He proposed to my stepsister at midnight. I was carrying his child.

But let me start from the beginning—ten minutes before my world collapsed.

The crystal chandelier cast fractured rainbows across the marble floor of Greyson's penthouse. Champagne laughter, designer heels clicking, the rustle of silk gowns—all of it swirled around me while I pressed myself deeper into the shadowed alcove behind the grand piano.

My fingers clutched the pregnancy test so tightly the plastic edges bit into my palm.

Ten minutes to midnight.

Two pink lines. They seemed to glow in my dark corner like a secret beacon, and my heart raced with the kind of hope that makes you stupid. Tonight would be perfect. Greyson would finally acknowledge what we both knew—that I was his mate, his Luna. The timing couldn't be more romantic. A new year, a new beginning, and now... a baby.

I smoothed down my dress—the same navy blue one from the thrift store, the same one I'd worn to three different pack events this year. It was the nicest thing I owned. Compared to the silk and satin swirling around me, it looked exactly like what it was: charity clothes on an orphan girl playing pretend.

Sarah's laugh cut through the music like broken glass.

I spotted her across the room—my stepsister, holding court near the bar in a stunning red gown that probably cost more than my rent. Blonde hair perfectly styled, admirers circling like moths. She didn't know about Greyson and me. No one did.

We'd kept our relationship secret at his request. Hidden places. Stolen moments in his office after pack meetings. Whispered promises in empty corridors.

"It's complicated," he'd always said when I asked about going public. "The pack politics, Maya. You understand."

I did understand. I was nobody—an orphaned omega living on the charity of my stepfamily. But tonight, with this test burning in my hand and the countdown approaching, everything would change.

"Ladies and gentlemen!"

Greyson's voice boomed across the room, amplified by his Alpha presence. Every conversation died. Every head turned. He stood on the raised platform near the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city skyline glittering behind him like a crown of stars.

God, he was beautiful. Black tuxedo molded to broad shoulders. Dark hair perfectly styled. Those piercing gray eyes that had looked at me with such tenderness just yesterday, when he'd whispered that he loved me.

Five minutes to midnight.

My heart hammered against my ribs as I stepped forward, just enough to catch his eye. This was it. This was the moment he would call me to his side, announce our bond to the pack, share our joy about the baby.

"As we prepare to welcome the new year," Greyson continued, that commanding Alpha tone making my wolf purr, "I want to share something special with all of you."

Yes.

I took another step forward, legs trembling. The pregnancy test felt warm in my sweaty palm.

"This year has brought many changes, many revelations about what truly matters." His eyes swept the crowd, and for one heart-stopping moment, I thought they found mine. "About love, about destiny, about the bonds that shape our future."

The crowd murmured appreciatively. Champagne glasses rose in anticipation. I could barely breathe. My wolf practically vibrated beneath my skin.

"Three minutes!" someone shouted.

Couples found each other, preparing for the traditional midnight kiss. I waited for Greyson to step down from the platform, to make his way through the crowd to me.

He didn't move.

"Before we count down to midnight," he said, his voice softer now but still carrying across the silent room, "I have something important to ask someone very special."

My heart nearly burst. A public proposal. In front of the entire pack leadership. I pressed the pregnancy test closer to my body, imagining the moment I'd share our secret.

Then Greyson's eyes found their target.

And my world tilted sideways.

He wasn't looking at me.

He was looking at Sarah.

"Two minutes!" The countdown began, but the voices sounded muffled, distant, like I was drowning. I watched in growing horror as Greyson stepped down from the platform, moving through the parting crowd with purposeful strides.

Not toward my corner.

Toward Sarah.

No. No, this couldn't be happening. There had to be some mistake. Maybe he was going to acknowledge her as his future sister-in-law? Maybe—

Greyson dropped to one knee in front of Sarah.

The room erupted. Gasps. Squeals of delight. Sarah's hands flew to her mouth, blue eyes wide with what looked like genuine surprise.

The pregnancy test slipped from my numb fingers.

It clattered to the floor with a sound that seemed to echo like thunder. But no one heard. No one was looking at me.

