The car tore through the night. I held my sobbing daughter in a death grip.

"Ethan, where are you taking us?" I asked.

He didn't answer, just gripped the steering wheel, his eyes dark.

Ten minutes later, the car skidded to a halt at the sacrificial grounds.

Ice flooded my veins.

"Get out," he ordered coldly.

"No!" I refused. "We're not getting out!"

"GET OUT!" His roar shook the entire car.

His Alpha command left me no choice. I stumbled out, clutching Lydia.

The crumbling ruin of the Moon Goddess Altar loomed at the edge of the cliff, a skeleton under the moonlight.

"Ethan, please, don't do this..." I begged.

But he had already pulled Lydia from my arms.

"No! Daddy, no!" she struggled, her little fists beating against his chest.

"Quiet!" He walked up the stone steps, his face a mask of stone.

I scrambled after him. "Ethan! She's your daughter!"

"My daughter?" He stopped and looked back at me, his eyes dripping with sarcasm. "Are you sure?"

He set her down on the broken edge of the platform, right where the runes had died.

"Daddy..." Lydia reached for him, trembling. "I'm scared..."

He paused, then shoved a file into my chest.

"Open your eyes, Sera," he sneered. "Stop lying for Julian's pup."

He set Lydia down on the cliff's edge.

He calmly adjusted his cuffs. "Now, answer me. Did you attack Lilith? Was it jealousy? Or were you protecting his bastard?"

"I didn't attack Lilith!" I screamed. "I swear I didn't!"

"Liar." He kicked one of the altar's support beams.

The entire platform shook violently. Lydia screamed as she slid closer to the edge.

"No!" I tried to run forward, but his guards grabbed me.

"I'll ask you one more time," Ethan’s voice was pure ice. "Did you hurt her?"

"No! I really didn't!" I sobbed. "Ethan, we're fated mates! How can you not believe me?"

"Fated mates?" he sneered. "Does a fated mate betray me? Sleep with another man? Give birth to another man's bastard?"

He kicked the beam again, harder this time.

"Ten seconds," he began to count down. "Ten... nine... eight..."

"STOP!" I shrieked, dropping to my knees. "I'll talk! It was me! I did it!"

I lied. I lied to save my daughter's life.

"I knew it." He smiled, satisfied, but the countdown didn't stop. "Seven... six... Seven..."

"I already admitted it!" I shrieked. "Let her go!"

"Admitting it changes nothing," he said, his smile a cruel slash in the darkness. "Now, tell me why."

"Because... because I was jealous..." I choked out the humiliating words.

"Jealous of what?"

"Jealous that you love her..."

"Four... three... two..."

"Please!" I crawled towards him, grabbing his pant leg. "I'll take it back! I'll undo it right now!"

"Too late," he kicked me away. "Besides, there's something else I want to know now."

His gaze turned lethal.

"Are you trying so hard to save her because she's really my daughter?"

I froze.

"Or..." he leaned in, his voice a venomous whisper, "...are you this desperate to save Julian's little bastard?"

"She IS your daughter!" I screamed hysterically. "Ethan! She's yours!"

"Mine?" He laughed, a harsh, broken sound that echoed in the night. He pointed a shaking finger at Lydia. "Then explain her eyes! Explain this!" He waved the paternity test in my face. "It says she doesn't carry a single drop of my Alpha blood!"

"That's because..." I tried to explain, but the words wouldn't come.

Because I didn't know why. But I knew, I swore on my soul, I had never betrayed him.

"See?" Ethan sneered. "You can't even come up with a decent lie. That proves it. She's Julian's spawn!"

"No!" I cried. "She's your daughter!"

"One!" he finished the countdown.

Then he kicked the altar with all his might.

"NO!" I shrieked in despair.

Ethan raised a hand, signaling the guards to restrain me.

"Drag her back," he ordered, his voice utterly devoid of emotion. "She cares so much for Julian's whelp. Let's give her a front-row seat."

The guards grabbed my arms. I fought like a wild animal.

"Ethan! She's your daughter!" I wailed. "Even if you don't love me anymore, she's innocent!"

"No, Sera. You're my fated mate. Of course I love you." He glanced back, his expression almost tender. But his eyes were chips of ice. "But a traitor's pup is never innocent."

I threw my pride, my dignity as a Luna, into the dirt at his feet. It wasn't enough. He wouldn't even look at me.

"Ethan, please... believe me," I choked out, the words drowned by sobs. "I never... I never betrayed you."

But he had already turned his back on me.

"Mommy..."

My daughter's weak voice drifted from the altar. She couldn't hold on much longer.

"Lydia! Hold on!" I screamed.

Ethan stood by the edge, looking down at me.

"Still putting on a show?" he sneered. A wave of his Alpha power slammed into the crumbling altar, shaking it to its core.

The stone platform lurched. Lydia shrieked as she slipped further.

"DON'T!" I struggled, but the guards held me fast.

"You're insane... " I trembled.

"You care this much for a bastard?" The storm in his eyes darkened.

His hand clamped onto the back of my neck, forcing me to look up at the edge of the cliff.

"You'd throw away your pride for his pup?" The storm in his eyes darkened. "Seraphina, your love is mine. Your life is mine. Your very pain is mine to command."

Just then, his Beta rushed over.

"Alpha!" the Beta gasped. "It's Lilith! Her mind is breaking! The healers say the shock could kill the baby... your heir!"

