ELIANA.

My grandmother used to tell me I was different since I was young. She'd sit me down when I felt so devastated and dispirited and tell me—"You're going to be okay" I'd like to think that she sounded a lot like my mother, she was the only thing I had that linked the both of us.

Grandma Abbey told me that I had her smile though, and the green in my mother's eyes. That she lived in me. I was five when I knew what the word abuse meant and on the cusp of turning eleven, my brother touched me for the first time. My whole life had been hell, how could Grandma say I was special—if this was special, I didn't want it.

She was the only one who didn't lay a finger on me but alas, I soon lost her. Everyone claimed that my grandma had lost her mind ever since the death of her daughter who was my mother. I didn't think she was crazy, so I knew it was just one of Sienna's ploys to get her out of the pack.

She had tirelessly tried with me, accusing me of rudeness and stealth and some of the most abhorrent things. She didn't get me out but Sienna was able to convince my father to lock my grandma away.

It was more painful that I didn't lose her to death but rather she was taken from me. Up until this very moment that I sat in that chair, her words were all that echoed in my ears—that I was special.

"What?" I lifted my eyes back to Alpha Eric, Denver's father who had presented to me a document that looked like a contract. It had been three weeks since my escape and for the most of it, I was welcomed in the Black Moon Pack. I rarely ever saw Denver himself but whenever he was close, it was more than enough to fill me with fear.

I knew I was indebted to him, he made sure I never forgot that but looking up, I didn't think I would have to pay back so soon, with myself. My body.

Denver hovered behind his father as I looked back and forth between them.

"You're going to marry my son." Alpha Eric's stoic voice was much louder than his son's. He was elderly with hair full of grey and an aura that could command an entire army. I didn't dare refute or say no, even though my heart leaped into the back of my throat.

My mind was racing but all I could do was bow my head in submission. If anyone had told me that the day would come when Malik Denver would be my husband, I would have laughed in their face. Never in a million years did I think this would ever happen. Maybe I was special...

There was a sparkle in his eyes as they met mine. This was what he meant when he told me I owed him. But looking at Denver's emotionless face, I wasn't even sure this was what he wanted.

Though he never said so himself, which was a lot worse. He'd not been so bad, maybe even caring for a little while but I know better than to fall for the playboy Alpha. His promiscuous tales were usually the gossip of the entire town and I'd picked up one too many things about him. There was such a time when I was so disgusted.

But now, the idea of being his bride didn't seem so bad. After all, I owed him my life since he saved me.

"It's merely a contractual union and after three weeks of closely monitoring you, I have deemed you perfect for him. You are nothing like your father and once you get fully healed, I'd arrange for the event" His father was well-spoken, although his voice was a tad bit frail.

All I saw was a chance to rid myself of the past and start a new life. It couldn't be worse than what I'd already been through, could it?

Blood rushed into my cheeks as I nodded. I was getting better now, my skin wasn't so deathly pale and my eyes weren't as yellow. The bruises on my arms and legs were healing. This was a better life.

Denver shot me an icy glare but a smile crept to the corner of my lips as I nodded. "I'll marry him." I agreed.

A few days passed and I walked the aisle in a flowing white dress, my whole life seemed to be a fairytale, and none of it felt real.

Denver was in a shiny black suit with a lavender lapel and he took my hands in his, sliding a ring across my fourth finger. His grip was tight but I made nothing of it.

No one else knew it was a contract marriage, they all believed the Alpha had found the right woman to tame him. I was covered in a lot of makeup to hide my bruises and scars, I'm not even sure they knew where I came from. Sometimes, I thought about how it was as though this was the very reason Denver saved me that night.

He suddenly grasped my waist, drawing me out of my thoughts. My eyes fixated into his dark green ones and a dangerous aura swept through the air. Before I knew what was happening, Denver kissed me.

My heart fluttered so much that it almost escaped from my throat. I inhaled his breath and felt the warmth of his skin. Denver tasted like a bad decision, a very bad one.

When he pulled away, his lips fell to my ears. "Put on a show." He whispered and I sucked in air through my nostrils.

Denver held my hands and I plastered a grin across my face as we walked out of there. It didn't feel real but the shiny diamond ring across my finger was a reminder that it was. In three weeks, I'd gone from being a slave to my pack to a future Luna in another.

But I still had no idea what was coming.

Denver walked up to another room this time, like a chamber—his chamber. "I have to get out of this dress" I said to him, preparing to turn around but his hands sharply groped me. "Where do you think you're going?" His voice was deep and decadent. My eyes blanked, I didn't know what to think as he pushed open his door.

