At last, the people around me noticed. Someone rushed over, panic lacing his voice. “Miss, what happened? Are you okay? I’ll call 911!”

The wail of an ambulance howled in my ears. I lay on the stretcher, pain swallowing me whole, but I clung to the Pack Doctor’s sleeve as if it were the only thing keeping me alive.

“Pack Doctor… please… save my pup,” my voice was a thin, broken whisper, “he’s only three months… please…”

The Pack Doctor patted my trembling hand. “Don’t worry, Miss. I’ll do everything I can. I’ll call your mate right now—he’ll be here soon to calm you.”

At the mention of Chisel, a flicker of hope flared in my chest. He was my mate. With his touch, with his presence, the pup would be safe.

The line clicked. I held my breath—

But the voice that answered wasn’t his. It was hers. “What do you want?”

The Pack Doctor hesitated, then hurriedly said, “Who is this? Where is Leah’s mate? Please, hand him the phone. Ms. Leah is bleeding badly, we’re on the way to the hospital—he needs to come now!”

Sylvia gave a small, sharp laugh. “Leah, can’t you grow up? You really found someone to help you fake this, just to drag Chisel back?”

“You think waving your pup like a banner will make him come running? Stop dreaming. He already made you his mate—what more do you want?”

My breath came shallow and weak. For the sake of the pup I forced out the words: “Sylvia… I’m not fighting you… I just beg you… let Chisel come to the hospital… my pup… he’s dying…”

“Do you think I’ll believe that childish act?” Her voice crackled through the speaker, every word cutting like a fang. “If you’re so desperate, then I’ll let you hear it yourself—who he really cares about.”

I heard her call out: “Chisel! It’s Leah. She says you need to come back, that something’s wrong with the pup.”

Then came his voice—the same voice that once swore under the Moon Goddess to protect me—now full of irritation. “Don’t listen to her. She’s probably lying again. Your leg is what matters now, don’t be afraid. The Pack Doctor is coming.”

Heat drained out of my body, my heart sinking with it.

The Pack Doctor tried the number again and again. Only the dead tone of “The number you have dialed is no longer in service” filled the air.

He sighed and gripped my hand tightly. “Ms. Leah, don’t be afraid. We’ll do everything we can!”

But I already knew. It was too late.

Inside me, the small flutter grew weaker… then vanished completely. My pup… was gone.

I don’t know how long I drifted before opening my eyes again. My fingers twitched. My whole body felt weak and hollow. My belly was empty.

The pup was gone.

The sharp scent of disinfectant stabbed my nose, my heightened wolf senses making it worse. The Pack Doctor stood beside my bed, his tone soft, almost pitying. “It’s alright, Ms. You’re still young. There will be other pups.”

Instinctively my hand went to my flat belly.

So many times I’d felt that tiny heartbeat, the shared blood of my lineage flowing in him.

Now it was gone. Nothing but silence.

Tears slid down my face unchecked.

Grief gave way to a cold, creeping terror. The Brady bloodline had never liked me. From the moment I entered their house they had pushed me to bear a Brady heir, warning that without a pup I could not remain Luna of the Vance Pack.

At every family gathering, the old Luna looked at me as if I were a defective product.

Only when my pregnancy was confirmed did their faces finally soften, the old Luna even brewing herbs herself to help me carry the pup safely.

But now… the pup was gone. And it was his own father who pushed him out of me.

My parents would never let me go for this either.

They had clawed their way into this high branch of Alpha power—how could they ever allow me to “ruin” it with weakness?

“Where is the pup’s father?”

The Pack Doctor flipped through my records in disbelief. His voice dripped with fury.

“This is outrageous! Pregnant she-wolves suffer dangerous hormone surges—without a mate’s presence to soothe them, the risk is catastrophic. He skipped every single check-up, and now, during a miscarriage, he still isn’t here? Does he not know what kind of damage comes from neglecting a pregnant lady?”

His words shattered the illusions I had been clutching so desperately.

From the first moon of pregnancy until now, I had gone to every appointment alone.

Three months ago, when I’d first told him, Chisel had seemed so happy. He had squeezed my hand tight, promising to stand beside me for the first bloodline test. He swore our pup would one day inherit his throne.

But that same day… Sylvia returned.

And once she came back, his heart was no longer mine.

Each appointment afterward, he found excuses: “There’s an emergency at the company,” “I have to meet a partner.” But I’d already seen the pictures on Facebook. Those hours were never spent in meetings—they were spent with Sylvia.

“Break the mate bond. He betrayed us first,” Ruby growled in my head, her fury burning.

“Yes.” My voice was hollow. After seven years, my heart had finally burned itself out.

“If no one comes to pay your fees, you’ll have to handle it yourself.” The Pack Doctor slipped the hospital papers into my trembling hands.

I tried to stand, but dizziness crashed over me. After only a few steps I stumbled into two figures.

Chisel. And Sylvia.

At the very moment when I needed my mate’s scent to steady me, he was here, cradling her gently.

