Elara POV
A sharp, tearing agony ripped through my swollen abdomen, forcing a breathless gasp from my lungs. I curled tighter into the velvet sofa of the Alpha’s Manor, my fingers digging into the rich fabric. The pup—the future heir of the Blackwood Pack—was restless, sending waves of distress through my body.
"Luna, please, breathe," Bastian, the Pack's head butler, urged. Sweat beaded on his wrinkled forehead as his eyes glazed over, a clear sign he was trying to force a Mind-Link.
"Where is he, Bastian?" I whispered, my voice trembling. My fated mate, Alpha Gavin Blackwood, hadn't been home in three days.
Bastian blinked, his expression crumbling into defeat. "He... he blocked the link, Luna."
The rejection stung worse than the physical pain. Desperate, Bastian pulled out his cell phone and dialed Gavin’s human number. The room was so quiet I could hear the faint, tinny voice of my husband when he finally answered.
"Take her to the Healer," Gavin’s voice was ice, devoid of any mate's warmth. "I'm not a Healer."
The line went dead.
Bastian quickly pocketed the phone and turned to me, forcing a tight, reassuring smile. "The Alpha is deeply concerned, Luna. He is tied up with urgent Pack business, but he promised to meet us at the clinic as soon as he can."
It was a lie, but my desperate heart swallowed it whole. The hollow ache in my chest, tethered by our frayed Mate-bond, eased just a fraction. He was busy. He still cared about me and our pup.
"Let's go," I breathed, letting Bastian help me to my feet.
Ten minutes later, I was shivering in the back of the Pack's armored SUV. The sterile smell of the leather interior did nothing to calm my racing heart. Suddenly, the screen of my phone, resting on the seat beside me, lit up with a breaking news notification from a human tabloid.
*Billionaire Gavin Blackwood Rekindles Romance with Holloway Pack Jewel, Piper Holloway.*
My blood ran cold. With trembling fingers, I tapped the screen. A high-definition photo filled the display. It was Gavin, standing outside an exclusive restaurant in the city. His fingers were intertwined with a stunning brunette's. But it was the look on his face that shattered me—a proud, tender, utterly devoted smile. A smile he had never, not once, directed at me.
My inner White Wolf let out a pathetic, agonizing whimper, clawing at the confines of my mind.
*No,* I told myself, squeezing my eyes shut. *It’s a fake. Rival packs are just trying to destabilize my position.*
Driven by a frantic need for the truth, I ignored the stabbing pain in my stomach and dialed Gavin’s human number. It rang three times before the line clicked open.
"Hello?"
It wasn't Gavin. It was a woman's voice—sweet, breathy, and dripping with satisfaction.
"Where is Gavin?" I demanded, my voice cracking.
"Oh, he's in the shower right now," the woman purred. "Who is this?"
"I am his wife," I choked out. "Who the hell are you?"
A soft, mocking laugh echoed through the speaker. "I'm Piper. His future Luna."
The words were a silver blade plunged directly into my heart. The call disconnected, leaving me in a suffocating silence. The Mate-bond flared with a phantom, burning agony. Bastian had lied. There was no "urgent Pack business." My Alpha was with another woman.
*
Gavin POV
I pushed open the heavy oak doors of the luxury penthouse suite, my tie already loosened. The secret, three-hour political negotiation with the Holloway Pack Alpha had been exhausting, but necessary for my expansion plans.
I walked into the bedroom and stopped dead. Piper was sprawled across my unmade bed in a sheer silk slip, holding my cell phone.
"Why do you have my phone?" I growled, my inner Alpha surging with dark irritation.
Piper sat up, entirely unbothered by my tone. "Just answering a call from your little breeder. I told her he was in the shower. Oh, and I introduced myself as the future Luna."
My jaw clenched. I crossed the room in two long strides and snatched the device from her hand. "You do not make moves without my command, Piper," I warned, my voice dropping to a dangerous, lethal octave. "Our alliance stays quiet until the heir is born and I formally Reject her. You are jeopardizing my timeline."
"But what if she's hurt?" Piper pouted, though her eyes danced with malicious glee. "She called twice."
I looked down at the cracked screen, staring at Elara's missed call. I felt absolutely nothing. No guilt. No concern. Only the bitter annoyance of a disrupted schedule.
I tossed the phone onto the nightstand and turned my back on it. "Nothing about Elara is ever urgent."
Elara POV
The suffocating silence in the SUV was broken by a sharp ping from my phone. An audio file from an unknown number. Piper.
With trembling fingers, I tapped play. Gavin’s cold, familiar baritone filled the car. "The pup is the only reason she's still here. Once the heir is born, I will formally Reject her."
The word Reject sliced through my soul like a silver blade. I tossed the phone onto the center console. "Listen to it, Bastian," I choked out.
The old butler glanced at the screen, his face draining of color. He couldn't weave any more lies.
"He was never coming to the clinic, was he?" I whispered.
Bastian bowed his head in shame. "I only wanted to protect the pup from your distress, Luna."
My inner White Wolf let out a shattered, agonizing howl. I was entirely alone, surrounded by deceit.
Before I could speak, a deafening roar tore through the night. A massive truck slammed into the side of our SUV. Metal shrieked. The world spun in a violent blur of shattered glass and crushing force. We rolled, coming to a violent halt off the road.
Pain—blinding and absolute—ripped through my abdomen. Warm blood soaked my thighs. Bastian was slumped over the wheel, unconscious. Gasping for air, I reached for the frayed Mate-bond, screaming Gavin's name in my mind. Nothing. Just a wall of ice.
