I stared at the two pink lines on the pregnancy test, my hands trembling so violently I nearly dropped it into the marble sink. The bathroom of our Alpha suite suddenly felt too small, the air too thick, as if the walls themselves were holding their breath with me.

Pregnant.

I was carrying Reid's pup. Our heir.

A laugh bubbled up from my chest, half-sob, half-euphoria. My free hand pressed against my still-flat stomach, and I swore I could feel something there—a warmth, a promise, a future. Five years. Five years of standing beside Reid as he built the Ironclaw Pack from nothing, of enduring whispered doubts about whether the prestigious Alpha's daughter had made a terrible mistake mating a former rogue. Five years of watching shadows cross his face whenever Karina's name was mentioned, of pretending I didn't notice how his jaw tightened at the memory of his "chosen mate."

But this—this changed everything.

I caught my reflection in the mirror. My cheeks were flushed, my eyes bright with unshed tears of joy. Even my scent had shifted; I could detect it now, that sweet, milky undertone that marked a carrying Luna. It was subtle still, but Reid would recognize it immediately. His wolf would know.

I had to tell him. Now.

I practically flew down the corridor toward his office, my bare feet silent on the polished hardwood. The afternoon sun streamed through the tall windows, painting everything in gold, and I took it as a sign. This was our moment. Our new beginning.

But as I approached Reid's office door, voices stopped me cold.

"—only hours, Alpha." Dr. Webb's gravelly tone carried through the heavy oak. "The Fading Syndrome has progressed too rapidly. Without an Essence Transfusion, her wolf will die by moonrise, and she'll follow shortly after."

"There has to be another way." Reid's voice was strained in a way I'd never heard before. Desperate. Broken.

"There isn't." The Healer's words fell like stones. "She needs Alpha blood. Pure Alpha blood. And there's only one compatible donor in our territory."

My stomach dropped.

No.

"Nora." Reid said my name like a prayer and a curse all at once.

Then came Karina's voice, weak and thready, punctuated by delicate coughs. "I don't want to ask this of her, Reid. I know how much you love her. But I'm so scared. I don't want to die."

"The ritual is dangerous," Dr. Webb continued, his professional tone cracking slightly. "It will drain the Luna's aura significantly. And if she's carrying—" He paused. "If she's pregnant, the fetus won't survive the energy depletion. The donor herself risks permanent damage to her wolf."

Silence stretched like a chasm.

"Nora is strong." Reid's voice had changed, hardened into something I didn't recognize. "She can bear another pup. Karina is dying now."

The pregnancy test slipped from my fingers, clattering against the floor.

I didn't remember turning. Didn't remember running. But suddenly I was racing back down the corridor, my wolf screaming inside my mind to flee, to protect, to survive. The golden sunlight that had seemed so promising moments ago now felt like a spotlight, exposing me, hunting me.

I made it to the main staircase before Reid's hand clamped around my wrist.

"Nora." His Alpha aura pressed against me, heavy and commanding. "We need to talk."

"Let go of me." I tried to yank free, but his grip was iron. "Reid, please—"

"The Healer says Karina needs—"

"I'm pregnant!" The words exploded from me, raw and desperate. "Reid, I'm pregnant. I was coming to tell you. I'm carrying your pup. Our heir."

His hand loosened slightly. For one heartbeat, two, I saw conflict war across his face. His free hand lifted, hovering over my stomach, and I thought—I prayed—that the bond between us would win. That our future would matter more than his past.

Then a crash echoed from his office, followed by Karina's anguished cry.

We both turned to see her collapsed in the doorway, Dr. Webb crouched beside her. Blood—vivid and red—stained her lips, trickling down her chin. Her eyes, glassy with pain, found Reid's.

"Reid," she gasped. "Please. I don't want to die."

Something in my mate's expression shuttered closed. His jaw set. His grip on my wrist tightened again, and when he looked at me, I saw a stranger wearing my mate's face.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Then he began dragging me toward the ritual room, and my screams echoed through the Pack House like a death knell.

The ritual chamber was carved from black stone, ancient symbols etched into walls that had witnessed countless ceremonies. But none like this. None where a mate was dragged against her will, where an Alpha's command would be used to murder his own heir.

