Chapter 2

Natasha’s POV

Riven came back the next morning.

Helen was with him, eyes red and swollen. His Beta was right behind them.

The moment Helen saw me, she dropped to her knees. Tears started falling before she even opened her mouth.

His Beta handed me a piece of paper — a pregnancy report.

Helen was pregnant.

My hand shook slightly as I held it. I looked at Riven.

"What do you want to do?"

Helen didn't give him a chance to answer. She pressed her forehead to the floor, sobbing.

"Natasha, I'm so sorry. I'm carrying Riven's child."

"Riven said it's up to you — whether I can keep it."

"Please. Please let me keep this baby."

Blood was already seeping from her forehead. Even the Beta looked uncomfortable watching her.

"Luna," the Beta said carefully, "you're unable to have children. But Phantom Pack needs an heir. Please consider what's best for the pack's future."

"Helen may be an Omega, but her loyalty to the Alpha is absolute. There is no downside to her keeping the baby."

I ignored him and looked at Riven again.

"What do you want to do?"

Something crossed his face — a brief struggle. Then he dropped to his knees in front of me.

This man who had never bowed to anyone, kneeling for her and the child she was carrying.

"Natasha. Please. Let her keep the baby."

"You can't have children. Try to understand — this puts me in an impossible position."

The last piece of hope I'd been carrying quietly shattered.

Seven years ago, I'd used my gift — the prophetic sight that came with Dragon Clan blood — to see that Riven was going to die in a crash. I'd burned through everything I had to pinpoint the exact time and place, to get him out of the way.

The cost was permanent. I'd never be able to carry a child.

When Riven confessed his feelings five years ago, I told him upfront. I asked him if he could live with never having children.

He'd looked me straight in the eye and said: "Having you is enough."

And I'd believed him.

I opened my eyes. The memory dissolved, and I was back here, watching this ridiculous scene play out.

At this moment, I finally came to understand. True hearts existed in this world, yet they could change in the twinkling of an eye.

I folded the report and set it on the table.

"Fine."

Four more days. Then I'd be gone.

I would return to the life that was meant for me, and nothing here mattered any longer.

Riven let out a long breath and looked over at Helen with relief.

I walked toward the bedroom. He followed.

He held up a necklace and clasped it gently around my neck.

"I saw this at the jeweler's a while ago. Thought it would suit you."

For a moment, he was the Riven I used to know.

Yet his next words pulled me harshly back to reality.

His eyes drifted to my wrist. "That lucky crystal bracelet I gave you — do you think Helen could wear it for a while? She's pregnant, and I thought it might help keep her safe."

The bracelet wasn't cheap. It was cut from crystals said to have been blessed by the Moon Goddess herself.

And it had been his gift to me on my twentieth birthday.

I studied his face, looking for any flicker of guilt or awareness. There was nothing — just that same gentle smile, like this was the most ordinary request in the world.

"Don't worry. After she gives birth, she'll return it."

I unclasped the bracelet from my wrist and put it on Helen's myself.

"I hope it really does keep you both safe."

Helen's eyes lit up with something I wasn't supposed to see. She dropped her voice low enough that only I could hear:

"Oh, it will. Once I give the Alpha his heir, your position is mine anyway."

This woman was trouble — and Riven had no idea.

He was just looking at me, pleased. "Natasha, I knew you'd understand."

Understand. No.

I wasn't understanding anything. I just didn't care anymore.

I gave a small nod and went back to my room.

I pulled out a travel bag and opened the storage cabinet.

Inside: the crescent-shaped gem earrings Riven had crossed the Nolan Mountains to find for me; the perfume he'd blended himself, custom-made to help me sleep.

I took them out one by one and put them in the bag.

The bag filled up. The memories got quieter.

I pushed down that hollow feeling and opened the last drawer.

His portraits of me — years of them, from the girl I used to be to the woman I'd become. Every version of us.

I picked them up one by one. The good memories came back on their own.

I was still standing there, lost in them, when the door burst open.

Riven came at me like a storm, eyes blazing.

"Did you poison Helen? Where's the antidote?"