Chapter 1: The Cliff

THE ALPHA KING’S MAID

The doctor looked at me over the rim of her glasses while holding the results between her fingers. Damn it! Why was she torturing me like this? I had been waiting for this moment for five years—five years of regular cycles that ended in disappointment, of hopes that died every month, of nights when Ricardo touched me as if fulfilling a pending obligation. And now I clung to my last shred of hope, praying it wouldn’t be another false alarm like the ones before.

“Congratulations,” she finally said, though her professional tone didn’t reflect the magnitude of what she was announcing. “Everything looks perfect. Approximately four weeks.”

Four weeks! By the Moon Goddess! I was so happy I could count the hours, the minutes, the seconds until I told Ricardo. Tonight, when I showed him the ultrasound, when he saw that blood test with the numbers confirming what we had waited five years for, he would finally understand that old Rosún’s prophecy wasn’t a curse. That I wasn’t the barren Luna, the weak omega the pack looked at with resentment for not being worthy of their alpha.

I left the human clinic hugging the folder to my chest as if it were the most fragile treasure in the world. Wolves could live among humans unnoticed, and I had come here precisely because I didn’t want the pack doctor informing Ricardo before I did. The afternoon sun bathed the city streets, and for one glorious moment, I allowed myself to smile without guilt.

I called Cristina from the car.

“I need you to do me a favor,” I said, trying to contain the excitement in my voice.

“What kind of favor?” Her voice carried that typical beta curiosity that always made me smile. She was the only one who didn’t look at me with pity, the only one who sat with me at pack meetings without caring about my omega status—and not out of obligation like the others.

“Lingerie. Something sexy that takes his breath away. I want to surprise Ricardo tonight—it’s our bonding anniversary.”

There was a pause. Then a low, complicit laugh.

“Oh my God, Ema! I hope you have an incredible night. Is there something to celebrate that you haven’t told me?”

I bit my lip, holding in the secret.

“I’ll tell you everything tomorrow, I promise.”

“I’ll send something over in an hour, you little minx. Ricardo won’t know what hit him.”

I arrived at the mansion before five. The next few hours were like a sacred ritual. I placed candles strategically in the living room, in the kitchen, on every step of the staircase. I prepared Ricardo’s favorite meal: steak with mushroom sauce, scalloped potatoes, and that red wine I had been saving for a special occasion. Now I finally had one.

I took nearly an hour-long bath, letting the hot water relax every inch of my skin. The black silk robe Cristina had chosen fit my body like a second skin, accentuating curves I usually hid under loose clothing. My friend had exquisite taste, even if she was single. I sprayed on the perfume I had bought in Paris—maybe too much, but alphas have such sharp senses you can’t ignore that. Since I didn’t have the natural scent a normal she-wolf would have—another consequence of my curse—I tried to compensate with fragrances that would awaken his desire.

Nine o’clock passed. Then ten. The food grew cold on the plates. The candles burned down halfway, and I grew tired of waiting. This was Ricardo, always putting his duties as alpha first. Maybe I should have called him. Maybe I should have gone to the company instead of assuming he would remember that today marked five years since his father bound us in that ritual that, according to Rosún, would secure his alpha lineage.

At eleven, I turned everything off. I slowly removed the robe and put on cotton pajamas. There was no point in waiting any longer. I was about to get into bed when I heard him come in.

His scent arrived first—that wild forest and power aroma that characterized alphas. That scent that, despite everything, still made my heart race.

“Ricardo,” I whispered.

But he didn’t approach. He stood in the doorway, watching me from the shadows the way a predator assesses its prey. Even without seeing him clearly, I felt the shift in his energy, his bad mood. I could sense his irritation, even if my senses weren’t as sharp as his.

“What’s all that mess in the living room?” he asked, his voice sharp.

“I prepared it for our anniversary. I waited for you for—”

“We need to talk,” he interrupted, his voice rougher than usual, as if each word were being torn from his throat.

My heart quickened, but not from fear. I thought maybe he had discovered something, that he had scented our pup, that he was about to ruin my surprise.

“Wait,” I said, turning on the bedside lamp. I reached for the folder with trembling hands. “I have to tell you something first.”

