The next night,Natalie arrived at the pack celebration in formal dress.

It was held for the Swift Pack’s eldest daughter’s coming-of-age rite,a promise made long ago,so she had to attend.She sat quietly in a shadowed corner,nursing a drink.

As expected,it wasn’t long before Daniel and Jennifer made a grand entrance.Jennifer linked her arm with Daniel’s,smiling politely.The others assumed Jennifer was his mate and began praising them.

“Daniel and his mate have such a sweet bond!We’re so jealous.”

Daniel smiled softly,accepting the compliments as if they were true.

Not wanting to watch them any longer,Natalie took her glass and stepped out onto the lodge balcony for air.Her champagne was nearly finished when Jennifer came up beside her.

“Natalie,you’ve already lost.Daniel loves me now.Can you really leave little Rihanna without a father?”Jennifer said.

Natalie answered with a cold smile.“What exactly are you saying?”

“I want you to leave right now.I want to be Mrs.Chalamet.”

Natalie nodded.“Don’t worry.I’ll go.I gave up on Daniel long ago.”

She turned to leave,but Jennifer grabbed her arm.Before Natalie could ask what she meant,someone came up behind and pressed a damp cloth—drugged—over her nose and mouth.Everything blurred.Just before the world went black,she saw Jennifer’s smirk.

When she opened her eyes again,she was tied to a chair,unable to move.Jennifer sat bound beside her,wearing a smug expression.“Natalie,if Daniel knew we were both captured and could only be saved one at a time,who do you think he’d choose?”

Natalie stared at her.“This was your doing?”

Jennifer laughed.“So what if it was?I only want Daniel.Is that wrong?”

A voice at the door announced,“Boss,Daniel is here.”Two men in black stood behind them,knives glinting.

As Daniel stepped in,the leader grinned.“Daniel,lucky man.Two beautiful wolves,but you can only pick one.Choose now,or both die.”He began the countdown.“Three…two…”

Before he reached one,Daniel pointed at Jennifer.“Her.Let her go.”

The man smirked.“Daniel doesn’t hesitate.Fine.Deal with the other one.”He ordered someone to untie Natalie,then shoved her to the floor.In seconds,blows rained down on her.

Natalie clutched her belly,trying to shield the life within.A brutal kick landed.The man laughed at her pain.“Daniel,leave now.If I change my mind,she won’t survive.”

Through the chaos she searched for Daniel’s face and begged,“Please…save me,save our pup…”

But Daniel did not turn.He took Jennifer’s hand and walked away without looking back.

Tears tracked down Natalie’s face and fell onto the floor as she pressed both hands over her stomach,feeling the tiny life slipping away.She closed her eyes,filled with pain and despair.

When Natalie woke,she found herself in the pack infirmary,lying on a narrow cot beneath a woolen blanket.

A pack medic stood at her side,face heavy with regret.“I’m sorry,”he said quietly.“You’ve lost the pup.”

Tears filled her eyes before she could speak.

Because of Jennifer and Daniel,she had lost her child again.

Outside the infirmary corridor,she could hear the murmur of the medics and pack attendants.

“Did you hear?The Alpha’s mate scratched her wrist with a rope and he reserved the whole ward.”

“Which Alpha?”

“Who else?Daniel Chalamet.I wish I had a bond like that.”

From the moment she had been taken to the lair to the moment she lost the pup,Daniel had not once called her,not a single message.Jennifer,on the other hand,only bore a small scratch—and Daniel had commandeered an entire floor of the infirmary for her.

Natalie let out a bitter smile as fresh tears came to her eyes.

Her communicator on the bedside table buzzed.She picked it up.

“You found a compatible heart-source donor,right?Can you fly over now?”came the message.

She nodded to herself.“I’ve already booked the passage,”she told the pack medic.

At that moment Daniel walked into the room.“What passage?Where are you going?”he asked.

Natalie didn’t turn to him.Calmly,she said,“I bought it for a friend;his mark didn’t go through.”

He set a sheaf of lilies on the small table.They were Jennifer’s favorite flowers.

“I’m sorry about last night.Things moved fast and I had no choice,”he offered.

She gave him a cold look.“So your choice was Jennifer.You left your mate of three years with those savages?”

He opened his mouth to answer,but his communicator buzzed.Jennifer’s name flashed.His face shifted immediately.

“Didn’t I pick Jennifer because you staged all of this,Natalie?”he said,voice tight.“Aren’t you doing this to get my attention?Have you thought how much this hurts Jennifer?”

“She needs me now.Take care of her,”she replied.

He slammed the infirmary door and left without another glance.

So Jennifer had told him she’d fabricated the whole thing—he trusted her implicitly.

Her communicator chimed again:a blunt command from Daniel.

[Come to the eighth ward and apologize to Jennifer right now,or I’ll never forgive you!]

Natalie let out a cold laugh and blocked his mark.

What Jennifer did not know was that Natalie had already recorded everything Jennifer had said to her at the celebration—the entire conversation saved,word for word.

Before she left the cot,she placed the recorder and the pack medic’s report about the miscarriage on the bedside table.

Then she rose,took her father’s hand,and walked away without looking back.