LOGIN**Cole's POV**"Alpha." Dr. Hana's voice is quiet and steady. "I have served this pack for sixteen years. Under your father, and under you. My loyalty has never wavered, and it will not begin now."A brief pause."No one has contacted me. No one has interfered with these results. What I am telling you is the truth — the same truth the test has confirmed twice.""Are you certain?" My voice comes out lower than I expect, edged with something dangerous.Then, firm and unwavering — "Yes, Alpha."Silence crashes over me.I just stand there, the words circling, refusing to settle. The same truth… confirmed twice.My grip tightens around the phone, plastic creaking faintly beneath my fingers as something cold and vicious coils in my chest.That conniving bitch planned this.But how? How the hell did she pull this off without me knowing?'Because women are clever like that,' my wolf drawls, sharp and mocking."Shit," I mutter under my breath.A soft, pointed cough cuts through the line. "Ahem
**Cole's POV** The next morning, pack patrol takes longer than I intend. Three hours covering the eastern and northern borders with six of my best men — checking markers, reviewing overnight reports, listening to my beta Dane walk me through a breach in the northern fence line that was flagged before dawn. I give the right instructions. I ask the right questions. I look like an Alpha who has his mind entirely on his pack's security. I am getting better at pretending. The truth is I have not slept. I lay in my bed last night staring at the ceiling and thinking about DNA results and a pregnancy that should not be possible and an elder who is already composing his victory speech. I dismissed the patrol at the eastern gate just after nine and walked home alone through the back path that cuts through the small patch of woodland behind my house. The trees are still and grey this morning. The ground is soft under my boots. Everything smells of damp earth and last night's light ra
**Cole's POV** I look at elder white for a long moment and scoff at his audacity. How dare he stand in front of me and negotiate terms like we are equals sitting at a trade table? "Are we understood, Alpha?" he repeats. "We are understood," I say. "And since we are making conditions—" I take a slow step toward him and watch him hold his ground with visible effort. "If the DNA results come back and tell a different story, I will not be returning to apologize." He frowns. "What do you mean a different—" "I will be returning," I continue quietly, "to banish every single member of this family from my pack. Permanently. No return. No appeal." The room goes very still. Sabrina makes a small sound behind me. Elder White's face does not crack but something behind it does — a hairline fracture running straight through the centre of his certainty. "You would not—" "Banishment," I say, "is an act of mercy." I let that sit for a moment. "Because what I would actually be enti
**Cole's POV** “It’s a pregnancy test. I’m pregnant, Cole,” Sabrina says with a conflicted smile tugging at her lips. The words land in the room like something dropped from a great height. I look at her. Really look at her — the bathrobe, the bare feet, the way she is holding that test like a shield and a confession at the same time. Then I look at the test. Then back at her face. "No you're not," I say nonchalantly. Sabrina blinks. "Excuse me?" "You heard me." I take a slow step into the room and close the door behind me. "You are not pregnant. You found out I was coming here — probably your father called you the moment I left that meeting room — and you had just enough time to come up with something dramatic enough to distract me." I tilt my head. "I won't buy it!" Sabrina lets out a shaky scoff, like she’s holding back tears. “I swear, Cole… I’m not lying,” she says, her voice trembling. “I’m pregnant. And the pup is yours.” "Yeah, right... Which pregnant shewo
**Cole's POV** "Alpha, I'm sorry to disturb you, but the elders are requesting your presence in the meeting room immediately," my secretary says just as I step out of my office, ready to continue the search for Maya as my new daily routine. "Did they say what it's about?" I ask, already irritated at the thought of them wasting my time. "No, Alpha. They only said you should see them before you leave the building." I glance at my wristwatch and exhale slowly. I don't have time for this. But I've been avoiding them for weeks — ever since Maya's kidnapping. Fine. I'll hear whatever they have to say. I make my way to the meeting room and find Elder White, Miriam, Thomas, and Marcus already seated. They straighten and lower their heads the moment I step in. I don't acknowledge it. I walk straight to the head of the table and sit. "What is this about?" I ask, my voice flat. A brief look passes between them before Miriam speaks. "We believe it is time to consider holding a funera
**Shawn's POV** I look at Stella and the hope on her face hits harder than anything. She came down here because she thought I had news about Maya. Dropped whatever was happening upstairs without hesitation — because she believed I'd found something. And now I have to take that away from her. "No," I say. "I'm sorry. I don't have anything on Maya yet." The hope drains out of her expression slowly. She exhales through her nose and looks ahead at the windscreen. "Then why am I in this car?" "Because I need to tell you the truth," I say. "About everything you wanted to know. About Hank and Dimitri and what has been going on. I don't want any more lies between us. I don't want any more half truths or things left unsaid." I reach out and turn her face toward me gently. "You deserve to know everything." She looks at me for a moment with a frown and sighs softly. "Fine," she says. "I'm listening." I look at the steering wheel. "My brother Marcus had debts," I say. "With Hank and D
** Stella's POV**I don't know what wakes me. One moment I'm deep in dreamless sleep, the next my eyes snap open in the darkness. The clock reads 2:34 AM. I lay perfectly still, listening. There's a sound. Footsteps in the hallway. I sit up slowly, straining to hear. The footsteps are
**Shawn's POV** I don't regret fucking Stella for the second time. I regret forgetting who her father is. The thought pounds through my head as I step back into Victor's office, closing the bathroom door behind me. Stella's still in there, probably trying to compose herself, and trying to erase
**Shawn's POV** “Mr. Black, this way to your guests.” A waitress who recognizes me greets me as she leads the way through the familiar haze of the strip club where I usually meet my business associates. The bass throbs through the floor of the Velvet Room, vibrating up through my bones like a
**Stella's POV** "I'm asking if you examined your own role in the marriage's failure," Elder Konstantin says calmly. "A Luna has responsibilities to her Alpha. If you failed to meet his needs—" "His needs?" The words explode out. "His need to fuck his beta while I was home with our babies?"







