'Even without his rejection, as a human, I would never be worthy of standing beside Alexander as his equal,' Emilia said to herself as she watched Alexander stare at Mia, so lovingly that it added to the ache which had already spread in her heart.

"Enough with the photos please," Alexander spoke up, "Miss Kim and I have spent countless hours forging something so exceptional and so unique," he said as everyone around them paused to listen.

'Countless hours for his ex, but not ten seconds for his wife?' Emilia thought to herself as fresh tears rolled down her face at his words.

"And today, I would like to announce a game-changing alliance between the Redstone pack and the MoonRay pack. With their backing, I would like to declare my nomination for werewolf presidency," Alexander stated again, and this time Mia chuckled beside him, and Emilia watched him turn and smile at her again.

"Is alliance another code word for marriage?" one of the journalists asked, "have you marked each other yet?"

"Your opponents claim that without a mate or an heir, you are unfit to lead. What is your response?" Another asked.

Emilia looked down at the gift wrap in her hand and then her hand moved to cradle her belly as a few thoughts began to pass through her mind.

"Miss Kim, are you carrying Alpha Alexander's heir?" the journalists asked, pointing the microphone towards Mia.

"Those are..." Alexander began, but Mia's index finger shot up to touch his lips gently silencing him.

"Those concerns will be resolved soon," Mia finished with a smile.

There seemed to be a hidden meaning behind her silencing Alexander with her finger because all of a sudden, the small crowd became excited and began to take more pictures of the both of them.

Emilia, who had decided to leave the vicinity, turned to do so, and all of a sudden, a security guard shoved her hard, making her stumble to the hard floor. Pain shot through her entire body, making her wince, but as she raised her head back up, her eyes landed on Alexander, with his arms around Mia, protectively shielding her from the wild crowd.

'My husband is too busy protecting another woman to notice me bleeding at his feet,' Emilia said to herself as small droplets of blood dropped from her forehead to the floor. Before she could stand to her feet, strong arms picked her up from the floor.

"The servants quarters are at the back, let's go human," the man who had picked her said, while holding her bound.

"Get your hands off me," Emilia said as she struggled to free herself from the rough man's hold. "Leave me alone," she said louder, her voice alerting Alexander to her presence.

"Release her! Now!" Alexander ordered, his voice loud but not loud enough to alert the journalists around, who were now being held back by security. "What the hell are you doing here? You know the rules, no unauthorised access," He continued as Emilia walked closer to him, her forehead still bleeding.

"Why? Are you afraid that I'll interrupt your important work?" Emilia asked, her voice shaky with tears even though she tried to control it, "or your not-so-secret affair? which is it?"

With a smile still on her face, Mia gently stepped out from Alexander's hold and walked closer to Emilia. "You must be Emilia, Alexander's fated mate. Thank you for taking care of him for the last four years," she said, her voice pleasant.

Then Mia moved closer again to Emilia, and in a swift move she held up Emilia's face and moved her chin to the right side. "No mark. Good," Mia said, after taking a good look at Emilia's neck. Then she moved back to Alexander's side, "Sweetheart, I appreciate you keeping your promise of marking nobody but me," she said to Alexander.

Emilia's eyes widened with shock as she looked from Mia to Alexander, her gaze questioning. "It's not like that," Alexander answered, looking at Mia.

"Honey," Mia continued in a condescending tone, turning to look at Emilia without missing a beat, "I hope you know that human marriages mean absolutely nothing in werewolf society, right?"

"Nothing?" Emilia asked, choking slightly on the fresh tears that bubbled from inside her as she looked at Alexander. "Is that why I'm still unmarked? Because I'm just a human?"

"Look, just go home," Alexander said, not bothering to answer her question, "have the maid clean up your wound, okay?"

"Yeah, darling, we should go," Mia said, turning to Alexander.

"Alexander, wait," Emilia said, her voice sounding low and defeated. "Don't walk away, you need to see this," she said, stretching the gift box in her hand towards Alexander.

