Wife's Vanishing Act

Aria's POV.

I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror and barely recognized myself.

Dark circles shadowed my eyes. My cheeks looked hollow. When did I get so thin? When did I start looking so... broken?

I splashed cold water on my face and tried to pull myself together. Tonight was important. Tonight, I was finally going to tell him.

My hand dropped to my stomach. It was still flat, but I knew what was growing inside me. Two tiny heartbeats. Two miracles.

Twins.

The doctor had confirmed it three days ago at the human hospital two towns over. I couldn’t risk going to our pack doctor. Dr. Matthews reported everything to Luna Margot, Kyril’s mother. And that woman hated me enough already.

I pulled out the ultrasound picture from my pocket and stared at it for the hundredth time. Two little blobs that would become my babies. Our babies.

Maybe this would change everything. Maybe when Kyril found out he was going to be a father, he’d finally look at me the way he looked at her.

I folded the picture carefully and tucked it back into my pocket. Then I smoothed down my dress—the blue one Kyril had complimented once, three years ago, before we got married. Before he started hating me.

Taking a deep breath, I walked out of the bathroom and headed downstairs.

The Grant mansion was massive and cold, just like everyone who lived there. My footsteps echoed on the marble floors as I made my way to the kitchen. The house staff barely acknowledged me anymore. I was like a ghost haunting those halls.

“Oh, it’s you.” Clara, the head housekeeper, didn’t even look up from the vegetables she was chopping. “Alpha Kyril won’t be home for dinner again.”

My heart sank. “Did he call?”

“His mother informed us. He’s dining with Miss Hartley and her family tonight.” Clara’s voice was neutral, but I could see the pity in her eyes before she hid it.

Miss Hartley. Sienna.

Of course he was.

“I see,” I managed to say. “Thank you for telling me.”

I turned to leave, but Clara called out, “Luna Aria?”

I stopped. She never called me Luna. None of them did.

“You should eat something. You’re looking pale these days.”

It was the kindest thing anyone in that house had said to me in weeks. I nodded, not trusting my voice, and hurried away before she could see the tears building in my eyes.

I made it to the garden before I broke down.

The Grant garden was the only place I felt safe anymore. It was where Kyril’s father, the old Alpha, used to spend his time before he died. He had been kind to me during our brief meetings before the wedding. Sometimes I wondered if things would have been different if he’d lived.

I sank onto the stone bench and let myself cry.

Three years. Three years of this torture.

I remembered the day my father told me about the arranged marriage. I had been eighteen and stupid enough to think it was romantic. Alpha Kyril Grant was gorgeous, powerful, and only twenty-five. Every she-wolf wanted him.

And somehow, I was going to be his wife.

My father had been dying. His small pack was drowning in debt. The marriage alliance would save everyone. “The Grants are honorable,” my father had said with his last breaths. “Alpha Kyril will take care of you, sweetheart. You’ll be safe.”

But my father hadn’t known that Kyril was in love with someone else.

Sienna Hartley. Beautiful, pure-blood, perfect Sienna.

They had grown up together. Everyone knew they were meant to be together. But then the old Alpha had made Kyril promise to marry me on his deathbed, to unite our packs and honor his friendship with my father.

Kyril had kept his promise. He had married me in a cold, business-like ceremony. But he had never forgiven me for it.

On our wedding night, he hadn’t touched me. He had slept in his office.

He had barely touched me since.

“Crying again, hybrid?”

I looked up to see Luna Margot standing at the garden entrance. Kyril’s mother was beautiful in a sharp, dangerous way. Right then, her expression was full of disgust.

“Luna Margot,” I stood quickly, wiping my tears. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“Clearly.” She walked toward me, her heels clicking on the stone path. “How pathetic. Sitting in the garden, weeping because your husband prefers another woman’s company.”

I bit my tongue. Anything I said would make it worse.

“You know what your problem is, Aria?” Luna Margot circled me like a predator. “You’re weak. A weak wolf, weak magic, weak bloodline. You trapped my son into this marriage with your dying father’s manipulation, and now you’re determined to ruin his life.”

“That’s not true—”

“Isn’t it?” She stepped closer, her eyes flashing. “Kyril should be with Sienna. They’re perfect for each other. Same bloodline, same power, same everything. Instead, he’s chained to a half-breed who can barely shift without passing out.”

Each word was a knife in my chest.

“Sienna makes him happy,” Luna Margot continued. “I see him smile when he’s with her. When’s the last time he smiled at you, hmm?”

I couldn’t remember. I genuinely couldn’t remember the last time Kyril had looked at me with anything other than cold indifference or annoyance.

“If you had any dignity, you’d leave,” Luna Margot said. “Sign the divorce papers and set him free.”

“Divorce papers?” My voice sounded small.

She smiled cruelly. “Oh, you didn’t know? Kyril’s been speaking with lawyers. He’s planning to end this farce of a marriage. Sienna is finally ready to accept him, and he won’t let you stand in the way.”

The world tilted under my feet.

“You’re lying,” I whispered.

“Am I?” Luna Margot pulled out her phone and showed me a text message. It was from Kyril to her: Meeting with the lawyers tomorrow. Let’s end this cleanly.

The message was dated from yesterday.

“He’s done with you, girl. He’s just been trying to find a way to break it to you gently. But honestly, why bother with gentle? You’re nothing. You’ve always been nothing.”

Luna Margot walked away, leaving me standing there with my world crumbling around me.

My hand instinctively covered my stomach.

He didn’t know about the babies. Maybe if I told him that night, he would change his mind. Maybe—

“Who was I kidding?” I said to the empty garden.

But I had to try. For those babies, I had to try.