Chapter 2

Willow's POV

"What if she gets pregnant again?" Isolde asked, her voice syrupy sweet.

"The same as before. A little wolfsbane in her food is all it takes."

Rowan's voice was laced with a chilling pleasure. "After she 'loses' another pup, I will hold her while she cries and tell her we will try again. She will believe it. She always does."

Against my will, my mind flashed back to the horror of losing my pups: the tearing pain in my abdomen, the blood-soaked sheets, the cold white light of the pack infirmary.

I remembered how she would pretend to be thoughtful, staying all night in the infirmary, curled up on a small sofa in the corner. The moment I whimpered in a nightmare, she would rush to my side and squeeze my hand.

Rowan was there too, stroking my sweat-damp hair, whispering against my cheek. "Do not be afraid, my Luna. We will try again. The Moon Goddess will grant us a child. I swear it on my life."

I had thought I had the best mate and sister in the world. I had believed them for seven whole years.

My hands started to tremble, and I dug my nails into my palms, the sharp pain the only thing that kept me from screaming.

They had conspired to murder my pups. Three times.

"When my body is completely purified, will you really break the mate bond with her?" Isolde asked, her voice deliberately coy.

"Of course," Rowan said dismissively. "The moment the pack healer confirms you are fully recovered, there is no reason for her to stay."

He paused, his voice brimming with unconcealed arrogance. "On that day, the entire North will know that you are my true Luna."

"But what about my adoptive parents? And the pack elders?"

Rowan sneered. "You mean the same parents who have doted on you since you were a pup and barely glance at their own daughter? Please. They will welcome it with open arms."

"Her mother has complained to me in private for years, saying Willow is the most embarrassing stain on their Elder bloodline."

The words were like poison-tipped silver blades twisting in my heart, because every single one of them was true.

"Years ago, when she became Luna, she signed away control of the pack in a territorial treaty without even reading it," Rowan continued, gloating.

"She is powerless. Once I break the bond, she will be nothing more than a rogue cast out on her own."

Isolde's voice tightened. "How will you win over the other elders?"

Rowan's smile turned sinister. "Next week, at the full moon, I will host a grand pack banquet in the name of celebrating the 'miracle' of your pregnancy. I will invite all the elders, allies, and even a few Alphas from the Northern territories."

He grew more excited as he spoke. "Then, I will have someone slip a little something into her ceremonial wine. Halfway through the ceremony, my Beta, Marcus, will 'happen' to find her upstairs in a guest room, naked and tangled with a few rogues."

Isolde let out a shocked gasp. "You are going to frame her?"

"She will be so drugged she will not know what is happening. Marcus will make sure everyone sees it for themselves. By the time the moon is at its peak, the entire pack will believe their Luna betrayed her Alpha with a group of rogues while celebrating her own sister's good fortune."

"That is perfect," Isolde breathed. "When you reject her in public, no one will speak up for her."

"Exactly. I will reject her in front of everyone, leaving her with no way back," Rowan's voice was drunk with triumph.

I could feel my inner wolf howling in agony, my body no longer able to support even the basic act of standing.

He was not just going to poison the child in my womb. He was going to drug me, ruin my name, and then publicly reject me.

The moans started again from inside the vehicle.

I pressed myself against the cold metal, inching backward, holding my breath. The blood from my palm dripped onto the pine needles, but I had long since stopped feeling any physical pain.

All I felt was rage. A rage brighter and more searing than the silver light of the full moon.

Once I was sure I was out of earshot, I pulled my own SUV over to the side of the dirt road.

I felt my entire body shaking uncontrollably. I locked myself in the dark metal shell of the car, letting huge tears fall as I held my hands protectively over my stomach.

Three pups, sacrificed by their own father just to heal a woman who shared no real blood with him.

And now, he wanted to strip me of the last shred of dignity I had as a Luna and a mother.

I barely remember how I managed to drive back to the central pack lands on instinct alone. My hands were clamped on the steering wheel, my vision blurred by tears. I nearly crashed into an ancient pine tree along the way.

I moved like a ghost through the empty packhouse, my mind replaying their sickening conversation.

"She is just a fool blinded by love. She is powerless. She will have no choice but to be cast out as a rogue."

I walked down the hall and straight into Rowan's private study, the room that symbolized his Alpha authority.

I had to find hard proof. Evidence that would deliver the killing blow.

I pried open the hidden compartment in the bottom of his heavy oak desk, pulling out his locked scrolls, his encrypted pack network phone, and the black ledger he never let me touch.

Using a small brass key hidden in a secret drawer, I opened the heavy iron safe concealed behind the wall tapestry in his study.

Inside lay the falsified pack medical logs, their dates perfectly matching each of my miscarriages.

There was also a stack of Blood Magic Decrees I had never seen before, all bearing my thumbprint, and records of massive gold payments made through black market channels to a notoriously evil witch.

I kept digging. My hands moved faster and faster.

Finally, I found it. The Deed of Command. The one Rowan had sworn was just a routine pack agreement to lighten my duties as Luna, but which contained a hidden clause transferring absolute control of the entire pack to him.

It turned out I had signed everything over to him with my own thumbprint, completely unaware.

I stared at the parchment, stamped with the Alpha's wax seal, until the words blurred before my eyes.

"She has nothing left."

I let out a laugh, a raw, hoarse sound I did not recognize as my own.

Rowan thought he knew everything. But he knew nothing.

I would never be left with nothing. What Rowan would never know, not even on his deathbed, was that his position as Alpha of the Black Moon pack was not secured by his own pathetic strength or by my Elder parents.

The Black Moon pack had never been his.

Five years ago, when his pack was on the verge of collapse from outside invaders, a mysterious, hidden power had turned the tide.

That power had settled his territorial disputes, provided a constant stream of war resources, and even used ancient magic to quell rebellious elders.

And that hidden power was me.

I was the true holder of the pack's Founding Pact. I had used the ancient authority left to me by my adoptive mother, Aunt Maeve, to activate a secret pact known only to a line of ancient mystics. Through it, I had secured half of the territory's absolute rule for myself.

Before I bonded with Rowan, the old healer who raised me, Aunt Maeve, had passed on the pack's most vital secret to me.

"You are not of my blood, but that does not mean you are not worthy of this inheritance. The most precious gift of the Elder bloodline is within you."

It was an ancient power capable of upending the entire werewolf world. Aunt Maeve had guarded this secret from a humble position her whole life, so I, too, had hidden it away.