ANCIENT LAW

MAYA

I woke up from the bad dream, my heart hammering against my ribs, drenched in cold sweat. I sat up in the dark, breathing heavily, clutching the bedsheets tightly in my hands.

I refused to accept it.

I shook my head violently in the quiet room. How could my own past self tell me I was never meant to hold a child? How could she tell me that bringing Edward’s baby into this world would end my life? No. I had fought through death, survived the cold earth of the tomb, and reclaimed my rightful place beside the man I loved. I was not going to let a vision or a ghost rob me of the ultimate joy of motherhood. I must have a baby, and not even the Moon Goddess can stop that.

The next morning, Edward returned from his trip to the northern territory. He looked tired, his broad shoulders heavy with the weight of pack duties, but the moment he saw me, his amber eyes softened with that deep, familiar warmth. I didn't waste any time. After we embraced, I sat him down on the edge of our bed and held his large, calloused hands in mine.

"Edward, we need to go to the hospital," I said softly, looking straight into his eyes.

He brow furrowed in concern. "Are you feeling unwell, Maya? Are you in pain?"

"No, I am fine," I replied, shaking my head. "It's about us... about having a baby. Maria is threatening us with surrogates, and I want us to get checked by a proper medical doctor. If there is any reason why I haven't conceived yet, it is medical, and it can be cured."

Edward sighed, a slight shadow crossing his face, but he didn't argue. He stroked my cheek gently and agreed to come with me.

Over the next two weeks, we visited the top fertility specialists in the city outside our pack lands. We went through endless tests, blood work, and physical examinations. I waited anxiously for the results, barely able to sleep at night as the doctor compiled our files.

Finally, during our last appointment, the head doctor sat across from us in his quiet, air-conditioned office and placed our charts on his desk.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with either of you," the doctor announced with a reassuring smile. "Alpha Edward is in peak physical condition, and Luna Maya, your reproductive organs are entirely healthy, clean, and functioning perfectly. Physically speaking, you are both fully capable of conceiving a child. It is simply a matter of time and timing."

Relief washed over me like a warm wave. I looked over at Edward, a bright smile breaking across my face, though his expression remained strangely quiet and reserved.

When we got back into the car, I reached across the console and took his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"I had gotten pregnant for you before, but I lost the pregnancy," I told Edward, my voice thick with emotion as I remembered the agonizing loss from my past. "And I will get pregnant again."

Edward looked at me, giving a gentle nod of his head. "If it happens, it happens, Maya," he said quietly.

He seemed not to be bothered about making babies. I studied his profile as he drove back toward the estate, completely puzzled. Why was he so relaxed about an heir while the entire pack was buzzing with tension? He had me, he loved me, and having a child didn't seem to weigh on his mind at all.

I do not know why Maria cares so much. Why was she so obsessively driven to force another woman into our lives when the Alpha himself wasn't pressing the issue?

The answer to her sick obsession came sooner than I expected.

One night, after a long, silent dinner in the grand hall, Edward went upstairs to his private study to review the monthly pack accounts. I stayed behind in the main sitting area, drinking warm tea near the fireplace, enjoying the peaceful crackle of the burning wood.

Suddenly, heavy, hurried footsteps echoed down the stone corridor.

Maria walked into the room. She was wearing her formal dark velvet gown, her face pale and sharp under the dim chandelier light. She didn't say a word at first. She marched straight toward where I was sitting, reaching into the heavy leather satchel she carried in her hands.

She pulled out a massive, dust-covered book bound in dark brown leather with ancient gold runes stamped onto the spine. It was the Sacred Book of Pack Laws—the ancient constitution that governed every marriage, bloodline, and tradition in our territory.

With a heavy, aggressive gesture, she threw the book that contains the laws of the pack to me.

The heavy tome landed on the small tea table in front of me with a loud, echoing THUD, nearly knocking my porcelain teacup onto the rug.

"What is the meaning of this, Maria?" I asked, setting my cup down and glaring up at her with cold disgust.

"Go to page ten," she said, her voice dripping with a terrifying, triumphant malice. She stood over me, her arms crossed tight against her chest, her dark eyes gleaming like a predator that had finally backed its prey into a corner.

I looked down at the massive book, my fingers trembling slightly as I reached out and lifted the heavy leather cover. The yellowed parchment pages smelled of old ink and decay. I flipped through the thick, stiff pages one by one until I reached the top of page ten.

There, written in calligraphic, ancient script under the section titled Dynastic Continuity & Bloodline Preservation, was an old, forgotten decree.

I leaned closer, my eyes scanning the dark ink lines:

"A married woman can pay the bride price of another woman, get another man to get the woman she married pregnant, and the baby will be her husband's."

My breath hitched in my throat. My mind went completely blank as the words danced in front of my eyes.

I read that page ten times before I was able to understand it.

I read it again and again, my brain frantically trying to break down the twisted logic of the ancient law. A married woman—Maria—could pay the bride price of a second woman. She could then bring in a chosen man to impregnate that woman, and by sacred pack law, the resulting child would legally belong to Alpha Edward as his official firstborn heir, completely bypassing Edward's consent and completely erasing me from the bloodline.

It was a loophole. A legal, ancestral loophole designed centuries ago to secure an heir if an Alpha was unwilling or unable to participate.

Maria didn't need Edward to sleep with a surrogate. She didn't need Edward's permission at all. She was going to buy a woman herself, hire a man to impregnate her, and present the baby to the Pack Council as Edward's legal child—forcing Edward to recognize it and stripping me of my position forever.

I lifted my head, my face drained of all color, my heart pounding so loudly against my ribs it sounded like thunder in my ears.

Maria stood right in front of me, watching the horror wash over my features. When she was certain I understood it, when she saw the complete shock and realization paralyze my body, a cruel, disgusting smile spread across her face.

She didn't utter another word. She simply turned on her heel, her silk dress rustling against the floor, and walked out smiling.

I must destroy this demonic lancient law