Ethan's eyes turned to ice. "You'd hurt my only pure-blooded heir for Julian's bastard?"

"I didn't..."

"That's not fair, Sera," he said, his voice laced with a twisted, pitying tone. "An eye for an eye. You hurt my heir. I take his."

"No! Lydia is innocent!"

But he ignored me and kicked.

CRACK.

The support pillar snapped.

The entire altar tilted and began to fall toward the cliff.

"Daddy..." My daughter looked at him, her small hand reaching. Her voice was a whisper. "Save me..."

But Ethan turned his back, refusing to look.

"MOMMY!"

Her scream tore through the night. And then... silence.

I watched her tiny body fall through the air and vanish into the darkness.

"NO!"

I broke free from the guards and ran for the cliff.

I would follow her. I would die with her.

"Seraphina!" Ethan grabbed me and threw me to the ground.

"Let me go!" I kicked and clawed at him. "Let me go! I have to find my daughter!"

"You want to die?" he snarled, his fingers digging into my throat. "I forbid it. Your life is not yours to take."

I stared back at him, my eyes burning with hate. "Kill me. Just kill me!"

"If you love that bastard so much," he hissed, "then you can live a lifetime of agony remembering this lesson."

He leaned close, his voice a venomous whisper in my ear. "Watch, Sera. This is the price for your betrayal. And when you are done screaming, I will forgive you."

He held me while my daughter fell, a sickening, possessive embrace. "There," he whispered against my hair, his tone one of deep satisfaction. "Now your world is empty. Now there is only room for me."

I lay on the ground, my world falling apart.

He killed my son.

He pushed my daughter off a cliff.

What reason did I have left to live?

Blood trickled from the back of my head. My vision blurred.

Before the darkness claimed me, I forced my eyes open one last time, searching the churning black water below.

Lydia... Mommy is so, so sorry...

"Lydia?" The name was a raw, desperate whisper, the first sound to tear from my throat as I pried my eyes open.

The white light of the pack infirmary was blinding.

"You're awake!" Ethan stood up, his voice laced with concern. He looked like he'd been watching over me for a long time.

"My daughter," I pushed myself up. "Is she alive?"

"Don't say her name," he growled, his face hardening. "Whether she lives or dies... depends entirely on you."

My heart pounded. "What does that mean?"

"My men pulled her from the river," Ethan said, standing up. "But she's badly injured."

"Let me see her!" I tried to get out of bed.

"No." He pushed me back down. "First, you have to answer for what you did."

"What did I do?"

He leaned in close, his eyes dark. "Your jealousy almost cost me my only true heir. Lilith is in critical condition. She needs a Luna's vitality to stabilize her."

I stared at him, stunned. "You want me to..."

"Yes," he said without hesitation. "You will heal her. You will give her your life force."

"That could kill me!" I gasped.

"It won't kill you," he purred, a low, cruel sound. "It will just leave you... empty. Besides, you owe me this pain. It’s only fair. Otherwise, Lydia's life…"

A threat. A naked threat.

"Ethan, are you even human?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"Human?" He sneered. "The bond makes us more than human, Sera. And so does betrayal. Did you ever once think of my pain when you were with him?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

I knew nothing I said would matter now. He had made up his mind.

"I'll do it."

"Good." He nodded, satisfied. "We'll begin immediately."

Twenty minutes later, I was in an ancient ritual chamber. Silver runes were carved into the floor, and moonlight streamed onto a Moonstone in the center. Lilith was already lying on one side of the altar, pale and weak.

"Begin," Ethan ordered the pack healer.

The healer forced my hand onto the freezing Moonstone. Across from me, Lilith took my other hand, and even in her weakened state, I saw the triumphant smirk on her lips.

The ritual began.

I could feel my life force being ripped from me, flowing through the stone and into Lilith's body. My vision blurred. A deep, chilling cold spread through my bones.

Across from me, Lilith’s cheeks began to flush with color. Her scent grew stronger.

He didn't spare Lilith a single glance.

His eyes were locked on me.

A twisted fascination burned in their depths as he stared at my pale face. He gently wiped the sweat from my brow.

"Does it hurt, my love?" he whispered, his voice a venomous caress. "Good. Remember this pain. The next time you think of betraying me, you will remember exactly how this feels."

"Enough..." I begged weakly.

"Just a little longer," he whispered, kissing my cold hand. His tone was cruel, yet he sounded like he was comforting a lover. "If you can't handle a little pain, how can you be my Luna? How can you deserve my mercy for that bastard?"

After another ten minutes, I was on the verge of collapse.

"Stop," the doctor finally said. "Any longer and the Luna's life will be in danger."

The ritual ended. I slumped into a chair, too weak to even speak.

"Thank you, Seraphina," Lilith said with a fake smile. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me."

Didn't mean to? She was still acting.

I ignored her and looked at Ethan. "I... need to see my daughter..."

Ethan walked over and lifted me into his arms as if I were a piece of precious porcelain.

He leaned in and whispered in my ear.

"See? You do still love me. You're willing to do anything for me." His voice was filled with smug satisfaction.

He laid me down on the bed, tucking the sheets around me as if I were a fragile doll.

"You disappointed me today, my Luna," he whispered. "You still care more about that bastard than you do about me."

"You don't get to see her. Not until you learn that your world begins and ends with me."