Chapter 3

The color drained from Albert’s face. The plate in his hands crashed to the floor, and he bolted out the door.

I followed him to the Luna suite, only to find Chloe lying on the bed, ghostly pale. The sheets beneath her were soaked in blood.

She was in premature labor.

She clutched her stomach, moaning in pain. “Albert… help me, it hurts so much…”

Albert grabbed her hand, his voice tight with panic as he yelled to the servants outside, “Get the Pack Healer! Now!”

The raw panic in his eyes was worse than anything I’d seen when I was bleeding out during my own labor just two days ago.

The Alpha’s personal healer arrived quickly and examined Chloe.

Albert immediately cornered him, demanding to know the cause.

The healer stammered, refusing to speak, and shot a strange glance in my direction.

A knot of dread formed in my stomach.

Finally, he spoke. “It-it’s the incense in the room. It was laced with Darkmoon herb… it harms a pregnant wolf’s spirit.”

Albert’s head snapped toward me.

My heart went cold under his judgmental gaze, and a bitter laugh escaped my lips. “You think I poisoned her?”

Even though my heart had already died for him, his instant suspicion still sent a sharp pain through my chest. I straightened my spine and met his eyes. “We’ve been mated for three years. Have you ever once seen me hurt anyone?”

He looked away, unable to meet my gaze. “That’s not what I meant…”

Just then, Chloe started calling for Albert from the bed.

He rushed to her side, letting her collapse against his chest as she sobbed.

“It’s all my fault,” she cried pitifully. “I shouldn’t have taken the Luna suite… but my baby is innocent, Eileen, how could you…”

“I didn’t!” I shot back, my voice loud and clear.

Chloe’s sobs grew more frantic. “Would I really risk my own baby’s life just to frame you?”

Before I could say another word, Albert roared, “Enough!”

He turned to me, his eyes filled with disgust, as if he were looking at a monster. “Eileen, I am so disappointed in you. To think you’d try to murder a pregnant woman out of jealousy!”

There were no cameras. And he refused to believe me.

He, my Alpha, my mate, had already condemned me.

I knew there was no point in arguing.

So I fell silent. My silence seemed to confirm his verdict. His voice was ice.

“In that case, you will take the pup and move to the house on the outskirts. You are not to set foot in the main pack house until you have reflected on your failures as a Luna.”

“Guards!”

At his command, several pack warriors entered, standing behind me like I was a criminal. “Luna, if you please.”

After being forced out of my own suite, I was now being thrown out of my home.

I swallowed the humiliation and took one last look at the man I had loved for three years.

“Albert, you will regret this.”

He just stared back at me, his face a cold mask.

I turned and walked away.

On the way, the guards watched me like a hawk, even though I had no strength left to run.

They brought me to the rundown house and left me with a final parting shot: “The Alpha says you are to reflect on your own. No one is permitted to serve you.” Then they were gone.

I looked at the dilapidated house, the dusty yard and furniture, and let out a sarcastic laugh.

Albert was so arrogant. He really thought I’d just roll over and take it, that I’d sit here and endure this shame like I always had.

I looked down at the sleeping pup in my arms. He seemed to sense my sorrow, his tiny brow furrowed.

I gently stroked his soft fur.

“Mama promises,” I whispered, “this is the last time. We will never bow to anyone again.”

Then I took out my phone and sent a text to my father, the Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack. "Father, come take me home. I'm breaking my mate bond with Albert."

His reply was a single word: [Wait.]

It wasn’t long before the powerful roar of engines grew louder. A convoy of six black, armored SUVs pulled up in front of the derelict house.

The doors opened in unison, and twenty of the Blood Moon’s elite guard stepped out. They were in full combat gear, the pack’s blood-red crescent moon emblazoned on their armor. Their eyes were cold, and the powerful aura of their wolves radiated from them.

The captain of the guard strode inside. The moment he saw me, the killer instinct in his eyes vanished. He dropped to one knee, placed his right hand over his heart, and bowed his head respectfully.

“My lady, on the Alpha’s orders, we are here to escort you home.”

I nodded, clutching my son, and walked past him without a second glance. I climbed into the extended Rolls-Royce Cullinan in the center of the convoy.

Once inside, I looked back through the window at the house, a symbol of my shame.

I would never come back here.

“This place is filthy,” I said calmly. “Burn it to the ground.”

“Yes, my lady!” the captain replied without hesitation.

The convoy pulled away. Behind me, flames erupted, swallowing the sordid past and turning it to ash.

Then I sent a message to Albert. "Albert, I am rejecting our mate bond."

"We're done. And I'm taking back what's mine. My lawyer will be in touch."

Meanwhile, the healer had determined Chloe’s poisoning wasn't severe. Despite the premature birth, she had delivered the pup safely.

But Albert’s relief was short-lived. The moment he saw the newborn pup, his face turned black with fury.

The pup’s unnaturally white fur and reddish eyes screamed a single, undeniable truth: this was the child of a rogue.

Humiliation and rage shattered his reason. A terrifying wave of his Alpha’s dominance exploded from him, making the glass in the room vibrate. The healer and servants buckled under the pressure, their legs giving out as they struggled to breathe.

He’d been played for a fool.

And for this lie, for this rogue’s bastard, he had thrown out his true mate—the Luna who had just given him a pure-blooded heir.

Just as he was about to give in to the urge to strangle Chloe, his phone buzzed. It was a message from Eileen.

“…rejecting our mate bond…”

“We’re done…”

Albert froze.

In that moment, Eileen’s last words to him echoed in his mind.

He truly, deeply regretted it.