Four

CHAPTER FOUR

Melinda’s POV

I sat on the edge of my small bed, staring blankly down at the wrinkled white paper in my hands.

Hours had passed since the council meeting, yet my mind still replayed every second over and over again like torture.

Carl’s freezing disappointment. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to understand how my life had collapsed so completely in the span of a single afternoon.

Just hours ago I had walked into the clinic believing my life was finally changing.

I was happy.

Now I sat alone in a cold bedroom feeling like my soul had been ripped apart.

I felt like an outsider; nothing inside the Alpha residence ever belonged to me completely, not even my marriage.

My eyes moved slowly around the bedroom. It was tucked away at the very end of the hallway. It wasn't the grand Master suite.

After our first year of marriage I didn’t get pregnant and the pack began to whisper, Carl had quietly moved my things here.

He claimed the pack's constant demands kept him up at night and that he needed his own space to work, but we both knew the truth.

It was the first step of my banishment. I was a failure of a mate, a Luna who couldn't reproduce, so I was hidden away in a separate room like an embarrassing secret and he only visited on nights to have sex and leave.

The heavy bedroom door suddenly burst open, slamming against the wall.

I didn't flinch or look up as Carl’s mother, Evelyn, stepped into the room.

Her sharp eyes scanned me with pure disgust before lingering briefly on the thick wool scarf wrapped tightly around my trembling shoulders.

She had hated me since the beginning.

I used to spend years trying to please her. I changed the way I dressed because she disliked bright colors.

I learned complicated pack traditions because she said I embarrassed the family.

I attended endless social gatherings despite my anxiety because she demanded it but nothing was ever enough.

"Look at you," Evelyn sneered,

She crossed her arms over her chest, stepping closer to my bed. "A pathetic, shivering mess. I always knew you were completely unworthy of my son.

From the very day he brought you home, I told him a girl with such weak lineage would only bring shame to the Blackwood name."

For three long years, words like that would have had me on my knees, weeping and begging for her to stop.

I had endured her endless abuse, her cruel remarks at dinner, and her constant public humiliations.

But not anymore? I felt absolutely no desire to please anyone.

"Attempting to trap Carl with a fake pregnancy report?" Evelyn continued, laughing mockingly.

"That is deserving of death. You sank so low because you are jealous of Ashley who can actually fulfill her duty? You are a disgrace."

I said nothing treating her voice like a distant wind.

I slowly lifted my eyes toward her.

“I said you should feel ashamed,” she repeated sharply.

“I’m tired, can you leave?” I said.

Her expression hardened instantly.

“You dare speak to me this way?”

I laughed softly.

“I spent years trying to become someone acceptable to this family,” I whispered. “And none of you cared anyway.”

She crossed her arms.

“You failed this family and…”

“I know.” I cut her off.

She turned toward the door.

“I’ll leave but I want you to stop humiliating Carl and leave the pack.”

The words barely affected me because somewhere deep down I already knew I was no longer wanted here

I sat on that bed the entire night, staring at the door, waiting for the sound of Carl’s heavy footsteps. I foolishly hoped that once the anger died down, his alpha instincts would make him question the flawless setup

I hoped he would come to my room, demand answers, or at least look at me but he never came.

It was dawn when a strange noise pulled me from my thoughts.

I heard the footsteps downstairs, followed by the loud clattering of trunks and servants moving luggage across the stone floor.

I frowned, pushing myself up from the bed. My body felt incredibly heavy.

I walked out of my room down the stairs when my heart stopped.

There were four large leather trunks sitting by the front door. Servants were bustling around carrying bags and coat hangers up the stairs.

And standing right in the center of the foyer, directing them with a smug, authoritative air, was Ashley.

She was moving into the Alpha residence.

A wave of pure nausea washed over me. I gripped the railing to keep from falling.

Carl hadn't even divorced me yet, he hadn't formally stripped me of my title, but he was already installing his mistress into the house.

As if sensing my gaze, she looked up. Her eyes met mine, and she gave the servants a quick wave of her hand.

"Leave those by the stairs for a moment, please. Go fetch the rest from the carriage."

The servants quickly hurried out, leaving the grand foyer completely empty.

Ashley slowly walked up the curved stone staircase, stopping just a few steps below where I stood on the landing.

"Beautiful morning, isn't it, Melinda?" she murmured quietly, her voice smooth and taunting.

She looked at my pale face and the dark circles under my eyes with immense satisfaction.

"Carl told me to move my things into the Master suite. You seem surprised.”

I stared at her silently.

She tilted her head slightly.

“Carl insisted I stay here where I can be protected properly during the pregnancy.”

