02

HAYLEE'S POV

His words ‘barren’ in my head roll around like it’s my death sentence. Each word slices more deeply than any sword could ever. I freeze and my hand flies to my stomach where our baby—my only baby—grows, unaware of what its father is doing.

“You can’t be serious,” I whisper on a shaky breath. "Three years, Aiden. Three long years.”

Aiden laughs, yanking his pants on nonchalantly. “And what have those three years got me? An empty nursery, and a wife who can’t even keep her most basic promise.”

"Basic duty?" The words are bitter in my mind and poison on my tongue. "Is that all I am to you? A breeding machine?"

"Among other things." He shrugs, his gaze cutting to Arielle who is still sitting on our bed—my bed—in nothing but the sheets around her pale, naked body.

My lady in waiting smirks as the victory shines in her eyes. “Alpha Aiden deserves a Luna that can bear him heirs Luna Haylee. Someone like me."

"You?" I laugh, though it rings hollow even in my ears. “The woman who took an oath to be loyal to me? The woman I told everything to?"

I pledged fealty to the Alpha," Arielle replies, sounding condescending. "And besides, Aiden and I go way back before you even showed up. We were meant to be together before you came into the picture.”

I look to Aiden, hoping to see some semblance of the man I married—the man I gave everything up for. "Is this true?"

Then he brushes his messy hair back with his hand and shrugs boredly. "Arielle was my first love, before you came to Shadow Pack. It was just circumstances that kept us apart.”

"Circumstances?" Arielle cuts in, acid in her tone. “ You mean when you got hoodwinked by an outsider with a pretty face and some empty promises?

I can feel my wolf shifting under my skin, anger boiling just under the surface. As the offspring of the greatest Alpha to have ever lived, I could--I could—I could tear this room apart with the power—the power I’ve hidden because I care for this unfeeling gust of wind.

“I rejected everything for you,” I whisper, my voice a dangerous growl. "My identity "”my linage "”my rightful domain All to be your Luna."

Aiden laughs and it is a cold, foreign sound. "What birthright? You were a nobody when I came through—lone wolf looking for a home. I gave you purpose, position, respect.”

My fists clench at my sides. If only he knew the truth.

“Get your things and leave my quarters by sundown. And with that consider our mating terminated."

"Nullified?" It’s a word that turns to ice in my veins. "You can't just—"

“I can and I am,” he cuts me off with his low Alpha rumbly voice filling the space. "As Alpha of Shadow Pack, I deny you, my mate, and my Luna."

The rejection came in official words that felt like physical blows. With every syllable, he’s breaking our mate bond—a bond I’d once thought was sacred and was now being torn apart by his volition.

“You’re going to regret it,” I warn, hearing my wolf scream in pain as the bond between us starts to splinter.

“The only error I erred was to believe that you could be worth for to be my Luna” He faces the other way, away from me and towards Arielle. "My true mate is back to me. No more do I wish for a barren stranger.

Arielle’s victorious grin grows wider, and she grabs Aiden’s hand. “My love, now we can be together. We were meant to be together after all.

Something deep in me breaks — not just my heart, but something low and primal. The severed mate bond shocks me through with agony. I hold on to the doorframe to keep from falling.

"So this is it?" I whisper, my voice small and hesitant. “Three years of marriage, all the things I did for you behind the scenes in strengthening your pack, all the nights I lay beside you — it’s meaningless?”

"What work?" Aiden scoffs. Throwing tea parties with the other Lunas? Puttin’ on the dog at pack gatherings? Don’t get a big head, Haylee.”

This makes my blood boil at his rejection. And if he ever did discover the truth behind it all, if he ever learned that his diplomatic wins, his arrayed alliances, his red alert on the 

Alpha Council— all of it: my mind, my contacts, my direction.

“You have an hour to pack the basics,” he adds. The rest of your stuff will be shipped to you… somewhere. It doesn’t matter to me where you go.”

"And if I refuse to leave?" I challenge, standing taller.

His eyes blaze dangerously, his Alpha's authority emanating from him to try and scare me. “Then the people will carry you out on the shoulders. You are not wanted in Shadow Pack anymore."

I laugh bitterly. “You would send me out with none? After all I’ve done for you!”

"Done for me?" He moves closer, his voice lowering to a sinister whisper. "Let's be honest, Haylee. You've sponged off my generosity. You added nothing to this pack but one extra mouth to feed.”

I taste my secret on my lips, demanding to be confessed. He’d never be so cocky if he knew the truth of me. But something stops me. The baby. My baby. What would he do if he knew I was pregnant?

“Fine,” I say, sitting up, spine straightening. "I'll leave. But hold this moment close, Aiden Fenrir. You remember that time that you walked away from the only person that ever really loved you for you, not for what you could give her.”

“Save the theatrics,” he waves a hand. "Arielle will be a much better Luna than you ever would. She knows pack politics, traditions —”

"And she's obviously really good at keeping your bed warm, behind my back," I retort, unable to keep it all in.

Arielle laughs, and the noise sets my already raw nerves on edge. “Just because I can please your husband in ways you never could, don’t hate, you stuck-up spoiled brat.

“Future husband,” Aiden automatically amends, his hand resting in a possessive arc on Arielle’s shoulder. We'll do the bond- shit breaking at sunset. You can stay out of it.”

His words settle over me like a sickening blow of cold water. A bond-breaking ceremony — the ultimate affirmation of a mate rejection. It is seldom done, and never without serious consequences.

“You’ll be sorry for this,” I mutter.

I regret three years of spending time on you. His eyes narrow. "One hour, Haylee. Not a minute more."

I turn to depart, dignity my last possession. But Arielle's voice stops me.

"Oh, and Haylee? You’re going to need me as your lady-in-waiting again.” It’s kind of silly, isn’t it?” I hear her laugh as I walk off, crumbling with every step.

But as I move toward my private study—the only place in this whole pack house that feels like it actually belongs to me, and not the creepy old mansion itself—I let the first tears slip loose. Not tears of sorrow, but of fury. Of determination.

My hand moves to my belly again, a fierce protectiveness flooding through me. “It’s just you and me now, little guy,” I say, raising my hand to his tiny chest. “And I promise you, we’re going to be OK.”

I pick up a picture from my desk, a tiny portrait—my single photograph of my parents. The leaders of the wolves in the history of mankind, Alpha Ragnar Wolf and Luna Serena. My heritage, my birthright.

“I’m coming home,” I tell the grinning faces in the photograph. “And when I have, I’m going to take back everything that’s mine.”

As I cram the few items I can’t abandon into a duffel, my phone vibrates with a text from Scarlett:

‘The spadework is done, Luna. Your pack will be here when you return.’

Perfect timing. After all, I do have a place to go.

As I’m zipping up my suitcase, a searing pain shoots through my belly. I drop to my knees, wheezing, as red spots materialize on the carpet beneath me.

"No," I whisper in shock, glancing at the blood on my clothes. "No, please, not my baby…”