ra

His footsteps. The confident, unhurried tread of a dominant wolf asc

t my ribs, a trapped rabbit's f

d, and threw myself behind the heavy velvet cu

y door s

room in shadows that his wolf eyes navigated with ease.His ice-blu

lightly, nostrils flaring as

ing my scent to somehow blend into the shadows. A futil

controlled grace of an apex predator. He pulled open a drawer, retrieved

over me - that familiar, sharp cedarwood, the

ing else. A faint, floral perfume I di

a new kind of pain, driven deep unde

icked shut

he floor behind the curtain. I stayed there for a long time, just br

document that bound me to this pack - and closed the safe, spinning the dial to lock away his secrets. I c

the night, so he just came back to get a document

eye of the Moon Goddess who had clearly forsaken me. The word

nausea rolled through me. I bolted from the bed, making it to the en-suite ba

and unwelcome, surfaced li

late. In a wolf pack, a late cy

nd terrifying. I rummaged through the back of a drawer, my hand closin

t on the cold tile floor, staring at the little plastic st

wl of a wolf from the forest beyond the estat

d, two stark pink li

iti

ng cold. I was pregnant with the child of an alpha w

ell, a pup that would tie my bloodline to his forever? Or... a chance? A r

t to how broken I was, how desperately I

vate clinic downtown, using my maiden name. No pack h

d it. Six weeks pregnant. She handed me

sac. A wolf p

l and ancient as the moon itself. This wasn't about him an

d to

ed me with a one-sided bond, I ow

of revenge for another woman back

ither. He paid for household expenses and gave me some pocket money on a reg

rs that causes me allergies. But I've never refused them, nor have I t

. It's just that he probably doesn't love me as much as

nces, like pack alliances. If one can marry someone they truly love, they

rriage. I've tried so

n't the fruit of our love. But it is the fruit of ou

and hidden revenge. I had to give him one last chance to be a father, to

osite end of the long dining table, the alpha's seat, his attention already on a tablet propped up

eight, the bond that should have hummed

to from my purse, my fingers tracing its smooth

spi

hisper, a submissive wo

, his focus on th

louder this time, forcing

the icy alpha stare that had once made my heart flu

shed wood of the table. It stopp

r, fragile and heavy as

photo,glanced a

joy, or even anger. His wolf

the table as if it were a coa

as all

stop, as if his indifference had reached into my chest an

n napkin. His movements were always so graceful, so controlled. So

, his tone flat, as if discussing the acquisition

our b

ture alpha or a bargain

eems to have received

w across my soul. "I have an important video conference regarding the Redwood

r at the photo of our child lying forgotten on

ny ember of hope inside me flickered and died, leaving noth

his heir, the placeholder until his true mate returned, the least

the Montgomery pack in my womb - a