Adeline POV:

"Come back here!"

Elder Genevieve, Alston's grandmother and the pack's matriarch, grabbed her grandson's arm, her voice a harsh whisper.

"What nonsense are you spouting? I promised Adeline's late grandmother I would take good care of her! You've barely been mated for two months and you want to reject her? She just turned twenty; are you trying to kill her?!"

I stood frozen behind the pillar on the second-floor landing. I desperately suppressed my scent and my heartbeat, terrified his heightened Alpha hearing would catch me.

"Kill her? Hah!" Alston let out a cold, chilling laugh. "Grandma, Dayana lost the baby! That pup was Arthur's only bloodline! And yet Adeline gets to live comfortably? Tell me, who is killing who?!"

"This..." Genevieve hesitated.

"I never wanted her as my mate in the first place! You forced me to take her!" Alston's voice was filled with extreme impatience. "If she could just behave, I would have swallowed it! But now? I cannot accept a murderer as my Luna!"

"If this continues, I'm afraid I won't be able to control my wolf. My wolf wants to tear her apart!"

"Stop!" Genevieve seemed frightened by the sheer feral malice in his tone. "Fine. I won't let you see her. I'll exile her to the human world, far away from pack lands. Will that do?"

Silence stretched for a long moment before Alston took a step back. "Do whatever you want."

I turned around frantically and ran back to my room. The moment the door clicked shut, my legs gave out.

I didn't know he hated me this much! He was forced to accept our mate bond!

My parents died when I was young. Because my grandmother and Genevieve were best friends, Genevieve took me in. Becoming Alston's mate, his Luna, became my ultimate dream. I was his fated mate, and he was mine!

But it turned out... it was all my own wishful thinking.

I covered my mouth, crying so hard my chest physically ached. My world was shattering into a million jagged pieces.

Knock, knock.

"Adeline, dear, are you awake?" It was Genevieve.

I quickly wiped my tears, scrambled off the floor, and opened the door. I forced a broken smile. "Grandma."

Genevieve scrutinized my red and swollen eyes. But thinking of the crime I had supposedly committed, her gaze hardened.

"Didn't you say you wanted to study abroad in the human world before?" Genevieve said smoothly. "I'll make the arrangements. You should leave as soon as possible."

Adeline POV:

My mouth opened, but the words choked in my throat. "Grandma, I..."

Even Grandma didn't believe me?

"Pack your things. Get ready to go." Genevieve stood up, giving me one last look. "Behave yourself. Once you've changed your ways, I'll send someone to bring you back."

With that, she turned and left.

I stood there, feeling like my soul had been sucked out of my body. To cast me out into the human world... it meant stripping me of my pack.

Suddenly, a violent wave of nausea surged from my stomach. I clamped a hand over my mouth and rushed into the bathroom. I retched over the toilet until I felt like my insides were coming out.

Because the vomiting was so severe, I went to the pack clinic.

"Doctor, what's wrong with me?" I asked anxiously.

The doctor reviewed my blood test results. "Are you mated?"

I paused. "Yes. We just completed the mating ceremony two months ago."

"Congratulations, Luna," the doctor smiled. "You're pregnant. Morning sickness for a werewolf carrying an Alpha's pup can be notoriously brutal."

I couldn't believe it. I stared at the paper. Early Pregnancy.

Alston and I had only shared a bed a handful of times, driven by the irresistible pull of the mate bond during my heat, and it was always rushed. I thought he just wasn't interested. But now I understood. He was disgusted by me!

And yet, I was carrying his heir. At the worst possible time!

After agonizing over it, I decided I had to ask Alston. After all, he was the father. Maybe... just maybe, knowing he had his own flesh and blood would change things.

At this hour, Alston was at the pack hospital. Dayana was recovering from her miscarriage in the VIP suite.

When I arrived, I was blocked at the door by Alston's personal guards, Caleb and Seth. "Luna, please stop. You cannot enter. Alpha's orders."

I lowered my head, clenching my fists. "I won't go in. Please, just tell him I'm here. I have something crucial to tell him."

The brothers exchanged a look. Seth's eyes glazed over slightly as he used the mind-link to inform the Alpha inside. A moment later, I heard Alston's voice through the crack in the door.

"I won't see her." His voice was terrifyingly indifferent. "Tell her to stay far away from this ward! Don't let her scent disturb Dayana's rest!"

Through the narrow gap, my eyes caught a glimpse of the inside.

Alston was sitting on the edge of the bed, gently blowing on a spoonful of soup before feeding it to Dayana. He looked so gentle—a side of him my inner wolf had always craved but never received.

Dayana leaned against his chest. As she took the soup, she lifted her head. Over Alston's broad shoulder, her eyes met mine through the crack in the door.

And then, she smiled.

It was a vicious, triumphant smirk. A smile that said: I won. He is mine.

Crack.

That was the sound of my mate bond, and my heart, finally shattering. My inner wolf howled in absolute agony, then curled up in the darkest corner of my mind, giving up.

I was a joke. A complete, utter joke.