His gaze snapped to me, instantly cold. Instinctively, he shielded her behind him, his voice laced with suspicion. “You followed us here? Sylvia’s foot is already injured—what more are you plotting?”

The tears were long gone, but my knuckles still shook. I was the one who had lost a pup. I was the one who had nearly died.

And yet… he looked at me as if I were the threat.

I stared at his face, then laughed. A broken, bitter sound. I must have been mad to think he was anything else.

He had always been like this. I had just been too blind to see it.

“Chisel, let it go,” Sylvia murmured sweetly, casting me a sidelong glance filled with scorn. “She’s still too immature, not ready to be a true Luna.”

Her words doused the last embers of my anger like icy water.

No matter what I did, they would never be satisfied. I wasn’t an unfit Luna because of my failures—

I was unfit because Chisel never loved me.

“You understand your mistake, don’t you? Then apologize properly. Go outside and fetch some food for Sylvia.” His voice dripped with disappointment, as if my worth were measured only in how well I served her. “Her foot is injured. She got to stay here.”

My eyes flicked to her ankle. Just a shallow cut. Already scabbed. And yet she “needed” hospitalization?

I felt nothing now. Just exhaustion. I had lost my pup. What else could matter?

Chisel must have noticed the deathly pallor on my face. His tone softened, faintly coaxing. “What’s wrong? It’s just a small apology. Buying her something to eat… is that too much for you?”

“No.” I forced a smile, brittle as glass. “It’s not too much.”

Ruby’s snarl echoed bitterly inside me. “Not too much? We lost our pup. Compared to that, what is this humiliation?”

“Enough. Go home and wait for me,” Chisel said lightly. “Once Sylvia’s ankle heals, I’ll come back to you.”

At first… I believed him. I even waited for him.

The first time—

On the very day Sylvia returned, I had asked him to accompany me for the pup’s bloodline check.

He told me, “Something came up. You go first. I’ll meet you there later.”

But I waited until the moon rose high, and still, he never came.

Later, on Fox News, I saw him—Chisel—holding a bouquet of blazing roses at the airport, his usually frozen expression softened into a smile.

A smile I remembered once belonging to me.

Back then, his smile was always paired with a reprimand:

“You are my Luna now. Why would you wear such revealing clothes for other wolves to see? I’ll get jealous.”

And I had foolishly reveled in that jealousy, mistaking it for love.

But Sylvia—

She didn’t need to do anything. Simply by standing there, she was given everything.

The second time—

On the third day of Sylvia’s return, my was in heat.

Because of the pup, I couldn’t take suppressants. I endured the night alone, clutching his shirt, clinging to the faint trace of his scent to survive until dawn.

The next morning, Facebook showed me the truth—Chisel and Sylvia at a candlelit dinner, with a caption beneath:

“The most beautiful girl deserves the perfect evening.”

I swallowed the bitterness burning in my throat, my voice steady in a way that surprised even myself.

“Alright.”

He blinked, as if he hadn’t expected me to agree so easily.

But no matter what he thought, he would never guess—

I was already planning to leave him.

If I was leaving anyway, nothing else mattered anymore.

All the disappointments, the buried grievances, rose up like scars finally torn open.

I remembered calling him during that heat, whispering into the phone, my voice trembling. And his answer had cut me deeper than claws:

“Be good, Leah. I’m exhausted. You make things harder when you cling like this. But I can’t abandon my subordinates for you. I am Alpha.”

So, I had forced myself to endure, to understand, to wait until the following afternoon.

When I finally felt his scent brushing against mine… it was tainted.

Carrying Sylvia’s fragrance.

The third time—

A stormy night, I was ambushed by Rogues. Shaking, bleeding, I called him.

“Leah, I can’t always be there by your side. Don’t throw tantrums just to make me come running. Using lies like this—it’s wrong.”

It wasn’t until the enforcement team confirmed my injuries that he realized the truth.

But instead of remorse, his words cut me again:

“If you had done your Luna’s duties properly, how could I doubt you?”

By then, I had lost so much blood that I couldn’t even hold my wolf form. I thought I would die.

And still, I whispered through the pain:

“Chisel, if I live through this, I’ll give you one last chance. My love has limits.”

Maybe pity moved him in that moment. His tone softened, almost gentle:

“Alright. Next time, I won’t ignore you and the pup.”

I believed him.

I believed him until now.

But he never treasured that final chance.

“Leah, Sylvia still hasn’t eaten. If you won’t fetch something for her, I’ll take her myself. You should go home first.”

His voice snapped me out of my thoughts, casual, without an ounce of guilt.

“Alright.” My reply was hollow, mechanical.

“What are you holding?” His tone sharpened suddenly, suspicion creeping in.

My fingers clenched tighter around the hospital slip in my pocket.

“Nothing.”

Ruby scoffed inside me, her growl dripping with scorn. “If he hadn’t severed the mate bond, he’d already know.”

I shoved the papers deeper into my pocket, my steps never faltering.

“You… you have another check-up soon, don’t you?”

His voice wavered, tinged with panic.

“When I’m done taking care of Sylvia, I’ll come with you. I’ll take you to the hospital.”