Chapter one

“We are so sorry Luna Aurora but you lost the baby.”

The words of the midwives who had promised Aurora a safe delivery before her labor started, replayed in her head over and over again.

For three years she couldn't conceive. For three years she watched her husband's mother's love for her fade away because in her words, she had started showing signs of ‘infertility’.

And now that she had finally being able to conceive, this what she got? A dead child minutes after slipping into unconsciousness because of the labour pains she had to go through?

As she made her way out of the herb room the midwives had her in, she walked briskly through the hallway.

Every step seemed further away and heavier than the last. Her silent tears kept rolling as her trembling hands clutched the fabric of her dress.

Staying in the herbroom felt suffocating, Aurora could swear it almost seemed like she was going to go along with the baby the longer she stayed there.

She craved familiarity. She needed the warmth of her husband's embrace and with each step closer to their room, she wished for his arms to envelop her, balm her aching soul and tell her it's not her fault and milk her pain away.

Reaching the doorway, she hesitated, her hand hovering over the cold metal knob. Fear, and doubt crawling its way through her.

Would he know what to say? Would his clumsy attempts at comfort only amplify the gaping hole inside her? Would he be upset that she lost the baby?

Taking a shaky breath, she pushed open the door, and her heart ached more than it did before.

Aurora had not registered the rhythmic creak of the bedroom door at first. Her grief had her focused solely on reaching Silas.

But now it did,the carefree laughter from the soft voice that was not hers registered deep and sharp.

Lying in the middle of the bed was her supposed husband, naked and entwined with another woman, that clearly wasn't her.

The woman's back was turned to the door but the cascade of dark hair made Aurora instantly realize whom her replacement was.

It was no other than Amelia. She'd seen the lady a couple of times flaunting herself and her assets around her husband during the pack’s meeting but had never expected that she would finally land in her home.

Worst of all, her matrimonial bed.

The dull ache in Aurora’s abdomen intensified into a thumping pain. Tears streamed down her face hot and salty, it flowed with grief and rage.

She tried to shout and curse at them but no words left her mouth.

A profound numbness settled over her, it seemed like her whole world was crumbling before her and her legs were starting to do the same.

As her knees buckled, she spread her arms out to catch herself but it landed on the table beside her, sending a crystal lamp clattering to the floor.

The shattering glass echoed in the tense silence and Silas's head snapped towards her.

As their gazes locked, a silent exchange that spoke volumes occured between the two of them, his face was draining of color but it didn't show shame or remorse, it showed annoyance, annoyance that his infidelity had been so rudely interrupted.

"What are you doing here?" Silas asked like nothing was wrong with the whole scenery, he asked like she was the imposter in the picture, he asked like she was the wrong one.

"We just lost a baby," Aurora managed to say, “D-did..yo.u know that?” her voice barely above a whisper as she tried to hold back her tears.

Silas's expression remained unchanged, his indifference displayed clearly in his face as he scoffed.

"I know," he said simply, his attention already drifting back to the woman beside him barely bothering to cover herself.

Aurora's chest tightened, tears welled up in her eyes once more, threatening to spill over despite her efforts to hold them back.

“Oh you did? Cause it doesn't look like it,”

"Look, honey," he started, his tone condescending, "I know it's rough, but you can't just wander off from the herb room especially not when I have" He paused, glancing impatiently towards the woman. "....guests."

Her blood ran cold. "Guests?" she echoed.

"Yes, guests," Silas said, a hint of irritation creeping in.

Aurora’s voice trembled with grief and rage as she snapped, “Silas, we just lost a baby... our baby, a potential heir, and this is what you are doing? Have you lost it?!"

Her eyes blazed with tears and fury. The pains of her recent miscarriage was gaunting on it's own.

Nothing had prepared her for a betrayal as hurting as this from Silas – it was like salt to her wounds.

Silas's response was blunt but sharp enough to cut through her, "And what am I supposed to do, Aurora? Crawl into a corner and cry? It's not the end of the world."

Her pain immediately flickered into sheer shock as she watched him pull Amelia close to him and planted a kiss on her bare breasts.

The lady giggled and wrapped her arms around Silas, making Aurora's shock double over.

She jerked from the floor, clutching her bleeding arms, her voice rising to a shout.

“Silas! We just lost a baby! Our baby and you decide the best way to mourn our loss is by bringing in a woman to our bed?”

Silas scoffed, finally meeting her gaze with a steely glint "Look, I get that you're upset, but this is more reason why I don't even think you befit the Luna position anymore."

Aurora's heart sank at his words as she struggled to comprehend what he was getting at.

"Excuse me?"

"I need someone who's strong, someone who can handle things," he continued, his words cutting deeper with each syllable.

"Not someone who's going to fall apart, I mean, look at you."

He shot her a mocking stare from head down to toe.

Aurora shook her head in disbelief, unable to fathom the cruelty of his words. "I can't believe you right now."

“That's because he is being nice, my dear” Amelia interjected.

Aurora swerved her head and glared at Amelia with an intensity that could kill but Amelia didn't budge or cower, she continued.

"What you lost was your child, not an heir. Because I will be the one to provide one."

What a joke. Aurora had thought but when Amelia's gaze never for once left her and Silas looked totally unbothered, she was forced to think otherwise.

“What did you just say?” Aurora croaked, much to her dismay.

She had hoped her voice would sound as confident as her resolve that Silas didn't mean what he said about giving the Luna position to someone else.

"You are so slow and pathetic, no wonder it was so easy taking away your child from beside you." Amelia's voice taunted, snapping her back to another harsh reality.

Each word was like a dagger aimed straight at her wounded heart.

Her hands clenched into fists at her sides, her whole body trembling with suppressed fury lying beneath her fear.

"Are you looking for a fight? I can take you riding my husband's dick Amelia but leave my child out of your dirty lips!" she shot back.

Amelia scoffed and straightened on the bed, her expression, grim as she met Aurora’s gaze, "Your child was in the way, so we excused him."

Excused him? Aurora couldn't decipher if she heard right or wrong. As she inched closer to Amelia who had jolted from the bed with arms crossed, another …. from Amelia had her eyes widening.

"Silas and I... we planned this, you providing an heir would cause problem to our carefully planned love life. Like he said earlier, you're not fit to be a Luna so if I were you I would leave immediately.”

Tears bursted from her eyes and tumbled down her cheeks in torrent even before Amelia completed her shocking revelation.

When she turned to Silas, his calm demeanor was all she needed to confirm that truly her husband and his mistress had murdered her baby.

A betrayal as huge as that coming from someone she had bared her entire life to wasn't one she saw coming.

She had trusted Silas. She had believed in the love they shared, only to have it all come crashing down around her in a cruel twist of fate.

She sized her teary eyes to meet Silas’s gaze.

Her voice trembled as she stammered out, "How could you? He was your child Silas! Our child…how cou…”

"I did what needed to be done Aurora! Enough with the pity party!" Silas cut in, his voice devoid of emotion as he spat fiercely. "For the good of our pack and the woman I love dearly."