Episode 2

"You're... what?" Philip asked.

"I'm pregnant." I put my hand on my stomach. "With Jason's baby."

"Of course you are." He laughed, but it sounded bitter. "Of course you are."

"Philip, I didn't know you—"

"How could you know?" He stepped back. "I've hidden it for five years. I should have told you years ago instead of standing by while he destroyed you."

"He hasn't destroyed me."

"Hasn't he? Look at yourself, Riley. You can barely shift. You can barely fight. You've lost everything. And for what? For a man who doesn't even love you?"

I knew he was right. Deep down, I knew.

"I need to go." I turned and ran.

"Riley, wait—"

But I was already gone. I ran through the trees, crying. How can this be happening? How can Philip be in love with me?

I ran until I couldn't breathe anymore. Until I stood at the edge of the pack house.

Today is our anniversary. Jason and I have been married for five years today, and I have the perfect gift: a baby. Our second child. Proof that we're still a family.

I wiped my tears. Philip is wrong. Jason does love me. He has to. I gave up everything for him.

I pushed open the front door.

Jason's scent hit me immediately. Thick and heavy and everywhere. But there was another scent too. Female. Familiar.

I walked upstairs. The scents got stronger with each step until I stood outside our bedroom door.

I heard sounds inside. Moaning. Grunting. Skin against skin.

I pushed the door open.

My husband was on our bed, completely naked. Veronica was on top of him, riding him. He gripped her waist. The room smelled like sex and sweat.

"Close the door, Riley." Jason sounded annoyed. "Give us some privacy."

"You're sleeping with your sister?"

Veronica laughed. She kept moving on top of him. "We're celebrating your anniversary."

"How could you?" I started crying. "After everything I've done for you, all I've given up for this marriage—"

"Sister?" Veronica climbed off Jason slowly. "Oh Riley, you really are as stupid as Jason always says you are."

"What?"

"I'm not his sister, you idiot." She reached for her dress. She wasn't ashamed at all. "I was adopted into this family when we were children. We're not related by blood."

I felt dizzy.

"But you call his parents mom and dad. You live here. You're—"

"She's family." Margaret's voice came from behind me. I turned around. Jason's mother stood in the hallway with her arms crossed. She looked completely calm. "But not the way you think."

"How long?" My voice cracked. "How long have you known?"

"Known?" She laughed. "Darling, I've known from the beginning. The entire pack has. Veronica and Jason have been together for ten years."

Ten years.

Before me. Before our marriage. Before everything.

"Then why?" I looked at Jason. He was pulling on his pants like this was normal. "Why marry me if you were already with her?"

"Because I needed you." He walked toward me and stopped right in front of my face. "Or more specifically, I needed what you represented. You were Riley Moonshadow, heir to the seventh alpha's throne, the most powerful nightblood in a millennium. I was nobody. A rogue alpha with nothing."

"You said you loved me."

"I said what I needed to say." He shrugged. "You were desperate for someone to see you as more than a weapon or a political tool. It was pathetically easy to make you fall for me."

I slapped him before I could think…hard enough that his head snapped to the side.

"You bastard!" I raised my hand to hit him again.

Margaret moved fast. She shoved me hard with both hands. I stumbled backward.

My heel caught on something.

I fell.

I tumbled down the stairs. My body hit each step, my head hit something hard.

Everything went black.