Chapter 3

It was true. My family did possess such a potion. But our laws were ironclad: it was never to be used unless one’s life was in mortal danger.

It was clear now, Victoria had used her enchantment magic on members of my family to learn our deepest secret.

Victoria’s tone shifted instantly, her eyes filling with fake tears.

“Luna… I’m sorry I revealed your family’s secret, but you shouldn’t have used it to lie to Damien like this…”

She knew her enchantment had faltered. While she distracted Damien with this new lie, she quietly wove her magic again, re-establishing the spell over his mind.

It was the perfect trap. Damien had never seen the herb in use, so there was no way for me to prove my innocence.

Under the haze of her re-cast enchantment, my swollen stomach looked flat and empty to Damien’s eyes once more.

Damien was seething now. He fought to keep his voice steady as he turned to me.

“Luna. Your family kept such a potion hidden from the pack? Why was it never presented to the council?”

I shook with pain, my words failing me. “We have it… but we never…”

Before I could finish, Damien wrenched his hand away. I lost my balance and crashed hard onto the stone floor.

“You dare lie to me!” he snarled. “You’ve learned nothing! I won’t be fooled again!”

He turned and stormed out, his hand wrapped around Victoria’s.

“I’m sorry, Victoria. Tomorrow, I will announce to the entire pack that your child is the rightful heir.”

But Victoria shook her head, tears glistening in her eyes, her voice small and pitiful. “What if Luna tries to hurt me and the baby again…?”

“Maybe… maybe I should just take the child and leave.”

She spoke with calculated fragility, tugging at Damien’s heartstrings exactly as she’d planned.

His face darkened like a storm cloud, his voice softening for her, but turning deadly cold with every word.

“Rest easy. I will never let her hurt you or the pup again.”

He waved a hand at the guards.

“Lock her up tight. She doesn’t leave until the gathering is over tomorrow.”

I was dragged away, a long trail of blood stretching behind me across the polished marble floor.

I clung to my last breath, begging him. “Damien, I’ll do whatever you want. Just leave my pups and my father alone, please…”

Tears mixed with blood, dripping to the floor one by one.

Damien’s face was set with impatience.

“Enough. He’ll be fine. I only cut off a few nutrient supplies, nothing more…”

Before he could finish, his comm stone blared to life. His subordinate’s voice came through, panicked and frantic.

“Alpha! It’s Gareth! He’s gone! He took his own life!”

At those words, both Damien and I froze solid.

“Dad!!!”

I screamed until my throat tore open.

My father had felt my suffering through our family’s blood bond.

He’d chosen to end his life rather than be used as a weapon against me any longer.

Damien stared at me, broken and crawling across the floor toward outside, and sighed. He turned and walked out, hand in hand with Victoria.

......

Damien spared no expense to shout his devotion to Victoria from the rooftops.

He commissioned a life-sized solid gold statue in her likeness. He spent millions to buy an entire private island, naming it after her.

At the pack gathering, with every member of the ruling family in attendance, he stood with Victoria on his arm, his face lit up with a happiness that never reached his eyes.

But every so often, a sharp, unnameable pain twisted in his chest. It was as if he was waiting for something.

But no news ever came.

Finally, he couldn’t bear it any longer.

“Has Luna caused any trouble?”

The healer’s voice shook with terror. “Alpha… the lady hasn’t come out of Gareth’s chambers once these days. She won’t let us in. The food I leave at the door hasn’t been touched.”

Damien let out a cold, humorless laugh.

“Of course she has locked herself away. Sulking is the one weapon she still has left.”

His expression hardened with contempt. “She lied, she schemed, she turned my mother against me, and still I spared her. Any other she-wolf who dared so much for the sake of an heir would have been cast out already.”

He was silent for a moment, then spoke again, as if granting a favor no one had the right to refuse.

“Tell her Gareth’s death was an accident. I did not order that outcome.”

“And tell her this as well: if she stops starving herself and learns her place, I will provide for the pups she carries. They will lack for nothing.”

His eyes turned colder. “But she will never threaten Victoria again. She will never challenge the heir again. If she wants to go on living under my protection, those are my terms.”

The healer agreed quickly, and hurried down to the chambers.

The sound of the lock turning echoed through the stone halls.

A split second later, a bloodcurdling scream rang out.

“Alpha Damien! Lady Luna… she’s gone! There’s no breath left in her!”