1.

ELLARIA.

"This is wonderful news, Luna! You’re having twins!"  the docter said.

The two tiny, beating hearts on the ultrasound screen made my brain stop working.

The doctor looked like she might actually cry from happiness. 

"Should I call the Alpha and tell him?" she said.

"No." I blurted out

The doctor's smile froze for a moment.

I forced a laugh, “I-It’s amazing news. We’ve been wanting this for so long. I think I'm to surprise him.”

She melted at that. “Oh, lovely!” I smiled weakly at her. Then I walked out of the hospital like a normal pregnant woman, but inside I was devastated, all because I wasn't allowed to get pregnant.

Four years ago, the contract I signed before becoming Arren Pierce’s wife didn’t seem so complicated.  

Back then, his father had died so suddenly, and Arren needed a Luna before he could take over as the Alpha King.

He chose me. 

Five years of playing his wife. And when the time was up, I would disappear from his life like I had never existed.

And in exchange, Arren Pierce put a roof over my head and saved me from being a mere servant. He’d also made me a promise to help me find my mother who I hadn’t seen for as long as I could remember. 

Our contract had two simple rules. 

No love, and no children. 

I had three months left before this marriage ended and I went back to being invisible.

And now his baby was growing inside me.

I barely made it to my car before I started sobbing. Goddess, I was filled with so many emotions I didn’t even know which one was real. 

How was I supposed to tell my husband that everything he wanted out of our marriage I’d failed at?

Because not only had we let this happen... but I’d also let myself fall stupidly in love with an Alpha King who would never love me.

Arren Pierce had never given me his heart... and it took me a long time to come to realization that he likely never would.

And all this...? It was just going to push him further away.

Once I’d gathered myself enough to breathe properly, I drove back home. Once I was in my bedroom, I walked in front of my bedroom mirror and stared at my reflection. 

My face was red, and my eyes were a little puffy from crying. 

I glanced down at my stomach. 

And then slowly, I pressed my palm against my belly and let myself imagine it. What it would be like to have two tiny fingers wrapped around mine. And a little voices calling me mama. 

Maybe even Arrren looking at me the way he'd looked at me the night I suspected this happened. 

I pressed both hands against my abdomen, wondering how it was possible that I could have two little ones growing inside me. 

A closed my eyes and let out a breath, remembering that today was my birthday. 

Arren at least always made a point to show his face on birthdays, even on his busiest days. 

His was the Alpha king of the entire Eastern Sector. He was a busy male and I knew it. 

But he always came home on my birthday, even when pack business kept him away for weeks. 

Maybe that was one of the reasons I’d let myself stupidly break one of his other rules and fall in-love with him.

I knew it was pathtic. 

But Arrren wasn’t some heatless monster.

He’d shown me sides of him that made me fall hard before I’d even known what was happening. 

And now look at me. 

I swallowed down the lump in my throat and made up my mind. 

This wasn't the end of the world. 

I was going to tell Arren tonight. 

I went into the living room and sat on the couch, tuning on the TV so I wouldn't overthink myself to death. 

But soon enough I fell asleep. 

What felt like hours later. His scent was what woke me. Pine and cedar and something warm underneath, filling my lungs before I even opened my eyes. 

I whispered, "Arren."

He sank into the seat across from me, his grey eyes blazing with intensity as he ran his hands through his black hair.

He looked exhausted. 

“You had a long day?”

“You have no idea,” he rasped, “Happy Birthday, Ellaria.”

Warmth bloomed in my chest. I leaned forward, pressing my hands on his chest and kissing him softly. He relaxed into me, tilting his head and leaning in for more access.

I stopped thinking and just let myself feel it, my fingers curling into his shirt, pulling him closer. He parted my lips with his tongue, sucking my bottom lip into my mouth and I felt myself shiver.

His hand slid down my waist and then he froze. 

Then he pulled back, "You smell different."

My chest fluttered.

That was rather perceptive of him.

"Different how?" I kept my voice light,  trying to prolong the moment before the big reveal a little longer.

He leaned in and breathed against the curve of my neck. "Sweeter. Are you getting sick?"

"I’m just tired." I pressed my hand to his chest and put some space between us before his wolf could figure out what his skin brain hadn't caught yet. "I had a long shift at the medical center."

He studied me for a second, then let it go. "I think you should get a healer to check you out if it doesn't pass."

He pulled back and I saw how wrecked he looked.

He had shadows under his eyes and tension written into every line of his face. He had been hunting for answers about his father's death for months and the search was eating him alive.

I wanted to pull him close and smooth the exhaustion from his face and tell him to rest.

But Arren had never once let me take care of him.

He would take my body when he needed release and my presence when politics required a Luna at his side, but everything else stayed locked behind walls I had never been able to break through.

He sighed and stood up, then started toward the door and my stomach dropped.

"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 walking and turned around. "What is it?"

This was it.

Goddess.

Okay.

The moment that would change everything.

I stepped forward, but then his whole body went stiff before I could get a word out. His eyes darkened as he stared into nothing.

Someone was contacting him through a mental link. 

He turned away from me suddenly, cupping a hand around his ear, amplifying the voice of the person on the other line slightly. 

"Are you okay?" He sounded worried. 

Gentle and... loving. 

The warmth I'd been holding onto turned to ice in my chest.

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

Something in my chest turned sour. 

He wouldn’t use a soft voice like that for pack business. 

I watched as he rushed outside continuing on with that soft voice. 

And I knew exactly who he was speaking to when I heard the soft, feminine voice speak back to him in a sad tone.

His ex girlfriend. 

He former, actual fated mate. 

Katerina Mikaelson.