Chapter One

Mikaela's POV

I stood frozen at the doorway, my breath catching in my throat.

Their moans rang out like echoes from a nightmare, the rhythmic sound of betrayal slicing through the silence of the corridor. The half-open office door revealed everything, Ryan’s shirt half-off, his hands gripping Lydia’s waist, her back arched in pleasure, her lips parted in delight.

They didn’t see me. They didn’t have to.

I saw enough.

My mate. The one I gave everything to. The one who swore he'd protect me, love me, stay loyal to me. With her. Lydia.

I didn't remember walking back to our...no, my...room. I just remember the trembling in my hands, the sting in my eyes, and the cold rush of air in my lungs that couldn’t seem to find enough breath.

The moment the door closed behind me, the sob burst out.

I collapsed onto the bed, the same bed that had been empty on his side for weeks now. I clawed at the blankets, desperate for something to hold onto, something to stop me from falling apart. But I already was.

What did I expect?

I should have known. All the signs were there.

I stared at the pregnancy test lying on the nightstand, positive. I found out earlier today, just hours ago. My hands were still trembling when I left the pack doctor’s office. The symptoms I'd blamed on stress finally made sense. I’d planned to tell Ryan tonight. That’s why I’d gone to find him. I was ready to share our joy, to remind him of what we once were.

Instead, I found him inside someone else.

I let out a shaky breath, trying to piece my mind together.

How did we get here?

I used to be nothing. An orphan. An omega passed around like unwanted baggage. Slavery, beatings, filth, it was all I knew. Until the day I stumbled into the Scarlet Pack’s borders at nineteen. I had no hope, no future, no strength. But they took me in.

They were kinder than any other person I had witnessed, any other pack that had treated me as a disposable slave. They didn't maltreat me, instead they gave me a full identity, no longer as an Omega. In them I had finally found a home.

And then I met Ryan.

The moment our eyes met, everything changed. The mate bond hit us both with unrelenting force. He was powerful, handsome, fierce, and mine. I couldn’t believe it. An Alpha, fated to be with someone like me? But he loved me. Genuinely. Deeply. He fought for me, defended me from whispers, helped me heal.

For one and a half beautiful years, I knew peace. I knew love. I knew what it felt like to be wanted, to belong.

And then Lydia came back.

She was everything I wasn’t, poised, beautiful, with a confident smile and the familiarity of old bonds. Ryan’s childhood friend, his so-called "first love", those were the whispers I caught from the pack members, the ones they didn’t bother hiding anymore.

She left the pack when she was fifteen, or so I’d been told. Came back recently after her father's death with nowhere else to go. And Ryan welcomed her in, into our home, into our lives.

At first, it was fine. I trusted him. I had to. He was my mate.

But things changed.

It happened so quickly yet gradually. First it was the excuses he made. The distance he slowly brought.

He started spending more time with her. Lingering smiles, hushed conversations, inside jokes. He claimed it was just nostalgia.

“She's just like my sister,” he would always use as an excuse and I'd believed him.

I believed him, even when the bed grew colder each night, even when his kisses felt routine, even when the pack started murmuring behind my back.

“She was his first love.”

“They were meant to be before she left.”

“She fits him better than Mikaela ever did.”

Those whispers grew louder, bolder. I tried to confront him.

Each time, the same response.

“You’re overthinking it. You’re my mate, Mikaela. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

But he never looked at me the same way again.

And now… now I knew why.

A wet laugh left me, almost hysterical.

Was I so blind or desperate?

Did it matter anymore?

Seeing things now, it was always inevitable. He had taken my love for granted and now it was gone.

I pressed my hand over my belly. Before, I had been suffering from the symptoms. Believing that it was out of my anxiety and stress, I'd ignored it until it could no longer be ignored.

Thus, in the middle of the night I finally swallowed my pride and went to the pack doctor and everything was revealed.

I believed I could hold it back till tomorrow, but it was the middle of the night and I remained restless. I'd decided to head to his study to tell him. Just a few moments ago, I had walked out of this room, bracing myself to tell him.

And now I was back here, having lost everything.

In my belly was a life. A tiny heartbeat I’d only just found out existed. It was supposed to be our miracle. The thing that would bring us back together.

But now it was the only reason I had to keep going.

Closing my eyes, I'd made a decision.

I couldn’t stay here. Not anymore.

The Scarlet Pack wasn't my home. Not when my mate had betrayed me. Not when the pack watched and did nothing. Not when Lydia would soon wear the title of Luna they once celebrated me for.

I wiped my tears and forced myself to my feet. I packed quietly, quickly. Clothes, essentials, a few keepsakes. My fingers hesitated only once, over the picture frame by the bedside. Our Mating ceremony. His smile. My tears of joy. I turned it over and left it behind.

There was nothing here for me now.

By the time I stepped outside, the moon was high above the forest, casting long shadows across the ground. The air was cold, but not as cold as the ache in my chest. I didn’t look back.

I crossed the pack’s border without hesitation.

I had no plan, no destination. Just a baby growing inside me and the raw, pulsing pain of betrayal guiding my every step.

But I would survive.

I had to.

Because this baby deserved better.

And I would never let anyone take that away from me again.