Chapter 2

Samantha's POV

I sat bolt upright, ignoring the way it made my head spin.

"That can't be possible," I breathed, clutching my stomach. "You must be mistaken. I'm not pregnant."

Ava bristled indignantly. "You know I only ever tell you the truth, Samantha."

She was right, as much as I hated to admit it at the moment. My wolf was weak right now due to our five years of torment, but she was still incredibly wise—back when I first shifted, Ava told me that with the proper nourishment, she could be extremely powerful. A silver wolf.

Silver wolves were incredibly rare—not having been seen in our world for over a century. Not only that, but they possessed powerful regenerative abilities and the gift of healing, with a deep understanding of werewolf anatomy.

Which meant that they had the ability to see a body's ailments before anyone else could.

Which also meant… that my wolf was correct when she said I was pregnant, even if I hadn't begun to have symptoms yet.

I sighed and flopped back down onto the small cot, running my hand over my face.

"That's why you fainted," Ava went on. "You almost lost control and released your scent. Kade would have known about the mate bond. So I made you pass out."

Ah. So it was a failsafe to keep Kade from finding out that he was bound to me in ways that neither of us ever wanted. Ever since Kade took me as his slave, Ava hid her presence whenever he was around to keep the fact that he was my fated mate a secret.

And now that I was pregnant, the mate bond would be even harder to ignore. So my wolf had to take matters into her own hands.

I bit my lip, hand instinctively fluttering to my belly as if I could already feel the little life within. My stomach was still flat, and I felt the same; but I knew that Ava was telling me the truth.

A baby. I was going to have a baby.

Becoming pregnant with my mate's pup should have been a joyous occasion. But all it brought was sadness. Kade didn't love me—quite the opposite, in fact. He hated me.

"You are nothing," his words from last night echoed through my mind. "You'll never matter to anyone. You'll die alone and miserable, and only then, for the first time in years, will I smile."

How could I have a baby with him?

I shuddered at the thought. "Kade can't know," I whispered into the darkness.

"Of course," Ava replied. "We'll keep this secret, just as we've kept all the others."

My wolf's support was comforting. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep this child born of hatred yet, but for now, I had to focus on keeping the pregnancy hidden until the end of my sentence. Then, and only then, could I worry about my next steps.

I just had to survive for another seven months.

Those months passed interminably slowly. With each passing day, I grew weaker and weaker, both due to the pregnancy and my torment. I managed to hide the pregnancy, but only because my belly was still relatively flat due to my lack of nutrition.

Finally, on the final day of the seventh month, my family arrived to pick me up as promised. I didn't even know they had arrived until I heard my mother's familiar voice in the foyer.

"Where is my daughter?"

My hands shook as I dropped the toilet scrubber and rushed out of the bathroom. I nearly collapsed when I saw my father and mother standing there. My father, of course, showed little emotion; hardly more than a cold flick of his gaze over my bedraggled form.

However, my mother's eyes went wide when she saw my stained dress, ragged hair, and pale skin—a far cry from the healthy young woman she had last seen nearly five years ago.

"Samantha," my mother breathed, rushing forward and throwing her arms around me. "Samantha, my baby girl…"

I didn't cry as my mother held me close. I had stopped knowing how to cry a very long time ago.

And then, over my mother's shoulder, I saw Serena step out from behind my father. She looked like me—or at least, she once did, before my sentence. Now, she was just a bitter reminder of what I'd once had.

Beautiful golden hair trailing down her spine. A slender, upright posture. Bright green eyes.

But there was one thing that Serena and I had never shared: our spirit. She was once the introverted and quiet twin. Now her face was just as cold and unfeeling as our father before she schooled it into a mask of horror.

"Oh, Samantha!" Serena cried, rushing forward and throwing her arms around both me and our mother. "My dear sister, what did he do to you?!"

You have no fucking idea, I wanted to say, but held my tongue. Instead, I simply replied, "Can we leave now?"

My mother and sister stepped back and blinked at me. My mother held me by both shoulders, looking me over for injury. Everything was hidden under my clothes, but she didn't know that the worst injuries of all were the ones on the inside. The emotional torment. The baby.

"Samantha, aren't you happy to see us?" my father snapped. "We came all this way to pick you up, and you can't even crack a smile."

I flicked my gaze over to him and felt my chest tighten. Of course he would make this about him. He always did.

As if they hadn't fucking left me in this hellhole for five years.

"Oh. She's still blaming us," Serena sighed, taking another step back. The horror on her face had slipped away, her expression returning to its usual coldness. "As if it's our fault that she wound up here."

But it is your fault, I thought, but didn't say out loud. What was the point? No one listened to me. No one ever did.

"We suffered too, you know," my father went on, rolling his eyes. "You look at us as if we wanted you to be locked up here as Alpha Kade's ward."

Ward. I almost laughed out loud at that.

Not prisoner. Not slave.

Fucking ward.

It wasn't sorrow or relief that I felt building up inside of me just then, but anger. But my wolf quickly calmed me, reminding me that it wasn't worth it to argue with them.

Once again, Ava was right. The shitty bond I shared with this even shittier family was nothing now compared to the pain I had spent the last five years enduring. I just needed to get out and figure out what to do with the baby.

I forced my face into neutrality again and turned to my mother. "I'm just tired," I said, which was partially true. "I've been working a lot."

My mother's expression crumpled. She took my hands in hers, and it was only then that I realized my fingertips were trembling. "Oh, dear… You're shaking," she whispered, tears misting her blue eyes—so much like my own.

Before I could stop her, my mother lifted my hand, causing my sleeve to rise to reveal my wrist. I gasped, trying to pull it back down, but it was too late. My mother had already seen the black mark beneath.

"What's… What's this?" My mother asked, pushing my sleeve up.

I tried to pull away. "Nothing. Just a—"

"Oh, Goddess!" My mother cried out when she saw the dark bruises and the network of scars marring my arm.