Alaria:
I walked out of the house knowing that it was the last time that I was going to be in this place.
I didn't even want to pack my things. I did not care about that. I wanted to get out. I wanted to spare myself whatever dignity I had left. I felt her inside. I knew that she was within the pack. Of course, she would be. She would want to gloat about this.
It wasn't until I felt them behind me as they walked out that I turned around, my chest aching when I saw them, when I saw his arm wrapped around her like a prize that he had claimed. His eyes met mine and he smirked.
“Things are going to be different from now on. Our previous Luna was never fit to take her role. She had manipulated it. She had taken advantage of everything that she carried.” He said coldly. I gulped and looked down at my feet as everyone turned their attention to me. I put my hand on my stomach. But I said nothing.
“It is time for our pack to be run by a strong Luna. This should have happened since day one, but due to complications and the few deals, I believe that all of you know that this had to be delayed.” He said, looking down at Claire, who smiled up at him as if she had gained everything that she was fighting for.
“Claire is going to be my Luna, our pack Luna. Just as we had always planned, it is time for our water to run back in its track. Our pack should never have been run by a failure and a weak link, but now I believe that Claire is going to be able to restore things.” He said casually. I didn’t wait to hear what else he was going to say, I didn’t want to.
I looked back one more time before nodding as tears fell from my eyes. One day, very soon, you are going to regret this.
I stepped out of the estate without saying a word. The cold air hitting me like ice.
Not because of the weather, it was warm enough, but because I felt naked.
Stripped. UnseenI had walked in as a wife. A woman of dignity and pride. A Luna to the Alpha.
I walked out as nothing.I didn't look back. If I did, I wouldn’t leave.
If I turned around, I might break.My heels clicked against the stone steps, but the sound felt distant, drowned out by the rush of thoughts and the pulsing ache behind my eyes. The driver opened the car door with a polite nod, but I didn’t speak. I didn’t need anyone’s pity, not tonight.
I settled into the back seat and rested my hand over my stomach.
“Just a little longer,” I whispered to the child who didn’t ask to be caught in this mess. “We’re going to be okay. Your mama is going to keep you safe.”
The bloating in my stomach wasn’t making this easier, but I knew that I needed to fight, I knew that I needed to stand strong. I wasn't alone. And I had my child to protect.
I couldn’t be weak.
As the car pulled away from the estate, I stared out the window at the pack lands I once called home. I had learned every inch of these woods, memorized every sunrise from the balcony Liam once said would be ours forever.
Forever didn’t last long.
I didn’t know where I was going, just that I couldn’t stay. The guest house on the edge of the territory would do for now. It was empty. Forgotten. Kind of like me.
The driver pulled up to the cabin, and I gave him a nod of thanks before stepping out. The porch creaked beneath my weight as I walked up the steps. The door gave a soft groan when I pushed it open.
Dust. Silence. Solitude.
It would do.
I dropped my bag on the couch and made my way to the sink, splashing cold water on my face. The reflection in the mirror above it startled me, eyes red-rimmed, lips pale, hair disheveled. I didn’t look like Luna. I didn’t even look like Alaria.
But somewhere beneath the mess, I was still me.
And I was still his mother.I straightened and pressed my hand to my stomach again.
“You don’t need a pack,” I whispered, swallowing the lump in my throat. “You don’t need a father who doesn’t want you. I will be your everything, little wolf. Mother, father, protector. I’ll teach you how to fight. I’ll teach you how to survive.”
A knock rattled the door.
I froze, instinctively shielding my belly with my arms.
Another knock. Firmer.
I approached carefully and cracked the door open just enough to see who it was.
Alexandra. My only friend. My only ally.
Her eyes scanned my face with immediate concern. “You didn’t tell me it was happening today.”
I opened the door wider. “Because I didn’t know either.”
She stepped in without needing an invitation, shutting the door softly behind her. “So it’s done.”
“It’s done,” I said. The words felt foreign. Like they belonged to someone else’s mouth.
She studied me, then glanced at my stomach. “You’re still not going to tell him?”
My hand returned instinctively to where life pulsed beneath my skin. “No.”
“Even if…”
“No,” I said again, firmer. “Liam made his choice. He didn't even give me the decency of a conversation. He doesn't get to have a child he never asked for.”
Alexandra nodded, but I could see the worry in her eyes. “Then you need to leave. Not just the cabin. You need to disappear before someone notices. If Claire finds out…”
“She won’t.” My voice was sharp. Cold. “And if she does, she’ll have to go through me.”
Alexandra stepped closer, her voice low. “You’ve got maybe a week, two at best, before someone starts asking questions. Especially with rogues circling the border again.”
That made my chest tighten.
I had no pack. No home. No protection.
But I had a reason.
And that was more than enough.
“I’m leaving,” I said, turning toward the small bedroom at the back of the house. “Tonight.”
“Where will you go?”
I paused, hand on the doorknob.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “But I’ll figure it out. I have to. I don’t have another choice. And I refuse to stand as a burden, not with the responsibility that I’m now carrying.”
