Chapter 1 THE UNEXPECTED

Trina's POV.

The hall was filled with all the important members of the Silver Moon pack. Their chatter created a din that I tried to block out. I fidgeted with my simple white dress, the one I had saved up for over a year to buy. It was not as fancy as the dresses the other females wore, made of expensive silks and lace. But it was mine.

Mother straightened my veil, her fingers trembling slightly. She was happy for me, I knew, but also worried. "Trina dear," she started, then sighed. "I know Victor is your mate, but..." She trailed off, her brows furrowing. Mother never approved of Victor. She thought him reckless, more interested in power than responsibility. An unfit alpha. But she held her tongue for my sake.

"I just wish you the best, Tri," she finally said, cupping my cheek with a sad smile. "You deserve to be happy."

Did I? I glanced across the hall at Victor conferring with the pack elders. His handsome face was stern, no hint of the sweet boy I once knew. The one who had defended me from the bullies, who told me I was special. Victor had changed since then. Grown distant. But he still wanted me as his mate. That had to mean something.

The horns sounded, signaling the ceremony was about to begin. Mother gave my hand one last squeeze before moving to take her seat. My palms grew slick with nervous sweat. I felt all eyes in the room staring, judging. The orphan girl was not good enough for their alpha. But Victor had chosen me.

He strode to my side, cutting an impressive figure in an elegant black suit that matched his dark hair. But his ice blue eyes remained cold. Remote. He did not look at me as the shaman began the bonding ceremony. I stood numb, dazed, as the ancient words washed over me. Was this really happening? Was the boy I secretly loved for so long finally going to be mine?

The shaman lifted the ceremonial binding cloth, ready to tie our hands in matrimony. My breath caught in my throat. We would be joined, forever. Sealed as mates.

Until a sudden noise at the rear jerked me from my trance. The great doors burst open with a bang. A female stumbled through, dirty and disheveled. Murmurs rippled through the crowd. The female looked up, cradling her stomach protectively. My heart froze. It was Sandra. Victor's ex lover.

"Victor...please!" she wept, big eyes beseeching. "Help me... he'll kill me!"

Mouths fell agape as she limped dramatically down the aisle, playing the victim to perfection. She collapsed before us, grasping at Victor's pants. He stared down in shock.

"I tried to keep away, I know you have duties now," she sniffled. "But Kyle found out...about our child."

Our child. The words sliced through me like a blade. Sandra was pregnant...with Victor's baby? The union shaman gaped in horror. How could this be?

Without thinking, I grasped Victor's hand, waiting for him to deny it, to turn Sandra away. Instead he pulled free and helped her stand. Like I was not even there.

"You're pregnant?" he asked urgently. His eyes lit with something that stabbed my heart deeper than any knife - pride. And anticipation. Sandra had just ensured his lineage, provided the all-important alpha heir. Sandra, whom he had supposedly ended things with months ago when the elders pressed him to take a mate.

While Victor fussed over the weeping Sandra, I stood frozen in place. What was happening? Why was no one doing anything? I glanced pleadingly at Mother, but she had disappeared. Even the shaman seemed reluctant to intervene.

"What...what is going on?" I finally croaked, hating the timid wobble in my voice. Victor glanced at me coolly, as if just remembering I existed.

"There has been a change of plans," he addressed the crowd. "I will be taking Sandra as my mate. Not Trina."

Murmured sweeps of disbelief. Confused faces all around. Victor turned to the elders, arms encircling a slyly smiling Sandra.

"Now you cannot prevent me from my rightful place," he challenged them coldly. "My first born child will be the alpha heir. Sandra must stand by my side."

The words washed over me, hollow and unreal. Sandra touched her belly with a secret grin. Victor's child...alpha heir. Of course. It all made terrible sense.

The elders bowed their heads in acquiescence. None dared argue now. Victor had outmaneuvered them neatly.

Bile rose in my throat as Victor guided Sandra forward, dismissing me aside like unwanted baggage. He nodded curtly to the shaman. "Proceed with the ceremony. Sandra will take her place as Luna."

The world tilted around me. Without thinking I grabbed Victor's arm, my voice cracking pathetically.

"Why are you doing this? I thought...we..." A loveless union was one thing. But to be publicly discarded like garbage? It was too much. Victor wrenched his arm away coldly. For a moment something like pity flickered in his icy eyes.

"I am alpha now. I must make difficult choices. Sandra can provide what you cannot. I release you from our arrangement." His tone invited no argument. Arrangement. I was nothing but a business transaction after all. Without an heir in my belly, I no longer mattered.

Victor turned back to Sandra, smiling tenderly as he drew her close. The shaman raised the ceremonial cloth once more.

"Wait - !" I cried hoarsely, clutching at Victor's sleeve. He shook me off in annoyance. Then his handsome face twisted scornfully. My heart cracked down in the middle.

"Since you insist, let's do this properly," he declared. "I, Alpha Victor Huxleigh, Alpha of the Silver moon pack, reject you, Trina Smith, as my mate." His words echoed off the silent walls. Someone tittered loudly nearby.

"You may leave now. I don't care where you go or what becomes of you." He dismissed me with a flick of his fingers and strode away. Sandra's satisfied smirk followed me as they joined hands at last.