Genevieve’s POV

The day we committed my father’s body to the earth, my mate never appeared.

Wolves from our pack formed a wide, silent ring around the grave, their dark coats immaculate, the scent of leather, steel, and restrained power thick in the wind. Even in human form, their dominance pressed against the air. My father had been Alpha for decades—unyielding, strategic, feared beyond our borders. Neighboring packs that once challenged him had sent wreaths woven with rare mountain herbs as a final gesture of respect.

But Nikolai did not come.

The last shovelful of soil had barely struck the coffin when my phone vibrated inside my gloved palm. For one foolish heartbeat, I thought it was him. An explanation. An apology. Something worthy of a mate.

Instead, the sender’s name made my stomach turn.

Sabrina.

My stepsister had also been absent from the burial.

I opened the message without thinking.

The first image tilted the world off its axis.

Nikolai—my mate, the reigning Alpha of the Virelli pack—was kneeling before her. His large hand was splayed possessively over her abdomen, and his mouth pressed against it with unmistakable reverence. Not lust. Not obligation.

Reverence.

The caption beneath it read: Looks like the Virelli pack is finally getting its heir.

For several seconds, I simply stared. My mind refused to translate what my eyes were seeing. My hands began to shake so violently the phone nearly slipped from my grasp into the loose soil at my feet. I blinked again and again, trying to force the image into distortion, convincing myself it had to be manipulation—clever editing meant to provoke tension between bloodlines.

Then another photo arrived.

Sabrina stood before the tall mirror inside the Alpha suite of the Virelli estate—the bedroom that had been mine since the night the Moon Goddess bound Nikolai to me. She wore my silk robe, loosely belted, her lips curved in a satisfied smile. Behind her, stretched across our bed, Nikolai slept bare-chested, completely at ease.

No caption was necessary.

Air refused to fill my lungs. The truth lodged inside me like shattered bone.

My mate had marked my stepsister with his child.

Tears streamed down my face before I consciously realized I was crying. A sharp, crushing ache bloomed in my chest, so intense it felt like claws had pierced straight through my ribs. On the very day I buried my father, the two people I had trusted most in this brutal world chose to disgrace me.

The earth over my father’s grave was still damp and uneven. When my knees gave out, I fell forward, my hands sinking into the soil as sobs tore through me. I broke there, at the graveside of the man who had raised me to survive among wolves.

I should have recognized the signs. Conversations that stopped when I entered a room. Glances exchanged too quickly. The way Nikolai’s attention had begun to wander whenever Sabrina laughed.

But I had never believed betrayal would come from within my own bond.

My phone buzzed again.

This time, it was Nikolai.

Couldn’t make it. Pack business required my attention. We’ll speak tonight.

I stared at the message through blurred vision. There was no regret in it. Only expectation.

That night, he returned to the estate.

He did not return alone.

The carved oak doors opened, and Sabrina stepped inside as though she already belonged there. A sleek suitcase rolled behind her. Nikolai followed, composed and unreadable, like an Alpha announcing territory expansion rather than dismantling his marriage.

“She’ll be staying here,” he said evenly. “Given her condition, she requires pack protection.”

Her condition.

As though she were a strategic asset instead of the woman carrying my mate’s child.

Sabrina offered me a soft, carefully practiced smile. “I never intended to hurt you. I told Nikolai we should wait before telling you, but the pup’s well-being comes first. I’m sorry this happened today of all days.”

I didn’t respond. I stood in the foyer of my own home while they reorganized my life without my consent.

Nikolai stepped closer, lowering his voice. “She’s pack. You wouldn’t want harm to come to her.”

Pack.

The word tasted like ash.

He exhaled slowly, as if burdened by my silence. “What happened wasn’t planned. But my feelings for you haven’t changed.”

I studied his face and wondered when it had become so unfamiliar.

“It was a lapse,” he continued. “And we’ve discussed what follows.”

A quiet, humorless sound left my throat. “She’s carrying your pup. You call that a lapse?”

His expression didn’t flicker. “When the child is born, you’ll raise it. You’ve always wanted one.”

The implication hung between us, sharp and humiliating.

“You’ll have the family you couldn’t give me,” he added smoothly. “And the pack secures its heir.”

Heat flared through my veins, steadying me instead of breaking me. “You betray me with my stepsister, impregnate her, and expect appreciation?”

His jaw tightened. “I expect maturity. This is bigger than emotion. We can stabilize this.”

Behind him, Sabrina’s eyes shimmered with theatrical tears. “Maybe I should leave. I never wanted to come between you.”

