Chapter 1 No.1

Aline POV

The scent of antiseptic and drying sage was the first thing to assault my senses, a sharp contrast to the numbness spreading through my chest. I sat on the edge of the examination bed in the Pack infirmary, my legs dangling like a child's, though I felt ancient. Withered.

"I am sorry, Aline," the Pack Healer, an elderly woman named Martha, said softly. Her voice was heavy, laden with a pity I didn't want. She pushed a piece of paper across the scratched oak desk. "The pup... its soul has returned to the Goddess."

I didn't cry. I think I had forgotten how. My hand rested instinctively on my flat stomach, cold and empty.

"It was the bond, wasn't it?" My voice was a rasp, like dry leaves scraping over stone.

Martha nodded grimly. "A pup needs the strength of the Mate Bond to survive the first trimester. Yours... yours has been starving for three years. Your inner wolf is fading, child. If we don't perform the procedure to remove the tissue, the necrosis will spread to your womb, and then to your heart. You will die."

Die. The word hung in the air, devoid of terror.

My phone buzzed in my lap. It was a notification from The Alpha Tattler, the pack's gossip feed. My thumb moved automatically, a habit born of masochism.

The screen lit up with a high-definition nightmare.

A MATCH BLESSED BY THE MOON: ALPHA KADEN AND HIS TRUE LOVE, CORI MULLINS, RETURN!

The photo was taken on the private airstrip. Kaden Warren, the Alpha of the Black Moon Pack-and my secret, fated mate-was descending the jet stairs. He looked magnificent, radiating power and vitality. His hand was possessively placed on the small of Cori Mullins' back. She was beaming, looking up at him with adoration, and he was looking down at her with a softness I had never, not once, seen directed at me.

While our child was dying inside me because of his neglect, he was playing the perfect partner to another woman.

A bitter laugh bubbled up in my throat, choking me. "He looks happy," I whispered.

"Aline..." Martha warned gently.

I picked up the pen. The ink flowed black and permanent as I signed the consent form for the D&C procedure. I was signing away the last physical tether between Kaden and me.

"Do it," I said, my eyes fixed on Kaden's smiling face on the screen. "Cut it out. I want nothing left of him inside me."

The procedure was a blur of clinical pain and cold metal, but it was nothing compared to the hollow ache in my chest. An hour later, I stumbled out of the recovery room, my body feeling light, too light, as if parts of my soul had been scraped away along with the pregnancy.

The corridor outside was dim, the stone walls radiating a chill that seeped into my bones. I just wanted to crawl into my small bed in the servants' quarters and sleep until the end of the world.

But the air suddenly grew heavy. Static electricity prickled along my skin, and the scent of rain and ozone-his scent-slammed into me.

My inner wolf, usually dormant from weakness, let out a pathetic whimper and curled into a ball.

"You."

The voice was a low growl that vibrated through the floorboards. I looked up.

Alpha Kaden Warren stood blocking the hallway, a wall of pure, unadulterated rage. His eyes, usually the color of stormy seas, were now bleeding into the gold of his wolf. Behind him, dressed in pristine white that contrasted sharply with my hospital gown, stood Cori Mullins. She looked at me with wide, faux-innocent eyes, her hand resting lightly on Kaden's bicep.

Kaden took a step forward, his Alpha aura crashing down on me so hard my knees buckled. I grabbed the wall for support.

"I felt the bond snap," he snarled, his voice dripping with venom. "I felt the life extinguish. Beta Lucas told me you were here for a procedure."

He didn't ask if I was okay. He didn't ask why. He just loomed over me, judge, jury, and executioner.

He grabbed my shoulders, his fingers digging into my flesh like talons. "You dared to destroy my heir?"

The accusation stole the breath from my lungs. He thought I did it on purpose. He thought I killed our baby out of spite.

I opened my mouth to defend myself, to scream that he killed our baby with his neglect, with his public affair, with his refusal to acknowledge me. But then I saw Cori peek out from behind his shoulder.

"Oh, Kaden, darling," she cooed, her voice like poisoned honey. "Don't be so harsh. Maybe the pressure of carrying an Alpha's heir was just... too much for a weak Omega like her. Not everyone is built for such a blessing."

Her words were a precision strike. Kaden's grip tightened, bruising me. He looked at me with disgust, believing the lie because it was easier than facing his own failure.

I looked into the eyes of the man the Moon Goddess had designed for me, and I felt the final thread of our bond wither and turn to ash. There was no point in explaining. He had already made his choice.

I stared back at him, my eyes dry and dead. The silence between us was louder than any scream.