Liam:I barely stepped back inside when I heard her voice.“Liam.”I didn’t answer.“Liam!” Claire’s tone snapped like a whip. “Where were you? You can't walk away from me like that.”I turned slowly. She was standing in the hallway, arms crossed, lips tight, her eyes already full of fire. Her heart raced against her chest and judging by the situation we were in, I was forced to look down on her stomach before looking her in the eye. It was a reminder to myself that she is the mother of my child, that she is carrying my child.“You left the house before dawn, I looked for you, I called for you, and yet nothing. I even called your phone and you left it in the house. Why would you not leave the house early? Why would you leave your phone? I thought that you needed to go out. I thought that something might have happened. But you were within the pack.” She said, stepping closer. “And don’t lie to me… I saw you. You were with her, weren’t you? You went out because you wanted to talk to her
Alaria:I didn’t sleep that night.I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried, sleep was refusing to come. It seemed that every moment that I was staying here was turning into hell.And it was not the pain in my side, it was his words. It was the way that he looked at me.It was not that he wouldn't let us leave and yet he wouldn't want her to claim anything that was hers. I didn't even want her to claim anything here.“Try to run… and I will tear down every inch of ground between us to bring you back.”He didn’t say it like a man trying to protect his child.He didn't say it like he cared as a father would.He said it like an Alpha claiming territory. Like he was forcing me to do something that I did not want to do. And he was. He knew that he was.And I was tired of being treated like land to be conquered. I was tired of him looking at me like I was less than he was. He chose this path. If I chose to step back, it was because he chose the path.Nasia stirred in her bed across the room,
Liam:“Did you realize that you did a wrong thing by threatening her like that, Liam?” Kai asked, glaring at me.“I didn’t mean to threaten her.” I said, snapping at him. “But you heard what she asked, and I'm not going to allow her to leave. I don't care what it takes. You're going to double security on her and I want to know every move that she makes. Even if it means stopping her daughter from going to school simply because I don't want her to think about running away. You're going to do so.”“Liam…”“Right now, she was the last person that I could afford to threaten, and yet I know that she's going to do everything in her power to try and leave, and I'm not going to allow that, Kai! She trusted her the first time. I did not know that she was carrying a child the first time. Had I known, I wouldn't have let her leave.” There was an edge in my voice, and I knew that he heard it. “I was supposed to tell her that I wanted her to stay. Instead, I found myself pushing her towards wantin
Alaria:The courtyard was buzzing. It was always like this when news started to form around when it started to spread.Whispers moved like wind through stone, maids with half-lowered voices, warriors glancing between one another, servants bowing too deeply whenever Liam passed. I didn’t need anyone to say it out loud.The news was already flying around. And those who did not know were already aware.I already heard…Claire was pregnant.And the child would be Liam Blackthorne’s heir.A child that I knew was going to claim everything as his right.I heard it again and again, like a drumbeat in my ears. Heir. Heir. Heir.As if Anastasia didn’t exist. As if she hadn’t already bled his blood and carried his fire.Yes, I knew that. I did not want her to carry any of that responsibility. She was far too young. She was a child. But there was going to come at a time when she was going to know who she was. And when that happened, I wondered how he was going to explain that to her.I found him
Amelia:The woods were thicker tonight.Fog crawled between the roots like a serpent, slick and slow. The moon, veiled behind scattered clouds, gave only slivers of light. I moved quickly, but with care, every snapped twig felt like a scream in the silence. And I found it's harder for me to walk in silence, and I found it harder for me to be able to focus at all.Claire had trusted me with everything.I gave her my loyalty, even if it meant me cheating on the man that I now called Alpha. But I owed it to her. Had it not been for her, I would have been long dead. I would have been thrown out a long time ago. I would have been a rogue. One of them, one of those who are exiled.But I hated that I’d become good at this. I hated how good I had become at lying, deceiving and playing those that trusted me.The path she used for these meetings wound just outside Blackthorne’s eastern perimeter, nearly invisible beneath overgrowth. And hopefully if he had covered his slant, he would not be hea
Liam:The healer’s words echoed in my mind like a war drum muffled in snow.“Luna Claire is pregnant, Alpha.”I’d heard her voice clearly. Had watched the moment Claire’s lashes fluttered and her eyes opened, wide, glassy, fragile. The way that she seemed to tense up and the way her heart raced, I didn’t even miss her holding her breath for a few seconds.The way I held her hand and let myself believe, for a moment, that things were finally coming together. That maybe… just maybe… something in this storm would anchor me again. Something was going to hold the two of us together.She was pregnant. My Luna. My mate, at least by name, by choice. And we were going to have a child.I should have felt nothing but joy.I should have felt a warmth that I couldn’t explain.And at first, I did.There was a strange warmth in my chest, foreign and full, like the sun rising over dead winter fields. It filled the hollowness I’d carried since the day Alaria walked away. Since the day I signed the div