"Pass me the yellow blanket, Clara."

"This one, Luna?" Clara held up a soft, knitted square.

I took it and smoothed the edges over the crib rails. "Yes. Kael loves yellow. He says it reminds him of the sun."

"Alpha Kael is going to spoil this pup," the young maid grinned.

"He already does." I rubbed my swollen belly. Six months along, and the baby usually kicked like a tiny warrior.

"He bought three wooden rocking horses yesterday."

"Three?" Clara laughed. "Where are we even going to put them?"

"I told him the exact same thing," I said, folding a tiny white onesie. "But you know how stubborn an Alpha can be."

A sharp jolt ripped through my chest.

I gasped. The clothes slipped from my hands. My knees hit the hardwood with a heavy thud.

"Luna!" Clara rushed forward, hands hovering over my shoulders. "Are you in pain? Is it the baby?"

"No," I choked out.

It wasn't the baby. It was the bond.

A wave of intense, sickening pleasure washed through my mind. It wasn't mine. It belonged to my Alpha.

Kael.

He was having sex with someone.

"Get out, Clara," I whispered, clutching my chest.

"But you're hurt—"

"Leave!" My voice cracked.

The maid scrambled out of the nursery and shut the door hard behind her.

Alone, I curled into a tight ball on the rug. My wolf whimpered, clawing at the walls of my mind in pure agony.

Through the mate bond, Kael's wolf howled with joy. Six months of pent-up frustration shattered. He was euphoric. I felt his muscles flex, his pleasure flooding my veins like poison.

I gagged. Bile coated my tongue.

"You promised," I sobbed into the empty room. "You promised me, Kael."

Three months ago he had stood in our bedroom, face pale and drawn.

"My wolf is going numb, Elena," he had confessed, pacing.

"What do you mean?" I had asked, terrified. "Are we losing the bond?"

"I can't feel you the way I used to. I swear I'll keep you and the baby safe. I won't let anything happen."

"Is it because we stopped touching each other?" We used to share our bodies every night, completely inseparable.

"I won't risk hurting our child," he insisted, gripping my hands. "I can control my urges. I'll figure out what's wrong with my wolf."

But he couldn't control them. Not around her.

A hysterical laugh tore from my throat, harsh as metal scraping metal. Tears streamed down my cheeks, yet I couldn't stop grinning like a madwoman. The sheer absurdity of it cracked something inside me.

He tole me he locked her away.

Just two weeks ago he dragged Vivienne into the pack dungeons.

"She did something to me, Elena," he snarled, throwing the heavy iron keys onto the dining table.

"Vivienne? The orphan you brought back from the border wars?" I asked. "Kael, that was ten years ago. Before you even became Alpha."

"She used dark magic. A witch's spell." His eyes flashed gold. "My wolf reacts to her. It thinks she's my mate."

"You're an Alpha. Fight it."

"I am fighting it! I locked her in the silver cells. She stays there until I break this curse."

He lied.

Another surge of ecstasy pulsed through the bond, hotter and more violent than the last. Kael's wolf trembled with raw satisfaction. He had surrendered completely. The delight radiating from him felt like poison in my blood.

"Stop," I begged, digging my nails into the floorboards until they bled. "Please, Kael, stop."

He couldn't hear me. Or he simply didn't care.

Then the worst thing happened.

My belly, usually restless with our son's kicks, went completely still.

"Baby?" I touched my stomach.

Nothing.

"Wake up, little one. Kick for Mommy."

Silence. A cold, heavy weight settled in my womb. The pup felt lifeless, as if Kael's betrayal had severed the spark of life inside me.

"No, no, no." I tapped frantically. "Please. Talk to me."

Still nothing.

Fury replaced grief. Hot rage flushed my skin and dried my tears in an instant.

I pushed myself up. My joints popped in protest.

"I have to find him," I muttered.

I didn't call Clara back. I didn't alert the guards.

I slipped out the side door of the nursery into the dim hallway.

The bond was a fraying thread, weakened by whatever magic Vivienne held, but it was still there. It pulsed with a rhythmic, disgusting heat.

I followed the invisible pull.

"Where are you, Kael?" I whispered, keeping to the shadows of the packhouse.

I bypassed the grand staircase. Two guards stood by the front entrance, talking about the winter festival.

"Did you see the new meat shipments?" one asked.

"Yeah. Alpha ordered extra for the feast. Said we need to celebrate the new heir properly."

"Hope the Luna is feeling up to it. She looks tired lately."

I ducked behind a velvet curtain until they turned away, then slipped through the servants' corridor.

I climbed the spiral staircase, breathing hard. My pregnant belly slowed me, but I forced my legs to keep moving, gripping the banister for support.

"Just a little further," I told my quiet baby. "We're going to see what Daddy is doing."

The heat of the bond grew stronger. Kael's euphoria spiked again, sending a violent shudder down my spine.

