CHAPTER 1

“Congratulations, Sierra. You’re carrying. One month along.”

I stared at the medical tablet in the sterile clinic of the Steele Pack, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. A pup. I was carrying Cameron’s heir.

I messaged him immediately, my fingers trembling over the glass. Will you be back at the Steele Residence for the moon-feast tonight?

Silence. I waited, pacing the cold marble of our kitchen, staring at the forest line where the Steele Industries towers clawed at the gray sky. My wolf was quiet—she’d always been silent, a ‘relic’ they called me. An omega with no voice.

The phone buzzed. Yeah. We need to talk.

I moved fast, prepping the raw game he liked, hiding the pregnancy scan under a stack of mail on the obsidian island.

The roar of his customized interceptor announced his arrival. Cameron Steele stepped into the hall, smelling of pine, expensive leather, and the heavy, metallic scent of a dominant Alpha. He didn't look at me. He just tossed a thick folder onto the table.

“Take a look,” he muttered, his voice a low growl that usually made my knees weak. “State your price for the silence.”

I opened it. DISSOLUTION OF MATE-BOND & LEGAL SEPARATION.

The white paper felt like silver-burn against my skin. “Cameron?”

He yanked his tie loose, his neck muscles corded and tense. He looked at me then—really looked at me—with those ice-blue eyes that never saw me as an equal. Only the girl his grandmother forced him to claim to stabilize his bloodline after his accident.

“I’m pregnant,” I blurted, my hand flying to my stomach. “If... if that were true, would this still be happening?”

Cameron’s eyes dropped to my waist. His lip curled in a sneer. “Didn’t I tell you to drink the wolfsbane tonic after that night in the den?”

The memory of that night—the only time in three years he’d lost control, his teeth grazing my neck, his body crushing mine into the furs—flashed behind my eyes.

“I asked you a question,” I whispered. “If there’s a pup, do we keep it?”

“No.” He didn't even blink. “A pup born of a loveless bond is a curse, Sierra. I won’t raise a weakling. Sign the papers.”

He walked out, the scent of him lingering like a taunt. I didn't cry. I walked to the stove, took the expensive roast I’d spent hours on, and dumped it into the disposal.

Fine, I thought, stroking my belly. He doesn’t want you. But the Vaughn blood in me won’t let you wither.

I scribbled my name on the lines, the ink bleeding into the paper.

The next morning, the front door chugged open. I expected the maid. Instead, a woman in blood-red silk and stiletto boots marched in, smelling of expensive lilies and arrogance.

“Those pelts are shedding. Throw them out,” the woman barked at the head Omega. “And get this gray paint off the walls. I want gold.”

I stepped onto the landing. “Who the hell are you?”

The woman turned, a predatory smirk stretching her lips. “Lexi Hart. But you probably know me as the woman Cameron actually wanted before he was stuck with a ‘relic’ like you.”

The fake heiress. The one who fled to the Southern Territories when Cameron was bleeding out three years ago.

“The divorce is signed, Lexi,” I said, my voice dead. “You can have the house. It’s built on a graveyard anyway.”

“Oh, I know it’s signed.” Lexi sauntered up the stairs, cornering me near the master suite. She caught sight of the crumpled paper in my hand—the scan. “What’s that? A parting gift?”

She lunged for it. “Give it here, you little scavenger!”

“Back off!” I snapped.

She grabbed my wrist, her claws extending, digging into my skin. “You’re hiding something. Are you trying to trap him with a bastard?”

I didn't think. I grabbed her silk-clad shoulder, pivoted my weight, and sent her flying over my hip. She hit the floorboards with a satisfying thud and a shriek that could wake the dead.

“My leg! My wolf! She broke my leg!” Lexi wailed.

“What the f**k is going on?”

Cameron’s voice boomed from the doorway. He rushed past me, his shadow swallowing the hall, and gathered Lexi into his arms. He looked at her with a tenderness he’d never shown me, then his gaze shifted to the table where my signed divorce papers lay.

He went still. His jaw tightened.

“You signed them,” he said, his voice dangerously low.

“You got what you wanted, Cameron,” I said, grabbing my single suitcase. “Go play house with your coward.”

I didn't look back. I had brothers to find. I had a kingdom to reclaim.