Chapter one

Ludovica's POV

"Congratulations, Luna. You are pregnant."

Doctor Vittoria's words stayed in my mind like the sweetest song I had ever heard. I sat on the edge of the examination bed, completely frozen, as if my body had forgotten how to move. My heart was beating so hard that I could barely hear anything else. After all the disappointment, all the whispered insults, and all the nights I had spent wondering if I would ever have a child, I could hardly believe what I had just heard.

"Are you sure?" I asked softly, my voice shaking as I slowly placed both hands over my stomach. It was strange to think that there was already a tiny life growing inside me, even though I could not feel anything yet. Doctor Vittoria smiled warmly and nodded.

"I'm very sure, Luna. You are about five weeks pregnant. We can arrange a date for your first scan whenever you are ready."

Tears quickly filled my eyes until everything in front of me became blurry. I wiped them away with trembling fingers, but more tears followed. Pregnant. I was really pregnant. After three long years of marriage, I was finally going to become a mother.

"Thank you, Doctor," I whispered, unable to hide the happiness in my voice. "Please, can you keep this between us for now? I want to be the first person to tell Marcello."

"Of course, Luna. You have my word. I won't tell anyone," she promised with a gentle smile.

When I left her office, my legs felt weak, almost as if I were walking on clouds. Instead of returning directly to the palace, I walked slowly toward the garden behind the clinic because I needed a quiet place to breathe and let the news sink in. The flowers were in full bloom, and the warm afternoon sunlight fell gently across my face. I stood there for a while, one hand resting over my stomach as I smiled through my tears.

After three long years of marriage, I was finally pregnant.

Tears of happiness rolled down my cheeks, and I wiped them away with the back of my hand while laughing softly to myself. I could not wait to tell Marcello. I could already imagine the look on his face when he heard the news, and I pictured his strong arms wrapping around me before he lifted me from the ground the way he always did whenever he was truly happy.

Marcello and I had been mates for three years, but we still had no child. Because of that, the pack had been cruel to me. People whispered whenever I walked past them, and they had even given me a name that had followed me everywhere, the Barren Luna. Some of the elders constantly pressured Marcello to take another mate because they believed the pack needed an heir, but he had always refused. He stood beside me every time, even when everyone else was against me.

His sister, Beatrice, had always been the worst. She had never accepted me as her brother's mate. From the day I entered Marcello's life, she had wanted him to end up with her best friend, Elettra. Beatrice always claimed that I had stolen her brother from the woman he was supposed to be with, and she never missed an opportunity to remind me of it. Every cold look and every cruel word made it clear that she wanted me gone.

But now everything was going to change.

I pulled out my phone with trembling fingers and called Marcello, but the call went straight to voicemail. He was probably still in his long meeting with the Alphas from the neighboring packs. I was a little disappointed that I could not tell him immediately, but I told myself it was fine. This news was too precious to rush, and I wanted to see his face when I told him.

I returned to the palace with lighter steps than I had taken in years. My heart felt so full that I thought it might burst with happiness, and for the first time in a long while, I did not care about the comments I heard from the servants as I walked through the halls.

"Look at her. She still walks around like she belongs here."

"Poor Alpha. He is stuck with a Luna who cannot even give him a pup."

Normally, those words would have hurt me, but that day they meant nothing. I simply kept walking with a small smile on my face. Let them talk. Soon, they would have to take back every cruel word they had said about me. Soon, they would know that I was not barren after all.

When I reached our private quarters, I closed the door behind me and leaned against it for a moment, smiling as I imagined Marcello's reaction. I wanted to make everything perfect before telling him. I planned to take a warm bath, put on the soft blue dress he loved, and wait for him to come home. I wanted to tell him that he was going to be a father while I was wearing the dress he always complimented.

But I never got the chance.

I had barely taken off my shoes when I heard heavy footsteps coming down the corridor. A second later, I caught his familiar scent, strong and unmistakable, like pine trees after fresh rain. My heart immediately jumped with excitement because he was home earlier than I expected.

The door suddenly opened.

A wide smile spread across my face as I rushed toward him with my arms open, ready to give him the hug I had been dreaming about all afternoon. I expected him to pull me close, just as he always did, but instead, Marcello pushed me away so hard that I stumbled backward.

"Get away from me, you cheating whore!"

His voice was cold and filled with anger, and the smile disappeared from my face at once. I stared at him in shock, my mouth slightly open and my hands still raised even though he had already stepped away from me. The happiness that had filled my heart only moments earlier suddenly turned into a heavy coldness in my chest.

"Marcello... what?" I whispered, barely able to get the words out. "What did you just call me?"

He stood in the doorway with his eyes dark with rage and his fists tightly clenched at his sides. He did not look like the man who had held me gently in his arms that morning before leaving for work. At that moment, he looked like a complete stranger.

My stomach twisted with fear, and I instinctively placed a hand over it. The tiny life inside me suddenly felt so fragile, and I could not understand why the man I had been so excited to tell about our baby was looking at me with such hatred.

"Marcello," I tried again, my eyes burning with tears. "I don't understand what is happening."

He only stared at me as if I were someone he had never known, as if I had destroyed something between us that could never be repaired. The beautiful news I had carried home like a precious treasure suddenly felt heavy in my hands.

Without thinking, I pressed both hands against my stomach, protecting the secret no one else knew yet.