Wolf Queen Rising: Betrayed as a Wife, Crowned as a Queen

I, Ella Vance, was the fated mate of Damian Blackwood, the Alpha of the Laurel Valley Pack.

While carrying his offspring and afflicted with the incurable Blood Reversal Curse, he walked arm in arm with my cousin Selena Vance, forcing me to sign the application to dissolve our mate bond.

I pleaded with him to let me keep our pups, but he only looked at me with disdain. "Those pups are tainted by the curse. Their disappearance will be good for the pack."

Later, Selena orchestrated a car accident, allowing me to fake my death and escape.

Eventually, he realized I was the one who could awaken his bloodline.

Five years later, I returned. When he saw me, he was ecstatic, kneeling like a loyal dog and begging for my forgiveness.

He believed that if he showed enough devotion, he could win me back and be reunited with the pups.

But he didn't know I was no longer the humble Ella I once had been.

......

"Have you finally agreed?" Damian's voice came through our mental link, cold as ice.

I sat on a hospital bench, clutching two medical reports. One read "Blood Reversal Curse," the other "Quintuplets, 25 weeks pregnant, fetuses weak."

The Blood Reversal Curse was virtually incurable.

Those afflicted had their souls gradually dissipate, replaced by another soul within.

No one had ever been cured.

The doctor had told me that I had only three years left to live.

In these final years, I no longer wanted to be entangled with Damian.

"Yes." I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath. "Damian, let's talk."

"Hmm." The man's usually calm voice was now urgent. "Wait for me at home." The link was severed at once.

My wolf howled mournfully, as if crying.

I looked at the two reports in my hand, unable to suppress a bitter smile.

Happiness and misfortune always seemed to arrive together.

After ten years of marriage, I had finally conceived pups.

Yet at the same time, I had foreseen my own death.

"Not being able to watch you grow up is my eternal regret," I said softly, touching my rounded belly.

When I returned home, the living room lights were already on.

Damian sat on the sofa, with a cup of freshly brewed coffee on the table before him.

His expression was as calm as ever, but his clenched fists betrayed his agitation.

Two elders sat beside him, looking at me with pity.

"You want to dissolve the mate bond?" Damian asked, not caring about my pale face.

"Yes." I placed the medical reports on the table. "The doctor said I'm cursed with the Blood Reversal Curse."

He didn't even glance at the papers.

"Very well." Damian smiled, pulling out a document and tossing it in front of me. "The application to dissolve the mate bond is ready. Sign it, and we'll go to the Moon Temple immediately."

I froze.

I thought he would at least show some concern about why I was cursed, maybe a hint of surprise or even reluctance.

But he said nothing.

"However, I have one condition." Just as I was about to sign, Damian spoke.

"What?" I looked at him in confusion.

"I know you're pregnant." He looked at me with disdain. "The pups you're carrying will be raised by me and Selena." As compensation, I'll give you a house."

I was dumbfounded.

My heart felt as if it had been slammed by a fist.

"Damian! They are my pups."

Damian cut me off, his gaze like ice. "And you, a woman who can't even protect her own body, are unfit to be the mother of pups."

"You can't do this!" I shot to my feet, my voice trembling. "They are my pups-you have no right to decide their future alone!"

"Your pups?" Damian rose to his feet as well, staring at me. "If they stay with you, they'll only become as vile as you are. Besides, you know exactly how they came to be. If you hadn't drugged me, would I have slept with you?"

The Alpha's aura spread through the room, choking the air from my lungs, yet I forced myself to stand my ground.

"I've said it over and over-I never drugged you! Believe it or not, my pups are innocent!"

Damian looked at me with icy indifference. "No matter what you say, I won't change my decision."

With that, he gave a cold, mocking laugh and strode toward me. "I'm merely informing you."

I clutched my slightly rounded belly, tears streaming uncontrollably down my cheeks. "Please, Damian. I can leave, I want nothing-just let me keep the pups..."

"Impossible." Damian's voice was firm, and I trembled, clenching my fists.

"If you don't agree to let me take the children," I said, "I will never sign the application to dissolve the mate bond."

No sooner had I finished than the Alpha's aura pressed down on me even harder. Blood burst from my lips, yet a smile curved on my face.

"Damian, if you don't let me take the children, then my dear cousin will be nothing more than your mistress for the rest of her life!" Those words drained the last of my strength.