Before Alexander could properly get a hold of the box, Mia snatched it from his hand. "This little surprise can wait. We can't be late for the baby's first check-up, right?" She asked, turning to look at Alexander.

"Yes, you're right. We can't," Alexander replied.

"She's having your pup?" Emilia asked with widened eyes as she was unable to believe what she'd just heard. At Alexander's silence, she grabbed a hold of the box in Mia's hand, "then this isn't for you. You don't deserve it."

But as she tried to grab the box from Mia's hand, Mia refused to let go, leading to both of them tugging at the box, each refusing to let go.

"Hey, hey," Alexander called, trying to stop what was going on.

All of a sudden, Mia subtly used her werewolf strength to tug the box out from Emilia's hand, then she pushed herself backwards to make it look like Emilia had pushed her.

"Alexander!" Mia exclaimed, inching closer to his body, and holding him tight, "the baby," she added scrunching up her face like she was in pain.

For a moment Emilia stood with confusion written all over her face as she looked from Alexander to Mia and then back at Alexander.

"Something is wrong with the baby," Mia continued as she clung to Alexander's body.

"What the heck is wrong with you, Emilia. Mia is pregnant for fucks sake," Alexander said, raising his voice a bit.

"No, I didn't....I didn't do..." Emilia began, stuttering a bit. But before she could complete her sentence, Alexander carried Mia up in his arms and into his vehicle, the simple act made the journalists who were being held back by security to begin taking fresh pictures and demanding a statement.

Now in the vehicle, Mia rolled down the window and with a triumphant smile on her face, she tossed the gift box towards Emilia with just enough Alpha power that the box hit Emilia on her stomach with so much force that she stumbled and fell to the floor.

And for the third time that day, excruciating pain shot through Emilia's body making her pass out cold. As Alexander's vehicle drove off, rain began to pour down on Emilia heavily, making her regain consciousness.

"Uhh...," Emilia groaned as she tried to lift herself up from the wet floor with rain water splattering consistently over her. "Oh no," she cried out again as she looked down at her body-a pool of blood flowing slowly from her body onto the floor. "Somebody help me, please," she pleaded, to everyone and anyone that would listen, but the few persons she saw around her walked away from her and some of them even climbed over her to get to where they needed to go.

"I'm so sorry, baby," Emilia whispered to the photo of the foetus that had been in the gift box but now lay on the floor, blood stained. "If your mummy hadn't been such a worthless human, your daddy wouldn't have left for another werewolf," she said again with tears flowing freely down her face.

And at that moment, another stab of pain shot through Emilia's abdomen making her gasp painfully as her body convulsed profusely.

From the corner of Alexander's office building, Harper Lee walked out from where she had been hiding and watching, waiting for the perfect opportunity to step out. She had seen when the crystal necklace that had been on Alpha Alexander mate's neck had fallen down.

With the way Emilia was weak, it was hard to believe that she was anything more than a mere human, but she didn't want to take any chances, so she picked up the crystal necklace and wore it around her neck.

Harper moved a few feet away from Emilia's now unconscious body and fell down with a thud on the hard floor just as a black car with the emblem of the lycan royal family arrived at the scene

Without even waiting for the umbrella as per protocol, Logan, Mason, and Julian rushed out of the vehicle at the same time and towards Emilia's unconscious form.

"My princess," Logan exclaimed as his feet moved with such agility it was hard to believe he was already sixty years old.

As Mason carried Emilia's unconscious body up in his arms, Julian's eyes drifted to the second female laying on the floor, who also looked unconscious. "Mason, Dad, look, she's wearing the crystal," Julian said as he crouched closer to Harper's body.

And for a minute, the three mean we're puzzled. The globe had pointed out where they would find the lost princess, but there were two women who fit the description, except that one had the crystal necklace, which is a Gray family heirloom, and one doesn't

"They both need medical attention. Let's get them to a doctor first, then we can figure out who the real princess is later," Logan decided.

