Chapter 2

Joey and I returned to the manor in silence.

With the tension subsiding, Joey apologized for lashing out at me. “I’m sorry, Jennie. My sweet Jennie, please forgive me.”

“You care more about Anna than you are about me, Joey,” I uttered dejectedly.

“No, not at all, Jennie. I’m only looking out for her because she’s your family.

“I’m the Alpha of the Moonstone Pack. I have a duty to the pack.”

He gave me a peck on the forehead and murmured in my ear.

“My Jennie, the Moon Goddess chose you to be my fated mate. You mean the world to me.”

Joey carried me into the bedroom, his kisses fluttering across my face and neck.

Holding me from behind, he tugged at my dress and traced his lips against my skin.

At the height of the moment, his phone rang.

There was no telling what the caller was, but Joey shot me a frown before muttering, “I apologize for Jennie’s behavior. I’m on my way now.

Realization struck me that it was Anna on the other end of the line.

I smiled bitterly to myself. Of course. Only Anna had the power to stop Joey from bedding his mate.

As I put on my clothes, Joey simply dreamily walked out on me without another word.

The front door shut with a loud thud, and the room fell back into a deafening silence.

The moonlight filtered in the window as I pulled myself together.

I scrolled through my social media feed, and a photo caught my eye.

Anna held the moonstone in her hand, her smile beaming.

Still in the same slip dress, Anna clung tight to Joey. The thin fabric could barely contain her curves.

All it took was a slight shift in movement for Anna to offer more than a peekaboo.

It was disgusting.

I turned off my phone and pulled a pillow over my head to cover my eyes.

My mind was filled with nothing but bare flesh. These images haunted me even in my sleep.

A raspy cough escaped from my throat.

I woke up the next morning, my head throbbing and my body burning.

The front door opened with a click. Joey was back.

Sensing my discomfort, he waltzed into the bedroom and checked my temperature.

“You have a fever, Jennie,” he said worriedly before grabbing a coat from the wardrobe for me.

“Come on. I’m taking you to the infirmary.”

That was Joey. He would break me, then hold me close as though nothing ever happened.

It was the reason why I had put up with him over the years.

By the time I drifted back to reality in a haze, I was lying in the infirmary.

Joey stayed close to me, looking rather devastated.

“The pack healer said that you’re carrying a pup. Since you’re wolfless, there’s a high chance it won’t have a wolf either. I won’t keep it.”

I sat up with a struggle, my face reflecting disbelief.

“Do you hear yourself, Joey? Wolf or not, this is our pup, we are talking about.

“How can you be so reckless with its life?”

Joey replied indifferently, “No, I know what I’m doing. As the Moonstone Pack’s Alpha, I must put the pack first. My pup has to be as strong as I am. Without a wolf, the pup won’t be accepted in this world.”

Fever clouded my mind while rage burned through me with a tremendous pain in my belly.

Pressing my hands against my abdomen, I confronted Joey in a cold sweat.

“What did you do to me?”

He looked at me with such chilling composure as if our pup and I were nothing more than strangers to him.

“I’m sorry, Jennie. I don’t want to raise a wolfless pup.

“You’re sick from carrying a pup. I have asked the healer to terminate it.”

My limbs went numb, and my heart broke into a million pieces. I couldn’t breathe.

My pup left me before I had a chance to meet it.

Disappointed in Joey, I lost the will to fight with him.

The nurse came by with my medication. I took the pills and felt drowsy right away.

The thunder rumbled outside the window.

Through the haze of my dreams, I caught Joey’s phone ringing.

“I’m scared, Joey.”

“There, there. I’ll be there.”

“No, no. Jennie is sick. She needs you more than ever.”

“You’re my priority, Anna. No one matters more than you.” Joey’s voice was sweet. It slipped his mind that I was his mate who had just lost our pup.

Alas, due to my heavy eyelids, I could only watch through a blur as Joey walked away.

The nurse ran into Joey while doing her rounds. She approached my bed and sighed.

“The male didn’t even notice that his mate’s IV is running dry. He sure is in a hurry to leave. His mate is most fragile after losing her pup. She needs her mate more than ever. What a sad excuse for a mate.”

Not in the mood to face the nurse’s sympathy, I closed my eyes and pretended to be fast asleep.

The nurse exited the ward and turned off the lights.

In the dark, I checked my phone and saw Anna’s update on social media.

“Thunder doesn’t scare me anymore.”

Anna, her face flushed, nestled against a werewolf’s broad chest

The male’s face was hidden, but I knew it was Joey.

Joey put one arm around Anna’s bare shoulders, and on his wrist was my third anniversary gift to him.

“A ridiculous pair,” I gritted out.

Reality dawned on me.

It wasn’t that Joey didn’t want to raise a wolfless pup. He was only after a pup with Anna.

Pathetically, it took me four years to see him for who he was.

I set down my phone and raised my right hand. A three-carat diamond ring glistened on my ring finger.

Joey gave me the ring at our mating ceremony. However, Anna helped him to pick one out.

On the same day Joey had given me the rock, Anna received a ten-carat diamond necklace.

Another notification popped up on my phone.

Anna dropped me a message, and it was a photo of two hands, one big and one small, clasped together.

The smaller hand, clearly a she-wolf’s, bore a ring carved with the pack’s totem.

The ring marked the power and status of the Luna.

On the day I lost my pup, my Alpha mate gave the Luna ring to my sister.