My Alpha mate locked me in the basement while I was carrying his twin pups.

He did it for his mistress, Zerra, who couldn’t bear to see my pregnant belly.

He called my warnings of premature labor an “act,” sneering that a survival expert like me was just seeking attention.

Alone on the cold stone floor, I died with one pup in my arms and another trapped in my womb, my blood pooling around my still-open eyes.

The next morning, annoyed by the silence from below, he delivered a command:

“Tell Martha to stop her games and apologize to Zerra properly. I will consider allowing her to go to the medical center for the birth.”

He spoke to an empty room, never knowing I was no longer trapped in the basement.

A ghost now, standing beside him, hearing it all.

————————

1

“Why’s it so quiet in the basement? Has Mrs. Martha stopped screaming?”

“Alpha, do you think… something happened to the Luna? Her cries yesterday… they sounded real.”

My mate, Alpha Frank Blackwood, was tearing into a rare steak, with blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. He let out a disdainful snort, his powerful Alpha presence filling the room.

“No one knows Martha better than I do. And my wolf agrees.”

“She’s putting on a show! This time, I’m teaching her a lesson. We’ll see if she dares to provoke Zerra again!”

His personal assistant, Kevin, glanced nervously at the basement door.

“But, sir, the Luna is carrying twins. The healer did say the gestation for werewolves is short. She could go into labor at any moment and needs to be at the pack’s medical center…”

Frank paused, his resolve wavered. “Is that so?”

He poked at his plate with his fork, a flicker of hesitation on his face.

“Fine. Tell Martha to make me breakfast, then tell her to get out here and apologize to Zerra. If her apology is sincere enough, I’ll send her to the medical center. Today’s her due date, after all.”

With that, he picked up a glass of fresh blood and headed for the guest room.

Zerra Kane lay on the bed, her breathing even. A silk blanket had slipped off her shoulder, revealing her alluring curves and smooth skin. The air was thick with the sweet pheromones she was deliberately releasing.

Frank’s throat tightened. He watched her for a long moment, his gaze lingering, before he bent to kiss her.

Zerra slowly opened her eyes, stretching and pouting. “Frank, you messed up my nightgown again.”

Frank lowered himself over her, letting her sit in his lap. His hand slid possessively up her thigh, his rough thumb stroking her delicate skin. “The way you sleep, no male could resist, let alone an Alpha.”

Zerra buried her head in his solid chest with a contented hum.

“But Martha is your mate, and she’s carrying your pups. I’m a woman, too. I can’t just watch you be… unfaithful to her when she’s at her most vulnerable.”

Suddenly, as if remembering something, she said anxiously, “Martha was screaming so loudly last night. Is she going into labor? Oh… even if the pain is terrible, I’m almost jealous. If I could carry your pups, I’d die of happiness, no matter how much it hurt.”

Would she, really?

But I was just a spirit now, a ghost tethered to them by the mate bond, forced to drift at their side.

Down in the basement, the stone floor was slick with my blood.

The walls were covered in deep gashes, my own flesh and fingernails embedded in the claw marks I’d gouged in agony with my wolf’s claws.

I had literally torn myself apart to birth my pups.

When I finally delivered the first pup, he was already cold. Lifeless.

Blood gushed from between my legs like a fountain as the second pup got stuck in the gaping wound of my womb.

My hair was matted and sticky with blood. I held my bloody firstborn, my eyes wide, my breath gone.

If Frank saw this, how would his wolf react?

But at that moment, he was too busy holding Zerra, his voice laced with regret and guilt.

“It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have let Martha get in your sight and upset you. I swear, this is the last time she’ll ever carry my pups. I won’t let you see another pregnant she-wolf in this house again.”

“You have no idea what lies she’s told me just to trick me,” he continued.

“She said the twins were too big, that she was afraid of a difficult birth. She even claimed the healer recommended she go to the medical center immediately.”

“She survived three whole days trapped in a pitch-black underground cavern! And now she has the gall to tell me she’s scared of childbirth!”

My heart ached with a pain I could no longer physically feel.

A pregnant she-wolf’s body is different. The restlessness of my inner wolf and the discomfort of the pregnancy had exhausted me from the start. Several times, my condition was so poor I needed suppressants just to keep the pups alive.

When I was locked in the basement, I desperately pleaded with Frank through our mind-link, begging him to let me out. I knew if I was trapped for three days, my pups and I would surely die.

But Frank had just told Kevin, “Melt the key to the basement. No one is to open that door. In three days, I want to see her crawl to Zerra and apologize!”

To survive, I had tried to escape through the mansion’s old sewer system. I endured the searing pain, clawing through the floor and crawling into the narrow, foul-smelling pipes.

I had just reached the garden exit when I saw them. Frank, holding Zerra tightly, kissing her madly under the moonlight.

