Chapter Two

Dakota’s POV.

Two of my maids had just finished getting me ready for bed when Lucian walked in with a glass of milk in his hand and signalled for us to be left alone.

The maids bowed their heads as they made their way out. As soon as they closed the door gently behind them, he walked over to my side and planted a soft kiss on my stomach.

“Here.” he whispered, handing over the glass of milk to me.

I took it from him with a broad smile. He always did this every night, bringing me milk to help me and the baby relax and that was one of the reasons I never doubted my decision to be his Luna.

Lucian was everything a woman could wish for.

“Drink and go to bed, you need to rest after what happened today.”

I nodded and placed it on the nightstand.

“Jacob’s injury is a little worse than the healer thought so I told him to spend the night in the guest room,” he said as he took his seat on the edge of the bed, “he insists on finishing up on some of the paper work for tomorrow’s council meeting and you know I can’t just let him do that.”

“I’ll help him finish up as fast as I can and join you shortly but don’t stay up, okay?” He added, his fingers trailing up my thighs to tickle me.

I giggled softly.

“You both work too hard.” I leaned into his touch, “come back as soon as you can, you know I don’t like being alone like this.”

Jacob staying over wasn’t new. He always spent the night here whenever they had extra work to attend to. I’d even sometimes bring them extra blankets to make sure they were comfortable before heading to bed so I was used to having Jacob over most of the time.

Lucian began to massage my legs slowly, “you know I don’t like being away from you either, now drink up.”

His eyes were fixed on me as I reached for the glass and brought it to my lips. The scent of warm vanilla and cream hit me as I took a small, obedient sip. It was rich and sweet, exactly as it always was.

“All of it, my love.” He urged tenderly.

I managed a weak smile, “it’s hot babe, I’ll drink slowly. You should go, so you can come back quickly.”

He smiled, that flawless, handsome smile.

“Of course. Don’t stay up too long.” He kissed the back of my hand, then rose to his feet and made his way out.