The cold dry winds slapped me in the face and Denver pulled me into the room. My heart stomped once he closed the door behind me. Like I said, he drove so much fear into me and it was worse when we were alone. His eyes wandered over my body as he tugged at his tie. He proceeded to rip it off before throwing it to the floor.

"Denver, I should get back to m—"

"Take off your clothes." He whispered and a sharp sound rang through my ears. Denver stepped forward and his hands enveloped half my flustered face. "Do not be afraid, little one." He calmed me down and I heaved a deep breath.

"The purpose of all this is to birth an heir for my father." I arched my brow. "Why else did you think he wanted this?" I asked. My words were caught up in the back of my throat. I didn't even know that.

Soon, Denver's hands slipped underneath the strap of my dress and he maneuvered his way around the zip. His heated breaths crashed into my neck, raising all the hairs across my skin. There was a hollow opening in the depths of my stomach, a portion of me that yearned for him.

My dress fell loosely to the ground and for a moment, Denver halted to take a look. He licked across his lips, I wanted this but then again, I didn't actually know what this was. My relationship with sex was built around pain and torture, all the experiences of my stepbrother.

I wanted to change that but I was so afraid.

"We don't have to do this so soon" Denver regrettably muttered but I shook my head. "No." I faintly whispered.

I inched closer to Denver and his woodsy scent trickled up my nose. "I want to do this" I nodded. "I'm better now." Slowly, he unhooked my brassiere and his mouth soon fell across the skin on my neck. I could feel his halting breaths, his desire to mark me but I knew he wouldn't.

I wasn't even sure he knew we were mates. It was also a reason why I wanted this. After tonight, I would know for certain.

"I'll be gentle" Denver lifted me into his arms and placed me across the soft mattress of his bed. Everything smelled like him, a portion of my brain was dedicated to his scent and it drove me mad. Denver kissed every portion of my body but my lips. And then he took off my panties.

My knees brushed against his hands as he leaned over. I could feel his skin against mine and it was a fiery touch. His elbows dug into the bed as he started to thrust slowly. A sharp moan escaped my lips but as he promised, Denver was gentle.

He held my hands, gliding deeper by the second into my entrance.

It was a tethering experience, a burst of passion. Yep, he was my mate.

On the verge of his climax, I readied myself and soon after, I could feel the warmth of his seed flow through me and down my inner thighs. I lay limply across the bed with my eyes fixated on the ceiling. I made a new memory of this, wiping off the ones I had with Jaxon.

And for a moment, my eyes were filled with tears.

Denver got up and almost immediately reached for his clothes. Not a single word came out of his lips nor a single emotion on his face. I sat up, even expecting to meet his eyes but he just closed the door on his way out. I held his sheets tight across my chest as I breathed heavily.

He didn't want this.

And you see, that was the first moment that I realized it was just truly just a contract marriage. Denver grew stricter and more indifferent by the day and we barely even spent any time together except every fortnight which was once every two weeks that were our mating days.

I was solely meant to be a breeder for him, to give him a child to show his father and the entire pack. But several months passed, so did the mating days and it felt like I was failing at that too.

"I'm sorry, you're not pregnant" The Pack Doctor would say each time she called after the routine check. My shoulders would flatten in disappointment and when I'd look to Denver, he'd just shake his head with a scoff.

He didn't say anything but I could tell his patience was growing thin.

I could feel his resentment grow from me each time the doctor said those words. "Oh, she's barren!" I'd even caught a few of the pack members gossiping about me. They didn't hide their disappointment, his father too.

"She's such a failure."

I cried myself to sleep every night in my empty bed. I wanted nothing more than to see my grandmother, and maybe ask her why she lied to me my entire life.

Telling me I was special when it was the exact opposite.

And so it happened, two miserable years passed since the wedding, and I was still without a child and on the verge of losing all hope. But it was then my phone rang, days after a fortnight.

It was the doctor, about to deliver the news that would change my life.

"You're finally pregnant, Eliana."

ELIANA.

The ice-cold fluid splurged across my belly, numbing around the areas that the ultrasound touched. I could hear the whooshing noise echo in the quiet room. My eyes never left Dr. Giselle's face.

I knew I'd be able to tell, even before she parted her lips whether or not I was pregnant. No amount of words could describe how tense the atmosphere was. I clenched my heart with my teeth—it was as though my whole existence led up to this moment.

The final truth was whether or not I was pregnant for Denver.

I guess this is what happens when you unfortunately fall for someone you know you should never have. Denver couldn't have been any more different from me, I was an omega slave, and he was an Alpha King.

I was also a Blood Hound while he belonged to the Black Moon pack, arch-rivals since the beginning of time. We were doomed from the start.