Their bodies were pressed together, tearing at each other’s lips like animals in heat, Frank’s hand already sliding under Zerra’s skirt.

Then, Zerra pushed him away, looked up, and screamed.

Frank looked up and saw me, crawling pathetically from the sewer drain. His face contorted with rage.

He assumed I had appeared in front of Zerra on purpose. With an Alpha’s roar, he shot toward me like a cannonball and slammed a fist powered by his werewolf strength directly into my pregnant belly.

A wave of agony exploded from my womb. Blood poured from between my legs.

And in the end, I died with my eyes wide open, clutching my bloody firstborn son.

Upstairs, Frank fed the glass of blood to Zerra.

“I’ve already sent someone to bring Martha to you for her apology,” he said. “If she’s sincere, I’ll have her sent to the medical center. If not, she can give birth in the basement for all I care.”

Zerra took a small sip and choked, coughing until her eyes watered, looking utterly pitiful.

“Frank, you can’t treat Martha like this. It’s dangerous for a she-wolf to give birth to pups.”

Frank sighed, looking at Zerra with adoration. “You’re just too kind. That’s why Martha feels brave enough to bully you.”

“Martha is a survival expert. She can live for three days without food or water. Look at you, so fragile you choke on a sip of blood.”

He tweaked her nose. “And why would you say childbirth is dangerous? You say that like you’ve been through it yourself.”

A flash of panic crossed Zerra’s eyes, but she quickly looked down, her voice laced with sadness. “Frank, you’re the only one who can see the vulnerability beneath my strong exterior…”

She looked up again, tears welling in her eyes, biting her lip to make it look swollen and moist. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his.

Frank couldn’t hold back any longer. He kissed her, breathing like a beast, his tongue forcing its way past her teeth while Zerra moaned in satisfaction.

They kissed passionately, tearing at each other’s clothes. Frank’s hands roamed her body, kneading her soft breasts as she writhed against him, wrapping her legs around his waist.

But just before the final step, Zerra pushed him away.

“No! She’s still your mate, and she’s carrying your pups. I can’t… possess you at a time like this!”

Frank’s eyes burned with desire. “Fine,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I won’t let you down.”

“Just wait a little longer. I’ll sever the mate bond with her soon.”

“And then, you will be my one and only Luna!”

He placed a tender, longing kiss on her forehead, as if he were protecting a priceless treasure.

Zerra’s lips curved into a triumphant smirk.

Frank might not have seen it, but I did.

She didn’t want to ruin our relationship? The thought was so absurd it was almost funny.

She had come to me time and again, gloating that even if I was pregnant, I was just an incubator for her. That my children would one day call her “mother.”

So what was this act?

Zerra had moved into my home under the pretense that she was weak, cursed with wolfsbane by an enemy pack.

She flirted with Frank at the dinner table so brazenly that even our cook spoke up, mocking her. Zerra immediately turned the tables, accusing the cook of poisoning her food and demanding she be fired.

I was pregnant and had no appetite for anything except that cook’s meals. As Luna, I went to Zerra and offered to hire a private chef just for her. She responded by slapping me across the face.

“Her cooking is irrelevant,” she’d snarled.

“What matters is that she understands who the real mistress of this house is! Martha, let me tell you something today: Frank will have only one mate, and it will be me!”

To prove Frank’s love for her, she would curl up in his arms like a kitten, sobbing about how she was cursed and might never be able to give him healthy pups. Then she’d mention how seeing my pregnant belly walk by was just too painful for her.

“I’ve tried my best to avoid Martha, but I still see her every day. Maybe I should just move out. It’s too heartbreaking to live here!”

That was all it took for Frank to lose control.

His face went cold as he backhanded me, sending me to the floor.

“You know Zerra gets upset seeing pregnant women, and you deliberately parade yourself in front of her?! What are you trying to do?!”

“You’re vicious! You don’t deserve to be a mother!”

“I’m locking you in the basement to teach you a proper lesson!”

His Betas grabbed my arms and legs and threw me into the cold, damp cellar.

“The healer told me to go to the medical center for the birth! If I’m there, she won’t have to see me!” I cried, clinging to the doorframe, begging him to let me go.

But Frank just sneered. “If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable. Your due date is days away!”

He ignored my pleas and slammed the door shut.

The door slammed on my fingers, crushing them. The agony made my inner wolf howl. I pulled my hand back, speechless.

Frank shot me a triumphant look and locked the basement door.

Just as they were whispering sweet nothings, Kevin ran up, breathless and panicked. “Mrs. Martha… she’s gone!”

“Gone?!”

Frank shot up, annoyed that Kevin had interrupted him.

Kevin wiped the sweat from his brow. “The basement… it’s full of blood. Mrs. Martha, she’s…”

He couldn’t finish.

Frank straightened his rumpled shirt.

“What blood? Oh, I get it. She’s going into labor, so there’s blood, right? Fine. Send her to the medical center.”