“Then leave,” I said evenly.

Nikolai’s gaze hardened instantly. “Mind your tone. Stress is dangerous for her.”

“She has no place in this house.”

“You’re hardly in a position to dictate terms,” he replied coldly. “Remember whose name you carry.”

Something inside me splintered, but I refused to let it show.

“I want the bond severed,” I said quietly.

The words cracked through the room like a gunshot.

Nikolai stared at me as though I had spoken nonsense. “You’re not thinking clearly.”

“I’ve never been clearer.”

He let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “You would abandon your position over this?”

“Over betrayal. Over public humiliation. Over you bringing her here on the day I buried my father.”

“You’re letting grief cloud strategy.”

“And you’re disguising cruelty as leadership.”

He stepped closer, his voice lowering to a dangerous calm. “You don’t walk away from an Alpha. Not from this pack.”

“I am not territory to be claimed.”

“You swore yourself to me under the full moon,” he replied. “That vow binds.”

“Yes,” I answered steadily. “And I regret it.”

For a moment, his restraint faltered. “You have no allies beyond me. No inheritance. No pup. Outside these walls, you are unprotected.”

The threat beneath his words was unmistakable.

“I’ll survive.”

He moved subtly, positioning himself between me and the staircase. “You’re not leaving.”

“I’m going upstairs.”

“You’re staying.”

His tone shifted then, colder than before. “If you attempt to disappear, I will track you. And if you think to use your father’s sanctuary as leverage, reconsider. I won’t hesitate.”

The mention of the orphaned wolf sanctuary my father and I had built together made my throat tighten painfully.

“Why?” I asked, my voice raw. “Why do this to me?”

“You left me no choice,” he replied, though we both knew that was false.

He reached for me, his touch almost gentle. “Sabrina’s pup can be ours. You lose nothing.”

I looked past him at her.

There was no remorse in her expression.

Only victory.

Something inside me went quiet.

Nikolai wanted to cage me, humiliate me, replace me.

Fine.

“I reacted too quickly,” I said softly. “I won’t make impulsive decisions. I’ll remain. For now.”

Relief flickered across his features. He pressed a kiss to my forehead like an Alpha granting mercy.

That night, I lay alone in a guest chamber while he installed Sabrina in the Alpha suite. I wept until my body felt hollow, grieving my father, my bond, and the naive she-wolf I had once been.

When no tears remained, I reached for my phone.

There was only one wolf alive who could challenge Nikolai without fear.

The only man in the Virelli bloodline more dangerous than the reigning Alpha.

My thumb hovered for a moment before I selected the number I had sworn never to call.

Kael Virelli.

Genevieve’s POV

Kael picked up before the second ring had fully faded.

“Genevieve.” His voice flowed through the line—controlled, refined, and edged with something glacial. “I didn’t expect to hear from you.”

Even separated by distance, his presence felt tangible. Kael Virelli did not waste words, and when he spoke, even seasoned Alphas measured their replies carefully.

I forced myself to breathe evenly. “I need Nikolai brought down,” I said. “And I can’t accomplish that on my own.”

A deliberate silence followed. It wasn’t hesitation. It was calculation. Then a low, knowing laugh drifted through the speaker, dark and faintly amused.

“I was curious how long it would take you to reach this point,” he said softly. “Start from the beginning.”

So I did.

I told him about the messages arriving at my father’s burial site, about the images of Sabrina in the Alpha suite, about Nikolai installing her in my place without hesitation. I described the threats, the warning about my father’s wolf sanctuary if I dared to leave. This time, I did not cry. My tone remained steady, almost detached, as though I were recounting the downfall of a stranger instead of my own humiliation.

Kael never interrupted.

When I finished, he asked only one question. “How soon do you want him beneath the dirt?”

“Yesterday,” I answered without pause.

A genuine chuckle escaped him. “I appreciate decisiveness. He won’t anticipate this.”

For the first time since the funeral, something other than grief stirred inside me. It felt fragile, unfamiliar—hope, perhaps.

“I’ll begin shifting loyalties tonight,” he continued. “When the moment comes, you’ll know.”

His voice altered slightly then, losing its faint amusement and settling into something firmer.

“There is one condition.”

I closed my eyes briefly. Nothing in Kael’s world came freely. “Name it.”

“Become my mate.”

The words were not raised. They didn’t need to be.

They settled heavily between us.

I couldn’t form a response.

—

Sleep avoided me entirely that night. I lay awake in the guest chamber, staring at the ceiling while Kael’s proposal replayed over and over in my thoughts. He hadn’t pressed for an immediate answer. He had simply told me to consider it carefully and contact him when I was certain. Once I agreed, he promised he would come for me himself.