"Sarah Mitchell." Greyson's voice carried clearly across the suddenly silent room. "You are my true mate, my Luna, my everything. Will you marry me?"

The diamond ring caught the light from the chandelier, throwing sparkles across Sarah's tear-streaked face. She nodded frantically, unable to speak. Greyson slipped the ring onto her finger.

The crowd began the final countdown.

"Ten! Nine! Eight!"

I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think beyond the crushing weight settling on my chest. This had to be a nightmare. Yesterday—yesterday—Greyson had held me in his arms, told me he loved me, made love to me with a tenderness that had convinced me we were meant to be.

"Seven! Six! Five!"

Sarah threw her arms around Greyson's neck as he stood, pulling him into a kiss that made the crowd cheer. My stepsister—beautiful, perfect Sarah who had everything handed to her—was kissing my mate. My secret lover.

The father of my unborn child.

"Four! Three! Two!"

The pregnancy test lay at my feet, its pink lines a mockery of the hope I'd carried into this room. Around me, couples embraced. Champagne corks popped. Confetti fell like snow.

"ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Midnight bells chimed across the city. Cheers mixed with laughter mixed with the sound of my heart shattering into a thousand irreparable pieces.

Greyson spun Sarah in his arms, her red dress flaring around them like spilled blood.

And I finally understood.

I had never been his mate. I had been his dirty little secret. His temporary distraction. His mistake.

The new year began with celebration all around me. I stood frozen in the shadows, watching the man I loved claim another woman as his Luna.

While our child grew silently in my womb.

The confetti fell around me like ash, each piece a reminder of the celebration I wasn't part of. My legs moved without my permission, carrying me forward through the crowd of congratulating pack members. The pregnancy test lay forgotten behind me, crushed under someone's designer heel.

"Greyson."

My voice cracked his name like a whip across the celebration. Conversations died in ripples around us as heads turned, sensing the tension that suddenly electrified the air. Greyson looked up from Sarah's tear-streaked face, his gray eyes finding mine across the sea of shocked expressions.

For a moment—just a heartbeat—I saw something flicker there. Panic? Guilt? But it vanished so quickly I might have imagined it.

"Maya?" Sarah's voice was breathless with confusion, her left hand still extended to show off the massive diamond that caught the light like captured stars. "What are you—"

"What about me?" The words tore from my throat, raw and desperate. The crowd pressed closer, sensing drama, their wolf instincts drawn to conflict like moths to flame. "What about us? What about our child?"

The silence that followed was deafening. Even the music had stopped, leaving only the distant sound of fireworks outside and my own ragged breathing. Greyson's face went through a series of micro-expressions—surprise, calculation, and finally, cold dismissal.

"Our child?" His voice carried that Alpha authority that usually made my knees weak. Now it felt like ice water in my veins. "What fantasy have you been living in, Maya?"

Sarah's hand dropped from his arm, her blue eyes darting between us with growing understanding and horror. The crowd murmured, phones appearing as pack members began recording what was clearly about to become pack gossip for months.

"Yesterday," I whispered, my voice barely audible but somehow carrying in the charged silence. "Yesterday you told me you loved me. You said—"

"I said a lot of things." Greyson stepped away from Sarah, moving toward me with predatory grace. Each footstep echoed on the marble floor like a death knell. "But surely even someone like you understands the difference between entertainment and reality."

The words hit me like physical blows. Someone like me. The dismissal in his tone, the way he looked at me now—like I was something distasteful he'd stepped in—made my wolf whimper and retreat deep inside my chest.

"You're pregnant?" Sarah's voice cut through the tension, high and sharp with disbelief. "Maya, how could you—with him? He's my—"

"Your what?" I spun toward my stepsister, desperation making me reckless. "Your mate? Since when? Since tonight? Because three days ago he was in my bed, telling me I was his everything!"

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Someone's champagne glass shattered against the floor. The sound seemed to snap something inside Greyson, and when he spoke again, his voice carried the full weight of his Alpha power.