"Reid, please!" I clawed at the stone floor as he pulled me toward the altar. "This is your pup! Our pup!"

But he wasn't listening. His eyes were fixed on Karina, who lay on a smaller table nearby, her breathing shallow and labored. Dr. Webb bustled around her, checking her pulse, adjusting the mystical apparatus that would steal my life force.

I shifted partially, my wolf surging forward in desperation. Claws extended from my fingertips, and I raked them across Reid's forearm. He hissed but didn't release me.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be," he growled, blood seeping through his shirt.

"Harder?" I laughed, the sound sharp and broken. "You're murdering our child!"

"We can have another—"

"No!" The word tore from my throat. I twisted in his grip, my partially shifted form giving me extra strength. For a moment, I broke free.

I ran for the door, my claws scrambling against stone, but Reid was faster. His hand caught my ankle, and I went down hard, my chin cracking against the floor. Stars exploded behind my eyes.

"I didn't want it to be like this," Reid said, hauling me upright. His voice was thick with something that might have been regret. "But Karina is dying now. Right now."

I spat blood. "So is your pup!"

His jaw tightened. "Enough."

Then he did the unthinkable.

Reid's Alpha aura exploded outward, but this wasn't the warm dominance I'd felt during our mating. This was something else entirely. Something cold and crushing and absolute.

"Submit," he commanded, and his voice carried the full weight of his Alpha power.

The Alpha Tone hit me like a physical blow. My wolf, already weakened by pregnancy hormones, crumpled under the assault. My partially shifted form melted back to human, my claws retracting, my strength draining away like water through a sieve.

No. No, no, no.

I tried to fight it, tried to move, but my body was no longer mine. My muscles went slack against my will. My arms fell to my sides. Even my voice died in my throat, though tears streamed down my face in silent protest.

"I'm sorry," Reid whispered, but his hands were already lifting me, carrying me to the altar. "I'm so sorry, Nora."

Sorry. He was sorry as he strapped leather restraints around my wrists. Sorry as he secured my ankles. Sorry as he stepped back and nodded to Dr. Webb.

The Healer's face was pale, his hands shaking as he approached with silver needles that gleamed in the candlelight. "Alpha, perhaps we should—"

"Do it," Reid ordered.

I could only watch, trapped in my own body, as Dr. Webb inserted the first needle into my arm. The silver burned, but I couldn't even flinch. The Alpha command held me frozen, a prisoner in my own flesh.

"The ritual will take approximately ten minutes," Dr. Webb said quietly. "The essence transfer is... intense."

Karina's weak voice drifted from her table. "Thank you, Reid. Thank you for choosing me."

Choosing her. Over me. Over our pup.

The apparatus hummed to life, ancient magic responding to Dr. Webb's touch. I felt it immediately—a pulling sensation deep in my core, like something vital was being drawn out through my very bones.

Golden light began to flow through the silver tubes, my essence made visible as it was siphoned away. With each pulse of light, I felt weaker, emptier, like I was dissolving from the inside out.

But the worst part wasn't the physical drain.

It was the moment I felt something tear inside my womb.

Sharp. Final. Irreversible.

My pup. My baby. The tiny life I'd discovered just hours ago was... gone.

I couldn't scream. Couldn't move. Couldn't even close my eyes as I felt our child slip away into darkness.

Then my wolf—my beautiful, fierce wolf who had been my companion since childhood—let out a sound I'd never heard before. A howl of such pure anguish, such complete betrayal, that it seemed to shake the very foundations of the chamber.

And then... silence.

Not just quiet. Silence. The absolute absence of her presence in my mind.

She was gone too.

Everything went black.

The wolfsbane revelation came three days after I woke up empty.

I was still confined to bed, my body a hollow shell that barely responded to commands. The healers had tried everything—herbs, salves, even ancient chants—but nothing could coax my wolf back from wherever she'd retreated. Dr. Webb said she was dormant, not dead, but the distinction felt meaningless when all I felt was silence where her presence used to sing.

Reid had left that morning for border patrols, his goodbye kiss landing on my forehead like a brand. I didn't react. Couldn't. My emotions had crystallized into something hard and cold, a diamond of rage buried so deep I could barely feel it myself.

Then Karina walked into my room.

