Chapter 4

The awkward moment passed, and the ceremony went on without a hitch.

I settled into a seat in the lounge area, no longer the warm host I used to be, but a silent observer.

In a dull moment, I let my eyes fall and could not shake the feeling that my life up to then had been one big, sad joke.

I was about to slip away when a pair of high heels stepped into my line of sight.

Sarah towered over me, her gaze sizing me up. In a hushed tone meant for my ears alone, she dropped the act.

"Aeliana, just look at you, all pathetic. Even with everything you've done for the pack, what good did it do? You're just as disposable as ever. You remind me of those two old fools in the Sacred Forest Rite, begging for mercy right before they died. A family affair, indeed."

She paused, an icy smile playing on her lips.

"That old Alpha was no fool. He was hard to trick, but I had a plan. I wore your clothes, made them think you were the one breaking sacred ground. Just like that, they met their end.

"It's too bad you missed the show—them squirming, gasping for their last breath."

Sarah cackled with glee.

After years of living under the same roof, Sarah had mastered the art of pushing my buttons.

As she painted a gruesome picture of my parents' final moments, thinking I would just bite my tongue like always, I snapped. I hurled the wine bottle in my hand right at her head with a crash that turned every head in the room.

I did not think twice. I grabbed a fistful of Sarah's precious hair and slapped her hard across the face—twice.

The sound of my palm against her cheek echoed off the walls, and before she could even think to hit back, I had her pinned to the floor.

The room erupted into chaos.

Out of nowhere, Nom's boot connected with my chest, sending me flying into a table and showering me with wine bottles. I stared at him, my eyes wide with shock.

Nom was shielding his childhood crush, glaring daggers at me as he comforted her.

"Aeliana, you think you can just hit her and live to tell the tale?" he growled.

His words rang in my ears as the pain overwhelmed me, and darkness took me.

I regained consciousness in the hospital just as the healer was about to enter, fighting back waves of nausea.

Fiddling with the equipment, she could not help but comment, "You've already got a wolf pup on the way, and you're still brawling? That darn Nom, not even dropping by to check on you and the pup, just sticking by Sarah's side the whole time."

I let out a wry laugh, the word 'wolf pup' lingering in my mind.

Once the healer stepped out, I gently touched my belly under the covers, my face softening with emotion.

For years, my inability to have a child had been a thorn in my mother-in-law's side.

'Who would have thought that the child I'd longed for would come to me like this? Maybe this little wolf pup is a blessing from the Moon Goddess.'

With that thought, I was bursting to share the news with Nom.

I had barely propped myself up in the hospital bed when the door slammed open with a bang. It was not my healer who barged in, but Nom.

My heart leaped with excitement, and I was about to blurt out the amazing news that he was going to be a dad, but before I could get a word out, Nom's iron grip clamped my jaw shut.

A bitter, brown liquid poured down my throat, turning my joy into sheer terror.

I knew what he was holding. It was wolfsbane, the kind of nasty stuff they use on the worst criminals in our Pack. It would not kill me, but it would wreck my wolf spirit and body fiercely.

I could not believe it. Nom was my Mate—the man I had been married to for years.

My hand flew to my belly, protecting it as I started coughing like crazy, desperate to get that poison out.

Seeing that I would not cooperate, Nom lost all patience. He grabbed my chin with one hand, the other tightening around my throat. His bloodshot eyes burned into mine, as if he wanted to pin me to the cold wall behind me and leave me there for good.

At that moment, it felt like I was seeing my husband—the man I had shared a bed with for years—for the very first time.

Nom was not having any of it. His patience gone, his hands forcing me to swallow every last drop of that vile potion.

After he was sure I had taken it all, he let go, leaving me gasping and curled up on the sterile bed. His face was a storm cloud, his voice icy and sharp as he scolded me.

"I told you to leave Sarah alone. You're supposed to act like a sister-in-law, so why can't you get that through your head? I hate doing this to you, but there won't be a next time. Just be good, will you?"

I shrank away from his touch, my belly aching, and curled up tighter on the bed. I clenched my teeth and let out a roar.

"She confessed to killing my parents! She's the one who started this! Why is it always my fault? Whose side are you on—mine or hers?"

It took all my strength just to spit out those words.

Nom's response was to grip my throat again, his eyes icy and merciless. "Aeliana, you're not being good at all right now."

The metallic tang of blood lingered in my mouth as I had planned to tell him about the wolf pup, eager to see his face twist with remorse.

However, out of nowhere, Jem came crashing in, announcing trouble with Sarah.

Nom spun on his heel, flinging me aside as if I were yesterday's garbage, and marched to the room next door.

Left alone, I felt a warm trickle from below, and before I knew it, I was rushed into the ER.

I woke up on the sterile sheets of a hospital bed. The throbbing in my belly was a cruel reminder that the potion Nom forced on me had stolen my unborn pup.

It was a sick joke. The pup I had yearned for was snuffed out by its own father.

I spent days in the hospital, but Nom was a ghost, never showing his face.

On discharge day, I laid all my cards on the table with the Pack Council, laying out the grim evidence of my parents' demise and demanding they cut the Mate Bond tying me to Nom.