The Day My Mate Sacrificed Our Twins

~Ivy's POV~

I found out my mate was cheating on me with my stepmother the day he sacrificed my twin daughters to save her.

We had a rogue attack and I was knocked unconscious by one of the warrior rogues. When I came to, the first sight I saw was the corpse of my twin pups lying at my feet while my mate caressed his mistress.

Calyxia.

My ears rang as I shook in disbelief. My pups were covered in a pool of blood. It was so gruesome that I bent my head and threw up, green bile rising in my throat.

Calyxia walked up to me, and a smirk played across her lips. “Oh, poor thing, I'm so sorry for your loss.”

I stared at my mate, Nyro. He looked unbothered to say the least. “Oh, don't be so dramatic, Ivy,” he rolled his eyes, nonchalantly. “They're just pups. You’ll get another one soon.”

I thought I'd die, cry, shout, gouge my eyes out till there was nothing left in me, but I didn't. I couldn't.

My voice caught in my throat and my breath hitched. My hands trembled, but still, no words came out of my throat.

I was only able to talk when the warriors brought out a gurney to take my babies.

“No!” I screamed. “Don't! I'll do it myself.”

And I did.

With Calyxia and Nyro watching, I took my kids one after the other, not minding that I was now covered in their blood - to the pack crematorium.

I watched through the thin glass as their bodies burned, first flesh, then charred bones and finally, ashes.

Only then did a single tear fall from my eye.

I packed their ashes in a milk-colored jar and as I walked past my mate and his stepmother, anger pulsed through my veins.

“Why?” I asked, quietly. Too quietly. “Why couldn't you save them, Nyro?”

Calyxia had amusement behind her eyes as she glared at me.

Nyro's jaw tightened. “What did you expect me to do, Ivy? The rogue wolves were coming after Calyxia. It was either her or them.”

‘So, you threw my pups as sacrificial lambs for her?’ I didn't say this out loud, though, with the jar in my hand, I walked past them, convincing myself that this was a nightmare.

I'd wake up and everything would be okay.

“Wait!”

Nyro's voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Ivy, Calyxia will be living with us now. In the main house. The pack house is too crowded for her.” he said. “And besides, she's too traumatized after the attack to stay alone.”

“Sorry for the inconvenience, Ivy,” Calyxia said, her voice like a dove's. “And, you'll have more pups, okay?”

I clenched my jaw tightly to prevent the response at the tip of my tongue. 

They didn't deserve my words, all they deserved was revenge. Cruel, bitter revenge and by the gods, I'd give it to them.

I locked myself in my room for three days crying, no food, no water, clutching the jar that was the reminder of my loss.

A cruel reminder that once again, my past had come to haunt me, in the form of Calyxia Vaughn.

Once upon a time, Calyxia wasn't my stepmother, she was my best friend and I was the cherished daughter of Thalune and Oryn Foster until one day, everything changed.

My life as I knew it came to an abrupt end after my mother Thalune Foster was killed by a silver bullet on her way home. Her body was wheeled in, cold. Deathly cold.

And where was my father? In the arms of Calyxia, my best friend.

He didn't mourn her. Frankly speaking, I don't think I did either because within two weeks, Calyxia was walking down the aisle. My father's bride. His mate.

That was the beginning of my sorrows. Like the fictional Cinderella, I became a maid in my own father's house. The only difference was that it was worse, I was beaten, maltreated, trampled upon, every last inch of my self-esteem mercilessly ripped away from me until I couldn't bear it anymore.

And then, as any reasonable teenager would, I ran.

As far as my legs could carry me. I ran into the arms of my knight in shining armour.

My Alpha King, Nyro Grimvale.

We became mates, tried for children, and after many unsuccessful attempts, the moon goddess blessed us with twin pups, girls. I named them Evelyn and Elowen.

I was finally happy.

Until Calyxia showed up again, on my doorstep one fateful day.

“Ivy, Oryn is dead! Your father is dead!” She lamented. “I have nowhere to stay. Please, help me.”

And I remembered the kindness my mother had taught me, I welcomed her into my pack and my home. 

I fed her, clothed her, and mourned my father's death with her.

But I guess it wasn't enough… Apparently, I also had to share my man with her.

(Flashback)

The moans filtered in through the thick walls and my wolf senses kicked in. The air smelled of their colognes and sex.

I ran in disbelief to her quarters that were only a few doors away from mine.

As I opened the door, I was met with the greatest shock of my life.

There they were, entwined in each other's arms, lips on lips, skin on skin, drunk with passion.

I stood there, frozen, unsure, betrayed but mostly, weak.

I was weak.

Nyro's back was to me, but Calyxia… her eyes flickered up to meet mine. There was no remorse in them, she continued to make love to my mate.

She smirked at me and shrugged. Her eyes seemed to carry the message she couldn't say… ‘Sorry, but I always win.’

So, I walked out quietly with my shoulders slackened, and a quiet new resolve in my mind.

To fight.

I fought, but I didn't win.

They continued seeing each other, having sex —in the rooms, the kitchen, the garden, when they thought no one was watching.

But of course, the news soon spread across the pack. Alpha Nyro and Calyxia were lovers.

And Luna Ivy? A pathetic, scorned Luna.

(Flashback ends)

I walked out of the room on my third day of mourning to get a glass of water.

As I walked by the hallway, I heard their laughter ring out from what was once our matrimonial bed.

“Do you think she knows?” Nyro asked, his voice leveled.

“That I'm pregnant?” Calyxia laughed. “Of course not!”

The glass of water shattered from my hand, spilling all over the floor.