I was already exhausted, and most part of my body ached, so I pulled the blankets up and rested my head against the plush pillows.

~~~~

I woke up with a start and reached out for Lucian in the darkness but he wasn’t on his side of the bed. Groaning softly, I forced myself up and glanced at the digital clock right next to my untouched glass of milk on the bedside,

“2:17am.”

Lucian’s side of the bed was still smooth and untouched, that only meant he didn’t come to bed.

He’d probably fallen asleep on his desk. He was always working so hard. I thought to myself as I slipped out of bed and tied my robe firmly around my body.

The hallway was dark and deserted but a silver of light cut across the floor from under the door of his study which was at the far end of the hall.

I began to walk toward it, rubbing my eyes to clear the drowsiness from my eyes. The door was slightly ajar and just as I reached out to push it open, a soft moan cut through the silent air.

My hand froze mid-air.

My brows furrowed, I wasn’t exactly sure about what I heard until the sound came again, louder this time accompanied by a soft giggle.

I knew exactly what that sound was and my blood turned to ice in my veins as soon as it hit me.

“Keep it down,” a familiar voice panted, “your Luna is right down this hallway.”

Jacob?

“It’s okay, we have nothing to worry about,” came my husband’s voice, heavy and breathless, “I’ve given her the usual. She’ll sleep till dawn.”

The usual? Was he referring to… to the Milk?

“Fuck!!! You do it so goodddd.” My husband’s loud moan filled ears and from the crack in the door, I could see him throw his head back against the chair he was seated on while Jacob’s head bopped up and down between his thighs.

The ground gave way from underneath me and for a moment, my heart stopped.

My hand flew to my mouth to stifle a whimper. Hot tears rapidly pooled at the bottom of my eyes, blurring the strip of light pouring out from the crack.

My legs were shaking so bad that it was a miracle I was still standing.

“Dakota’s due date is close, we need to finalize the plan to avoid any issues.” I overheard Jacob say and Lucian nodded in agreement.

“I have everything in order. As soon as my heir is born, I have found the perfect person to set her up with. A low ranking warrior from the pack. Trust me babe, the moment I walk in on her in that compromising position, she’s done for.”

Jacob laughed, a cruel, hollow sound I had never heard from him before,

“And you, my noble Alpha, will have no choice but to banish your cheating, ungrateful mate. The pack’s sympathy will be all yours. No one will bat an eyelid to it.”

“Exactly. And I’ll finally be free.” Lucian added, sighing in relief, “you have no idea how disgusting it is, touching her, pretending to care about her. If I didn’t have you to come back to on nights like this, I would have ended up killing her sooner.”

Each word cut through me like a knife. In all my years, I had never heard Lucian speak about me like this before.

How could my husband be gay?

My chest was heaving heavily and I could barely keep still. A sharp pain shot up the side of my stomach and my back began to ache really bad.

All these years… right under my nose… and I had no clue!!! How? Why?

A sob tore past my lips before I could stop it, a loud choking sound that resounded through the hall.

“What was that?” Jacob asked, his head turning to the door sharply in panic.

My eyes widened in horror as his gaze rested on me. A burning, intense feeling seized me and I didn’t even think before I stumbled back.

I broke into a run, staggering around the dark hall with a big stomach with my heart pounding against my chest like it was about to rip its way out, didn’t make things any better.

I almost tripped on the staircase but I didn’t slow down, I kept running, heading straight for the door.

I needed to get out of here, I needed to get away from them!

Anywhere but here.

“Dakota!” Lucian’s loud voice rang out behind me as the door to the study burst open, followed by the sound of their heavy footsteps right behind me.

The cool night air hit my face as I yanked open the back door and stumbled into the garden. I was heading for the pathway that led into the woods close to my…

“You can’t go far in your condition, Dakota so let’s just talk this out like adults.” Jacob’s convincing voice called out from behind me, interrupting my thoughts.

He was right behind me.

I barely made it past the garden before someone caught my arm and pulled me back, roughly. My heart skipped a beat when I came face to face with Jacob’s furious face.

“You should have stopped when I told you to.” He growled, his eyes shifted into his wolf’s fiery grey ones and his claws dug into my flesh, making me cry out in pain.

“L-Let go of me!” I screamed but another hand clamped over my mouth and nose fiercely, making it difficult for me to breathe.

“You stupid, curious bitch. You should have just stayed in bed like I told you to.” Lucian snarled close to my ears.

I struggled against them as hard as I could, kicking, scratching and biting but there was very little a pregnant wolf could do against two full grown Alpha male wolves.

They dragged me away from the pack house and into the woods. The more they dragged me into the darkness and further away from the pack house, the more I whimpered in fear.

“We can’t let her go back. She saw us, she knows our secret now. What do you think will happen when she tells everyone about it?” Jacob said as he threw me against a dried up oak tree in the middle of nowhere.

A sharp pain shot through me, knocking the air right out of my lungs. I tried to scurry away from them, my knees scraped against the floor but I didn’t get far before Lucian grabbed a fistful of my legs and pulled me back.

I landed with force on my stomach and yelled out loud in excruciating pain. My entire body went numb and all I could do was roll onto my back as tears began to pour down my face.

“No. Please… My… my baby… please!” I begged, trembling as the pain overwhelmed me.

“This is our golden opportunity to finish this once and for all, babe.” Jacob whispered into Lucian’s ears.

Lucian looked down at me and under the full moon, I could see his face clearly. There was no love in his eyes, just a stone cold, deadly glare as he raised his claws high up in the air and brought it down heavily on my stomach.

The pain was beyond anything I could have imagined. Blood poured out of my stomach, along with my intestines in the most gruesome manner. A blood curdling scream tore past my throat but barely even lasted a second before I began spluttering and coughing out blood.

His claws, still buried deep inside me, moved downwards with a tearing, sickening sound that made my entire body convulse under the intense pain.

Barely breathing, and with darkness rapidly eating away at my vision, I felt him cut something out of me and saw a small, bloody form lifted from my disemboweled stomach.

No! No! My baby!

I tried to scream but I could barely make a sound. I could feel my life draining out of me with my blood onto the cold ground.

No! I couldn’t die like this.

The last thing I saw was Lucian’s back as he walked away with something small in his hand.