***

"Ahhh!" Emilia jolted awake with an almost silent scream and a racing heart. "My baby? Is my baby okay?" she gasped the question as her hands flew to her belly, and tears she did realise had formed, dropped down her cheeks.

"It's okay. You're okay, and the baby is fine," Mason, who had been glued to her bedside since they brought her in, said gently. His tone was so soothing that for a moment, Emilia breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Where...who are you people?" Emilia asked as her eyes moved slowly around the room she was in and slowly to the three faces staring at her.

"I'm Logan Gray, the Lycan King," Logan said with his eyes never leaving hers. "This is Mason," he tapped Mason's shoulder beside him, "and Julian," he finished, gesturing to a younger version of himself, who had been standing at the door with the same look on his face.

"What am I doing here?" Emilia asked slowly with furrowed brows as her gaze moved from one man to the other.

"Why don't we give you space to freshen up and have some food for the baby and then come out when you're through, then we'll let you know all that," Logan said softly.

At first, Emilia stared at them. She knew she ought to be scared or at least concerned, waking up in a strange place. Where she was didn't look like a hospital and the three men who looked at her like she was something important were sure as hell, not doctors. But for some reason, she couldn't explain, she felt at peace, she felt safe, so she nodded her head in agreement.

An hour later dressed in a new attire that was actually fit for a princess, which confused her the more, Emilia walked out of the room she had been in down to the study, led by a staff.

As she walked in, her gaze swept the room, Logan, Mason, and Julian stood huddled together while another young lady sat timidly on one of the chairs by the fireplace a few feet from them. As all three men saw her, smiles spread across their faces, which startled her at first.

It wasn't the sneers passed off as smiles that Emilia often received from werewolves who saw her as nothing but a mere slave, these were real, genuine smiles, it was as if they were truly happy to see her, truly happy she was there.

"May we know your name, young lady?" Mason asked, turning to look at the lady who Emilia met there.

"My name is Emilia," Harper replied, her small voice carrying around the now quiet room.

'Emilia?' The name echoed in Emilia's mind as she wondered if her name was truly that common. Throughout her twenty-two years of living, she had never met another person bearing her name.

"How did you come about that necklace on your neck?" Mason asked again.

Before Harper could answer, Emilia's eyes zeroed in on the necklace Mason asked about. "Wait, that necklace looks just like mine," Emilia cut in as her hands moved automatically to her neck, "That is my necklace, I've had that for as long as I can remember. It's the only thing I had on when I arrived at the orphanage," she added.

"You can't say that," Harper replied, her voice rising a bit, "I have had this necklace since I was a child. My adopted mother told me that this was the only thing she found on me when she first saw me as a child."

"I am very sure that this particular necklace on your neck is mine. It must have fallen off my neck when I fell to the floor in front of Alpha Alexander's office building," Emilia replied.

"It's okay," Mason said gently, looking at Emilia with a smile, "Surely if you own something, you should be able to know it inside out. Tell us something only you know about the necklace," he asked Harper.

They all turned towards Harper at that moment, who looked like she had been caught in a web. And for a few seconds, they waited for her to say something.

"Yes, you're right," Emilia replied when her namesake had nothing to say. "If you look on the inside of the crystal necklace, at the top left corner, there is a little scratch. Check it out. It will prove that the necklace is mine. That is the only scratch on the necklace," Emilia said confidently. Since she had already had her husband stolen from her, she's never going to allow anything else to get stolen from her, she promised herself.

Harper's eyes widened slightly as she swore in her head. She had been so in a hurry that she didn't check the necklace for things like scratches. With all eyes on her, she had no choice but to unclasp the necklace on her neck and hand it over to Julian.

"Yes, there is really a scratch here," Julian replied with a smile.

With their attention fixated on the necklace, neither of them noticed that slight wiggle of Harper's fingers.

"Wait, there are two scratches," Julian exclaimed, while Harper smiled smugly but discreetly.