"Enough." The word reverberated through the room, pressing down on every wolf present. My knees buckled slightly under the force of it, but I fought to stay standing. "You want to know what you are to me, Maya? What you've always been?"

He was close enough now that I could smell his cologne, the same scent that had clung to my sheets just yesterday. Close enough to see the cruel twist of his lips, the way his gray eyes had gone cold and flat.

"You're a wolfless freak living on charity." Each word was precise, calculated to cause maximum damage. "A pathetic omega who threw herself at an Alpha and convinced herself it meant something. Did you really think someone like me would choose someone like you?"

The crowd pressed closer, their excitement palpable. This was better than any reality show, better than any pack drama they'd witnessed before. I could feel their judgment, their whispered comments about how they'd always known I didn't belong.

"But the baby—" I tried one last time, my hand instinctively moving to my still-flat stomach.

"What baby?" Greyson's laugh was sharp and humorless. "If there even is one, it's nothing but a bastard mistake. A reminder of a few nights when I was bored and you were convenient."

Sarah made a small sound of distress, but she didn't move to defend me. None of them did. They just watched, hungry for the spectacle of my destruction.

"Sarah is everything you're not," Greyson continued, his voice growing stronger, more confident as he played to his audience. "Pure bloodline, perfect breeding, worthy of being Luna. You? You're not even worthy of being her servant."

The humiliation burned through me like acid, eating away at every tender moment we'd shared, every whispered promise, every gentle touch. I wanted to run, to disappear, to wake up from this nightmare. But my feet remained rooted to the marble floor.

"As Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack," Greyson's voice took on the formal cadence of pack law, and my blood turned to ice. "I hereby reject any claim Maya Winters believes she has on me or my bloodline."

The formal rejection hit me like a physical blow, my wolf crying out in anguish deep inside my chest. But he wasn't finished.

"Furthermore," he continued, his Alpha power building in the air around us like a storm, "I command you to kneel."

The Alpha Command slammed into me with the force of a freight train. My legs gave out instantly, my knees hitting the marble with a crack that echoed through the silent room. Pain shot up my thighs, but it was nothing compared to the agony of having my will stripped away, my body forced to submit against every instinct.

"Look at her," Greyson addressed the crowd, his voice carrying clearly over my bowed head. "This is what happens to those who forget their place. Who dare to reach above their station."

Tears dripped onto the marble beneath me, each drop a piece of my shattered heart. I tried to fight the command, to lift my head, to stand, but the Alpha power held me fast.

"Maya Winters," Greyson's voice boomed with finality, "you are hereby banished from the Crescent Moon Pack territory. You have until sunrise to leave our lands. If you're found here after dawn, you'll be hunted as a rogue."

The formal banishment settled over me like a death sentence. Banished wolves rarely survived alone, especially not pregnant ones. Especially not wolfless ones like me.

The crowd erupted in shocked murmurs, but no one protested. No one spoke in my defense. I was truly alone, kneeling on the cold marble floor while confetti continued to fall around me like snow on a grave.

The patrol guards shoved me forward with the butt of a rifle, my bare feet stumbling over frozen roots and jagged stones. The thin fabric of my navy dress—the same one I'd worn to what I thought would be my fairy tale announcement—offered no protection against the brutal wind that cut through me like glass shards.

"Keep moving, rogue!" one of them barked, his breath forming white clouds in the frigid air. "You've got until sunrise to clear our territory."

Sunrise. I glanced at my phone's cracked screen—1:17 AM. Less than five hours to find shelter, food, warmth. Less than five hours before they'd hunt me down like the animal they believed me to be.

The forest loomed ahead, its twisted branches reaching toward the star-choked sky like skeletal fingers. Everyone called it the Death Forest—a place where banished wolves went to die, where rogues disappeared without a trace. The irony wasn't lost on me that this was where Greyson had chosen to dispose of his inconvenient mistake.

Another shove sent me sprawling into the snow, my palms scraping against hidden rocks. The cold bit through my skin instantly, numbing my fingers as I struggled to push myself upright. Behind me, I heard the guards' muffled laughter.

