Chapter 4

"Mommy..."

My daughter's weak voice drifted from the altar. She couldn't hold on much longer.

"Lydia! Hold on!" I screamed.

Ethan stood by the edge, looking down at me.

"Still putting on a show?" he sneered. A wave of his Alpha power slammed into the crumbling altar, shaking it to its core.

The stone platform lurched. Lydia shrieked as she slipped further.

"DON'T!" I struggled, but the guards held me fast.

"You're insane... " I trembled.

"You care this much for a bastard?" The storm in his eyes darkened.

His hand clamped onto the back of my neck, forcing me to look up at the edge of the cliff.

"You'd throw away your pride for his pup?" The storm in his eyes darkened. "Seraphina, your love is mine. Your life is mine. Your very pain is mine to command."

Just then, his Beta rushed over.

"Alpha!" the Beta gasped. "It's Lilith! Her mind is breaking! The healers say the shock could kill the baby... your heir!"

Ethan's eyes turned to ice. "You'd hurt my only pure-blooded heir for Julian's bastard?"

"I didn't..."

"That's not fair, Sera," he said, his voice laced with a twisted, pitying tone. "An eye for an eye. You hurt my heir. I take his."

"No! Lydia is innocent!"

But he ignored me and kicked.

CRACK.

The support pillar snapped.

The entire altar tilted and began to fall toward the cliff.

"Daddy..." My daughter looked at him, her small hand reaching. Her voice was a whisper. "Save me..."

But Ethan turned his back, refusing to look.

"MOMMY!"

Her scream tore through the night. And then... silence.

I watched her tiny body fall through the air and vanish into the darkness.

"NO!"

I broke free from the guards and ran for the cliff.

I would follow her. I would die with her.

"Seraphina!" Ethan grabbed me and threw me to the ground.

"Let me go!" I kicked and clawed at him. "Let me go! I have to find my daughter!"

"You want to die?" he snarled, his fingers digging into my throat. "I forbid it. Your life is not yours to take."

I stared back at him, my eyes burning with hate. "Kill me. Just kill me!"

"If you love that bastard so much," he hissed, "then you can live a lifetime of agony remembering this lesson."

He leaned close, his voice a venomous whisper in my ear. "Watch, Sera. This is the price for your betrayal. And when you are done screaming, I will forgive you."

He held me while my daughter fell, a sickening, possessive embrace. "There," he whispered against my hair, his tone one of deep satisfaction. "Now your world is empty. Now there is only room for me."

I lay on the ground, my world falling apart.

He killed my son.

He pushed my daughter off a cliff.

What reason did I have left to live?

Blood trickled from the back of my head. My vision blurred.

Before the darkness claimed me, I forced my eyes open one last time, searching the churning black water below.

Lydia... Mommy is so, so sorry...