Chapter 3

Ryker. He told her my secret. He told her about my dormant wolf.

My vision blurred as my eyes turned red.

Ryker frowned, looking at me. A flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes.

But it was gone in an instant.

He pulled the woman in his arms closer, his voice as cold as ice.

"Was she wrong? Is your wolf not dormant? Are you not barren? I'm already showing you mercy by letting you stay in this pack. I never even planned on taking away your title as Luna!"

Each word was like a blade to my heart. I could barely stand.

Lorelei smirked from the safety of his arms, her face filled with triumph.

I suddenly started laughing, my eyes turning bloodshot as I stared him down. "You're disgusting, Ryker."

With that, I turned and walked away.

I couldn't bear to look at him for another second.

"Carys!" Chloe called, trying to follow me.

Just then, a foot suddenly shot out in front of me.

I lost my balance and crashed into a nearby table.

Silver cutlery clattered, and a knife sliced across my arm. Blood welled up instantly.

The sharp pain made me grunt, my vision swimming.

"Ah!"

Lorelei screamed from behind me.

I turned just in time to see her recoil dramatically, stumbling back into Ryker's arms as if I'd attacked her.

"Ryker, I'm so scared..." she said weakly. "My stomach hurts... The baby... Did the fall scare the baby?"

Ryker's eyes flickered to my bleeding arm, then to the "agonized" Lorelei in his arms.

The last trace of hesitation vanished, replaced by cold resolve.

He scooped Lorelei up, not even giving me a second glance. He left me with one final, chilling threat. "If anything happens to her or my pup, Carys, you will regret the day you were born."

"Bastard!" Chloe cried, rushing to help me up. "Carys, are you okay?"

I looked at the cut on my arm. It was still bleeding.

But my heart was strangely calm.

"Take me to the pack hospital."

Chloe's hands trembled as she dialed the pack hospital's emergency line. My consciousness began to fade as they loaded me into the ambulance, and then everything went black.

...

The hospital room was quiet.

The pack doctor finished examining my wound and spoke gently. "You were out for a full day. But the cut isn't deep. It will heal quickly."

"The baby?" I asked, my voice tight with anxiety.

"The pups are strong," he reassured me with a smile. "No harm done. But you need to get more rest."

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"Doctor, is Alpha Kian still at the hospital?"

The nurse's face lit up with envy when she heard the name.

"Alpha Kian left yesterday," she said excitedly. "I heard he's preparing for his mate's blessing ceremony. His mate is finally pregnant, and he's over the moon. The entire Healers' Alliance is celebrating with them."

My heart began to race.

A blessing ceremony...

That meant tonight was the full moon. The night Kian and I would be formally mated.

I remembered that night a month ago, after Ryker signed the rejection papers. The pain from my mate bond was worse than ever. I was trying to get to the Healers' Alliance when I collapsed.

It was Kian, who had been watching over me for ten years, who found me.

He poured his incredibly pure energy into my body, his eyes filled with sorrow.

"Why don't you tell him the truth?" he’d asked. "Tell him your wolf went dormant because it absorbed the blow of a curse meant for him. Your body is ravaged by that curse. It needs an equally pure lunar energy to be reawakened."

In the depths of my pain and despair, I broke down in front of him for the first time.

He held me, soothing me like a wounded cub.

Under the full moon, his power resonated with the sleeping wolf inside me. A warmth I’d never felt before, a current of life, surged through my body.

The attraction was primal, immediate. It went beyond reason.

It didn't just seem to awaken my wolf. It healed her.

That night, I conceived with Kian. The pups Ryker and I could never have... I conceived them in a single night with another man.

Maybe everything had been wrong from the start. Maybe it was always meant to end.

"I need to be discharged," I said, getting up and looking at the nurse.

"Now?" she asked, surprised. "Your wound still needs observation..."

"I'm fine."

I had more important things to do.

I had to get the last thing my mother left me—the precious moonflower seeds.

They were kept in the exclusive greenhouse at the Alpha's estate.

They were the only thing in that home I still cared about.

And then, I was going to see the real father of my child.

I rang the bell at the estate's main gate.

The butler, Marcus, came out. He looked stunned to see me.

"Luna? Why are you here?"

"I need to get something from the greenhouse."

Marcus looked conflicted.

"Luna, about that..." he hesitated. "The Alpha gave Miss Lorelei permission to enter the greenhouse half an hour ago."

My blood ran cold.

"What?"

"The Alpha said she wanted to... redesign the space. To prepare a 'better environment' for the future heir."

Redesign.

My mother's last gift. The moonflower garden I had cultivated for ten years.

He let that woman destroy it...

I pushed past Marcus and ran toward the greenhouse, a dark premonition seizing my heart.

Please... don't let it be true...