[3]

“Please, Aiden,” I whispered, swallowing what little remained of my pride. “If the elders are pressuring you, if you’re worried about your position… then talk to me. I love you. I have loved you since the day the Moon Goddess paired us.”

Aiden scoffed. Cold irritation flashed through his eyes.

“Worried? Pressured?” he repeated. “Don’t be ridiculous, Elena. I didn’t do this to hurt you. I did it to fix what we couldn’t.”

He stepped closer, lowering his voice until it was painfully calm.

“It was surrogacy. That’s all. Sarah spared you the strain and emotional damage of another miscarriage. You should be grateful she stepped in instead of standing here throwing a hysterical fit.”

Grateful.

The word turned to ash on my tongue.

He stood before me, dressing his betrayal in the language of kindness—as if having a child with the woman he had always kept close were some noble sacrifice he had made for my sake. For five years, he had denied me his mark, leaving my wolf silent and slowly starving beneath my skin. He had taken everything a mate was meant to give and convinced himself that I should thank him for the scraps he left behind.

What hurt most was not only that he had replaced me; it was that he truly believed I was too foolish to see it. He had stripped away my dignity, my health, and the fragile peace I had fought to preserve, then wrapped the wreckage in the word mercy and expected gratitude in return.

“You didn’t save me from anything, Aiden,” I said. My voice was barely more than a breath. “You replaced me.”

“I secured my bloodline,” he corrected, his tone flat.

He turned his back on me and adjusted the cuffs of his shirt, as if our marriage—and my broken heart—were no more important than a crease in his sleeve.

“Get over it, Elena,” he said without looking at me. “You’re still Luna.”

The next morning brought no comfort—only the public execution of what remained of my dignity.

The Pack Ballroom was crowded with warriors, elders, and high-ranking members of the Blood Moon Pack who gathered for the sacred Blessing of the Firstborn. Banners hung from the vaulted ceiling, and the air buzzed with celebration.

I stood beside Aiden on the raised dais, draped in formal Luna robes. I felt like a corpse dressed for a festival, each breath scraping through my chest like powdered glass. Beneath the weight of the ceremonial fabric, my dormant wolf stirred weakly, struggling to keep me upright despite the pain I refused to show.

At the center of the hall, the senior elder raised the newborn and began chanting the prayers that called for the Moon Goddess’s protection over the Alpha’s firstborn heir.

I knew what tradition required. Once the final blessing was spoken, I was supposed to step forward, take the child from the altar, and offer the pack’s maternal blessing. It was the moment that sealed the child’s place within the territory and affirmed my authority as Luna beside the Alpha.

But when the final chant ended, the elder did not look at me. Instead, he just walked straight past me, placing the infant in Sarah’s waiting arms. 

Sarah stood beside the dais in a white velvet gown, looking radiant despite having just given birth. She was everything the pack wanted beside their Alpha—young, fertile, and glowing with the promise of a future.

The insult was quiet, but it was public and absolute. Without anyone saying a word, the elders had stripped me of my sacred duty before the entire Blood Moon Pack. They were telling everyone what Aiden had already made clear: I was Luna in name alone, a hollow figurehead waiting to be replaced.

Whispers spread through the hall like flames through dry grass. I lifted my chin and kept my back straight, even as my nails dug into my palms beneath my sleeves. Then I looked at Sarah. She cradled the baby against her chest, her bright blue eyes softening with an expression of gentle, saintly concern.

Holding the child close, she took a deliberate step toward me.

“Luna Elena,” Sarah said, her soft voice cutting through the silence at the front of the hall. “Would you like to hold him? He is your pack’s heir now.”

I knew kindness when I saw it. This wasn't kindness. It was a weapon wrapped in a smile. Sarah was offering me a choice in front of the pack: pretend to be the grateful stepmother to my husband's child or refuse and become the bitter, heartless Luna everyone already believed me to be.

My gaze dropped to the tiny bundle wrapped in silk.

Instinctively, my hand trembled over my lower stomach, where my own baby remained hidden from the world—a fragile, innocent life I carried alone. A child who might never know its father, or might never even come into the world because I had only eight months left to live.

Holding Sarah’s son would have felt like pressing a rusted blade into my own heart.

“No,” I rasped, stepping back. “Keep him away from me.”

Sarah flinched as if I had struck her. Tears immediately welled in her eyes, and her lower lip trembled as she pulled the child protectively against her chest. 

The reaction drew every eye in the hall toward us, and I could feel the elders watching in silence. Then Aiden’s head snapped toward me, his eyes blazing with lethal fury.

I lowered my gaze, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing how deeply his anger hurt me.

Later that evening, I could no longer bear the weight of the whispers and humiliation hanging over the banquet hall. I slipped away from the suffocating noise and into the dim corridor leading to the terrace. Cool night air drifted through the open arches, brushing against my overheated skin.

I leaned against a pillar and tried to draw a slow breath, but a crushing ache tightened in my chest. I pressed a hand against it, waiting for the pain to ease.

It didn't.

Then, not long after, I heard footsteps echoing down the corridor.

“I really tried, Aiden,” Sarah said softly. Her voice trembled with carefully measured tears. 

“I only wanted Elena to feel included. But the way she looked at my baby… I don’t think she will ever accept him.”

“Ignore her, Sarah,” Aiden replied. His voice was firm and dismissive. “Elena is being emotional. She forgets her place.”

“She looked so broken today,” Sarah murmured. “What if the shame becomes too much for her? What if she leaves you?”

Aiden gave a dark, humorless scoff.

“Leave me?” he said, his voice edged with arrogant amusement. “She is never going to do that.”

Behind the pillar’s shadow, I held my breath when I heard those words.

“When the elders wanted her banished after the miscarriages, I was the one who stopped them,” Aiden continued. “I saved her from exile. She owes her title, her protection, and her entire life to me.”

He paused, and something possessive settled into his voice.

“Where would she go? She has no family. No pack to return to. No strength left to survive on her own. She stays exactly where I put her.”

I pressed my hand over my mouth, trying to silence the broken sound rising in my throat. 

He truly believed I belonged to him. To Aiden, my patience was weakness, and my silence was surrender. He thought I was obligated to endure every humiliation and every lonely night simply because he had given me a roof over my head and kept the elders from kicking me out.

The more I thought about it, the clearer it became. In his mind, his so-called protection was a golden chain locked around my ankle. He was too blind to see that the safety he boasted about was nothing more than a slow execution.

My hand drifted to my stomach, settling over the fragile warmth of the child growing inside me. As I felt that tiny life beneath my palm, a cold calm settled over my shattered heart. 

Aiden believed I would remain his prisoner forever, never knowing that I had a ticking death clock inside me.

In eight short months, I would take his true heir with me to the grave.