A second heartbeat. Faint, hidden, but undeniably present.
Alpha Eryx freezes in his study, a stack of endless pack reports forgotten in his hands.
A sudden rush of heat floods his chest, his wolf stirring, wide awake, alert.
He knows what this is.
It is the gift only some alphas possess, they can sense their heir's heartbeat the moment conception happens.
For a breathless second, he wonders if it's wishful thinking. Another false hope. But the pulsing grows steadier, unwavering, echoing through his very soul.
It is real.
He surges to his feet, his posture tense, the chair scraping against the floor as he storms out of the office without even closing the files.
His footsteps pound down the hallways of the pack house, servants startled and stepping aside, bowing hurriedly as he passes.
He barely registers them.
He is already reaching for his mate.
He throws the door open and finds Morgana, his Luna, standing by the mirror. Before she can react, he wraps her in a crushing hug, his hands trembling against her waist.
"It happened," he breathes, words breaking under the weight of emotion. "It finally happened. We will have a baby, Morgana. I felt it!"
Morgana blinks, brow pinched in confusion, heart stumbling. "Felt it?"
"Yes!" Eryx's grin is radiant and boyish, a rare glimpse of vulnerability behind the Alpha's iron facade.
His wolf stirs in triumph beside him as he adds, "I can feel the heartbeat, I swear it's true this time." Tears nearly spill from his eyes.
He is so overwhelmed, he doesn't even notice her shock, doesn't sense the panic that burns in her eyes.
Pregnant?
No. That cannot be. She is certain. She has taken every precaution, swallowed the pills, drawn the spells, bled out any hint of conception before it could ever anchor itself inside her.
So how comes?! She is sure she isn't pregnant.
Motherhood to her is a trap, not vanity, but survival. She isn't here to build the Alpha's bloodline. She's here to destroy it.
That is her true mission, sealed long before she ever wore the Luna's mark.
A child is a disaster, an anchor that would sink her.
She has stayed close to Eryx, played the perfect Luna, smiling for the pack, charming them with her poise.
But behind locked doors, she gathers knowledge like venom, maps of the patrol shifts, weaknesses in the territory, stolen spell fragments meant for Eryx alone.
Every time she secretly ended a pregnancy, whenever she got pregnant by accident.
Just yesterday, Eryx had suggested they consider insemination since he thought the natural way not was working. He had worried he was the problem, wondered about his own fertility. Craved an heir.
Morgana had agreed, only to keep him calm. But at the hospital she had told the doctors to dispose of the sperm, dispose of it!
So how, how in the Moon Goddess's name, could this have happened?
"How sure are you that you're not imagining this again?" she asks now, trying to steady her voice.
"Please don't say that," he pleads, eyes soft. "It's real this time. Even now, I can feel it. Should we see the doctor to confirm?"
The question slices through her like a blade.
She forces a bright, artificial smile, her lips stiff. "Of course! Yes, yes, we should do that, but can you give me… an hour? Just one hour? I need to finish updating these lists before deadline."
He beams at her, relief flooding his features. "Okay, my love. Or..." his eyes light up, "we can have the doctor come here instead, so you don't need to move."
Her stomach drops.
"Great idea," she manages to say, voice tight but smooth.
"I'll call him now," Eryx says, brimming with excitement as he leaves the room.
The second the door shuts, Morgana's mask shatters.
Panic claws at her chest. She paces, head spinning. What the hell is happening? How did this even happen?
Did they inseminate someone else? Did they give his sperm to another woman?!
"I need to see those idiotic doctors!" she repeats like a mantra, trying to make sense of it all. Finally, she moves, grabbing her things.
But when she looks for the key to her cabinet, the one holding everything that belongs to her, including money she could use for transport since she can't use her car without being noticed now, it's nowhere to be found.
She searches every shelf, every hidden pocket, but the key is nowhere to be found.
Her pulse spikes, rage flooding through her. She slams the cabinet shut and screams at the door.
"Get me that stupid servant right now! Where did she place my keys?!"
The guard outside flinches, even though he's used to her daily outbursts. Still, he rushes off without a word and returns almost immediately.
"Luna," he says carefully, bowing, "she's not around. They say she wasn't feeling well, she was taken to the hospital yesterday, and she hasn't been discharged."
Morgana bites down a curse, barely holding her composure.
Fine. If necessary, she will use her paws in wolf form. Because she must get to the hospital, must confirm where that sperm went, must find out if another woman is carrying that child.
And she is going to terminate that pregnancy without hesitation.