Chapter 1: A monster and a miracle.

Ella's POV.

Today was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Just me and Jason, wrapped up in each other’s arms like we always do. But now I'm on the cold tiles, bleeding, while he grabs another woman by the waist and fucks her like she belongs to him.

When did the man I fell in love with become this monster right in front of my eyes?

Just a few hours ago, everything was different. I was so full of joy that I couldn't imagine anything bad happening to me. I was so certain that the Moon Goddess had already blessed my day. I can still hear Doctor Martins’ voice in my head, clear as anything.

“Ms. Rhaella, this is truly a miracle,” he’d said with a gentle smile. He adjusted his glasses and slid the sonogram across the desk toward me. “With your condition, it’s rare for a woman to conceive at all, let alone carrying twins.” He paused, shaking his head a little, like even he couldn't quite believe it. “Even after all my years in medicine, this still catches me by surprise. Congratulations, Ms. Ella. I’m sure the Alpha will be overjoyed when he hears this.”

He smiled at me as he spoke, like he was genuinely happy for me. Without thinking, I rubbed my stomach, smiling as a tear slid down my cheek.

I had always wanted to be a mother. I was eighteen when I was diagnosed with anovulation… a condition that meant my body might never give me a child. From that day on, I cried and prayed harder than I ever had, begging the Moon Goddess to bless my womb, even if it was with just one. And now she had answered. Not with one, but with two. My wolf was practically purring inside my mind.

I left the clinic joyfully and slipped into the midnight-blue Range Rover Jason had gifted me last month. The leather still carried a faint scent of his sandalwood cologne from all those evenings he had spent teaching me how to drive. I pressed the accelerator and sped toward his villa, smiling so wide that my cheeks burned.

I almost ran a red light on the highway, but I didn't care. All I could think about was sharing the news with my mate, Jason. I wanted so badly to see the look on his face when he realized we were having twins.

Maybe, just maybe, it would be enough to make him end things with whoever he was cheating on me with.

The truth was, I already knew.

I knew Jason was cheating. But I had convinced myself that it was just a momentary temptation; something we could work on. So I chose to stay. I chose to fight for our love, to protect our mate bond no matter what.

By the time I pulled through the gates of his villa, my heart was thudding so hard that I thought it might burst. I grabbed my yellow Chanel purse from the passenger seat and stepped out.

“Hi, Ms. Ella,” Betty, one of Jason's maids, greeted me as she appeared from the front porch, her smile polite and warm.

“Hi, Betty.” I returned the smile, barely able to contain myself. “Where's the Alpha?”

“He asked that you wait for him in the living room,” she said. “He'll join you shortly.”

I nodded and stepped inside, settling my purse down gently on the sofa. The smile just wouldn't leave my face.

Betty came back a moment later with a glass mug of steaming coffee. The rich, roasted aroma reached me before the cup even did. Lavazza had always been my favorite, and Jason had always had it stocked in his kitchen just for me.

“Thank you, Betty.”

Her eyes looked away from mine a little too quickly. But I didn't think much of it then. I took a slow sip and hummed softly, letting the smooth bitterness melt over my tongue. I was thirstier than I had realized and in no time, I ended up gulping down the entire mug faster than I intended.

But suddenly, something felt wrong. My stomach tightened, not painfully, but just enough to make me uncomfortable. I decided to go upstairs and wait in his room instead. Maybe lie down for a bit.

I was halfway up the stairs when I stopped. A woman's moan drifted down the hallway, followed by the unmistakable sound of skin slapping against skin. My blood turned cold as I pushed the door open and watched my entire world shatter right in front me.

“Jason!” My voice cracked, ripping straight from my chest. For a moment, everything felt unreal, like my mind was refusing to accept what my eyes were seeing.

And that was when the real shock hit me. The person Jason had been cheating with all along was Dahlia, my half-sister.

How could he do this to me? Did I really mean this little to him? And with Dahlia, off all women? The same girl who always eyed everything I had, who rolled her eyes whenever Jason held me in public?

My wolf clawed at me from the inside, heartbroken that our mate could do this to us. Pain shot through my stomach and I stumbled back before my legs gave out completely, dropping me to my knees.

I stayed there, staring up at them, waiting for something, anything, that would make this make sense. But there was nothing.

He didn’t even give me a chance to tell him about our babies. I had imagined his reaction so clearly it almost felt real already. I never once imagined this would be what I walked into instead.

A sharp pain twisted through my body and I bent forward with a gasp I couldn’t hold back.

My breath caught as I looked down and saw blood pouring out from between my legs, soaking into my dress and dripping onto the floor beneath me. My stomach clenched harder and I knew the pain was too sharp to be just grief. My mind spun back to the coffee Betty had given me earlier. The way she wouldn’t meet my eyes and the strange tightness I had felt in my stomach not long after.

Piece by piece, a thought I didn’t want started forming. If this had been planned… if Jason and Dahlia had been hiding something from me all along…Then the coffee might not have been innocent.

And if it wasn’t… My hands moved instinctively to my stomach as the thought completed itself in my mind. My babies might be in danger.

They saw me, I knew they did; still, they didn’t stop.

“Fuck me harder, Jason!” Dahlia moaned shamelessly, and Jason obeyed without hesitating.

I kept pulling at the bedsheets, desperate, begging for someone… anyone… to help me. I screamed for the maids, but no one came. The silence outside the room stayed just as cruel as the scene in front of me.

Jason let out a loud groan with his final thrust Then he showered her with kisses and they laughed together like nothing about this was wrong.

He threw his shirt over his shoulder and lit a cigar casually, like this was just another Friday night. Dahlia hummed some careless tune as she slipped into the bathroom.

“I’ll be waiting in the car, Dee,” he called out. He stared at me for a moment then walked right past me like I wasn't even there.

I pressed my hands harder against my belly as the cramps twisted into something more savage. I wanted to call my mom, but my phone was still in my bag, back in the living room. And as an omega, I couldn’t mind-link anyone.

Dahlia came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, rubbing a towel through her damp hair. My stomach twisted when I saw what she was wearing.

She was dressed in one of the outfits Jason had bought for me months ago… the one I was supposed to change into whenever I stayed over at his place.

“Dahlia…” I choked out through my tears. “Please don't do this. Whatever your problem is with me, we're still family.”

She looked at me for a second before laughing.

"Family?" She squatted down and yanked my chin up, forcing me to meet her gaze. "Don't be delusional, Ella. I never accepted you as my sister, and I never will. Your slut of a mother wrecked my parents' marriage. And you think I owe you loyalty?” She scoffed. “Please. You're even crazier than I thought.”

I stared at her, barely recognizing the hatred in her eyes.

"So no, Ella. We're not family."

She let go of me and headed toward the door. Then, she stopped as if she had forgotten something.

“Oh, one more thing.”

She glanced back at me.

“Make sure to give my kisses to your unborn brats… you all will be meeting the Moon Goddess sooner than you think.”

Every thought in my head came to a stop. Dahlia knew I was pregnant? There was no way she could have said that by accident. My hand moved instinctively to my stomach.

How did she know when I hadn't told anyone yet?

A sick feeling settled in my chest as another possibility began to take shape. If Dahlia knew about the pregnancy, does that mean Jason knows too?

Did he know… and still go ahead with poisoning me?