Tomorrow, the entire territory will know that Rhonda and her child are my future."

The words struck harder than any weapon ever could.

And I never got the chance to tell him...

He had just rejected the mother of his own child.