LOGINThe white paper lining of the examination table crinkled loudly under my weight as I finally slid my feet onto the cold floor.
I picked up the phone. A single jagged crack now ran entirely across the screen, splitting Dorian’s face right down the center of the text notification.
I shoved the device deep into my purse, my fingers shaking so violently I could barely pull the zipper shut.
A sharp knock suddenly broke the heavy silence.
"Selene? Are you dressed?" Dr. Voss called out from the hallway.
I swallowed hard, forcing a ragged breath into my lungs. "Yes," I called back.
The door swung open, and she stepped inside holding a small white pharmacy bag and a black-and-white printout. She offered me a warm, professional smile.
"Here are your prenatal vitamins," she said, handing over the bag. "And here is your official ultrasound photo. Put it somewhere safe."
I looked at the grainy image in her hand.
"Thank you," I whispered.
She frowned, her sharp eyes scanning my face. "Are you alright? You look incredibly pale all of a sudden. Did the morning sickness just hit?"
"Yes," I lied instantly, clutching the bag tightly against my chest. "Just a sudden wave of dizziness. I need to go home and lie down."
"Good. Make sure Dorian takes care of you tonight. No stress."
I forced a stiff nod and walked out before she could question me further.
The clinic corridor felt endless. Every person I passed looked so normal. They were smiling, living their best life. Whereas, I just found out mine ended years ago.
The automatic glass doors slid open, and a blast of afternoon air hit my face. I practically stumbled out into the parking lot, reaching my sedan and locking myself inside the driver's seat.
For a long time, I simply sat there, gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turned completely white. My chest was so tight I could barely draw a full breath. I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. The pain was too deep for that. It felt like a physical wound.
I turned the key and the engine hummed to life.
The forty-five-minute drive back to the Crimson Vale pack house passed in a blur of bitter memories. Six years of cooking his meals, keeping his house, and enduring his cold stares. Six years of bleeding my soul dry to be a perfect, submissive wife while he spent his nights whispering my worthlessness into another woman's neck.
A wave of intense nausea hit me. I pulled the car up, threw the door open, and dry-heaved into the grass. My body shook violently, but nothing came up. My stomach was completely empty.
I wiped my mouth, leaning my forehead against the cold leather of the steering wheel. My hand slowly crept down to my flat stomach.
Dorian didn't deserve this baby. He didn't deserve to know that a piece of him was growing inside the woman he called "nothing." He didn't deserve the heir he so desperately wanted just to impress his terrifying father, the Alpha King.
I put the car back in drive and pulled onto the empty road.
Ten minutes later, the iron gates of the Crimson Vale pack house came into view. As I pulled up the long, winding driveway, my heart spiked hard.
Dorian's luxury silver sports car was parked right in front of the main entrance.
He hadn't left the territory for his meeting at all.
I turned off the engine, grabbed my purse, and stepped out of the car. My legs felt heavy as I walked up the stone steps, then I pushed the front door open.
The house was quiet. I walked across the living area and rounded the corner into the kitchen, needing a glass of water to stop my throat from burning.
Dorian was sitting at the island. He was wearing a casual gray designer sweater, a glass of orange juice in his hand, casually scrolling through his digital tablet.
He looked completely normal. Perfectly groomed. There was no guilt on his face, he didn't even raise his eyes when I walked in.
"You're late," he said smoothly, his tone laced with his usual irritation. "The maids forgot to starch my shirts for the Alpha council meeting tomorrow. Make sure you handle it before tonight."
I stood at the edge of the kitchen, my fingers curling into tight fists at my sides. I stared at his profile, the man I had loved for six years, and realized I was looking at a total stranger.
"Dorian," I called, my voice cutting through the quiet room, colder and sharper than it had ever been.
He clicked his tongue, his eyes still glued to his tablet. "What, Selene? I’m busy."
I took a slow step forward, the anger in me solidifying into pure resolve.
"I want a divorce.”
