Chapter 1

Two pink lines. Positive.

I stared down at the pregnancy test and almost couldn't believe it. Where was Damien? I had to tell him. He'd be happy. He just had to be.

As I turned the corner, I heard the sharp click of high heels on the floor. Victoria Neighley, Damien's mother and the ice-cold matriarch of the Neighley pack, appeared with her usual cold and proud expression.

The moment she saw me, she frowned, as if she were already looking for something to complain about. But then, her eyes moved to what I was holding and her face changed instantly. She grabbed the stick from my hand before I could even react.

My heart hammered in my chest. As an Omega, carrying an Alpha’s child felt like a miracle from the Moon Goddess herself.

But when I looked up at her, my heart sank. Her expression wasn't right at all.

"You idiot..." she whispered. And her face was full of disgust and anger. My stomach tightened in fear.

Instinctively, I touched my still flat stomach and took two steps back.

"You can't be serious," she hissed. "An Omega mute carrying the heir of the Neighley pack?"

I froze in shock, feeling as if I'd been doused with cold water.

"This pregnancy must be aborted at once."

I shook my head no. I had been born mute, but never had I wanted to be able to speak more than at this moment. My wolf whimpered inside me, weak and small, but desperate to protect what was hers.

I knew that my status wasn't ideal. Not only was I an Omega who couldn't speak, I was also of illegitimate birth. My father brought me home after my mother died. From what I had pieced together over the years, they'd had an affair, and I was the product.

My father never cared for me much, but his wife hated me. She saw me as a hateful symbol of her husband's betrayal. Their daughter, my half sister, never missed an opportunity to remind me that I wasn't really part of their pack. I was extra. Unwanted. Voiceless.

Damien was the only one to ever show me kindness.

Victoria was right. An alpha like Damien would have never married an Omega like me if that ill-fated one night stand during the Heat hadn't Marked us as Fated Mates.

I'd been eighteen, my first Heat crashing over me like a storm I couldn't outrun. The fever started in my bones, spreading hot and relentless until my skin felt like it was on fire. I remember stumbling through the pack house halls, sweat soaking my nightgown, my inner wolf clawing at the edges of my mind with a hunger I'd never felt before. A hunger I'd never even imagined. The air was thick with the scent of pine and earth from the forest outside, but all I could think about was relief. Escape.

I didn't mean to end up at his door. Or maybe I did. I didin't know. Damien's room was at the end of the east wing, the one place I never went. But that night, my body led me there like a moth to flame. Or maybe the Moon Goddess led me there. I pushed the door open, and there he was - shirtless, golden eyes glowing in the dim light, muscles tense like he was fighting his own demons.

The Bond hit me first. A pull so deep it stole my breath. I crossed the room before I could stop myself, hands on his chest, lips crashing into his. He growled low in his throat, trying to push me away. "You're in Heat, Liora," he said, voice rough. "This is wrong. Go back to your room."

But The Bond snapped into place the second our skin touched. Fated. Undeniable. We were both powerless to stop it.

He Marked me that night - teeth in my neck, body claiming mine, the world exploding into stars cascading all around us. When morning came, the Mark was permanent. The Bond was sealed. His grandfather - the old Alpha - forced the marriage within days to avoid scandal.

I remember my wedding day. I'd been so happy, and I was so sure that I could make Damien happy. I thought it was destiny. I thought I could make him love me, as long as I tried hard enough.

I was wrong.

There always seemed to be something that would come between Damien and I. Either his walls or my walls, or his mother's opinions, or the needs of the pack.

This baby was a chance at a new beginning.

But not if Victoria had anything to say about it.

Her voice dragged me back to the present. “I’ll never let your inferior genes taint my family’s bloodline,” she sneered. “A weak, disabled pup would disgrace the entire Alpha line. The Council would laugh at us!”

Tears burned my eyes. I clutched my stomach protectively.

She grabbed my arm, her long red nails digging into my flesh. “I’m calling my son. He’ll agree with me.”

She held onto my arm with an iron grip as she pulled out her phone and dialed with her free hand.

"Damien," she said when he answered. "Your little mute is with child. She can't go through with the pregnancy. She mustn't."

Victoria listened, then her lips curled into a cruel, triumphant smile. "I knew you'd be sensible about this."

She hung up the phone and glowered at me. "Damien agrees with me."

It was like a dagger through my heart.

"You should be grateful he accepted a mute of inferior birth like you for his Luna," Victoria seethed. "Don't push your luck, dear."

She tried to drag me to the door, but for the first time in my life, I fought back. I had something worth fighting for. I wasn't going to lose my baby without a fight. I had to hear it directly from Damien.

I twisted free of her grip and ran out of the bathroom, and down the hall.

The study! That's where Damien could usually be found, working away. It was the one room in the entire pack house that I was forbidden to enter, but I didn't care. I ran for the study, with Victoria at my heels.

I ran down the stairs, and burst through the large oak double doors into his study.

Seated behind his mahogany desk was Damien, surrounded by piles of paperwork. He looked up from his work, irritation flashing in his gold specked eyes.

I signed frantically. Baby. Our baby. Please.

He stared at my hands with confusion.

I kept signing. More slowly this time. Is this really what you want?

He couldn't understand me. After two years of marriage, he'd never even tried to learn my signs. He’d never bothered.

Victoria stormed into the study behind me. "I tried to tell her, but she didn't seem to accept it and insisted on hearing it from you."

Damien turned his eyes back to his paperwork. "Do as mother says." His voice was like ice. "Don't disturb me again."

I could almost hear my heart shatter into a million pieces. I stood there for a second, waiting for something — anything — that never came.

Victoria grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the doors.

I looked back at Damien one last time. Willing him to look at me, to tell me he loved me. To tell me that he loved our baby growing inside me.

He never even lifted his head.

Not once.