She didn't knock. Just glided in wearing a silk robe that probably cost more than most pack members earned in a month, her skin glowing with health, her scent strong and vibrant. Nothing like the dying wolf from a week ago.

"Oh good, you're awake." She perched on the edge of my bed, and I caught it—the faintest whiff of something bitter beneath her natural scent. "I wanted to thank you properly. You know, for saving my life."

I stared at the ceiling. Didn't trust myself to speak.

"The thing is," Karina continued, examining her manicured nails, "I wasn't actually dying. Well, you probably figured that out by now, right? I mean, look at me." She gestured to herself, a smile playing at her lips. "Wolfsbane is fascinating stuff. Just a tiny bit, carefully measured, can mimic all sorts of symptoms. Elevated heart rate, weakened aura, even that 'fading' scent. I had to be so careful with the doses."

Something cracked in my chest. Not my heart—that had already shattered. Something deeper.

"You should've seen your face when Reid dragged you into that ritual chamber." Karina laughed, the sound light and musical. "All that begging. 'It's your pup, Reid! Our pup!' God, it was pathetic."

My fingers curled into the sheets.

"Oh, and speaking of the pup—" She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Dr. Webb gave me the remains afterward. Medical waste, he called it. I flushed it down the toilet. Seemed appropriate, don't you think? Just flushed your little mistake right down the drain."

The diamond of rage exploded into fire.

But I didn't move. Didn't scream. Didn't lunge at her throat the way every cell in my body demanded. Because in that moment of white-hot fury, clarity cut through like a blade.

Karina wanted a reaction. She wanted me broken, hysterical, easy to dismiss as an unstable Luna. She wanted Reid to see me as the problem, not her.

So I gave her nothing.

I turned my head slowly, met her gaze with eyes as empty as I felt, and smiled. "Thank you for telling me."

Her triumphant expression flickered. "What?"

"I said thank you." I pushed myself up to sitting, ignoring how my arms shook. "I needed to know exactly who you are. Now I do."

Karina's eyes narrowed. "You can't tell Reid. He'll never believe you anyway. He chose me, Nora. He'll always choose me."

"I know," I said softly. And I did. That truth had carved itself into my bones during those ten minutes on the altar.

She left shortly after, confusion warring with satisfaction on her face. The moment the door clicked shut, I reached for the burner phone I'd hidden under my mattress—a gift from my brother Samuel during his last visit, "just in case."

My father answered on the first ring.

"Songbird?" His voice was rough with concern. He hadn't called me that since I was a child.

"I need to come home, Dad." The words stuck in my throat. "But I need help. Legal help. The kind that involves treaties and territorial rights."

A pause. Then: "Tell me everything."

I did, speaking in the code we'd developed years ago for sensitive pack business. When I finished, silence stretched so long I thought the connection had dropped.

"That bastard." My father's voice could have frozen fire. "I'm calling Benedict. You remember Prince Benedict?"

"Yes." The Lycan I'd been betrothed to before I chose Reid. Before I threw away everything for a love that turned out to be poison.

"He's been asking about you. Heard rumors." Another pause. "Nora, for this to work legally, you need to be in a public space. Somewhere Reid can't claim absolute territorial authority."

"A Pack Gathering," I whispered.

"Exactly. Can you manage that?"

I looked down at my trembling hands, at the body that felt like a stranger's. "I'll find a way."

Two days later, I walked into Reid's office on legs that barely held me. He looked up from his paperwork, surprise and something like hope flashing across his face.

"Nora. You're up."

"I want to call a Pack Gathering." My voice was steady. I'd practiced in the mirror for hours. "I want to publicly forgive Karina. Show the pack that we're united. That the Luna supports her Alpha's decisions."

Reid stood slowly, studying my face. I kept my expression serene, submissive, everything he wanted to see.

"You'd do that?" His hand reached for mine. I let him take it, let him pull me close, even though my skin crawled. "Nora, I knew you'd understand eventually. We can move past this. We can try again for a pup—"

"Let's heal the pack first," I interrupted gently. "Then we can talk about our future."

He kissed my forehead, and I tasted bile.

"I'll arrange it for tomorrow night," he said. "Full moon. The whole pack will attend."

Perfect.

I smiled up at him, the same empty smile I'd given Karina. "I can't wait."