Time loses its shape in the dark. Without the sun to measure the hours, my existence shrank to the rhythm of my pain and the slow, agonizing knit of my bones. Although I got the physician promised to me, my jaw fused back together crookedly, leaving a perpetual ache near my left ear. My leg healed short, a twisted mass of calcium and scar tissue that made moving across the small expanse of my cell an exercise in clumsy, clanking agony.But as the weeks bled into months, my senses adapted, a blind wolf relies on his ears, and down in the roots of the mountain, my hearing sharpened until the silence wasn’t empty anymore, I learned the language of the stone.From my enhanced senses, I realized the volcanic glass pillars of the grand throne room above didn’t just support the ceiling; they acted as conduits. They were deep teeth driven into the earth, and like hollow bones, they carried the vibrations of life from the surface straight down into my cell.Every morning, the castle woke up
Behind the iron portcullis, a heavy wooden door slammed open. A dozen royal enforcers stepped onto the arena floor, carrying heavy, rusted iron cuffs linked by thick black chains. They didn’t treat me like a fallen prince, they didn’t even treat me like a dangerous enemy. They handled me like a carcass, dragging me onto my back.I let out a wet, strangled groan as they forced my broken wrists into the cold iron, the clinking of the chains sounded like a death knell.“Kill him!” Brenda’s voice screamed from behind the bars, though her rage sounded cracked, broken by tears. “If you have an ounce of honor left, Kael, execute him! Don’t do this!”Kael didn’t look at her, he kept his eyes fixed on me as the guards hauled me up by my armpits, forcing my weight onto my one good leg and my broken knee dragged in the dust.“Execution makes you a martyr, Dorian,” Kael said softly, leaning in so only I could hear through the haze of my pain. “A martyr is an idea, and an idea can inspire anot
Is this how it’s going to end? I asked myself countless times as I viewed Kael walking towards me through my blurred vision. He dragged me into the center of the arena like a broken toy, tossing me onto my back before planting his massive paw squarely onto my chest.The pressure was suffocating, I couldn’t breathe. My tongue tasted like copper, and my fractured jaw hung uselessly as I stared up into the dark, massive throat of the beast above me. Kael lowered his head, his enormous fangs dripping with saliva, hovering just inches from my exposed jugular.This was it, the end of the march, the end of the dream. So be it, better to be crushed than live my life under his jurisdiction. My chest tightened as I thought of Lara, how she was going to see me. I stared into his golden eyes, unable to move, unable to fight, waiting for the final snap that would end my life. ‘Lara forgive me for failing you the second time,’ I whispered between my ragged breath. The world narrowed to the
He let his hand hover in the air, a breath away from ordering a firing squad.“I will give you one chance, and one chance only,” Kael said, his golden eyes narrowing. “Drop your sword, kneel before the Obsidian Throne. Formally renounce your claim to the bloodline, and I will let these two hundred wolves walk out of my kingdom alive. I will give them land in the western valleys, I will give them food, and I will let them live.”A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the room, the only sound was the crackle of the torches along the volcanic glass pillars. My eyes widened in shock and anger as I whispered, “what?!”“Dorian, don’t do it!” Brenda roared, her fingers white as she gripped the iron portcullis. “We didn’t bleed in the trenches for a compromise! If we die, we die clawing at his throat!”“Shut up, Brenda!” Brandon snapped, his voice tight with agonizing conflict. He looked at me through the bars, his eyes wide and bloodshot. “Dorian… it’s two hundred of us against them, we
The air inside the arena was heavy, thick with the scent of old ash and ozone. Every footstep I took alongside Kael echoed off the high, vaulted ceilings. I kept my hand wrapped tight around the pommel of my heavy broadsword, my eyes darting across the perimeter. Brandon’s eyes gave off a warning that rang like a low alarm in my skull; ‘The guards look more relaxed than usual.’I did not think it was relaxation; it was a flawless execution of stillness. How easy can I forget my father’s sly nature?Kael stopped exactly in the center of the sand-dusted stone. He was still for a moment and did not draw a weapon, he simply stood there, his back turned to me for a fraction of a second before he faced me, his cold eyes gleaming with cold amusement.“You always did have a habit of looking at the horizon, Dorian, instead of looking at your feet,” Kael said softly. I leaned in to hear the exact tone of his voice, there have always been the desire in me to hear the disappointment and extrem
Kael turned on his heel and walked back into the grand throne room, leaving the doors wide open. It was an explicit invitation, a dare that I could not ignore.“We go in,” I said, my face a mask of cold determination.“Lord Dorian, wait,” Brandon whispered, grabbing my arm. “Look at the guards, they aren’t even raising their spears. They are mocking us, and he wants you inside.”“I am going to finish this, Brandon. Stand with me, or stay here.” I pulled his arm away and marched up the stone steps, my remaining two hundred wolves following me into the heart of the kingdom.I took in the view of the grand throne room; the very place I would inhabit and rule. I took note of the vaulted ceilings that stretched high overhead, supported by massive pillars of polished volcanic glass. At the far end of the room sat the Obsidian Throne, carved from a single block of dark stone that seemed to absorb the light around it.Kael sat casually upon it, like he always do, one leg crossed over the othe







