Chapter 2

Maya's POV:

“The child is mine.” His words echoed in my head as I clutched the wall, one hand pressed to the wood paneling and nails bit into the grain until my fingertips went numb.

Inside, Victoria’s voice sliced through the silence.

“What do you mean, the child is yours?” She demanded.

“Six years ago, before Samantha left for Nolan’s pack, I went to her and we spent a week together right before she left for her wedding. A week into her marriage she found out she was pregnant but knowing that she hadn't been intimate with Nolan that long, she waited until the fetus was three weeks along so she could pin it on Nolan. Eventually she divorced him because of his promiscuity but when she came home, her father wouldn’t even look at her. So I brought her here and rented her an apartment, only then did she finally open up to me. I ran a DNA test just to be sure and it confirmed that Devlin is indeed my son.”

Every word landed heavier than the last, crushing the air out of me and I couldn’t breathe or move. My mind raced back through years of secret tabs on her social media, late-night scrolls where I’d zoom in on little Devlin’s face and tell myself the resemblance was nothing, just a trick of the light, or just bad lighting.

Although I could see the resemblance, from the same sharp jaw and the same way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, I shoved it down, buried it under the desperate need to become her. Instead, I dyed my hair from blonde to that exact shade of brunette she wore, trained it into those loose waves that fell just so. I had studied her outfits, her posture, the soft lilt in her laugh, and copied every single detail until my own reflection started lying to me in the mirror.

I had become her shadow in every way that mattered, hoping and praying that it would be enough to make Declan look at me the way he once looked at her and it worked. In the early days he had been ice, touching me only when I was ovulating to produce an heir but after the changes, after I started smelling like her and sounding like her in the dark, he came to me almost every night.

His hands would roam like they were remembering someone else, and when the whiskey loosened his tongue he would whisper her name against my neck. It had sliced me open every single time, but I had swallowed the pain because I told myself tomorrow would be different. Tomorrow the love I poured into him would finally overflow and drown out her hold over him.

Now I stood there, ears ringing, realizing it had all been for nothing. He had a son with her. A real, living piece of the life he had always wanted. I was just the placeholder who had kept the pack running while he waited for the real thing to come back.

My hand trembled on the doorknob, I was about to storm in and make him look me in the eye while he explained how five years of my life had just evaporated. But my phone vibrated hard against my thigh.

I stepped back, and yanked the phone out in anger to see my Dad’s name flashing on the screen so I answered before the third ring. “Dad?”

His voice cracked on the other end. “Maya, sweetheart, your mother’s been rushed to the hospital. The doctor said that it might be the cancer that's acting up again so they’re running tests now.”

The floor dropped out from under me for the second time in five minutes and I pressed my forehead to the wall, eyes squeezing shut.

I had married Declan in the first place because of this exact nightmare, Mom’s diagnosis, Dad’s loans from every bank and loan shark in three packs, the company folding, shareholders throwing him in a cell, the threats to take me as payment.

Declan had stepped in like a savior, paid every debt, pulled Dad out of prison, got the house back, funded Mom’s treatments, and all he had asked in return was my hand. I had said yes because I was drowning and he offered air, but now the cancer was back.

“I’m coming.” I whispered, already turning away from the hallway. “I’ll be there soon.”

The drive to the hospital was quick and when I pushed through the sliding doors, I saw my dad was waiting in the sterile waiting room, shoulders slumped, eyes red-rimmed as he pulled me into a hug that smelled like hospital coffee.

“I’m sorry I dragged you out here, when you should still be celebrating your anniversary.” He said, voice rough. “Declan probably had something big planned as usual.”

I forced out a smile that felt like it might crack my face. “There’s nothing more important than Mom.” I said and he nodded.

We waited for what felt like hours, the plastic chairs sticking to the backs of my thighs. Finally the doctor emerged, clipboard in hand, and gave us the reports about new spots, new scans, and new medications that would buy time but not miracles.

Then Dad and I walked into the room together to see Mom propped up against pillows, pale but fierce, and the moment she saw me she scowled at my dad. “You called her, didn’t you? I told you not to interrupt her anniversary.” Then she turned to me. “Go home, Maya. I’m fine.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and sat on the edge of the bed, taking her thin hand in mine. “I’m exactly where I need to be.”

Her lips parted slowly but before her words could form, the door opened again and Declan stepped in. His eyes found mine across the room, as he asked. “Why didn’t you tell me about your mother?”

I hated the way my stomach flipped at the sound of his voice, because I knew that he was here to perform again, to play the devoted son-in-law for the nurses and my parents, the same way he had played the loving husband for the pack cameras all these years. I played along anyway, because what else could I do in front of them?

“Your mother just got back after months away.” I said, keeping my tone light. “I didn’t want to disturb your conversation.” Declan scoffed softly, like the excuse amused him, and raised a hand toward the nearest nurse. “Move my mother-in-law to a bigger room and make sure that she is well taken care of.”

The nurse nodded eagerly and hurried off while I took notice of how everyone in the room relaxed just because the Alpha had spoken. It used to make me feel safe, now it made my skin crawl until I couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Declan.” I said, voice sharper than I meant. “I need to talk to you. Now.”

I pulled him into the quiet hallway outside the room, the door clicking shut behind us and hands shook at my sides. “Why are you here?”

“What?” He asked, and I continued. “Why are you here acting like you care?” He blinked, stunned. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

“I heard you!” I snapped. “I overhead you telling your mother that Devlin is your son.” His jaw tightened. “You were eavesdropping?”

“Is that really what matters right now?” My voice cracked. “When you sounded like you’re finally ready to toss me aside and go play house with them after everything we’ve been through.”

He exhaled hard, running a hand through his hair. “I never planned to toss you aside for Samantha.”

For one stupid second my heart lifted. Maybe he still wanted me. Maybe he would claim his son and keep me too because some part of him had grown to love…

Then he looked me dead in the eye and kept talking.

“I can’t toss you aside because you’re valuable, Maya. You helped me solve problems in the pack no one else could. You grew us to where we are now, with your ideas, and your opinions in every meeting. That’s why I’m not getting rid of you, however, Samantha is the woman I love and she is the mother of my son. So, I will have to marry her and make her my Luna. But I’ll keep you as my concubine because your ideas are still useful.”

The hallway spun and I stared at him, really stared, seeing the man I had spent five years loving like he was oxygen. He had walked into my life when I was helpless, I used to be so grateful, so vulnerable, and that gratitude had twisted into love. Then the love had deepened until I couldn’t remember who I was without it.

Taking a deep breath that burned all the way down, I met his gaze without flinching, letting him see every shattered piece of me, then I said. “I want a divorce.”