°•○♡Chapter 1~ Shattered Bonds

I could feel Selene’s gaze burning into me before she even made a move. As I stood in the open field, I felt out of place. Small, plain and useless.

“Well come on Aria, fight me!” Selene yelled as the pack cheered.

I could taste the bile rising in my throat as I stared at her. It was routine for everyone to train in the pack regardless of rank. It was a pain I had to endure every week as an Omega easily beaten by everyone else.

This time, I was facing Selene. My arch nemesis. My husband's mistress.

"Do you know what I hate most, Aria?" Selene spoke. Her sweet yet venomous voice sent shivers down my spine. She liked to toy with me and humiliate me, like I was nothing more than a doll to be used and cast aside as she pleased. "People who don’t know their place"

I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing me react, but her words always stung more than anything she could physically do to me.

It had been like this for years since she weasled her way into Lucien’s life, making me a nobody in my own home, my own pack.

Without warning, Selene pressed the tip of her burning stick to my arm. I flinched back abruptly, a gasp rippled through at the sudden heat. The protection gear I wore did nothing to stop her attack. The sting of the burn made my muscles tremble, but I didn’t make a sound.

I wouldn't give her the reaction she so desperately wanted from me.

“Oops. I didn't know you weren't ready… poor wolfless Omega” She faked a gasp with her hands over her mouth even as her minions laughed behind her and the crowd booed their weak Luna.

"You disgust me" she muttered under her breath as she eyed me like I was some kind of insect she had just stepped on. "Tsk, tsk. You're no fun"

My stomach churned at the smell of my own scorched flesh, but I didn’t respond. What good would it do? Nothing ever changed. I stared at her, as several mean words rose to my throat.

I hated her. I hated the way she thought she could control everything, especially Lucien. But no matter how many times she humiliated me, or how many times she made me feel worthless, the worst part was that Lucien didn’t seem to care.

My eyes flickered across the field, searching. There he was, Lucien Blackthorn, standing tall and regal as ever, walking by as though I wasn’t standing there, hurt and humiliated, in front of his mistress and the entire pack. His sharp eyes glanced in my direction, but for only a second. He didn’t stop.

The old Lucien would have killed anyone for even speaking about me wrongly.

I wanted to scream at him, to shout that he couldn’t ignore me forever. Instead, I just stood there, my heart sinking deeper. Did he really not care anymore? The bond we shared—our mating bond—did it mean nothing to him?

He had been everything to me once. My mate and Alpha. But that had been before Selene came. Before she poisoned his mind against me, breaking our bond under the weight of her lies.

The cold, distant look in his eyes whenever we were near each other only made me wonder… What if he ever really loved me? Had he ever felt the bond the way I did?

Selene’s mocking laugh snapped me from my thoughts. "Pathetic," she whispered "You think he’d ever want you in this state? Look at yourself, Aria. You're nothing but a weak, filthy omega. If anything, Lucien was doing you a favour"

I bit my lip. She was right, wasn’t she? Lucien would never want me—not now, not after everything.

I walked away, trembling with a mixture of humiliation and pain. The mocking whispers as I left meant nothing to me. But the part of me that still hoped Lucien might care for me was shattered once more.

There was only so much heartbreak I could take.

♡♡~♡♡

I stumbled my way through the hallways, too lost in my own misery to care about the stares of the servants. It wasn't a secret to anyone in the pack that their Alpha hated his Luna and kept a mistress by his side. But when I closed the door to my room shut, a soft knock interrupted my thoughts.

"Come in" I whispered.

The door opened slowly, as a petite but chubby maid in her mid forties entered—Mira. She was the only one who had ever treated me like I was something more than thrash to be discarded. Mira was the only one who seemed to care. Initially, I'd found her unwavering loyalty a bit strange but with time it comforted me.

She rushed over to my side, her eyes widening in concern as she took in my burnt clothes. "What happened this time?" she asked, as she lifted my gown, gently inspecting the burns on my skin.

"It’s nothing" I muttered, trying to brush it off. But I could see the concern in her eyes. She wasn’t fooled by my words.

Mira’s paused for a moment. I saw the familiar flash of anger in her eyes before she exhaled sharply. "You’ve got to stop letting her treat you like this. It’s not good for you, Aria"

I shook my head, not really knowing what to say. "It doesn’t matter. She has him. I have nothing left to fight for"

Mira’s expression softened, but there was a seriousness to her voice when she spoke next. "You have more than you think."

I frowned at her words, confused. "What do you mean?"

She sighed as she moved to sit beside me on the bed. After a long pause, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small box. "I’ve been watching you, Aria. I’ve seen the signs and I think you already know deep down, but you need to confirm it"

She handed me the box without further explanation. My hands shook slightly as I took it, my mind swirling with confusion.

A pregnancy test.

I'd been very nauseous and weak as of late but I never dwelled on it till that moment. Lucien hated me but he still couldn't resist the mate bond. Especially when I was in heat.

The thought of being pregnant made my chest tighten, a rush of nausea hit me. I couldn’t even begin to process the possibility of it. Not when everything was falling apart.

"You know it’s true," Mira continued softly. "It’s time you knew for sure."

I swallowed hard as I looked down at the test. My heart thudded painfully in my chest, and I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me. I couldn’t think. But I took the test anyway.

Moments felt like hours as I waited, my hands trembling as I glanced down at the result.

Positive.

My throat felt clogged. I stared at the two pink lines, feeling a cold numbness spread through my body.

A little cub, inside me. My mind couldn’t seem to wrap around it. But as much as I tried to deny it, the truth was there in front of me. I was carrying Lucien’s child.

I closed my eyes, my breath shallow. What was I supposed to do with this knowledge? How was I to raise my child when he didn’t even want me? When I no longer had a place in his life?

I felt Mira’s presence comforting me, but the emptiness in my chest only seemed to grow.

“There you go. Something to fight for”

"Mira, I… I can’t do this. I can’t be a mother. Not in this world. Not when he’s…" My voice cracked. "I can’t keep this baby. Not when it's father doesn’t even care about me."

Mira’s voice was gentle but firm. "You’re not alone, Aria. You never were."

I looked at her, her eyes filled with a tenderness I never saw from anyone else. "You won’t be alone, not this time," she said quietly.

I wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. But I knew one thing for sure, everything was about to change.