Chapter 2 Sweet Deception

Aria's POV.

"Aria, sweetheart, I brought you your favorite oyster soup."

At ten thirty that night, Luke returned to the hospital with takeout in hand.

After finishing my medication, the nurse smiled and teased, "Aria, you're really lucky. Your Alpha is so busy every day, yet he still brings you food. He's incredibly attentive."

I forced a stiff smile, a flicker of sarcasm flashing through my eyes.

To outsiders, Luke was the perfect Alpha, devoted to his Luna. But no one could have imagined that this seemingly devoted man had long since cheated and even fathered two illegitimate children.

After the nurse left, Luke thanked her politely and walked briskly to my bedside with the food. When he noticed my reddened eyes, concern immediately filled his face. "Baby, were you starving? I'm sorry, council matters held me up. I came back late."

He opened the containers and placed the oyster soup and roasted lamb on the small table in front of me, his tone deliberately pleasing. "I ordered these just for you. You used to love this place's oyster soup, and the lamb is perfectly crispy outside and tender inside."

Looking at the food in front of me, my stomach churned violently.

Luke was lying.

Just half an hour earlier, I had watched through the surveillance feed as Luke and Layla's family happily celebrated their anniversary. The roasted lamb was what they hadn't finished, and the oyster soup was something Layla had ruined.

"I mixed up sugar and salt. It tastes awful." Layla whined to Luke.

Luke laughed and said, "If it's bad, don't eat it. I'll pack it up later."

"Why pack it up?"

Luke replied casually, "I'll throw it in the trash can."

So I was the "trash can" he had been talking about.

For the past three years, had every meal he had "specially" brought me been leftovers from their family?

I couldn't hold it in any longer. Covering my mouth, I ran into the bathroom and vomited until my vision darkened.

Everything was revolting, the garbage Luke brought back and his fake affection alike.

"Aria! What's wrong?" Luke's anxious voice sounded outside the bathroom door, accompanied by urgent knocking. "Was the soup not to your taste? Are you feeling unwell?"

I turned on the faucet, letting the running water drown out my suppressed sobs.

Luke, my Alpha. How could he treat me like this?

The pain surged over me like a tide, nearly tearing me apart.

Perhaps the emotions I had suppressed for so long finally erupted. Not long after I fell asleep, a high fever set in, and Luke hurried to call a doctor.

"One hundred and three point six degrees Fahrenheit!" the doctor said gravely. "The fever is dangerously high. We need to bring it down immediately. Her heart won't withstand this."

My eyelids were too heavy to open. In my fading consciousness, I vaguely heard Luke speaking with the pack doctor.

"Alpha, Aria's condition is worse than we anticipated," the pack doctor said in a lowered voice. "The lung infection is worsening, and the heart failure is progressing. She may not survive long enough to wait for a second suitable heart. Alpha, are you still insisting on giving that heart to Layla's father?"

Luke didn't hesitate. "I am."

"But..."

"Layla can't lose her father. She wouldn't survive that kind of blow. As for Aria, I'll do everything I can to find her another suitable heart."

"Then how do you plan to explain to her that the heart suddenly disappeared?" the doctor pressed.

"Say the donor's family backed out at the last minute." Luke's voice was light, certain. "Aria trusts me completely. She won't question it."

The pack doctor sighed, his tone heavy with disapproval. "Alpha, Aria is your Luna. You once loved each other so deeply. How could you..."

"I love Aria. She will always be my only Luna." Luke paused briefly, a trace of coldness seeping into his voice. "But she's human. Any children she bears will most likely be human. The Perry Pack will never allow such an heir."

"Layla is different." When he spoke of Layla, his tone softened. "She is the fated mate chosen for me by the Moon Goddess. She's a werewolf, and the pups she bears will be werewolves. With proper training, they'll become the finest heirs the Perry Pack has ever had."

"Once Aria recovers, I'll persuade her to adopt Layla's pups." He spoke as if it were a trivial matter. "No one will ever shake her position as Luna. That will be my compensation to her."

I lay on the hospital bed with my eyes tightly shut, forcing myself to breathe evenly, yet the pain in my chest only grew stronger, nearly suffocating me.

Compensation? Did he truly believe that forcing me to raise the children of a betrayer counted as compensation?

Luke was utterly shameless. He had deceived my feelings, taken the heart source meant to save my life, and now planned to trap me at his side, forcing me to raise his children with another she-wolf as a tool to secure his power within the pack.

"Alpha, I hope you won't regret this one day," the pack doctor said with deep resignation.

Luke's fingers brushed gently against my cheek, his touch still tender.

I heard him whisper softly, "I won't regret it."