The pregnancy.

Of course.

I forced myself to turn away; I could not do this today.

“You know,” she said softly, “you were never good enough for him.”

I stopped walking.

“You spent three years begging for scraps of his affection, playing the dutiful little wife and look where it got you.

A tiny room at the end of the hall, completely forgotten.

You never belonged in the Alpha's bed, and you never will."

She stepped closer.

“You tried very hard though,” she continued almost kindly. “I’ll give you that.”

I kept my back toward her.

“You should stop talking.”

“But it’s true.” Her voice softened cruelly.

“Carl only stayed with you out of responsibility.”

I shut my eyes tightly.

“He never loved you and now even that obligation is ending.”

I forced myself to be still.

Instantly the atmosphere shifted, even before turning around, I felt Carl’s aura.

I turned and Ashley’s face changed instantly. The cruel smirk vanished, replaced by a look of sheer, manufactured terror.

Before I could even process the shift in her expression, Ashley let out a piercing, blood-curdling shriek.

She threw herself backward, deliberately falling.

Her body hit the floor violently and she collapsed at the very bottom, rolling onto her side.

"Ah! My baby! Carl, help me!" Ashley screamed, clutching her stomach as she writhed on the floor.

Within seconds, a dark, thick pool of red blood began to spread rapidly beneath her, staining her cream-colored skirts.

"Ashley!" Carl roared, his voice trembling with a panic I had never heard from him before.

He sprinted across the foyer, dropping to his knees beside her, his hands shaking as he pulled her into his arms.

Melinda pushed me!" Ashley sobbed hysterically, her fingers clawing at Carl’s jacket as she pointed a trembling hand up at me.

"She was angry that I was moving in! She said if she couldn't have a child, nobody could! Carl, please save our baby!"

Carl snapped his head up to look at me. The sheer rage and hatred burning in his dark eyes made me stumble back a step.

"I didn't touch her," I whispered, shaking my head frantically. "Carl, I swear to you, I was standing right here.

She threw herself"

“Call the healer immediately!”

I tried to go down towards her when the room began to spin violently. A sharp, agonizing cramp shot straight through my lower abdomen, making my breath hitch.

A wave of intense dizziness and severe nausea hit me all at once.

I slumped against the wall, clutching my own stomach, completely drained.

Carl carefully lifted Ashley into his arms.

He looked terrified for her. The healers arrived quickly.

The child’s bond is weakening,” she said urgently.

Carl’s aura darkened instantly.

“What do you need?”

The healer hesitated briefly before looking toward me.

My stomach dropped.

“She needs strong healing energy immediately.”

No.

Carl turned toward me sharply.

“Do it.”

Fear flooded my chest.

Using spiritual healing was dangerous; using it while pregnant was asking for death.

“I—I can’t…”

Carl’s expression became terrifying.

“You will heal her.”

I could feel my own baby inside me, fragile and stressed,

If I poured my remaining energy into Ashley, I would have nothing left to protect my own child.

"No, Carl... I can't. Please, don't make me do this."

"I am not asking you, Melinda!" Carl roared, forcing my legs to move against my will. "You caused this!

Please…”

“Now, Melinda.”

Tears filled my eyes instantly.

He did not care, not even a little.

Tears of pure agony streamed down my face as I slowly crawled towards her. I placed my trembling hands over Ashley’s stomach and released my healing power.

Pain exploded through me instantly.

Something felt wrong and my strength drained far too quickly.

“Continue,” one healer urged.

My stomach cramped sharply and I grew weaker by the second.

Finally, the healer nodded.

“The child is stabilizing.”

The moment I pulled my hands away, dizziness crashed over me violently.

I nearly collapsed but nobody noticed because everyone surrounded Ashley immediately Carl included.

It took me nearly an hour to crawl back up the stairs to my room

I locked the door before collapsing onto the floor beside the bed.

My breathing became uneven immediately and I was scared.

Then I saw it.

Blood.

My entire body went cold.

“No… I couldn’t lose my child”

My hands trembled violently as I touched the blood.

“Please I can’t lose you…” I whisper desperately

I couldn't trust anyone in this pack. Not the healers, not the elders, and certainly not Carl.

If I stayed here, my baby would die. They would drain me dry until there was nothing left of us.

I looked around the dark, small room that had been my prison for the past two years.

The numbness vanished, replaced by a sudden, fierce rush of maternal instinct.

“Run…” my wolf whispered,

I didn't pack a bag, I just grabbed the pregnancy report and my wool scarf.

I waited until the dead of night, when the house was completely silent and the guards were changing shifts.

I slipped away and fled.