It never seemed to be a thought for him that we could ever be anything more. Whenever I looked into his eyes, it was quite clear that he'd only ever see me as his contract wife, not capable of love. But I had a feeling everything was going to change when he found out that I was pregnant.

Immediately I saw it in the doctor's eyes, and a heavy exhale left my lips. I turned to face the machine but even though I was unable to make out a single part of the foetus, I could very much hear it's heartbeat.

"Congratulations!" Dr Giselle exclaimed and my hands clutched my lips.

"Oh" It was a surreal moment, one that the last two years had led up to. "I'm pregnant" There was a crack in my voice as I whispered. "Yes, you are" She ran her hands through my hair, roping me in for a hug, and on her shoulders, I cried.

I didn't know how much I wanted this until it happened.

"I can't wait to tell Denver! He'd lose his mind" I sharply withdrew, eyes bright with an idea. I knew how much he wanted this child and was I delusional to think that it could finally change everything. That I could capture the cold and ruthless Alpha's heart—my husband.

"I have to go" I climbed down the bed, immediately scrapping for my bags. I couldn't wait another second to see him. "I need to talk to you" I sent a text, grinning like an idiot. I felt a million things all at the same time but most of all, I was truly happy. Little did I know that was the last time in a really long time that I'd feel such way.

I arrived at the Pack Villa and sighting Denver's car parked in the driveway, I sucked in a deep breath before mounting the front porch.

The air was warm and that smile didn't leave my lips until I was faced with him. Denver was seated in the dark, like he had already been waiting for me. "Oh..." I exclaimed. "I didn't know you'd be here so fast."

"Well I have something to tell you but only after I make you your favorite meal—" I was on the cusp of hanging my coat when Denver arose. "Eliana" There was something quite harrowing about the way he called my name that caused my heart to drop into my stomach.

I turned back to him and there was barely any emotion in his eyes.

"Have you already had something to eat?" I asked softly. "No—uh yes" He pushed a hard lump down his throat. "I got your text and I have something to tell you too" Denver added. My brows immediately arched.

Did he already know before I was able to tell him?

No, it couldn't be that. There was something off about him that I couldn't quite decipher. Damned be the one that ever assumed to know who the Alpha truly was but at least for the past two years, I'd been married to him. I'd unconsciously picked up each of his mood changes and what they meant and I knew well enough that this wasn't about something good.

"Oh" This time, my voice was low and almost inaudible. "What is that?"

"It's about us." Denver broke the news. "I'm afraid I can't keep this up for much longer, this isn't working Eliana." He croaked and it felt like a knife had stabbed into my chest. I almost fell backward but I had to hold myself still. Time and everything else was frozen.

"But..." There was a loud noise that rang through my ears so much that I could barely hear myself. "It's been two years and the contract is nearly over, still you've been unable to provide with a child..." "But," I echoed.

No words came out.

Just the endless tears from my eyes as I watched him dump a stack of papers to the table. I inched closer to make sure that this was real, that it was truly happening. Just when I was about to tell him the good news, Denver had already penned down his signature to end this marriage.

I looked up at him in disbelief but his eyes were empty and void. I couldn't believe I fell victim to Malik Denver. How foolish of me to think that I could actually change him. How foolish of me to fall for him at all.

"It's over." He pressed his lips into each other. There was a stabbing pain in my chest and a crack in my voice. "I...I don't understand" I stuttered. "What's there not to understand?! I want a fucking divorce!"

"Two years that was it. That was the entire plan, I gave two years of my life to you and you have given me nothing Eliana. You know this isn't working, the truth is you've known for a long time now. There's no point in waiting anymore. This has to end now." Denver raised his voice.

"But I love you" It escaped my lips. I didn't know how neither did I know why but I blurted it out. And I guess some part of me was expecting some grand confession next, rather all that slapped me in the face was a hoarse scoff. "You can't love me." The Alpha shrugged.

"This was merely an arrangement, I've made that pretty clear from the start—" "But I do" I interrupted him and sharply, he drew back with his knuckles against his teeth. "Well I don't love you!" Denver yelled. "I don't love you, Eliana. I never have, this was never what I wanted" He said and his words kept ringing in my head.

I don't love you, I never have.

"But you're my...mate?" I whimpered, desperately wanting to hold onto him as I cried. "Then I reject you" He coldly refuted.

"I, Alpha Malik Denver hereby reject you, Eliana Jacobs, as my mate, bringing an end to this union." His voice felt like a sword that went through my chest, slicing my heart into a million tiny pieces. He looked at me with a commanding glare and I knew I didn't have much of an option.

