Chapter 1

Freya's pov

“I'm really sorry. I know you were hoping for a different result but the test shows you are not pregnant," the doctor said softly, like she was scared it would break me.

Maybe it did.

It wasn't exactly the news I was expecting.

I couldn't feel myself for a moment. I just felt numb, waiting for her to tell me she was wrong and they were not my result.

“Are you sure?" I asked, my chest tightening. I couldn't even look at her face because if I did, I might cry. I was so close.

How could I be empty again? What was wrong with me? Is it wrong to want something that was mine? To be called a mother?

She nodded. "Yes. Luna Freya. I am sure.”

My hands trembled under the table. Luna? It almost felt like a mockery. I was nothing but a disappointment. A disgrace.

I still couldn't believe what I was hearing as I whispered. “But I have been feeling sick. I even fainted two days ago…I thought… I thought maybe…”

I was finally carrying his pup. My mate's pup. Alpha Thorne. I would finally be useful. I needed to be useful or else he would discard me again, just like my family did.

Because after three years of trying, praying, counting days, swallowing herbs and tonics, avoiding my favorite foods, you would tell me I wasn't pregnant?

My father had called me cursed. I didn't believe it then but he was right. I was barren and still I had no wolf.

The doctor sighed and pulled her chair closer. “Uh… stress can also cause fever and dizziness. Your body has been under a lot of pressure and I would recommend you take some time to rest.”

How could my body be under pressure? It had done nothing but fail me.

I stood up to leave. What was I going to tell Thorne? I couldn’t tell him. No, he mustn't find out.

“Wait!" the doctor called as my hand rested on the doorknob. She stood up from her chair and opened a small cabinet. She brought out a glass bottle with pale silver liquid and placed it in my hand.

“What is this?"

“That's the fertility elixir I told you about and you are to take this once in a day, take more rest and eat well. Hopefully you should see results soon,” the doctor said with a smile that I couldn't help but return.

So what? I had to trust this little thing and wait for my body to cooperate? So what if my husband runs out of patience entirely before then?

But I didn't say anything else and just nodded because that was what was easier to do now.

My legs shook as I walked. My heart was ripping into pieces that no one could see. This wasn't the way I had imagined the day to go.

The only thing stopping me from breaking apart was the elixir I clutched close to my chest.

As I turned the corner, the voices of the nurses filled my ears.

“That's her?... The Ruinfang Luna?"

“How many times now?"

“Fourth time this year. Negative again, from what I heard"

"Poor thing. I am hearing her husband is well… you know”

“With a wolf that never surfaced? I'm not even surprised. What Alpha wants a barren Luna who couldn't even…”

I forced myself to keep walking, just keep walking, don't stop.

But even after I left them, the word barren Luna followed me all the way to the door.

I cried. I couldn't hold it anymore. I was just like a dry land who couldn't grow anything no matter how much it tried. I had told myself that love could be earned if I just tried hard enough.

As I pulled open the door, I froze, standing beside the opened door of a packed black car, was my husband, Thorne and my sister, Ravenna.

What were they doing in the hospital?

They were laughing. It made my chest burn. He didn't smile like that with me.

They were talking to a doctor who stood in front of them. I didn't know how but my legs kept moving forward and the next words I heard stole my breath.

“Congratulations, Alpha Thorne," the doctor said, his hands in his pockets."The pregnancy is very healthy”

I stilled. Pregnancy? The Alpha whispered something into my sister's ears and she smiled sheepishly.

No. No. No.

It couldn't be what I was thinking. My husband and my sister together?

No way.

He wouldn't do that to me.

Maybe I should have left, and ignore what was so clear in front of me. The betrayal but my legs were already moving towards them even when everything in me was screaming to go home.

“Who is pregnant?" I screamed.

The doctor looked between us uncomfortably and left without another word from him. Smart.

“Freya…” Thorne began to say without bothering to remove his hands from my sister's waist.

I shook my head. I was so much more angry than the pain I was feeling. I focused more on the anger.

"I am asking a question!" I shouted. My eyes flicked to my sister. The same one I had shared a bed with till I was sixteen. The one who I ran to when I had a problem. When did it all change?

“Who are you pregnant for, Ravenna?"

The smile on my sister's face faded slightly. “That is not the conversation we are having here"

I scoffed. Really?

"Then where? Tell me, where do we have this conversation? I… I…” my voice broke but I kept on talking. "Why did I have to walk outside and find you standing outside with my husband and a doctor congratulating the two of you and now, you want to tell me which conversation we are having?”

“Lower…” Thorne shifted closer, his face wrinkling with rage. "Lower your voice, Freya”

I locked my eyes on him. I bit my tongue until I tasted blood. He was looking at me like… like I was an inconvenient thing he could file away.

“Did you know?" I asked, voice barely audible. “When I told you this morning that I was coming here, did you already know?"

He readjusted his stance. Well, that was answer enough.

"How long?” I couldn't stop myself from asking. I wasn't even ready for the answer.

The only thing ringing in my ears was his voice when he had claimed me.

“Come with me, Freya. Be my Luna and I will give you a place where you belong, and no one will ever make you feel like nothing again"

At that moment, I realized I had never been chosen. I had been replaced.