Two

Chapter Two

I rested my forehead against the steering wheel, but I could not force myself to start the engine because every time I closed my eyes, I saw the same heartbreaking scene repeating itself. Darius had smiled at Selena with a warmth I had not seen in years before gently brushing her hair away and kissing her forehead as though she still occupied the place in his heart that I had spent three years trying to earn. I wanted to believe there was an explanation for what I had witnessed, yet every excuse I created crumbled beneath the image burned into my mind, and by the time I finally started the car, I realized I was driving home with the happiest news of my life still hidden inside my handbag because I no longer knew whether my husband was the first person I wanted to share it with.

I desperately wanted to believe there was an explanation.

Perhaps the kiss meant nothing.

Perhaps it was simply an old habit between childhood friends.

Perhaps I was allowing my emotions to control my thoughts because of the pregnancy.

I wanted to believe every excuse my heart created for him.

Unfortunately, my heart had seen too much.

He would probably introduce Selena again even though everyone in the Blood Moon Pack already knew who she was.

Then I would hand him the pregnancy test.

He would be happy.

At least I hoped he would.

But another question quietly entered my mind.

Would that happiness last longer than the smile he had just shared with Selena?

I could not answer it.

For the first time since becoming his wife, I suddenly felt afraid of hearing the truth.

I quietly turned around before anyone noticed I had ever been there.

The long drive back to the Alpha Mansion became a journey through memories I had carefully hidden away for years. I first met Darius when I was sixteen, long before he became Alpha, when every young warrior wanted to be him and every unmarried she-wolf dreamed of becoming his mate. Unlike everyone else, I did not fall in love with his handsome face or his growing reputation. I fell in love with the quiet kindness he showed when no one expected him to be watching because he always stopped to help an injured trainee to his feet, carried supplies for elderly pack members without waiting to be asked, and treated even the weakest wolves with the same respect he showed the strongest warriors.

Those small acts of kindness slowly convinced me that beneath the fearless future Alpha was a man with a gentle heart, and by the time the Moon Goddess revealed we were fated mates, I believed destiny had given me everything I had ever wanted.

I still remembered the joy on his face when he accepted our bond, and I remembered believing that nothing in this world could ever separate us. Looking back now, I realized how innocent I had been because I truly believed that love alone was enough to build a happy marriage.

I had my own dreams before becoming Darius's wife.

I was studying medicine at one of the most respected academies on the continent, and my professors often praised my dedication because I always finished at the top of my class. They believed I would become one of the youngest master healers of my generation, and I worked tirelessly because healing people was more than a profession to me. It was my calling.

Everything changed when Darius officially inherited the position of Alpha.

The Blood Moon Pack suddenly became the center of countless responsibilities, and although many people believed becoming Luna meant living a comfortable life inside a luxurious mansion, the reality was very different. Darius needed someone he could trust completely, someone who could shoulder the burdens waiting for him outside the battlefield, and without hesitation, I chose to become that person.

I withdrew from medical school before completing my final year.

Many of my professors tried to change my mind because they believed I was throwing away a brilliant future, but I never regretted my decision. I loved Darius more than my own ambitions, and I truly believed that helping him build the strongest pack on the continent was a dream worth sacrificing my own for.

Every morning, I woke before sunrise to prepare his schedule before he even entered his office. I reviewed every financial report submitted by the accounting department, organized every contract waiting for his approval, arranged meetings with neighboring Alphas, answered official correspondence, supervised the kitchens, checked the supply warehouses, comforted grieving families, settled disputes between pack members, and handled countless responsibilities that most people never even realized belonged to the Luna.

Darius trusted me completely whenever it came to the affairs of the Blood Moon Pack.

Every important file passed through my hands before reaching his desk because he knew I would organize everything perfectly. Whenever he returned from meetings with allied packs, he simply handed every document to me without asking a single question because he never doubted my judgment. There were countless evenings when he was too exhausted to read another report, so he would smile tiredly before saying, "Valerie, arrange everything for me. I'll sign them tomorrow."

I always did.

He trusted my decisions. He trusted my intelligence. He trusted me with the future of his pack.

Sometimes I wondered why it seemed so much easier for him to trust my hands than to understand my heart.

By the time I pulled into the driveway of the Alpha Mansion, my chest felt painfully heavy.

I stepped out of the car and slowly walked through the front entrance, forcing myself to smile at every servant who greeted me because I refused to let anyone see how deeply I was hurting.