Protection. Authority. Retribution.

But binding myself to Kael Virelli meant more than revenge. It meant stepping into the true heart of the pack’s power structure—the shadowed realm Nikolai navigated cautiously.

What would I gain?

What would I sacrifice?

By dawn, I had no clarity, only exhaustion clinging to my bones.

And then everything changed.

I stood alone in the bathroom, staring at the small white test resting in my shaking hands. Two unmistakable lines.

Positive.

For several seconds, I felt nothing at all. Then a fragile, broken laugh escaped me as tears blurred my vision.

Pregnant.

After years of hushed consultations, after enduring the word barren whispered like a curse, after watching disappointment flicker across Nikolai’s face month after month—I was carrying life.

And the timing was cruel.

Nikolai had already revealed exactly who he was.

I pressed the medical report to my chest, my pulse racing painfully. If he discovered this, he would never release me. The child would become leverage, legacy, possession.

My phone vibrated.

A message from Kael.

Everything is prepared. Three days. Decide.

Three days.

I stared at the screen as my thoughts spiraled. I could not raise a pup inside walls filled with deceit and calculated cruelty. Growing beneath Nikolai’s shadow would mean manipulation, expectation, and the constant weight of dominance politics.

What kind of mother would knowingly choose that path?

My vision blurred as I dialed the hospital.

“Preston Medical Center, how may I assist you?” the receptionist asked pleasantly.

My throat tightened, but I forced the words out. “I need to arrange a termination.”

There was no change in her tone. “We have availability tomorrow morning. Does that suit you?”

The sooner it ended, the cleaner it would be.

“Yes,” I whispered.

After the call ended, a hollow ache settled deep inside me. I was about to erase the one blessing I had begged the Moon Goddess for.

My thoughts drifted backward, to six years earlier.

Nikolai had been furious over a failed alliance negotiation. He had paced our penthouse relentlessly, whiskey in hand, his wolf close to the surface. I had pleaded with him to let the driver take us home. He refused, insisting control was his to maintain.

I still remembered the sudden glare of headlights. The scream of twisting metal. The copper taste of blood flooding my mouth before darkness swallowed me whole.

When I woke in a hospital bed two days later, a healer explained gently that the internal damage had been extensive. Conceiving naturally would be unlikely.

I had wept until my body trembled. Nikolai had remained at my side then, brushing my hair back, murmuring apologies, promising he would never abandon me, swearing we would find another way.

He had looked at me as though I were irreplaceable.

I had believed him.

Love had made me blind.

“Well, this is an unfortunate picture.”

Sabrina’s voice pulled me sharply back to the present.

I stiffened. “I’m not in the mood.”

She entered the living room with deliberate grace, one hand resting theatrically against her stomach.

“You look drained,” she observed lightly. “Is being Luna exhausting?”

I gripped the edge of the table to steady myself. “What do you want?”

She offered a careless shrug. “Can’t I check on my sister?”

“Not after sharing my mate’s bed.”

A soft, taunting laugh left her lips. “Nikolai was restless. You were always so composed. He wanted something… spirited.”

Anger coursed through me, but I refused to give her the reaction she craved.

“You should have seen him,” she added sweetly. “He was insatiable.”

When I didn’t respond, a flicker of irritation crossed her face.

The distant sound of an engine signaled Nikolai’s return.

I rose immediately.

“Not staying to welcome him?” Sabrina asked.

I walked past her without answering and retreated to the guest room, locking the door. My limbs felt heavy, my chest tight with suppressed emotion. Three days, I reminded myself. Three days and I would no longer be trapped here.

I had just closed my eyes when the door burst inward with violent force.

Nikolai entered, fury radiating from him like heat before a storm.

“What is your problem?” I demanded, startled by the aggression in his posture.

He didn’t answer.

His hand struck my face with brutal force, snapping my head sideways as white light exploded across my vision.

Silence swallowed the room, broken only by the sharp ringing in my ears.

Genevieve's POV

His strike sent me reeling sideways.

My head jerked sharply, and before I could process what had happened, the room spun violently out of balance. I crashed against the marble floor with enough force to drive the air from my lungs. A broken sound escaped me—half gasp, half cry—more from shock than pain. For a moment, everything dissolved into darkness.

When my vision cleared, heat radiated across my cheek in a fierce, pulsing ache. I remained sprawled on the cold stone floor of the guest chamber, stunned and disoriented, my wolf restless beneath my skin.

