CHAPTER 3

Aura's POV

The packhouse buzzed with unusual excitement the morning after the full moon. The hallways, previously silent in the early hours, were filled with murmuring and shuffling feet. I didn’t want to come out of my room, not after the night Ryder spent entwined in my bed again, only to depart before daylight like a ghost.

I clutched my knees on the side of my bed, my fingertips still caressing the spot where he’d laid his palm on my waist. Every night he came to me—touching, talking, eating me like I was his only addiction. But every morning, I woke up to nothingness.

A tap on the door startled me. I instantly controlled myself and opened it to see Mira, my friend and the only person who hadn’t turned chilly since Ryder’s attention started landing on me.

“You need to come to the dining hall,” she whispered gently, eyes avoiding mine.

“Why?”

“Because everyone’s waiting. The Alpha has something to say.”

My heart fell. I followed her down the steps, the packhouse increasing louder with every footfall. Wolves stood along the walls, the tension heavier than fog.

Ryder stood in the front, stately in his fitted black shirt, arms crossed over his chest. He looked the same—flawless, poised, unshaken—but something in the air warned me this moment would break me.

He raised his voice. “I have an announcement.”

Silence.

I clasped Mira’s hand.

“I am officially announcing my engagement to Luna Leona of the Silverblood Pack.”

Time halted.

The room was filled with a loud gasp. I was having trouble breathing. I was struck like a silver dagger by the word Leona. I blinked, waiting for him to say anything else—for it to be a mistake, a lie, anything except the reality.

But Ryder’s stare didn’t falter. He didn’t look at me. Not once.

Mira muttered, “I’m sorry, Aura.”

I nodded, but I couldn’t move. My legs felt like stone.

I waited until everyone left, expressing faux congratulations and masking their astonishment with hollow smiles. I turned back to my room, shutting the door behind me before falling to my knees.

Why?

Why would he come to me every night, claim me so entirely, only to reveal another as his Luna?

My heart begged for answers, but my lips stayed silent. The tears poured freely now, not from sadness alone—but bewilderment, betrayal, and the agonizing anguish of being forgotten in public and sought in secret.

I couldn't get any sleep that night. I foolishly waited for the creak of the door to open.

And it did.

Ryder approached without a word, slipping into my shadows like he belonged there. I sat up in bed, drawing the covers around me. My voice trembled.

“You’re engaged.”

He exhaled and reached for me. “Don’t think about that right now.”

“How can I not?”

His lips found my neck. “Because I’m here. With you.”

That should’ve made it better, but it simply worsened the wound.

He stroked me like I was his everything and yet out there, in the eyes of the pack, I was no one. I hated how my body still reacted to his touch, how my heart still soared at his voice.

Was I nothing more than a secret? A yearning he couldn’t tame?

The nights dragged on, and he kept coming. I tried to shove him away once, only for him to return more frantic than before. Every kiss, every whispered promise, only confused me more.

The pack started to notice. I felt the shift.

Gossip spread like wildfire. Wherever I walked, I caught side stares. Conversations halted as I entered a room. Some she-wolves hissed; others gazed at me with sorrow.

“She must have something on him.”

“Why would he want her? She’s not even a ranking wolf.”

“She’s probably using witchcraft.”

I kept my head down, but my heart screams every time I heard them.

Mira attempted to help, tried to shelter me from their cruelty. But she couldn’t stop the murmurs. I became the unwanted centerpiece of every talk.

The girl the Alpha touched in the dark—but refused to see in daylight.

One evening, following a particularly hard gaze from Elder Calista, I walked farther into the east wing of the packhouse, a place I rarely visited. I craved quiet.

That’s when I heard voices behind a locked door.

Ryder’s voice.

I pressed myself against the stone wall, heart thumping.

“She doesn’t need to know the full terms,” he replied, his voice low and inscrutable.

Another man responded. I recognized Beta Kade. “Are you sure about this, Alpha? Once the Silverbloods formalize the partnership, there’s no backing out.”

“She’s not the issue. Aura is a distraction, not a threat.”

My breath caught.

“Then end it. Cut her off before things get messy.”

There was silence, and then Ryder murmured, “It’s not that simple.”

I hurried away from the door before I could hear more. My vision dimmed, wrath and heartbreak slamming like waves inside me.

A distraction.

That’s what I was to him. A wonderful little pastime. Something to touch, taste, consume—and toss.

I raced from that hallway and ran till I found myself in the woods, the moonlight cutting through the branches. I didn’t shift. I just sat there, gripping my chest like it would stop the anguish.

I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. But worst of all, I couldn’t stop wishing he’d knock on my door again.

And he did. Every single night.

He still kissed me like I belonged to him, still held me like he couldn’t breathe without me.

But my heart was no longer fooled. I saw him now. I knew the truth and despised that I still longed for him.

Days passed. I moved like a ghost through the packhouse. Even Mira fought to bring me out of my silence.

When I woke up one morning, I had an odd feeling of being sick. I barely made it to the bathroom before retching into the sink after shoving off the blankets.

My legs shook. My heart was racing.

Did I eat something bad?

I looked in the mirror at myself. My skin was pallid. My eyes are glassy.

A knot emerged in my stomach—not from sickness but from realization.

No. It couldn’t be.

I staggered back to bed, heart thumping. I snuggled under the covers and laid a hand on my belly, shaking.

Something wasn’t right.

And deep inside... I understood exactly what it was.