Chapter 3: Two Lines

Sara.

“You don’t mean that…”

The words barely made it out of my mouth as I stumbled backwards, legs weak, the rejection hitting me like a physical blow straight to my chest. I could hear the laughter erupting all around the hall — sharp, mocking, delighted at my pain — but I couldn’t look at them. Inside me, my wolf was howling in pure agony, a broken, piercing sound that tore through my soul.

“I mean every fucking word,” Killian spat, his voice dripping with venom and disgust. “The Moon Goddess clearly made a mistake pairing me with trash like you. I will be mated to someone worthy of standing as my Luna. Not some weak, pathetic, parentless omega who has nothing to offer but her tears.”

Tears slipped slowly down my cheeks, hot and endless. After last night… after he dragged me back from the cliff, after he cleaned my face so gently, after he pushed inside me and made me feel wanted for the first time in years — he was doing this. Destroying me in front of the entire pack. My chest felt like it was being crushed. Why had I let myself hope? Why was I so fucking stupid?

The doors to the hall swung open.

A woman stepped in, looking breathtaking in a shimmering crystal blue dress that clung to her curves like it was made for her. Pearls gleamed at her neck. Her hair was twisted into an elaborate bun, her makeup flawless, highlighting every perfect feature. Behind her followed the Alpha of the Moonbeam Pack.

“Elaine,” Killian said, his voice softening instantly, eyes lighting up with something warm and real that he had never shown me. He walked straight to her and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, all while his gaze stayed locked on me — cold, taunting, making sure I watched every second.

I stared at them, feeling smaller and dirtier than I ever had in my life. She was elegant. Beautiful. Worthy. Everything I wasn’t. Standing next to her, I felt like used, discarded garbage.

“Now this,” Killian announced loudly, gesturing toward Elaine while staring straight into my eyes, “is the kind of woman worthy of being my Luna. Graceful. Strong. Not some broken orphan who spreads her legs the moment someone shows her a little pity.”

Elaine gave him a soft, sweet smile, then turned her gaze on me. The disdain in her eyes was so clear, so cutting, it felt like another slap.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t stay there another second.

I turned and ran.

Tears blinded me as I fled the Great Hall, feet pounding down the long corridors. Sobs tore from my throat, raw and ugly. My heart was shattering into a million jagged pieces with every step. Why had I trusted him? Why did I give him my virginity on that bed last night when I was at my weakest? Why was I so pathetic?

I slammed the door to my tiny room shut behind me and slid down to the floor, crying until my throat burned and my eyes felt swollen shut. The bed stared back at me — the same bed where he had taken everything from me. Where I had moaned his name like a fool, thinking for one stupid moment that I mattered.

++++*+

Four weeks later.

“And my laundry still isn’t done properly,” Elaine said with a bored sigh, shoving a heavy basket hard into my arms. “Seriously, are you even good for anything? So useless.”

My eyes flicked involuntarily to where Killian was lounging on the big bed, phone in his hand, looking completely relaxed. He glanced at me for the briefest second, his expression blank and cold, then looked away like I was invisible. Like I had never existed.

I bit back the bitter, painful laugh rising in my throat and dragged the heavy basket out of the room, humiliation burning through every inch of me.

I had tried to run away that same night. Tried again and again in the weeks that followed. But the guards were suddenly everywhere — even at the isolated edges of the cliff where they had never been posted before. I knew it was Killian’s orders. He wanted me trapped here, forced to serve his new girlfriend every day, watching him live happily while I suffered.

Fucking bastard. He had broken me so completely.

Since the night of the rejection, my wolf had gone completely silent. I never shifted like other wolves do on their eighteenth birthday. That brought even more laughter and mockery from the pack. And Greta… she stopped speaking to me entirely. The only comfort I had left abandoned me too.

After finishing Elaine’s laundry, I returned to my small, messy room. Everything around me was falling apart, just like I was. I decided to clean it for once. I had spent weeks cleaning up after everyone else — it was time I did something for myself.

I started folding the clean clothes and putting them away, emptying out the drawers so I could wipe them properly. A box of sanitary pads slid out and hit the floor.

I froze.

I hadn’t used any since that night… and my period should have come two weeks ago.

“Shit…” I whispered, my hands beginning to shake violently.

We had fucked without any protection. I had been so broken and desperate that night I never even thought about the morning-after pill. Goddess, how could I be this stupid?

Panic clawed up my throat. I needed a pregnancy test. It had to be negative. Please, Goddess, let it be negative.

But how? I had no money, no freedom. Should I swallow what little pride I had left and ask Killian?

The door suddenly swung open.

Speak of the devil.

Killian leaned casually against the doorframe, arms crossed, looking at me with that same cold indifference. “Elaine needs your attention. Now.”

“Since when did you become her personal errand boy?” I asked, my voice flat and tired.

He smirked. “It’s called supporting your partner in a relationship. But I guess you wouldn’t understand that, would you? Since no one would ever want someone like you.”

“Right,” I spat, the word tasting like ash.

Then, suddenly, Greta’s voice whispered softly in my head.

Say it.

I froze. “Greta? You’re back?”

Tell him now.

“Killian…” My voice trembled as I forced the words out. “My period is late.”

He raised an eyebrow. “How the fuck does that have anything to do with me?”

Then realization hit him. His eyes flicked to my bed, then back to my face. “What the fuck are you trying to say, Sara?”

“I… I don’t know for sure. I haven’t taken a test yet. I’m scared that—”

“I’ll get you some pregnancy tests from the pack clinic. Stay here,” he cut me off, turning and leaving quickly.

I stood there, twisting my hands together. “You finally decide to speak now?” I whispered to my wolf. “Greta?” No reply. “Fucking perfect.”

A few minutes later, Killian returned and tossed three boxes of pregnancy tests onto the bed. “Use all of them. I want to be sure.”

I grabbed them with shaking fingers and went into the bathroom.

I had just finished with the third test when the bathroom door opened and Killian walked in without knocking.

“Killian!” I gasped, quickly pulling up my underwear, face burning with shame. “You can’t just barge in like that!”

“Not like I haven’t seen it all before,” he said coldly, leaning against the wall.

My heart hammered as I stared at the three tests lined up on the sink. The first one showed two bold lines. Positive. The second — positive. The third — positive.

“Goddess…” I gasped, my face twisting in horror as fresh tears spilled down my cheeks. I looked up at him, voice breaking. “Killian? Please… say something.”

He stared at the tests for a long moment, jaw tight. A flicker of something — shock? anger? — crossed his face before it hardened into pure ice.

“Abort it,” he said flatly. “Quietly. No one can know.”

“What?” My voice cracked.

He pulled out his wallet and threw a thick wad of cash at my feet like I was some cheap whore he was paying off. “Don’t do it at the pack clinic. Handle it somewhere else. Discreetly.”

“Killian— please, we need to talk about this—”

“Do I look like I’m fucking joking?!” he suddenly roared, slamming both hands hard against the wall above my head, making me flinch and shrink back in fear. “Are you trying to trap me? Ruin my future with Elaine? Ruin everything I’ve built? Get rid of it, Sara. I don’t want anything tying me to a pathetic mistake like you.”

I stared up at him with wide, glassy eyes, tears streaming down my face. The man in front of me wasn’t the one who had saved me from the cliff. He wasn’t even the boy I once called my best friend.

He was a cold, heartless monster.

And standing there, broken, pregnant, and completely alone, something dark and vengeful stirred deep inside my shattered chest.

Killian Blackwood was a fucking monster.

And I swear on my life… I was going to make him pay for every single tear he caused me.