When I came to, the white glow above me pierced through my eyelids like silver claws. My body felt heavy, drained my wolf silent inside me. For a moment, I thought I was still caught between life and death, but the sterile scent of herbs and metal told me I was in the pack infirmary.
A healer stood beside the bed, his expression composed, almost indifferent.
"The pup didn't survive," he said flatly. "We'll need to clear your womb of what remains, Luna. Prepare yourself."
His words didn't strike they detonated.
My breath caught, the world blurring at the edges, but inside… everything went still. Silent. Empty.
When the procedure ended, I lay motionless, staring at the pale ceiling. The bond between me and the little heartbeat that once fluttered inside me was gone snuffed out like it had never existed. My body had endured enough pain to break a wolf in half, but nothing compared to the hollow ache gnawing at my chest.
Still, I reached for my phone. My hands trembled as I called Julian. My Alpha. My mate. The one person who should have been there.
He answered on the second ring.
"What is it?" His tone was clipped, cold. "I'm in the middle of a negotiation with the Ridgeborne pack."
Not Are you alive?
Not How is the pup?
Just business.
"I need you to come," I whispered, my throat raw. I didn't know why I asked. Maybe because part of me still craved the sound of his footsteps, the warmth of his scent.
Hours later, the door opened.
Julian entered, dressed in his usual black, dominance radiating from every inch of him. But there was no softness in his eyes. No grief. No remorse. Only irritation.
"How long are you going to keep this up, Elena?" he snapped, his voice echoing through the quiet room.
The words I wanted to say We lost our pup died on my tongue. What would be the point?
I stared at him, the man who used to hold me through every storm, who used to laugh when I tripped over my own paws during training, who once called me his moonlight. Now, he looked at me like I was a nuisance a crack in his perfect image as Alpha.
"What are you staring at?" His lip curled. "Is this your way of manipulating me again? What did you do this time?"
Pain exploded through me. My wolf whimpered in anguish as I clutched my abdomen. The loss still burned inside, raw and cruel.
I didn't respond. I couldn't. His accusations tore through the remnants of whatever love I had left.
Camilla's words from that afternoon echoed in my skull like a curse.
The greatest heartbreak is when someone you love turns cold.
And she was right.
Julian hadn't just grown distant. He had turned against me.
Once, I tried to let him go. I gave him the choice to walk away, to follow his heart wherever it led, even if it led to her. I was ready to cut the bond cleanly, to save myself from this pain.
But he begged me to stay. He promised me the moon, swore he'd draw a line with Camilla, claimed he wanted a future with me.
And like a fool, I believed him.
If I had left then, I would've spared myself this agony. The pup would've never suffered. I would've never handed my heart to a man who'd already given his away.
He could wound me all he wanted but why drag an innocent life into his storm?
Tears slipped silently down my cheeks as I gripped the sheets until my claws tore through the fabric. The scent of blood and grief filled the room.
Julian stiffened, his expression faltering for the first time.
"Elena…" His voice softened slightly. "Are you are you sick? What's happening?"
I lifted my gaze to his, my eyes dry now. Empty. "It's too late to ask."
He flinched, just barely.
I could feel my wolf stirring beneath my skin not with sorrow this time, but rage. Quiet, simmering rage. The kind that doesn't explode… it waits. It plans.
What had I done to deserve this cruelty? What had my pup done?
They say when love dies, something else takes its place.
Where love once burned, vengeance begins to breathe.
In that moment, something inside me broke and something else woke. A darkness. A promise.
I glanced around the room. The Morrigan family owned this private wing of the pack infirmary. The same family Camilla came from. No wonder she walked the halls with her head high and her lies sharper than fangs.
Even if I screamed the truth, she would twist it. She would weave her venom through the pack until every wolf turned against me.
And Julian? He wouldn't question it. He never did. He'd follow her scent like a blind hound, never once thinking to look for mine.
But that was fine.
I finally understood what Camilla wanted.
She wasn't just trying to break me she wanted me to surrender.
To bow my head, call off the bond ceremony, and walk away from the Alpha who had once been mine. She wanted to step into my place as Luna of the Hale Pack, wrapped in Julian's arms, claiming the bond that should have been mine by fate.
But I wasn't going to hand her that victory.
So I stayed silent. I buried the truth of my miscarriage deep inside me, beneath layers of grief and fury. It became my weapon one I would wield only when the time was right. Because if I revealed it too soon, Camilla would twist the story. She'd call it a lie, or worse, pity me until I looked weak in front of the pack.
I refused to give her that power. Not this time.
Eventually, Julian noticed the tears that refused to stop.
"Stop crying," he said softly, uncertain, like he didn't know how to deal with emotion anymore. His aura wavered Alpha strength mixed with human hesitation. "Is this about me not being around? The council's been demanding. I didn't mean to neglect you."
Even now, after everything, I could still sense the bond between us thin, fragile, but alive. A thread of memory that hadn't completely burned away.
"Julian…" I whispered, my voice trembling, "I had a dream. You didn't love me anymore. It felt so real it terrified me."
He froze for a heartbeat. His wolf stirred behind his eyes, silver bleeding through the blue. "Don't say things like that," he said quietly. "You know I could never stop loving you."
But I no longer believed him.
That night, I realized what Camilla was really doing testing the cracks between Julian and me, waiting for one to finally split wide open. She expected me to crumble, to howl my heartbreak in front of the entire pack, to give her an excuse to play the saint and Julian's "comfort."
But she miscalculated.
She walked in at the wrong time right when Julian and I were in each other's arms. There was no shouting, no chaos. Just silence, and the quiet ache of two souls trying to remember what they once were.
Her expression faltered, the confidence draining from her face. For the first time, she didn't have words ready to manipulate the moment.
And that was when I made my decision.
No more tears. No more desperate defending. No more running in circles while Camilla weaved her web.
I would strike back but not with words. With truth. With proof.
Camilla thought herself clever, walking that thin line between loyalty and betrayal. She never fully crossed it not physically but she pushed boundaries, inch by inch. A touch on Julian's arm. A shared look too long. A kiss she thought I didn't know about.
It was enough to feed her ego. Enough for her to believe she had already won.
She teased me with it, dropping hints in conversations, sending messages and pictures that danced on the edge of innocence. Little provocations, just to see if I'd react. Then she'd delete them, pretending they never existed.
But I wasn't stupid.
I had saved everything every message, every photo, every voice recording dripping with false sweetness. Every whisper of betrayal she thought she had erased was mine to keep.
I wasn't going to confront her behind closed doors or give her a chance to spin it.
No.
I would let her smile, let her play the perfect she-wolf in front of the pack.
And when the moonlight shone on our bond ceremony, when the pack gathered to honor our union, I would expose her.
In front of everyone.
I would watch her painted innocence burn under the eyes of the wolves she had deceived.
For once, her lies would fall silent and the truth would finally speak louder.