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Elena

“Killian, I’m pregnant!” I dropped to my knees, not caring if my white dress got ruined in the dirt. I didn’t care about clothes anymore, or even my own dignity as I begged and pleaded with my mate not to reject me.

All I cared about was my baby—because if Killian rejected me, then both the baby and I would die.

Killian, the man who I had been married to for five years, stared down at me with a coldness in his eyes that shook me to my core. Once, his dark hair and even darker eyes would have made me swoon. But now, that look of hatred only filled me with terror.

“You really expect me to believe that, Elena?” Killian barked out a humorless laugh. “Even after everything you’ve done, I didn’t think you would stoop so low as to fake a pregnancy to keep me around.”

“But it’s true—”

Killian leaned forward so his face was almost touching my neck. I shuddered as he inhaled deeply, stirring the baby hairs around my ears.

“Hm,” he said, pulling back just enough to look me in the eye. “I certainly don’t scent a new life in the pack. All I smell is a liar.”

My throat bobbed, and out of instinct, I dropped my gaze. As the Alpha of Waning Moon Pack, Killian should be able to smell any new life—especially the one inside his fated mate’s belly. I wasn’t sure why he couldn’t sense my baby now, but I was too afraid to raise my voice for fear of him actually going through with rejecting me.

But I would have no such luck. Because she was standing behind him, whispering horrible things to my husband like a demon sitting on his shoulder.

She said I was a liar. A schemer. A murderer.

Her name was Natalie Hart. She was my adoptive sister. And she was supposed to be dead.

Natalie was supposed to marry Killian, not me. They were in love—Killian always loved her—and engaged to be wed. But then the rogues attacked one night, and they killed Elena. All that was left of her were a few scraps of fabric.

And within a week, I’d found out that Killian was my fated mate.

“She always loved you,” Natalie sneered, her upper lip curling to reveal a row of perfectly white teeth. “She was jealous and planned everything, and now she’s faking a pregnancy to keep you around.”

I shook my head so hard my hair fell into my eyes. “No, no, it’s not true!” I insisted. I gave Killian an imploring look. “Killian, all I’ve ever done is devote myself to you and the pack. I would never—”

“Enough.” He held his hand up to cut me off, a muscle feathering in his jaw. I immediately snapped my mouth shut. “I never should have married you.”

Those words cut deep, far deeper than I wanted to admit. They hurt so much because half of Natalie’s accusation was true; I had always loved Killian from the moment I set eyes on him. I hadn’t known he was my fated mate at the time, but I couldn’t deny my feelings.

But I had never acted on any of it while Natalie was alive. I had never even dreamed of it.

I wouldn’t have even approached Killian had our mate bond not snapped into place once she was gone and I came of age, but what was I supposed to do? Killian, in an effort to secure his succession as Alpha, married me right away.

Of course, I knew he never loved me—would never love me as much as he loved my adoptive sister—but I tried my best to support him. I tried to take care of him, to be the obedient wife he wanted. I did everything he asked and then some, and I never complained, because a small part of me wanted him to grow to love me.

I never thought Natalie would come back five years after her death. None of us did.

The pack healers said it was a miracle. From Natalie’s perspective, the last thing she remembered doing was leading the rogues away from our pack, saving us from certain slaughter and sacrificing herself in the process.

And then the next thing she recalled was waking up in the forest, unscathed, five years later.

Now here she was, having returned to find her love married to the adoptive sister she always despised. The sister who had allegedly staged the entire rogue attack to have her killed and secure my position as Killian’s Luna.

The sister who not only married her love, but was now claiming to be pregnant with his child.

But I was pregnant with Killian’s baby. I had just taken the test that morning, and it was positive. I was so excited to tell Killian the news, and now…

Now, he was going to reject me so he could go back to Natalie. And because I was with child, it was going to kill both of us.

“Please,” I whimpered one last time, clasping my hands together. “Please, Killian. If you want a divorce, then I’ll do it. But spare my child.”

Killian looked down his nose at me and scoffed. Scoffed.

“As I said, I can scent no child in your belly. I know you’re lying.”

“I’m not—”

“You’re lying!”

His voice came out sharp and decisive, and when I dared to look up into those black eyes, I knew I had been defeated.

“Therefore,” Killian went on, “with no pregnancy, you have nothing to fear from the rejection. It won’t kill you—it will only hurt for a second.”

That was true; if I wasn’t pregnant, I would survive the rejection. If I wasn’t pregnant. But I was, so his point was moot.

Before I could so much as blink, he said the words.

“Elena Hart, I reject you as my mate.”

I felt as if I’d been stabbed in the heart. The invisible thread between us, one end tied to my rib and one to his, didn’t just snap in half. It wrenched away from me, and it took everything of me with it. It felt as if I had left my body, as if he had reached his hand into my chest and taken my heart and soul and everything that kept me going and had ripped it out.

The guttural scream that erupted from my lips could likely be heard three packs over, but no one came for me. Killian just stood there, his face set in an emotionless mask, as he waited for my “tantrum” to be over.

He was killing me; I could feel it. He was killing me and my baby and he thought I was faking it.

Suddenly, soft footsteps approached. A cool, slender hand cupped my cheek and lifted my tear-and-dirt-stained face from the ground, and I saw Natalie’s calm green eyes staring down at me.

“There, there,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around me and helping me to my feet. “I’ve got you.”

To anyone watching, the scene might have looked like a moment of sisterly affection. They might see Natalie as the gentle, selfless heroine who was helping her adoptive sister despite being murdered by her.

But the words she whispered in my ear were anything but.

“How does it feel?” Her lips brushed the shell of my ear, her breath cold and damp like a corpse. “To lose not only your status and husband, but also your baby. To feel its life force drip out of you.” When I tried to struggle away from her grip, she held me tighter as if embracing me, but her nails dug into my back. “I want to watch the entire process. I want to watch you and your child die right here in the dirt.”

My eyes widened, and before I could stop myself, I staggered backwards and hit her.

The slap rang through the small courtyard. I hadn’t even known I possessed so much strength, especially not now, but it was enough to knock Natalie down. She fell to the ground, right where I had just been laying, and began to sob as she clutched her face.

“What have you done?!” Killian rushed forward. His black eyes blazed with fury as he growled, “Have you gone mad?!”

I didn’t have a chance to answer before he surged toward me, his hand shooting out to clasp around my throat. My airways became restricted, but I didn’t fight back this time. I didn’t beg or plead or whimper, not even as my vision grew fuzzy around the edges or the agony from losing my mate bond became too much to bear.

If I was going to die anyway, then I might as well die honest.

“The greatest mistake in my life,” I choked out, “was falling in love with you.”

As if on cue, something warm gushed between my legs. I didn’t need to look down to know it was my baby, barely ten weeks old.

Just as consciousness began to fade and death took hold, I saw the terrified and regretful look on Killian’s face. Had he finally realized the truth, now that I was dying?

The world tilted as he lifted me into his arms. He shouted something about a doctor, but it was too late, and his voice was already growing muffled as if I were sinking into the ocean.

And as I finally slipped beneath that dark abyss, I vowed to myself that if I had another chance at life like Natalie had, I would never love Killian again.