Chapter 5

I turned my head just in time to avoid the brunt of the blow, but I didn't see the former Luna’s foot coming.

She kicked me squarely in the stomach.

I lost my footing and tumbled backward, my body slamming against the stairs. I rolled down the flight, the world a blur of pain until a sharp crack in my ribs signaled I’d hit bottom. Warm blood began to mask my vision, trickling from a gash on my forehead.

I forced my eyes open. Fred wasn't rushing toward me. He had his palm over Cynthia’s eyes, shielding her.

"Don't look," he murmured, his voice thick with a tenderness that made me want to vomit. "Too much blood. It’s not good for you or the pup."

The Pack Healer and a swarm of nurses rushed in, hoisting me onto a stretcher. "We need a family member to authorize emergency surgery," a nurse shouted over the chaos.

I looked at the doorway. My Beta father had treated me like a ghost for years. My Alpha mate was too busy protecting his mistress's sensibilities to notice I was dying.

"I have no family," I croaked, the words tasting like copper. "I’ll sign the damn forms myself."

The world went black.

When I finally came to, my head was throbbing and my right leg was encased in heavy bandages. Fred was sitting in the chair beside my bed. His expression was a wall of ice.

"You almost killed Cynthia and my heir, Maya. That was unacceptable."

My stomach lurched with pure loathing. I grabbed the water cup from the bedside table and hurled it at his head. The effort tore my stitches open, and I fell back, gasping. "Get out! You’ve been rutting with her behind my back and you have the gall to stand there and judge me?"

The cup clipped his forehead and shattered against the wall. Fred stood up, his eyes flashing with Alpha dominance. "Can you act like a rational Luna for one goddamn minute?"

He forced himself to exhale, manually smoothing the rage from his features until that fake, "supportive" mask was back in place.

"Everything with Cynthia was for you," he insisted. "I only used her womb to carry an heir so you wouldn't have to suffer. You lost so much blood last time—I swore I’d never put you through that again."

I let out a jagged, hysterical laugh. "For me? If you wanted a surrogate, this Pack has Gammas who do that for a living. You didn't need to spend two years in her bed. And she poisoned me, Fred! That 'gentle' girl you’re protecting—she put high-concentration Wolfsbane in my supplements every single day. She murdered our child."

Fred pinched the bridge of his nose, looking weary. "Stop making things up. Cynthia was barely a legal adult when that happened. She was just a young Beta—she wouldn't even know how to find a toxin like that."

He stepped closer to the bed, looming over me. "I promise you, once she delivers, I’ll never touch her again. You will always be the only Luna of this Pack."

"Fred... you make me sick. Sever the bond. I'm done."

His face darkened instantly. "Don't be ungrateful. I said this was all for you! Do you think I actually enjoy her? She’s nothing compared to you."

"No," I spat. "But she’s younger. She worships the ground you walk on. She’ll do all the things I grew too tired to do. I stopped being 'new' to you, Fred. That’s all this is."

Fred’s jaw locked, his teeth grinding together with enough force to snap bone. I turned my head away, staring at the sterile white wall.

"I'm filing for a forced severance with the Elder Council," I whispered. "Whether you sign the papers or not."

His pupils contracted. He drew himself up to his full, intimidating height, looking down at me with cold pity. "Stop throwing a tantrum, Maya. If you leave my Pack, where will you go? Your father hasn't wanted you in years. In this world, I’m all you have left."

"Bullshit," a voice boomed from the doorway, cold and heavy with power. "Who said she has nobody? The Dark Moon Pack wants her."