Chapter 1

A year ago, when my Alpha mate Alex swore to me that he'd changed — that he didn't love Vivian anymore — I believed him. I thought everything would be okay.

Now I was pregnant again, seven months along.

This morning, Alex held my hand and walked with me to the Pack Elder's residence. We were there to register for the Naming Ceremony ahead of the baby's arrival.

The Elder pulled out the prenatal records from the filing cabinet and mentioned offhandedly, "The former Healer Vivian kept very thorough records back then. Shame what happened."

The moment that name left his lips, Alex's hand — resting on the edge of the desk — went rigid.

His jaw clenched. A flicker of panic crossed his eyes.

I stood quietly beside him, catching every single one of those tiny reactions.

That familiar bitterness rose in my stomach.

But I bit down hard on my lip, swallowed every last feeling, and said nothing.

The drive back was suffocating in its silence.

I leaned against the car window, my mind replaying the past year.

Alex had cut off all contact with Vivian. He stayed by my side every day, took care of me.

But sometimes, when he stared out the window, a faint, gentle smile would drift across his lips.

I knew that expression.

He was thinking about her.

Some nights, he called out her name in his sleep — "Viv."

Barely a whisper. But loud enough for me to hear.

He'd wake up, see me lying there with my eyes wide open, and scramble upright. Sorry, he'd say. It wasn't on purpose. He couldn't control what happened in his dreams.

Every time, I told him it was fine.

Then I'd roll over and lie awake until dawn.

I thought back to the first time I met him. I was eight years old.

I'd followed my father, Alpha King James, on a border patrol of the territory.

In the middle of a blizzard, we found a rogue pup half-frozen to death inside an abandoned watchtower.

That boy was Alex.

I cried and begged my father to save him, to bring him home with us.

My father sighed and wrapped the child in his own coat.

Alex grew up in the Ashford Pack. My father raised him like a son. We studied together, trained together, ran wild across the territory together.

He protected me. Spoiled me. Went after anyone who so much as looked at me wrong.

When we turned eighteen, we both awakened our wolves — and discovered we were Fated Mates.

My father smiled and said it was the Moon Goddess's design.

He carved out a stretch of border territory for Alex, helped him establish the Blackwood Pack, supported him as he became Alpha, and then gave him my hand.

Everyone said we were a perfect match.

But this same Alex — the one who swore he'd love me forever — betrayed me during my first pregnancy.

He fell for Vivian the moment she came to the pack house as my prenatal Healer.

On the way home, neither of us spoke a word.

That night, I jolted awake.

Instinctively, I reached for the space beside me. The bed was empty. Alex was gone.

I pulled on a jacket and crept down the hallway to the study.

The lights were off. Alex sat alone in the dark.

His head was bowed, his hands clutching something tightly, his shoulders trembling.

"Alex?" I called out.

He startled, shoved whatever he was holding into his pocket, and stood up, brushing it off as nothing.

The next morning, Alex threw on his coat and rushed out.

He used "border patrol" as an excuse and drove off alone.

I didn't confront him. I got into the other car and followed.

Alex drove all the way to the restricted zone at the very edge of the territory.

That's where he found Vivian — the woman who'd been banished from the pack.

Vivian was crying, her shoulders shaking, saying something I couldn't hear.

Alex stood with his head down, listening in silence for a long time.

Then she threw herself into his arms.

He hesitated for a second, closed his eyes, and wrapped his arms around her.

Then he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

I stood twenty meters away.

A few pack members passed behind me and stopped, staring at me in stunned silence.

I couldn't watch any more. I stepped out from behind the trees.

Vivian saw me first, peering over Alex's shoulder.

She gasped and scrambled out of his embrace.

Alex spun around and met my expressionless face.

His first instinct was to shift his body sideways — shielding Vivian behind him.

"I'm sorry, Ivy." He said those words again. The same words that made me sick.

Vivian cowered behind him, crying. "Forgive us, Luna. We just — we couldn't control our feelings."

Several patrol guards heard the commotion and hurried over.

I looked at them all. I was calmer than I'd expected.

"Forgive you? You were the Pack Healer. You used my prenatal appointments to get close to my mate. Is that what you call professional conduct?"

"A year ago, you poisoned me and tried to kill the Alpha's bloodline. You should have been executed."

"Alex begged me to spare your life. That's the only reason you're still breathing. All I did was banish you."

Vivian's lips moved, but nothing came out.

"And after you were banished, you didn't leave. You've been lurking at the borders this entire time." I paused. "You were waiting for him to come find you. Weren't you?"

The color drained from her face.

Alex stepped forward, opening his mouth to defend her.

I didn't flinch. I met his eyes with ice.

He saw the wasteland in my gaze — and whatever words he had died in his throat.

My eyes drifted to the arm he had wrapped around Vivian, and a deep exhaustion washed over me.

"Every time you hurt me, you say you're sorry. And then you go right back to doing it."

"A year ago, you knelt in front of me and swore there would never be a next time."

"And today, right in front of me, you're holding the woman who murdered my child."

I drew a long breath. Every word landed like a hammer.

"Alex, I want to dissolve our Mate Bond."