Chapter 1

Nadia's POV 

“ Zane’s dick is as big as a stallion!” Callan chirped in with a high pitched laughter. 

It was Calla, Zane’s closest female friend, who spoke. 

The lion clan gathering was in full swing. Zane and Callan were both caught up in the fun. After Zane had exposed one of Callan’s embarrassing childhood stories, Callan decided to get her “revenge” by sharing one of his own secrets.

To them, it was just harmless teasing between old friends.

But to me, it was a bombshell.

I almost spoke up, but Zane squeezed my hand and whispered,

"Don't cause a scene. Don't ruin this for Calla."

Calla took a sip of wine, then covered her mouth like she'd suddenly remembered something,

“Never mind. I’ll just share something else,” she said. “One time, just as I was walking out  from the bathroom, I bumped into Zane's chest with my nipples and watched as he claimed me with his gaze. After Zane saw me naked,I literally caught him  wanking  to my picture and growling deeply as he did.”

“After all, Nadia is pretty conservative. She’s never really been the one to take the initiative in bed. So I guess Zane has been holding himself back for a long time.” 

“Who was it that was still a virgin when we were in college and made you orgasm with just my hands? Who was  moaning with pleasure in bed? It was you, was it not?” Zane teased. “So I’d say we’re even.”

Calla wrapped her arms around Zane’s neck, giggling as she looked at me: “Nadia’s too shy—there are a lot of things she’s not used to doing. I’m not going to be petty like some little girl.”

“So you don’t have to worry. Sometimes I know him better than he knows himself. Even though he’s helped me masturbate before, it’s you he loves.”

Calla finally released him and shoved him lightly, bursting into laughter. The people around them joined in, adding to the lively atmosphere.

But I remained frozen in place.

The teasing, the jokes, the casual touches—maybe to them, they seemed like  nothing more than old habits between longtime friends. But to me, they felt like crossing one boundary after another.

Especially now.

I was carrying his child.

Every day, I carefully endured the changes that were happening to my body, while he stood in front of me, laughing and reminiscing with another woman about the  intimate memories that they had both shared. 

I didn’t know whether to  laugh at their thoughtlessness or feel ashamed of myself for ever believing they would understand how this looked.

Some people weren’t unaware of what boundaries meant.

They simply never cared about considering my feelings.

After finishing another bottle of wine, Zane’s friends casually asked me to bring over the roasted chicken, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

I forced myself to get up and walked toward the kitchen, but halfway there, a sharp ache spread through my lower back. I instinctively placed a hand against my waist, trying to ease the discomfort, but my body refused to cooperate.

I stood there quietly, waiting for the pain to pass.

“Nadia, the chicken?” one of them called out impatiently.

I didn’t move. Not because I wanted to make a scene, but because my body simply wouldn’t let me.

Zane walked over, lowering his voice. “Don’t start, Nadia. It’s just a joke. Don’t ruin the mood.”

His words stung, but before I could respond, he noticed that my hand was pressed against my waist and the way my face had gone pale. His expression softened slightly.

“Are you hurting?” he asked, his voice finally gentler.

I shook my head.

Zane quickly stepped in, telling me not to take it personally.

 “That’s just how we joke around with each other. Don’t be so small about it, alright?”

I said nothing, but as I watched him return to his friends as if nothing had happened, it made something quietly crack inside me.  

The next round began, and Zane drew the short token.

His dare was to have an intimate dance with a close female friend. Callan immediately refused, pretending to be considerate. “I wouldn’t want Nadia to misunderstand.”

Zane’s friends laughed and said it was inconvenient for me to dance while pregnant. Callan then reluctantly agreed to step in instead.

The others started teasing them, joking that Zane might not be able to control himself if Callan danced too seductively. Zane only shrugged it off. “We’re just friends. Don’t make it weird.”

 The whole group shifted naturally toward the both of them, roaring and cheering.

“We’ve all heard about your dancing. Now prove it!" they called out.

She rose from her seat and crossed to where Zane sat without a word. Then she lowered herself onto the arm of his chair, fingers curling into the collar of his shirt, tugging it aside until the curve of his neck was bare.

She  giggled as her fingers undid his buttons revealing his chest and she pressed in. 

Zane sat rigidly in his chair as Callan first wiggled her hips toward him, then turned around and placed her hands on his shoulders, swaying her body. Zane's eyes went wide, fixed on Callan's chest.

"Oh, Callan is fucking amazing—she must be a D-cup!" Amid the jeers of Zane's buddies, Callan grew bolder,unbuttoning the top part of her dress. Her large breasts popped out from her clothes, and Zane's ears flushed bright red.

"Haha, I bet Zane's about to lose it."

"No way, Callan and I are just friends," Zane insisted stubbornly.

"Really? I don't believe you." Callan squirmed, then simply straddled Zane's legs, leaning down to press her nearly fully exposed breasts against his face.

"Hey, look, Zane's cock is hard. Callan wins."

The energy in the den surged. Everyone howled until they became hoarse.

A fire burned deep in my chest, growing hotter with every passing second. I clenched my fists, forcing myself to stay calm even as my patience wore thinner and thinner.

Then, in the middle of it all, a sharp cramp twisted through my stomach, draining the color from my face.

I pressed a hand against my belly and took slow, steady breaths, trying to hold myself together for my cub.

Those two bastards.

I couldn’t let them humiliate me any longer!

A surge of anger took over. I gripped the edge of the table and flipped it over, sending everything on it crashing to the floor.

The room fell silent for a split second before startled gasps broke out and everyone instinctively backed away.

The mind-link fell deathly silent for one long, stunned second.

I straightened my back and held my head high, acting as though nothing had happened.

“Nadia, are you insane?”

The silence was quickly broken by the mocking voices of the other lion clan members. 

“Old-fashioned.”

“She’s completely lost it.”

“Who does she think she is?”

“She’s just a territorial she-lion who can’t even take a joke.”

Their sneering voices echoed through the mind-link, one after another, all aimed at me.

To hell with the pack link! To hell with his so-called lion brothers!

I shoved Zane hard, then grabbed the wine glass from the table and splashed the wine at Callan.

The red wine spilled over Callan’s head, ruining her carefully done makeup and staining her clothes. Clearly caught off guard by my outburst, she froze, completely stunned.

For a moment, the entire room was dead silent.