Chapter 5

The walls trembled with the force of Alpha Trevor’s roar.

“Keep the Luna and our son safe—at all costs! No one steps foot into this room!” he thundered, voice cracking through the hallway like a whip. His Beta sprinted beside him as he tore down the corridor, already shifting into battle-mind.

Behind them, the sterile hospital lights flickered, shadows quivering like they, too, sensed the coming storm.

“Doctor… what will happen when he realizes—” a nurse whispered, terror trembling in her voice, but the doctor cut her off sharply.

“Don’t ask. Just keep them safe… and pray the Alpha doesn’t tear us apart when he realizes his heir is a daughter..”

Outside, on the field, the air was thick—heavy with the metallic scent of tension and foreign magic.

Alpha Trevor slowed, nostrils flaring. Hunters—ten of them—stood at the edge of his territory as though they had strolled into a market square, not the heart of a wolf pack’s protected lands. They didn’t flinch, didn’t posture, didn’t even reach for weapons. They stood unnervingly still, waiting, like an omen.

Trevor’s eyes narrowed. Why would hunters willingly walk into death? Why now?

“I wish to speak with the Alpha, not some mangy mutt,” spat the man at the front—his voice laced with arrogance and something far older, far darker.

A deep growl rumbled from Gamma’s chest as Alpha Trevor stepped forward.

“You trespassed on my land,” Gamma snapped. “You don’t get to make demands—”

Trevor placed a hand on his shoulder, signaling him to stand down. His pulse thrummed like a war drum. As he studied the intruders, his wolf watched through the human eyes.

Ten hunters. Manageable. But the one in the middle—

Power radiated off him like a heatwave, humming beneath the skin. Something ancient. Something wrong.

A warlock… a high-ranked one.

What is a Warlock King doing beside hunters?

The man’s lips curled as if reading the question straight from my bones.

“I can almost hear your thoughts,” he purred, eerie and delighted. “Confusion suits you, Alpha.”

His grin widened, sinister. “You wonder what a ‘high-level Warlock’ is doing with these weapon-happy Hunters. Shall I enlighten you?”

The wind whipped suddenly, rustling leaves like whispered warnings.

“Well, you see,” he said, voice souring with venom, “I fell in love with one of your kind.”

Love flickered in his eyes—real, desperate love—but pain swallowed it whole, twisting his expression.

“She hid me. Used me. Cherished me, but only in the shadows.” His hands curled into fists. “To her pack, I was filth. A secret. Even though I—King of Warlocks and Witches—was meant to make her my Queen.”

His agony vibrated through the air. Trevor's wolf snarled quietly in his mind—anger at the betrayal, anger at the treaty that forced such boundaries. The ancient laws—set by the Dragon Council—prohibited interspecies unions. Even him, the Alpha of Blood Moon, had obeyed it. He had rejected his own true mate, the ache still raw.

But rules were rules.

“So why come here?” Trevor said, voice tight with impatience and dread. “It wasn’t my law. We all voted for the treaty—even you.”

“Yes,” he said quietly, “before I understood soulmates. Before I realized what it meant to have part of my soul tethered to another.”

“That’s just another word for—”

“For everything,” he snapped.

Trevor's patience thinned. The urge to return to his Luna and the heir clawed at him. “What does this have to do with my pack?”

His eyes glinted. “So… she hasn’t told you.”

“Who?”

“The Luna.”

A chill raced up Trevor's spine.

“She played me,” he said, voice breaking. “She made a blood oath with me. Then she broke it.”

“What did she owe you?”

“Not what—” His magic crackled, air trembling. “—but whom.”

His heart stilled.

“She broke the oath and cost me my child. So I have come to collect the life that is owed. Return what is rightfully mine, and no blood needs to be spilled.”

For a moment, the world tilted. 'My child? He dared—,' thought Trevor.

Fire surged through his veins; his wolf exploded forward, snarling through his throat.

“OUR CHILD IS NOT YOURS!” Trevor's wolf roared, voice reverberating through the field like thunder. “TAKE HER IF YOU WANT—TAINTED AS SHE IS—but our son stays with us!”

The magic-man smiled, cruel and cold.

Then his body ignited with glowing light. His eyes turned white. Wind spiraled around him with violent force as he chanted.

“I will not leave without the life owed to me! The child is mine. Return HER within a fortnight, or wolves will fall like ash before a storm. These Hunters shall know immortality until the debt is paid.”

A searing green thread of light shot from his chest—alive, hissing like a serpent—racing toward the hospital.

Then—

They vanished.

Gone as smoke.

A whisper left Trevor's lips, cracking with betrayal and rage. “Amber… what have you done?”

His wolf bolted. Trevor sprinted back to the hospital, heart beating hard enough to break ribs. The scent of danger grew stronger the closer he got.

He crashed through the doors in full wolf form, tearing up tile with his claws. He raced to the room—their hospital room—his son’s room.

Something was wrong.

Horribly, sickeningly wrong.

Shifting back, naked and trembling with fury, Trevor approached the crib. His scent—his child’s scent—twisted. Warped. Different. The name card read Rebel Teller—strong name, fit for a prince.

But the truth hit him like a blade between the ribs, his prince was a princess.

Power radiated from the infant—power no wolf pup should possess.

His wolf let out a guttural snarl.

He turned to Amber.

“What have you done?” His voice cracked like ice. “You cursed us all. You lied. You laid with a warlock. You bore his child.”

Amber flinched, tears streaming.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t know?” He bellowed. “I can smell him on her! THIS CHILD IS NOT MINE!”

All wolves were now in danger because of her betrayal.

Trevor stepped closer, voice shaking with fury. “Take your bastard daughter and get off my lands. Now!!”

Amber collapsed to her knees.

“I—Amber Rose of the Midnight Rose Pack… d-daughter of Alpha Alex Rose… accept y-your rejection…”

The bond snapped—sharp, agonizing. He sucked in a breath as pain seared his chest, but rage held him steady.

“Get up,” he growled. “Run. Before I let the warriors tear you both apart.”

Amber sobbed, clutching the baby, backing away as if escaping a monster.

And maybe she was.

Because the fury inside him no longer felt human.