"I, Eliana Jacobs, accept your rejection." I whispered.

There was no mending of a heart that had been broken so much like mine. There was the man who saved me two years ago but the Denver standing in front of me was different. Or perhaps, these were his truest colors. And for the first time, my eyes weren't clouded by delusions.

I broke down into tears but all he cared about was signing the papers. He tapped against the sheet and a tear of mine soaked through it. "You have until tomorrow to sign it. And come up with the next plan as to where you would stay from now. I'd grant you a leave if that's what you want"

"But besides that, I have nothing else to give you Eliana" Denver brushed into his shoulders as he walked out of the door. It closed behind him but for the most of it, his words were still in the air. So was his cologne and his presence. I heard his voice echo through the door and almost suddenly another, it was an effeminate voice chuckling alongside his.

My curiosity was what shattered me as I leaped closer to the door. I opened it slightly to peek and Denver was in the arms of another woman so quickly. She had long blonde hair and skin blemishlessly white as milk. Her clothes barely covered the right parts of her body but his hands did.

She was really beautiful and had everything I didn't.

"Come on, let's go upstairs" Her voice was all giggly as she wrapped her arms around him. Denver crashed his lips into hers, leading her to the stairs but before he left, he darted one last glare back to me. Like he knew I was watching, he knew I was shattered, but he just didn't care.

This was the moment that sparked for me—and to think I was already envisioning a future where we could be a happy family, him and I and the child in my womb who he didn't still know about. Whom he never would. Denver was a horrible person and I'd only just realized that today.

I didn't want that sort of a father for my kid, and neither did I want him to stay with me only because I was pregnant. It was clear he never felt anything for me over the past two years so it was almost a genuine fear that he might try to take the baby away from me.

He didn't deserve the child, he didn't deserve me.

I lunged myself to the table, across which were the divorce papers, and with quivering hands, I took up the pen, signing alongside his. I fought to hold back the tears in my eyes but I failed miserably. I couldn't believe this was the end. I wanted nothing more than to leave.

There was no place for me here, there hadn't been over the past two years. Even as I scavenged through my wardrobe, I realized none of the things actually belonged to me. I could set this whole place ablaze in anger but rather, I chose to walk away, leaving him his ring on the table.

I was utterly defeated and dispirited as I walked out those doors, all I knew was I never wanted to see Denver again. I wanted a fresh start, in a place outside of Oakland or Tombsdale—a place very far away from here.

I'd walked in with the brightest of smiles but here I was, leaving with a river of tears. The winds blew through my hair as I took a brave step forward. The intention was to leave everything behind, a fresh start.

A new life, just me—my hands fell to clasp my barely showing stomach—and my child.

That was the day I truly left my terrible past behind, heading towards an even more uncertain future but if there was one thing that I knew, it was that no one could ever find out about the Alpha's secret baby. No one.

DENVER.

The cold air blew past the curtains, filling the room with an eerie atmosphere. I turned around before opening my eyes, she wasn't there. It was a fortnight and usually the morning after, Eliana stayed in my bed.

She would've somehow managed to squeeze herself into my arms, cuddling tight like a monster was going to get a hold of her. And when I would open my eyes, they would be on her forehead. Her hair would get into my mouth and her vanilla fragrance would fill the room.

"I'm sorry!" Her voice was usually so soft and delicate, especially in the mornings, she would say that before pulling away as if she wouldn't end up in my arms the next time we spent the night together. I would scoff but a smirk would cripple my lips when I turned away.

However, this was the first morning after a fortnight that Eliana wasn't in my bed. It was Claire who was, a hooker slumped by the edge about a distance from me. I cringed the moment I opened my eyes.

The room felt so empty, my arms were. Eliana was nowhere to be found.

Then as I got up, rubbing my eyes, I remembered last night. Giving her the divorce papers had been long time coming—today made it a full two years since our engagement and Eliana was still without a child.

Everyone was talking, my father himself was growing impatient and most of all, I couldn't risk her falling more and more in love with me. It was evident that she already had. I didn't believe in love, I didn't think I would ever fall for just one person so I had to let her go.

My eyes darted back to Claire and a heavy sigh escaped my lips. I got out of bed, Eliana's cologne still lingered in the air, settling in the depths of my stomach. The room, the hallway, everything felt so empty without her. Even in the kitchen, by now she would have already made breakfast.

Presenting them with a gleeful smile, she wasn't the best cook but she told me she learned while she was a slave in her pack. She was the one who usually cooked for everyone, and cleared and washed the dishes.