"That can't be right. Let me see," Emilia said, gently taking the necklace from Julian, "when I woke up this morning, this second scratch on top of the crystal wasn't there," she continued, her tone sad. "Wait," she said as her eyes moved from Julian's neck to Mason's and then to Logan's. On their necks, sat identical crystal necklaces exactly like the one in her hand, "you three have identical necklaces," she pointed out, her brows furrowing in confusion.

"Yes, Emilia. This crystal necklace is a family heirloom, and each of us has one. This one right here belonged to our mother," Julian replied with a small smile on his face, pointing to the one in her hand.

"Does that mean I am your sister and you are my family?" Harper asked excitedly, before Emilia could say anything. "Brothers, Father," Harper said again, testing the words on her tongue.

Emilia's eyes widened a bit, not at what the girl bearing her name had just said, but because of the realization that she might indeed have a family of her own. For the longest of times, that has been what she really wanted–to have a family she can be a part of.

Despite the smile plastered on her face, Harper's anger grew, 'they are ignoring me. All of them are ignoring me,' she said to herself, 'and it's all because of that wench.' With the smile still plastered on her face, she moved her right hand behind her and wriggled her fingers more forcefully this time.

"Ahhh!" Emilia exclaimed in pain as a sharp corner of the crystal cut into her forefinger, drawing blood. As her blood touched the front part of the crystal, the crystal sizzled, emitting smoke.

With a frightened gasp, Emilia let go of the necklace, and it dropped to the floor with a soft clank. And in the twinkle of an eye, a fiery phoenix figure emerged from the crystal, stunning Emilia and even Harper that had had her mouth hung open even before Emilia dropped the necklace.

"Let me reintroduce myself, my darling," Logan said, with a smile, totally unfazed by the appearance of the phoenix, "I am Logan Gray, the Lycan King. I am your father."

"My father?" Emilia asked, still dazed by the phoenix figure that had now dissipated into thin air.

"Yes. And I am Mason Gray, the crowned Prince and your eldest brother," Mason said with affection in his eyes. "This one million tons of gold is my gift to you, little sister," he added, gesturing to the array of boxes by one corner of the room, filled with gold bars that Emilia was just noticing.

"And last but not least, I am Julian Gray, your second older brother. You are our little sister and the lycan princess," Julia said with a smile, "I own a billion-dollar company and these documents, which contain half the shares of my company, are my gift to you," he added, handing her a folder.

"I am the lycan princess?" Emilia repeated, unable to comprehend all that was going on at the moment.

"Yes, little sister," Mason replied, "You see, we knew from the moment we saw you that you were the one we were looking for. The Lycan blood is very unique, and one can tell even without the necklace," He said, turning to look at Harper, who had now begun fidgeting.

"Yes,"Julian continued, turning to face Harper, "all these back and forth we've been indulging in, was arranged for you to tell us what you are really doing here. Because, first off, we know you are not Emilia, and secondly, the CCTV cameras caught you stealing this necklace close to our sister's unconscious form."

"Please forgive me, your majesty," Harper tried out and fell to her feet with a thud. Her plan had failed and she knew she had to savage whatever was left so they didn't get caught.

"How dare you try to deceive the lycan royal family?" Mason thundered with barely controlled fury.

"Please, your majesty forgive a lowly human for daring to deceive you. It wasn't my intention. I had only wanted to steal the necklace but then I heard a vehicle approaching and I couldn't get away," she said. She had considered using her powers to try to get out of there but she knew she wasn't strong enough, so she had to use whatever lie came to mind. "I'm so sorry my princess, the life of a lowly human is not an easy one to live," Harper added, turning towards where Emilia stood, while mentally keeping her fingers crossed.

"So because your life is not an easy one, you think it is okay to lie and steal? Guards, arrest her," Logan ordered.

Emilia thought about all the times she had been insulted and treated like trash because she thought she was human, "Please, let her go," She said, turning to the man who said he was her father.