"Look at her," one sneered. "Can't even stand up properly. How's she supposed to survive out here?"

"That's the point," another replied. "Alpha Greyson's cleaning house. No loose ends."

Loose ends. That's what I was now—not Maya, not the woman who'd loved him with everything she had, not the mother carrying his child. Just a loose end to be severed and forgotten.

The patrol's footsteps retreated, leaving me alone with the howling wind and the crushing weight of my new reality. I wrapped my arms around my torso, trying to preserve what little body heat remained. My teeth chattered so violently I bit my tongue, tasting copper.

The snow fell heavier now, thick flakes that clung to my hair and dress, melting against my feverish skin before freezing again. Each step forward felt like walking through quicksand, my muscles seizing with cold, my vision blurring at the edges.

I pressed one hand against my stomach, where our child—Greyson's child—grew in secret. "I'm sorry," I whispered to the tiny life inside me. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you."

The wind swallowed my words, carrying them away into the darkness. My legs gave out again, and this time I didn't have the strength to stand. The snow beneath me felt almost warm now, a dangerous sign I recognized from survival training. Hypothermia was setting in.

Images flashed through my mind—Greyson's hands tangled in my hair, his whispered promises of forever, the way he'd held me after making love like I was something precious. All lies. All calculated manipulation to keep his convenient plaything satisfied while he planned his real future with Sarah.

"Pathetic omega," I echoed his words, my voice barely audible over the storm. "Wolfless freak."

Maybe he was right. Maybe I was deluding myself, thinking I deserved more than scraps and shadows. Maybe dying here in the snow was exactly what someone like me deserved.

The cold was winning now, creeping through my veins like liquid nitrogen. My heartbeat slowed, my breathing becoming shallow. I could feel consciousness slipping away, the pain in my extremities fading to blessed numbness.

Just as my eyes began to close, twin beams of light cut through the swirling snow like searchlights. The rumble of a powerful engine grew louder, closer, until it stopped somewhere near my collapsed form.

A car door slammed, the sound sharp and decisive in the muffled quiet of the storm. Heavy footsteps crunched through the snow, each one deliberate and measured. Through my fading vision, I saw the outline of expensive leather boots, their surface unmarked by the harsh conditions.

The boots stopped inches from my face, and I caught a glimpse of perfectly pressed dress pants, the kind that cost more than most people's monthly salary. Whoever this was, they didn't belong in a place like the Death Forest at 1 AM during a blizzard.

"Well, well," a deep voice murmured above me, rich with an accent I couldn't place through my delirium. "What do we have here?"

I tried to lift my head, to see the face that belonged to the voice, but my muscles wouldn't obey. The cold had stolen too much from me already. All I could manage was a weak whimper, my breath forming tiny crystals in the air.

The stranger crouched down, bringing himself closer to my level. Even through my hypothermic haze, I could sense something different about him—a presence that made the air itself seem to vibrate with barely contained power. Not like Greyson's aggressive Alpha dominance, but something older, deeper, more refined.

"Interesting," he continued, and I felt rather than saw him studying me with clinical precision. "A banished wolf, pregnant, left to die in designer evening wear. Someone wanted to make a statement."

How could he know about the pregnancy? I'd barely known myself until a few hours ago. But the question dissolved as another wave of cold crashed over me, stealing what little warmth remained in my core.

"Please," I managed to whisper, the word barely forming on my frozen lips. "My baby."

Silence stretched between us, filled only by the wind's relentless howling. I prepared myself for rejection, for this stranger to walk away and leave me to my fate. After all, why would anyone risk themselves for a worthless omega cast out by her own pack?

Instead, strong arms slid beneath me, lifting me from the snow with surprising gentleness. The warmth of another body pressed against mine, and I couldn't help the sob of relief that escaped my throat.

"Don't worry, little wolf," the voice murmured as he carried me toward the waiting vehicle. "You're safe now."

The last thing I saw before darkness claimed me was the gleam of a royal crest embossed on the side of the black SUV, its gold surface catching the vehicle's headlights like a promise of salvation.