Chapter 4

Two days after Theo left, the pain started. It wasn't labor pains. It was a burning sensation in my gut, like I had swallowed hot coals.

I banged on the door. "Help! Something is wrong!"

No one came.

Hours later, the door finally opened. But it wasn't help.

It was Theo's mother, Lydia, and Elena's mother, a bitter woman named Carol. Behind them stood Theo's father, the former Alpha Marcus.

"Stop your screaming," Lydia snapped, entering the small room. She held a handkerchief over her nose as if I smelled like garbage.

"My baby," I gasped, clutching the wall for support. "I need a doctor."

"There is no baby," Lydia said coldly.

I froze. "What?"

"We know the truth," Marcus grunted, stepping forward. He was a large man, his muscles still thick despite his age. "Theo is too soft. He tried to protect you. But we know what you carry."

"A Rogue's bastard," Carol hissed, her eyes gleaming with malice. "Just like my daughter said. You tried to pin it on Theo, didn't you? You whore."

"No!" I screamed. "It's Theo's! Elena lied! She's the one carrying the Rogue child!"

"Lies!" Lydia stepped forward. She was wearing elegant leather gloves. "My son has pure blood. He would never sire a weakling like the thing inside you. I can smell it, Aria. It smells of rot."

She slapped me.

The pain was blinding. It wasn't just the force of the blow. Her glove... it burned. My skin sizzled where she struck me.

"Silver," I gasped, falling to my knees. She had woven silver dust into the leather. For a wolf, silver is poison. It disrupts our healing and causes agony.

"We are cleansing the pack," Marcus declared. "We cannot allow a Rogue spawn to be born on our land."

"Get her up," Lydia ordered.

Two warriors I didn't recognize rushed in. They grabbed me by my hair and arms, dragging me across the rough floor.

"No! Please!" I fought, kicking and scratching. "You're killing him! You're killing your grandson!"

"It is an abomination!" Marcus kicked me in the ribs.

I heard a crack. White hot pain exploded in my side. I screamed, a sound that tore my throat raw.

They dragged me out of the house, into the courtyard. It was raining. The cold water mixed with the blood running down my face.

"Throw her beyond the border," Lydia commanded. "Let her die in the woods with the other Rogues."

They dragged me toward the iron gates. My vision was blurring. The pain in my stomach was unbearable. I could feel the life inside me fading, the tiny heartbeat slowing down.

*Mama...* a faint, tiny voice echoed in my mind. It was my pup. He was dying.

*No, stay with me!* I mentally screamed. *Hold on!*

The guards threw me onto the asphalt just outside the pack gates. I landed hard on my stomach.

"And don't come back," Marcus spat, standing on the other side of the bars.

Darkness was closing in. The rain pounded against my back. I was going to die here. My baby was going to die here.

*I had sent the message days ago. Had it failed? Had James abandoned me too?*

Then, the ground shook.

It wasn't thunder. It was the sound of engines. Dozens of them.

Roaring down the highway, a fleet of armored vehicles screeched to a halt. *They had torn through three state lines to get here.* The lead car, a massive military-grade truck, smashed straight through the iron gates of the Black Rose Pack, sending metal flying.

Marcus and Lydia stumbled back in terror.

A figure leaped from the truck before it even stopped moving. He was a giant of a man, radiating an aura so powerful it felt like the sun had descended to earth. His eyes were glowing a furious, molten gold.

Alpha King James.

He didn't look at the guards. He didn't look at Theo's parents. He ran straight to me, falling to his knees in the mud.

"Aria!" His voice was a roar of pure panic. He scooped me up into his arms, ignoring the blood and mud.

"Dad..." I whispered, the word slipping out. I had never called him that before.

"I'm here," he growled, tears streaming down his face. *"The storm delayed the choppers. I drove. I drove as fast as I could."* He looked up at Marcus, and the killing intent that exploded from him made the former Alpha drop to his knees, forced down by the sheer weight of James's power.

"If she dies," James bellowed, his voice shaking the very foundations of the Pack House, "I will slaughter every single one of you!"

I looked up at his face one last time. Then, the pain became too much, and the world went black.