All three men turned to her briefly, then Logan took a deep breath and said, "consider today your lucky day, young lady. Get her away from here," he said to the guards.

As the guards dragged Harper away, a sly hidden smile played on her lips as she promised herself that she would help Liam Black achieve his aim.

"All this can't be real," Emilia said, her voice low and soft as soon as Harper had left them. "I am a human and an orphan, I have been told that my whole life."

"It is real. We lost you when you were five years old and have been looking for you ever since," Logan said, his eyes shining with tears–happy tears.

"Yes. You even inherited our mother's healing abilities, that is why your baby is safe, even after bleeding so much," Mason said.

Emilia touched her forehead, "I had fallen, and now I don't even feel any pain," she said, moving to a standing mirror close to where she stood to check her forehead, "Not even a scratch. I really do have healing powers," she whispered. "And a dad," she smiled more freely as she held Logan's hand, "and not one but two brothers," she added with a smile.

Mason and Julian smiled cheerful as they walked closer to her and all hugged her.

"I have to go home now," Emilia whispered after a few seconds, her words bringing a frown upon each of the men's faces.

"Home to that jerk who left you bleeding and unconscious in the rain?" Logan asked, his voice laced with barely controlled fury.

"He nearly killed your baby," Mason said in the same tone as their father.

"I'm not going back to him, I'm going back to divorce him," Emilia said.

***

Later that day, Emilia sighed deeply as the royal vehicle stopped in front of her soon-to-be ex-husband's house.

"This is your last chance. Do you want me to come in and terrify him properly?" Mason asked, his tone so serious that it made Emilia chuckle.

"I think I can handle one arrogant Alpha," Emilia said with a smile as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

"If you need backup or a body to be disposed of, just mindlink us," Julian, who sat in the front of them said reassuringly.

"Okay. Thank you big bros," Emilia replied with another chuckle. For the first time in her life, she had a family to back her up–the feeling was surreal and it helped to boost her confidence.

With another deep breath Emilia stepped into the mansion. "Alpha, Mrs. Reed has returned," one of the staff shouted as soon as she saw Emilia.

In a matter of seconds, the sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway and Emilia's brow shut up as Alexander rushed to where she was. "Where were you last night?" he asked, raising his voice a bit.

"Do you know how many nights I stayed up waiting for you?" Emilia asked, ignoring Alexander's question, "well, none of that matters now. I'm here to end this."

"End what? What are you talking about?" Alexander asked, his forehead furrowing in confusion.

"Us. This mistake of a marriage. I want a divorce," Emilia said and handed him the divorce document. "I've already signed my part, it's your turn."

Without even reading the document, Alexander scrunched it and threw it to the floor. "So that's your game plan, uh? Let me guess, you want some more money? Is that it?" he asked.

Emilia's eyes widened in surprise, "If you would have bothered reading the terms in the document, you would have seen that I want nothing from you," she replied.

"Oh please, how could you even afford an attorney, uh? Alexander asked, with barely controlled anger, "Unless of course, you have a new sugar daddy."

"Is that what you think of me? A gold digger?" She asked.

"That's what you are," he retorted, then he opened a drawer and brought out another document, "That's your deal. You brought that to me."

Emilia looked down at the contract marriage document she had signed with Alexander four years ago.

"You asked me to pay you one million dollars per year to be my secret wife, remember?" Alexander asked.

'I needed that money to save Oscar, my friend from the orphanage. Being gay in a werewolf society is worse than being human, I was all he had, a deep silent sigh passed Emilia's as she remembered.

"For the past four years, I have loved you completely, unconditionally, and that's what you think of me? Let's end this," Emilia said and turned to leave.

"You think you can just walk away whenever it suits you? Clause 2.2. states that only I could break the contract. Not you," Alexander's words stopped Emilia in her tracks. "Clause 3.2. states that I own you, physically, emotionally, spiritually, you belong to me." Alexander added.

Emilia turned around and in a swift move connected her palm to Alexander's face.