Sometimes I didn't think it was fair how they treated her, Eliana wasn't my enemy, her pack was. It was the reason I saved her that day, that and marrying an insider into Blood Hound. She was broken and wounded, slumped to the ground. Only later did she tell me about her stepbrother.

And the vile things Jaxon had done to her.

It might have been two years since then but I knew it still haunted her. Some nights, she still even nightmares.

He was the biggest asshole and I should have treated him as a lesson, only that she begged. She just wanted to leave everything behind her. I remembered everything Eliana told me since the night I rescued her.

It just unconsciously remained in the back of my mind. But most of all, what stuck and kept echoing in my ears up until this morning was what she said last night. "You're my mate!" She claimed.

It couldn't be.

It clearly wasn't true. I'd searched for many years before for my mate, even before my wolf grew feral without a connection but I didn't see her. Everyone said I didn't have a mate because you ought to meet her before turning twenty-five. It wasn't odd to have been skipped by the Moon Goddess, I'd only just accepted my fate that I was meant to be alone.

So how could Eliana Jacobs say that I, Malik Denver was her mate?

I didn't feel any sort of way with her, nothing special, not with anyone in my entire life. It was only an arrangement with Eliana you see. Often times I thought that I wasn't born to love but to rule.

Those things could never mix and when it did, it was a recipe for disaster.

My father learned the hard way when he held my mother's lifeless body in his hands the night after the Cold War. It was the last time all the werewolves in the world were in one place. We all lost someone that day and he lost the love of his life. I lost my mother.

Seeing how shattered he was, even after, I was convinced love was a terrible thing because you aren't guaranteed eternity, are you? It was selfish enough that the Moon Goddess would give you someone and then take that person from you. Most days, I remember my mother.

She was cheerful with a smile that could light up a room, she was caring and devoted to my father especially. She could step in front of a bullet to save the ones she loved. She was all that a Luna was meant to be—the first and only woman I'd ever loved.

But then she died a horrible death and it was messed up. I was messed up for so long. And when something like that happens, it's hard to believe love exists. After the war, the whole werewolf kingdom decided to separate, not only into packs and clans but far apart from each other.

Black Moon stayed in Tombsdale and Blood Hound was in its outskirts. We were not so far away from each other so there was always a sense of rivalry between the two packs especially when it came down to land and societal hierarchy. But it's been many years we've been here now.

Nothing so contingent to cause a battle and it better stay that way.

I didn't feel anything for Eliana Jacobs, not only was she in a rival pack, but she was also an omega, the lowest level of a werewolf. An Alpha like myself could never be mated to an Omega slave. So Eliana was wrong.

"Eliana!" I called out her name as I stormed into her room and when the doors flung wide open, I was met with the echo of my voice. It was eerily silent, her windows were taped shut and so was her wardrobe.

Her bed was as neatly laid as she hadn't spent the night there. And on the top of her dresser were the divorce papers. My heart shuddered as soon as I saw her signature penned at the bottom of the page. It was just a surprise to see that she had already signed it.

Attached to the document was another thin sheet of paper and I could recognize her handwriting even from a mile away. I realized it was a letter after I opened it and my eyes read along the lines.

'Hello Denver,

It's funny how I can't even bring myself to write your name anymore. I've already packed my things but here I am, sitting and hoping that you would walk back into the room and tell me it was all a lie. Tell me you didn't mean anything you said just now.

But I know you won't. I realize now how delusional I've been the last two years. I mean you're Malik Denver, how did I ever think you could love someone like me, an omega slave?

It was only an arrangement so I've signed the divorce papers.

You asked me last night to decide what I wanted and although it wasn't easy, I've decided to leave. I'm leaving Black Moon and I'm leaving you. I don't exactly know where I'm going but it will be somewhere far away from Oakland. Somewhere for a fresh start.

To start a new life, and I owe it to you. I owe it to you because you saved my life that night and you took me in. I hope I've been able to repay my debt over the last two years and I'm sorry I wasn't able to give you a child. I hope I never see you again. Goodbye, Denver.

With Love, Eliana'

I read through the letter and I felt a hard lump form in the back of my throat. I didn't feel anything for Eliana Jacobs—I had to remind myself—because I was immensely moved by her letter.

My fingertips trailed the edges of the white paper and I could feel a certain level of rage pump through my veins. She had left, she had run away like she did from her own pack. I stormed out of her room, meeting a few of the maids already gossiping in groups.

They dispersed at the sight of me, but I knew it was only long before they realized what had happened.

"What happened" My father suddenly appeared out of nowhere and I pushed the lump down my throat. My hands folded into a tight fist and I gazed into his eyes.

"Where is Eliana?" He asked and I shut my eyes. "Eliana is gone."