My legs gave out beneath me.

"Ella." Damian's gaze turned dangerous. "Give birth to the pups, let your cousin raise them, and then leave. If you can't do that, I'll kill you myself."

"You can't do this, I'm your Luna!" I couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed to the floor.

"That title can be taken from you." Toby showed his first smile of the day.

He walked up to me and stomped down, snapping one of my legs.

"My Luna betrayed me, and I caught her coupling with a rogue wolf. So I will petition the elders and the Moon Goddess to forcibly sever the mate bond. Everyone will support me."

Agonizing pain tore through me. I tried to run, but my body wouldn't obey.

"You're utterly cold-blooded," I ground out through clenched teeth.

There was only one way to forcibly sever the mate bond-by killing the other's wolf.

After the wolf died, a silver blade would be driven in, punishing the guilty werewolf.

The one whose mate bond was severed would soon waste away and die.

But compared to a swift death, this was more like slow torture.

"Think it over carefully. Give me your answer tomorrow night." Damian walked out the door without the slightest hesitation.

I slumped onto the floor, feeling as if my entire world was collapsing.

Ten years of marriage, and this was all it came to.

Perhaps forming the mate bond with him had been a mistake from the very beginning.

Suddenly, a sharp pain tore through my abdomen.

I looked down as fresh blood dripped from my mouth onto the medical report.

The blood spread across the paper, blooming like an omen of death.

The curse had begun to take hold, and I no longer knew how much longer I could endure.

"Wouldn't it be better to just hand your body over to me? I'm far stronger than you-I can help you take revenge. And I can keep your pups alive." A deep, low voice echoed in my mind.

I felt a little dazed.

Was it the other soul inside my body?

"I don't trust you," I said, enunciating each word. "I won't seek your help. Before I completely lose consciousness, I'll choose to end my own life."

I meant every word, but the soul within clearly didn't care.

It let out a cold laugh in response. "One day, you will beg for my help."

"You'll be signing it sooner than you think." Damian's icy voice still echoed in the room, but I could barely hear it.

The searing pain in my leg made it nearly impossible to think, but worse was the sensation in my chest-as if my heart were being torn apart.

A decade of being mates, of sharing a life together, was undone by a single word from another woman.

I struggled back onto the bed, my trembling hand groping for the bottle of pills on the nightstand.

The painkillers prescribed by the doctor were almost gone, and the agony from the curse was far beyond what ordinary medicine could soothe.

Thunder rumbled outside, heralding the coming storm.

Just like the storm raging in my life.

The next morning, while I was painstakingly tending to my wounds in bed, the door was flung open with a violent crash.

"Look at our poor former Luna," Selena's voice was sickly sweet, enough to make one nauseous.

She was dressed to the nines, looking absolutely dazzling.

Two burly werewolves followed close behind-Damian's elite bodyguards.

"Selena," I said through gritted teeth as I sat up, "what are you doing here?"

"Just here to check on you, dear cousin." She smiled brightly and glided to my bedside, just like in the old days when we had seemed as close as sisters.

"I heard you broke your leg? How pitiful. But don't worry, Damian sent me to take care of you." Her fingers lightly caressed the rough plaster on my leg. The touch seemed gentle, almost caring-until she suddenly pressed down hard.

A stabbing pain shot through me. I gasped, biting down on my lip to stop myself from crying out.

I couldn't show weakness in front of her. I absolutely couldn't.

"Does it hurt?" she asked with feigned concern. "I only wish I could share some of your pain."

"Selena," I said, struggling to keep my composure, "if you're here just to mock me, you've seen enough. You can leave now."

"Oh, no, no, no. I still have something important to tell you." She sat down in the chair beside me as if she owned the place. "Do you know, Damian told me a lot last night."

Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "He said the little ones inside you might not survive. After all, who would want cursed pups living by their side, right?"

Blood rushed to my head.

"What did you say?"

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention." She feigned surprise, covering her mouth, but the malice in her eyes was unmistakable. "The doctor said the curse is contagious. Your pups are already tainted. For the purity and future of the pack, their disappearance would be for the best."

She paused, then added, "Damian said if these children are born, they would only bring disaster to the pack. So the best solution is... "

She made a "purifying" gesture, her smile growing even more radiant.

Rage instantly clouded my reason.

