C2

Zaria

"The bloodline does not lie, Obasi," I say, my voice sounding thick and broken inside the white walls of the pack clinic, my hands shaking against the stiff sheets of the cot. "They are Kofi Mensah's pups, and he knows it."

"Do you take me for a fool?" Nyara Okoye steps out from behind our father, her lip curling into a cruel sneer as her beta scent fills the small room with mockery. "The Mensah Clan Trading House wants a pure heir more than anything, so if Kofi actually sired those twin alpha heirs, they would be celebrating, not throwing you to the wolves. Just admit you let some rogue pack mate you behind his back, Zaria. Father always held you up as the perfect daughter of the Okoye Bloodline, but you are just a common whore."

"Purge the pregnancy," Obasi barks, his alpha command forcing my inner wolf to cower as he glares down at me with absolute disgust. "Go crawl back to Fiona Blackwell, beg for her forgiveness on your knees, and maybe we can save our alliance with the Mensah Clan."

"I am not a liar!" I yell back, the skin on my belly burning where the medical sensors are attached, the pain of my contractions returning with a sudden vengeance. "I did nothing wrong!"

"You are dead to this family," Obasi says, his eyes turning a dangerous dark red before he turns his back on me and walks out of the clinic room, Nyara trailing right behind him with a smug grin.

"Get rid of them, Zaria," Kofi's voice comes from the doorway the second my family leaves, his face devoid of any warmth as he stares at me like I am garbage on his territory. "This is your last warning."

"You did this on purpose," I whisper, looking at the man I shared a bed with for three years, a sudden chill freezing the blood in my veins. "You smeared my name across the entire territory just to force me to kill my own pups."

"I am making sure the pack knows those bastards have no claim to my resources," he says coldly, leaning against the doorframe. "No one is going to support another wolf's mistakes."

"We are tracking a dissolution of our mate bond," I say, my voice going completely numb. "I want a divorce."

"You think you can raise two alpha pups alone?" Kofi laughs, a harsh, grating sound. "Fine, sign the pack papers, but you are leaving the Mensah Moon Estate with nothing. The territory stays with me."

"We bought that territory together with both our names on the pack law documents!" I snap, my grip tightening on the mattress.

"I am not letting two stray bastards sleep under my roof," he sneers.

The word makes my stomach turn, a wave of dizziness hitting me so hard I can barely breathe, realizing the monster I had been loyal to all this time.

Four years later.

"Kofi Mensah sealed a new mate bond yesterday with Amara Mensah," I read out loud from the glowing screen of my phone, sitting at the small kitchen table while the pack chatter group updates with new pack house photos. "The whole trading house is throwing a massive feast for them."

"He might be a divorced male, but he managed to snag the richest alpha daughter in the southern territory," another message pops up, making my skin prickle with old rage. "Well, his first mate cuckolded him and got pregnant by a rogue, so he had to dump her."

"My mom is the most beautiful wolf in the whole territory!" Kairo Okoye's small voice chirps from the rug, pulling me out of the dark memories as I look over at my boy holding up a small tablet screen. "If she wasn't, Jalen and I wouldn't be this handsome!"

"Don't show the pack mates my face, Kairo," I remind him, watching my youngest son flash a tiny smile at the camera stream. "The bad wolves will track our scent and find our den."

"Thanks for the silver tokens, big sister!" Kairo says, throwing a little finger heart at the screen while his twin brother, Jalen, sits quietly next to him, looking intense and serious.

"Why are you still sitting in the den, Zaria?" Nia Bello asks, throwing the front door open as she steps inside, her pack warden jacket smelling of rain and the outer borders. "You need to shift into high gear."

"I was waiting for you to get back from the guard shift," I say, rising from the table and grabbing my silver acupuncture needles from the counter.

"Move it, the ride is waiting," Nia says, nudging me toward the entrance of the small apartment. "The Adebayo Dominion doesn't like people arriving late, and it took a lot of pack favors to get you this interview."

"Mommy," Jalen mutters, running over to tug on my coat, his golden eyes looking up at me with that quiet, protective look he always has.

"Stay here with Aunt Nia, little alpha," I whisper, kneeling down to rub my cheek against his hair to leave my scent. "I will be back before sunset."

"Aunt Nia? I am way too young to be an aunt, Zaria!" Nia laughs, waving her hand as she locks the door behind me.

The city smells of exhaust and wolf pheromones as I hail a private transport, the memories of the last four years swirling in my head until the car pulls up to the massive iron gates of the Shadow Den.

"Are you Nia's friend?" Selene Mensah asks, meeting me at the secondary guard post with a suspicious look on her face.

"Yes, I am Zaria Okoye," I reply, keeping my head bowed respectfully.

"Follow me closely," Selene says, leading me through the stone corridors of the massive estate. "Master Kael Adebayo had a terrible clash with a rival pack two years ago, and his legs have been paralyzed ever since. The clan healers want to see if your needle work can restore his wolf's neural paths."

"Thank you, Selene," I say, keeping my heart rate steady as we pass dozens of heavily armed pack enforcers.

"Don't thank me yet," she murmurs, knocking on a massive oak door at the top of the stairs, where an alpha aide named Tade Mensah is waiting to verify my medical seals. "Go inside."

"Master Kael," Tade calls out, stepping into the dark, heavy room. "The new healer is here."

I step past the threshold, my eyes adjusting to the dim light until I see a massive wolf of a man sitting in a specialized chair by the tinted glass window, a heavy furs covering his lower body. I expected an old, ancient elder from the way the pack spoke of him, but the male who turns his head to look at me is young, dangerously handsome, and possesses sharp, dominant features that make my breath catch in my throat.

My heart stops dead in my chest as I look at his jawline, his nose, the exact shape of his eyes. He looks exactly like Jalen and Kairo.