Nikolai had hit me.

In all the years we had been bound—through pack disputes, territorial challenges, and bloody confrontations with rival Alphas—he had never once raised his hand against me. Not even at the height of his fury.

My thoughts scrambled uselessly, searching for some explanation. Had I provoked him? Said something unforgivable? Nothing justified this.

I blinked hard against the dizziness and slowly pushed myself upright. My palms shook against the polished marble as I steadied myself. When my focus sharpened, I saw Sabrina standing several paces behind him.

Her arms were wrapped loosely around herself, tears streaking down her face. She appeared small. Delicate.

Believable.

“What is going on?” I asked, my voice rough from the impact.

Nikolai towered over me, his chest rising and falling with restrained rage. “You put your hands on her?” he demanded. “On a she-wolf carrying my pup?”

The accusation made no sense. “What are you talking about?”

“She came here out of concern,” he continued, his tone sharpening. “And you attacked her? Have you completely lost control?”

For several seconds, I could only stare at him.

Sabrina stepped forward hesitantly, her shoulders trembling as though she were barely holding herself together. “I only wanted to bring her tea,” she murmured. “She looked so distressed, and I thought maybe we could talk. But she started shouting. She said I destroyed her life.” Her voice cracked convincingly. “Then she struck me.”

Disbelief flooded through me.

“She told me I should be dead,” Sabrina added in a hushed tone, lowering her gaze. “I didn’t want to upset you, Nikolai, but she frightened me.”

The audacity of the lie stole the air from my lungs.

“You’re fabricating this,” I said quietly, still seated on the floor. “I never touched you.”

Her lower lip trembled, and she turned her face away as though wounded by my denial.

Nikolai didn’t hesitate.

“Get up,” he growled. “And remove yourself from my sight before I forget you’re Luna of this pack.”

I lifted my gaze to his, my cheek burning, my lip throbbing. “You truly believe her?” I asked. “You think I would harm her?”

For a flicker of a second, something uncertain crossed his eyes. Doubt. Then it hardened into cold resolve.

“You’re not thinking clearly,” he said flatly. “Jealousy has corrupted your judgment.”

A hollow sound slipped from me. “Jealous? Of what, exactly?”

The taste of copper filled my mouth. When I wiped at my lip, my fingers came away stained with blood.

His eyes dropped briefly to it. His jaw tightened, and for an instant he looked almost conflicted. He stepped forward.

“Genevieve—”

“Nikolai,” Sabrina interrupted faintly, pressing her hand to her temple. “I feel lightheaded. She hit me harder than I realized.”

His focus shifted immediately.

Without hesitation, he turned away from me and gathered her into his arms, supporting her as though she might shatter. She leaned against him, fragile and trembling.

I watched in silence.

Over his shoulder, she glanced at me.

The tears were gone.

Only triumph remained.

Three days, I reminded myself.

Three days, and I would never have to endure this house again.

—

At dawn the next morning, I slipped out before the household stirred.

The drive to the clinic felt surreal, as though I were observing someone else’s life from a distance. My chest tightened in the waiting room while the seconds dragged mercilessly. I fixed my gaze on the far wall, unwilling to think too deeply.

My hand drifted to my abdomen without conscious thought.

It was still flat, unchanged, revealing nothing of the life quietly growing inside me. But I knew.

A pup.

After years of believing my body incapable, after enduring whispers that I was defective, unworthy of carrying an Alpha’s heir, life had taken root within me.

Tears threatened again, but I forced them back. This wasn’t about longing. It was about survival.

A nurse called my name.

I rose slowly, my legs heavier than they should have been, and followed her into a consultation room. The doctor scanned my file before turning toward me.

Recognition dawned instantly in his expression.

“Mrs. Virelli?” he said, clearly startled.

He had stood at my bedside six years ago after the accident, explaining with rehearsed sympathy that my injuries made future pregnancy unlikely.

I managed a faint, strained smile.

He glanced between me and the chart. “Are you certain about this decision?”

My throat constricted, words refusing to form.

He set the file aside and stepped closer, his tone gentle but steady. “You need to understand how rare this is. Given the trauma you sustained, this pregnancy is remarkable.”

I closed my eyes briefly.

“If you proceed with termination,” he continued carefully, “there is a significant chance you will never conceive again. Even with medical assistance. This may be your only opportunity.”

The weight of his statement settled heavily over me.

Only opportunity.

I saw Nikolai’s hand striking my face. Sabrina draped in my robe. Kael waiting for my answer.

My world had already shattered.

Now I had to decide which fragments were worth saving.