Ignoring the searing pain in my leg, I sprang up from the bed and clamped both hands around Selena's throat. "Touch my children, and see what happens!"

A flicker of panic crossed her eyes, quickly replaced by a smug smile.

"Ella, you're insane! Help! Help!" she screamed, her voice pitched with just the right amount of fear.

At that moment, the door burst open again.

Damian appeared at the threshold, his face dark as thunder.

He saw only the scene of me attacking Selena, blind to everything that had happened before.

"Let go of her!"

The crushing force of the Alpha's aura bore down on me, the suppression from deep within our shared bloodline forcing my hands to release.

Damian shoved me hard, and I lost my balance, crashing backward into the sharp corner of the stone fireplace.

A mouthful of blood sprayed from my lips.

The curse, jolted awake by the violent impact, began to wreak havoc. I felt something inside me ripping apart.

"Damian!" Selena cried, throwing herself into his arms. "She tried to kill me! She's gone mad! I only came to visit her, and she suddenly attacked me!"

Damian held her tightly, shielding her with his body, and looked down at me bleeding on the floor with disdain.

"You're not even worthy of touching her." His voice was icy, each word carving wounds into my heart like a blade. "Ella, this is your last warning. Stay away from her, or face the consequences."

With that, he carried Selena away without a backward glance, leaving me lying in a pool of my own blood.

The room returned to silence, broken only by my labored breathing.

Inside me, another voice rose again, dripping with mockery and pity, "Do you see it now? This is the man you claim to love so deeply. He'd rather believe an outsider than hear a single word from you. And you still want to hold on for a man like this?"

I closed my eyes, a tear slipping down my cheek.

"My pups... I will never let anything happen to you. Never."

When the old butler, Harris Johnson found me, I had already been lying in a pool of blood for three hours.

"Luna! Oh my God!"

Harris who had served my family for more than thirty years and watched me grow up, fell to his knees beside me in panic.

Despite his strength, tears filled his eyes as he took in my condition.

"Hurry! Call the doctor! Immediately!"

The doctor arrived swiftly and had me rushed to a private hospital.

In the ambulance, my consciousness flickered in and out.

Amidst the pain and fever, I began to dream.

In the dream, I was taken back to the days when we had first formed our mate bond.

Back then, Damian had been gentle and considerate. He would walk with me under the full moon, stay by my bedside all night when I was sick, and whisper, "You are my whole world."

Those sweet memories now sliced into my heart like a thousand tiny blades.

"So it was all a lie," I sobbed in my dream, drowning in anguish.

"Ella, wake up." Damian's voice yanked me back to reality. He stood by my hospital bed, his face devoid of any concern, only impatience. "I warned you to stay away from Selena."

"Damian." My voice was hoarse as I asked, "Was any of this ever real?"

"What?" Damian replied.

"In these ten years, was there ever even a shred of genuine feeling for me?" I turned my head to look at him, my eyes once burning with passion for him now dead and lifeless. "Or were you deceiving me from the very start?"

A complex expression flickered across Damian's face, but it quickly hardened back into indifference. "Ella, don't flatter yourself. The mate bond is nothing more than a tradition of the pack. I never loved you."

Each word hit like a silver bullet to my heart.

"Fine." I closed my eyes. "I understand."

So that's how it was.

Ten years of affection, ten years of devotion, ten years of love meant nothing to him.

I was nothing to him.

"Very well." I let out a faint laugh, laced with despair and a twisted sense of relief. "Thank you for your honesty."

Seeing my reaction, Damian grew uneasy.

The wolf inside him howled in his mind, a primal instinct triggered by his mate's suffering.

But he suppressed it, convinced it was just one of my tricks.

"Ella, I hope you understand your situation." He stood up, his voice turning cold once more. "If you refuse to cooperate, it won't just be you-your unborn children will suffer as well. And if you dare to harass Selena again, you'll face the consequences."

With that threat, he turned and walked away.

The room fell silent once more, save for my heavy breathing.

Another voice stirred again in my mind, "Do you see? He will never love you. Only I can give you the power to save your pups."

I ignored the voice, gently caressing my slightly rounded belly.

I remembered what my late mother once told me, "Ella, remember, no matter what happens, never give up hope. Live bravely for those you love, and for those who love you."

My gaze grew steadily more resolute.

I would live on-for the sake of my pups.

And for myself.