His Contract Luna Says Goodbye

ELLARIA.

My Alpha forced me to sign a marriage contract: no love, no children.

He didn’t know I had fallen in love with him at first sight. And now, with only three months left until our contract expired, I was pregnant.

***

“Luna! You’re having twins!” the doctor exclaimed.

The two tiny, beating hearts on the ultrasound screen left my mind completely blank.

“Should I call the Alpha now?” she asked.

“No!” I blurted, the word coming out as a sharp, sudden cry.

The doctor’s smile froze.

My voice unsteady, I tried to explain, “We’ve been wanting this for so long. I want to surprise him myself.”

Her expression softened at once. “Oh, how lovely!”

I fled the hospital almost in a run. I had lied to her. My husband, Arren, the Alpha, had never wanted a baby. He had made me sign a contract to ensure it.

Arren was the Alpha King of the entire Eastern Sector, a man wholly devoted to his duty. Four years ago, his father had died suddenly under mysterious circumstances, and an Alpha could only be officially crowned as Alpha King after he took a Luna. He chose me, a mere servant. In return, he gave me a roof over my head and promised to help me find my mother, whom I hadn’t seen for as long as I could remember.

Our arrangement was strictly temporary and only 90 days left.

Now two babies grew inside me. How was I supposed to tell my husband that I had failed him in every way he had expected of this marriage?

I stood in front of my car and stared at my reflection in the window.

My cheeks were flushed, my eyes red and puffy from crying.

I glanced down at my stomach.

Two little lives lived inside me. I imagined tiny fingers curling around mine, and a soft, sweet voice calling me “Mama.”

Maybe the babies could change everything. Maybe they could turn this fake marriage into something real.

As soon as I got home, I lay down on the sofa and drifted off to sleep, replaying every possible future scenario in my head.

What felt like hours later, his scent woke me. Pine and cedar, with something warm beneath it, filled my lungs before I even opened my eyes.

I whispered, “Alpha Arren.”

He sank into the seat across from me, his gray eyes blazing with intensity as he ran a hand through his dark hair.

He looked exhausted. Then, without a word, he leaned forward, his large hand reaching out to cup my nape, pulling me toward him.

He didn't wait for permission. He claimed my lips in a kiss that was both weary and possessive.

I stopped thinking and simply let myself feel, my fingers curling into his shirt, pulling him closer. His tongue parted my lips, and he sucked gently at my lower lip, sending a shiver through me.

His other hand slid down my waist, gripping me as if to ensure I wasn't going anywhere. But as his lips lingered near my neck, his breath hitting my skin in ragged bursts, he suddenly stiffened.

He stayed there, buried in the crook of my neck, breathing me in with a sudden, sharp focus.

“You smell different,” he muttered.

Every muscle in my body locked up.

The babies, I thought.

Before his wolf could sense the truth, I pressed my hand to his chest and put distance between us.

I wanted to lie, but as I looked into his eyes, the words caught in my throat and wouldn’t come out.

What if he would accept it...

“I feel a little sick,” I whispered weakly, that was a part of turth.

“You should see a healer.”

He pulled back, pushed himself to his feet, and turned toward the bathroom.

“Wait.” I grabbed the pregnancy report from under the cushion where I’d hidden it. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

He stopped and turned around. “What is it?”

This was it.

Goddess.

Okay.

The moment that would change everything.

I stepped forward, but his entire body went stiff before I could utter a single word. His eyes darkened as he stared into the void.

Someone was contacting him through a mind link.

He turned away from me abruptly, cupping a hand around his ear as if amplifying the voice on the other end.

“Are you okay?” He sounded genuinely worried.

Gentle… and loving. He would never use such a soft tone for pack business.

The warmth I’d clung to turned to ice in my chest.

Only a handful of wolves could reach an Alpha through a private link like that.

And I knew exactly who he was speaking to the second I heard the soft, feminine voice reply in a sorrowful tone.

His ex-girlfriend.

His fated mate.

Katerina Mikaelson.