I pulled out the results, the blood test. He took them, and as he looked them over, his face changed color instantly.

“I’m pregnant,” I said, and for the first time in five years, my voice didn’t shake.

The silence was absolute. The longest, heaviest silence of my life.

I saw his eyes darken in a way I had never seen before, as if something inside him shattered. It wasn’t joy. It wasn’t surprise. It was something darker, something that froze the blood in my veins.

“What?” he asked, his voice barely a hoarse whisper.

“We’re expecting a pup,” I repeated, but my voice no longer sounded confident. The change in his expression had stolen my happiness. “After five years, finally—”

“Sorry,” he interrupted, and his expression shifted so quickly I almost thought I had imagined the previous one. He smiled, but it was the fakest smile I had ever seen, one that didn’t reach his icy eyes.

“You caught me off guard, little one. I didn’t expect… well, never mind. Let’s get some rest. We’ll celebrate properly tomorrow. I’m exhausted.”

He kissed my forehead quickly—a cold, distant kiss—and went to the bathroom almost in a hurry, as if afraid I might see through his mask and discover his true emotions.

I remained there, sitting on the bed, processing what had just happened. Didn’t he want this pregnancy? No, that wasn’t possible. He had suffered as much as I had these past years, hadn’t he? He loved me… didn’t he?

When he returned, he was holding a glass of water.

“Drink this,” he said, offering it to me with a smile that didn’t light his eyes. “So you can rest well. You’ve worked hard today, and I’m sorry I couldn’t enjoy your dinner. Forgive me for forgetting our anniversary, darling, but you know I carry an enormous burden on my shoulders.”

He was right—I was overthinking. I drank without hesitation. The water was cold, fresh. Normal.

Five minutes later, the world began to spin.

---

I woke up in the dark. The sound was the first thing I registered—the roar of the ocean, the furious crashing of waves against the rocks. I opened my eyes and saw the night sky speckled with stars, and a massive cliff beneath my feet.

I was on my knees at the edge of the precipice. Where the hell was I, and why had I woken up here?

I tried to move, but my body didn’t respond as it should. The drug still coursed through my veins, making everything slow, heavy, as if I were trapped in a nightmare.

“Ricardo?” I whispered, my mouth dry.

He was behind me. I could feel him. His presence was overwhelming, his alpha energy radiating like fire, like something that consumes everything in its path.

“Did you think you were going to tie me down again?” His voice was a growl, something rising from deep within his chest. “I waited five years to be with my true mate. Five years to finally separate from you and this bond I never wanted from the start. And now you turn out to be pregnant. Another trick to keep me by your side. But you know what? This time your plan failed. I don’t care about that bastard. You’ll both go straight to hell.”

I turned to look at him. His form began to change before my eyes. His body convulsed, his bones cracking as they broke and reformed. His skin was covered in white fur—pure, beautiful. He shifted into his true form: a gigantic white wolf, with icy eyes that gleamed under the moonlight like two deadly sapphires.

I tried to shift as well, desperate. I felt the familiar pull inside me, that broken connection with my inner wolf—the curse that had haunted me since childhood. My body changed, but not completely. I was trapped between forms, half human, half beast, weak and vulnerable, exactly as he knew I would be.

He lunged.

His claws struck my face first. I felt hot blood running down my cheek, down my neck. Then my abdomen. His enormous claws tore through my skin, and I screamed. I screamed like I had never screamed in my life. I didn’t want him to take my child, I didn’t want to lose that miracle I foolishly believed would save our bond.

“Why?” I sobbed, but he didn’t answer. He kept tearing flesh from me without an ounce of compassion, his eyes shining with a hatred I had never seen before. In that moment I truly saw him—the furious alpha, the man who hated me, the mate who had never wanted me.

He lifted me by the neck. I felt his fangs near my throat, so close I could feel his hot breath against my skin. And then, with one final motion, with all the force of his hatred, he threw me backward.

Into the void.

I fell.

The wind whistled in my ears. The waves drew closer, closer, faster and faster. And my last thought, as I fell toward death, was simple:

“Why did I trust him?”