With blood-slicked fingers, I found my phone and hit redial on speaker.
"What now? I'm busy," Gavin snapped.
Then, Piper’s giggles echoed through the cracked speaker. "Gavin, darling, which one do you think I'd like? The diamond or the sapphire?"
I couldn't breathe. Through the shattered window, I saw the truck driver stepping out. He didn't have the feral, crazed look of a Rogue. His eyes were cold, calculating—a professional making sure the job was done.
Darkness dragged me under—until the roar of motorcycle engines split the night. My father's enforcers.
I woke to the scent of bitter herbs in the Pack Healer's Clinic. The agonizing emptiness in my womb told me everything. My pup was gone.
Bastian stood by my bed, a thick bandage around his head. "The Alpha..." he started, his voice trembling. "He was here. He just left a few minutes ago."
"Stop lying!" I snarled, my voice raw with grief and fury. "Tell me what he actually said."
Bastian flinched, finally breaking under my icy glare. "He mind-linked me. He said... 'It's unfortunate. Let the Healer handle it. I'm busy.'"
The last shred of my love for Gavin Blackwood turned to ash.
"Get out," I commanded, my tone leaving no room for argument. Once alone, I dialed my father.
"Elara?" His voice was rough with sleep.
"Father," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I need you."
Three days later, the grand foyer of the Alpha’s Manor was dead quiet. I stood at the top of the sweeping staircase, wearing a simple white dress, mourning the child I lost, and the mate I was about to kill in my heart.
The heavy oak doors opened. Gavin walked in, looking exhausted. Even from up here, I could smell the lingering scent of Piper’s cheap floral perfume on his clothes.
He stopped at the base of the stairs, looking up at me with a frown. "Bastian told me about the accident," he said, his voice tight. "But the pup—"
"Is dead," I finished for him, my voice echoing like ice against the stone walls. "Just like you wanted."
Gavin's face twisted in shock. "That's not—"
"And now," I continued, staring down at the man who broke me, "there is nothing left between us. So, get ready for my Rejection."
Elara POV
The words hung in the freezing air of the grand foyer. Gavin stared up at me, his handsome face pale, his jaw slack. For a fraction of a second, I saw genuine shock in his eyes—not at the news, but at my defiance. He'd known about the pup's death for three days. His shock was reserved for the fact I dared stand against him.
Then, his Alpha ego violently reasserted itself.
A low, rumbling growl vibrated in his chest. He thought the loss of the pup had simply driven me to hysterics, that I was staging this confrontation as some pathetic bid for his attention.
"Stop this nonsense, Elara," he commanded, his voice dropping into that dark, resonant timber of the Alpha's Command.
The heavy, suffocating weight of his authority rolled toward me, designed to force any wolf in the Blackwood Pack to their knees. But as it hit me, it shattered like glass against a stone wall. My soul was completely closed off. The Mate-bond that once tethered me to him was nothing but dead, frayed ash. I didn't even flinch.
Gavin’s eyes widened in confusion as his inner wolf realized his absolute control over me was gone. I didn't wait for him to process his failure. I turned my back on him, descended the sweeping staircase with measured steps, and walked straight into the dining hall.
I heard his heavy boots following me. He was angry now, but still clinging to the illusion that he was in charge.
The dining hall was cavernous and silent. At the far end of the long mahogany table sat two silver cloches. Gavin paused in the doorway, his gaze landing on the covered plates. I watched the tension leave his shoulders. A faint, arrogant smirk touched his lips. Even now, he assumed this was some omega's attempt to placate her Alpha after a tantrum.
He strode to the head of the table and sat down, looking up at me expectantly. He reached out and lifted the silver lid.
There was no food.
Resting on the pristine porcelain plate was a stack of crisp legal documents bearing the Thorne Pack seal, a heavy fountain pen, and a silver-handled magnifying glass.
Gavin’s smirk vanished. His face turned a mottled, furious red. "What is the meaning of this?"
"In case you missed the fine print of your own betrayal," I said, my voice devoid of any emotion. I pushed the magnifying glass an inch closer to him.
He stood up abruptly, his chair scraping harshly against the floor. "I am not playing these games. You're grieving and unstable." He pointed a finger at me, his tone dripping with condescension. "We'll discuss this when you're thinking clearly."
He turned to leave—not because he didn't know, but because the Thorne Pack lawyers terrified him.
I didn't move to stop him. I just let my voice ring out, hollow and perfectly clear.
"'The pup is the only reason she's still here. Once the heir is born, I will formally Reject her.'"
Gavin froze mid-step.
"'Your words, Gavin," I whispered. "Not mine."
He slowly turned back to face me. A flicker of profound guilt crossed his features, but it was instantly swallowed by defensive rage. "That was private," he snarled. "You think leaking it to the press changes anything? My lawyers have already—"
I let out a dry laugh. With deliberate slowness, I pulled out my phone and slid it across the table. The screen displayed live search results—his team's desperate attempts to scrub the internet failing in real time. New articles kept popping up every minute, each more damning than the last.
All the blood drained from Gavin’s face. He stared at the screen as if it were a silver blade.
His eyes glazed over with another mind-link. Not to handle the crisis—but to check if his precious Piper was still waiting at their love nest.
I watched him scramble, feeling nothing but absolute disgust.
"Just sign the damn papers, Alpha Blackwood."