Almost an hour later, I heard the familiar sound of a car stopping outside.

My heart skipped a beat.

Darius was home.

I instinctively reached inside my handbag and wrapped my fingers around the pregnancy test, silently reminding myself that today was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives.

The front door opened.

A familiar deep voice filled the living room.

"Valerie."

A smile immediately appeared on my face as I turned around.

It disappeared almost as quickly as it came.

Standing beside Darius was Selena.

She smiled warmly at me as though nothing had happened earlier that morning.

Darius walked toward me without noticing the way my expression stiffened.

"Selena just returned to the pack after several years away," he said casually while loosening the collar of his shirt. "She doesn't have anywhere suitable to stay for now, so she'll be staying here until we arrange another place for her."

He spoke as though he were informing me that another council meeting had been added to tomorrow's schedule.

He never asked whether I was comfortable with the decision.

He simply expected me to accept it.

Then he looked at me and smiled faintly.

"I know you won't mind."

I forced myself to take a slow breath before answering, although every instinct inside me wanted to ask why he had made such an important decision without even discussing it with me first.

"If that's what you think is best," I replied quietly, doing everything I could to keep my voice steady.

A relieved smile crossed Darius's face as though he had never doubted my answer.

"I knew I could count on you."

His words should have comforted me because they always had, yet today they only reminded me that he trusted me to understand every decision he made while rarely considering how those decisions affected me.

Selena stepped forward with a gentle smile that looked almost apologetic.

"Valerie, I'm really sorry for imposing on you like this," she said softly. "I told Darius I could stay at the pack inn for a few days, but he insisted the mansion would be more comfortable."

My eyes instinctively shifted toward Darius.

He nodded without hesitation.

"The inn isn't suitable for her."

Everything now was about her, not about me. Not about us.

I swallowed the bitterness rising inside my throat and forced a polite smile.

"The guest room has already been cleaned. One of the maids will show you upstairs."

"Thank you," Selena replied warmly. "You're even kinder than Darius described."

Before I could answer, hurried footsteps echoed through the hallway.

A tiny figure suddenly came running through the front door, moving so quickly that one of the guards barely managed to step aside.

"Daddy!"

The clear, excited voice rang through the mansion.

My heart stopped.

A little boy, no older than four, threw himself toward Darius without slowing down.

Darius instinctively bent and caught him before he could stumble, lifting him effortlessly into his arms as a broad smile spread across his face.

"There you are, little troublemaker," he said with a quiet laugh.

The laugh I had spent years waiting to hear.

My gaze slowly shifted toward Selena.

Instead of looking surprised, she simply smiled at the touching scene before walking over and gently brushing the boy's messy hair away from his forehead.

"We've been looking for you everywhere," she said softly.

Darius chuckled as he adjusted the little boy in his arms.

"I was only gone for a little while."

The little boy tightened his tiny arms around Darius's neck.

"I missed you, Daddy."

The single word echoed inside my mind until every other sound disappeared.

My vision blurred.

I could no longer hear the servants moving around the mansion or the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway.

All I could see was the family standing before me.

Darius.

Selena.

And the little boy calling him Daddy with such innocent certainty that it sounded as though he had said it a thousand times before.

My fingers slowly tightened around the pregnancy test hidden inside my handbag until the edges pressed painfully into my palm.

Just this morning, I had driven all the way to the border because I could not wait to tell my husband that we were finally going to have a baby.

I had imagined him smiling.

I had imagined him pulling me into his arms.

I had imagined us crying together as we thanked the Moon Goddess for finally answering our prayers after three long years.

Now those beautiful dreams crumbled into pieces before my eyes.

If this little boy was truly his son...

Then what place did my baby have in his life?

Would our child become nothing more than another responsibility?

Or worse...

Would my baby spend an entire lifetime competing for a father's love?

A sharp pain spread through my chest.

Without anyone noticing, I slowly pushed the pregnancy test deeper into my handbag until it disappeared beneath my wallet and the tiny pair of knitted baby shoes I had bought months ago.

No.

I couldn't tell him.

Not anymore.

Not while another woman and another child stood comfortably inside the home that was supposed to belong to us.

The words I'm pregnant died silently inside my throat.

I forced a faint smile onto my face, but inside, something quietly broke beyond repair.

At that moment, I made a promise to the tiny life growing beneath my heart.

I would protect my baby, even if it meant carrying this secret alone.

The happiest news of my life had become the deepest secret I would ever keep.