I didn't know where this bond was going to take me, but I followed its pull until I found myself somewhere I could never have imagined.

The pull of the mate bond dragged my heavy body away, down the spiral stairs, deep into the earth.

The dungeon.

The iron gate stood dead quiet. Not a single guard manned the entrance. Kael had cleared the entire block.

"Why are there no guards?" I whispered to the empty stone corridor.

"Because he ordered them away," my wolf whimpered in my mind. "He wants privacy."

"No," I argued, my voice shaking in the damp air. "He does not know what he is doing."

I hesitated in front of the heavy metal bars. My hand hovered over the cold iron. Terror paralyzed my fingers. Did I really want to go in there? I feared the scene waiting in the dark would completely destroy my mind.

Happy memories flashed behind my eyes, fighting the dread.

"I will always protect you, Elena," Kael had told me on our wedding night, tracing my jawline. "You are my only Luna. My forever."

"You swore it," I muttered, gripping the rusted bars. "My Alpha does not lie."

If he was caught in Vivienne's dark magic, trapped in some twisted conspiracy, I needed to stand by him. I had to drag him out of this nightmare and bring him back to our home.

I gathered every ounce of my shattered courage and yanked the iron gate open.

The hinges groaned, a loud squeal that vanished under the sounds echoing from the depths of the corridor.

I heard flesh slapping violently against flesh. Wet, vulgar noises.

"Fuck, Kael, yes!" Vivienne's voice bounced off the damp stone walls. "Ram that massive cock deeper. Tear my fucking pussy apart."

"You like that, you dirty witch?" Kael growled. The deep, guttural vibration belonged to my mate, but the words sounded like a stranger. "Take my fucking knot."

The words sliced through my chest like a hunting knife.

"Stop," I gasped, clapping a hand over my mouth.

"Mark me, Alpha!" Vivienne screamed, her voice shrill and desperate. "Bite my neck! Claim me right now!"

"You want my teeth in you?" Kael snarled. "You want me to ruin you?"

"Fuck yes! Make me yours. Make me your Luna!"

I spun around. My shoes scraped the stone floor. I needed to run. I needed to flee back to the nursery, lock the door, and pretend none of this was happening.

But my feet froze.

I wrapped both arms around my swollen belly, shielding my unborn son.

"We are not running," I told the baby, my voice dropping to a fierce, trembling whisper. "He is your father. We fight for him."

I forced myself to turn back around. I crept down the long, dark, damp path. Water dripped from the cracked ceiling, splashing onto the cobblestones. The air grew thicker, heavier.

"Keep going," I ordered myself.

"Elena, go back," my wolf begged. "We will die of a broken heart."

"We will not die," I argued, dragging my hand along the wet wall. "We are stronger than a stray orphan."

"Listen to them. He is choosing her."

"He is under a spell!" I shouted at the empty air, my voice bouncing off the stones.

A rat scurried across my path, squeaking into the darkness.

"Even the rats are fleeing," I muttered, my stomach churning.

The innermost cell glowed with harsh, flickering torchlight.

The sounds grew deafening. The smells hit me like a physical blow. Kael's scent—pine and rain, the exact smell that usually calmed my anxiety—mashed together with Vivienne's sickeningly sweet rosewater stench. One scent I desperately wanted to bury my face in, the other I absolutely loathed.

"Spread your fucking legs wider, Vivienne," Kael ordered, his voice thick with raw lust.

"I am spreading them, Alpha. Look at me. Look at my tits. Touch them."

"I am going to fuck you until you scream my name for the entire pack to hear."

My stomach violently cramped.

Inside my womb, the baby suddenly woke up. He delivered a sharp, frantic kick against my ribs.

"Shh, shh," I hushed, pressing my palms hard against the sides of my abdomen. "I am right here, little warrior. Mommy is right here."

He kicked again, harder this time, rolling uneasily in the tight space. He felt the distress. He felt the severing of our family bond.

"I refuse to retreat," I whispered to the dark corridor. "If I turn back now, she wins. The witch takes my husband."

"Tell me who you belong to," Kael demanded, the sound of skin slapping skin echoing loudly.

"I belong to you, Alpha Kael," Vivienne answered.

"Say it again."

"I am yours. Only yours. Fuck my pussy harder!"

"That is right. You take every inch of this cock."

"Look at my eyes, Vivienne," Kael commanded.

"I am looking, Alpha."

"What color are they?"

"Gold. They are completely gold. Your wolf wants me."

"My wolf claims you. You are my mate."

Hearing those words—you are my mate—shattered a rib inside my chest.

"I am your mate," I whispered to the dark. "Me."

The iron gate stood wide open.

Not a single guard remained in the corridor.

I stepped past the rusted metal hinges.

The air smelled heavily of sex. Pine and rain mixed with sickeningly sweet rosewater.

My wolf clawed at the inside of my skull.

"Turn back, Elena," she pleaded.

"I need to see the truth," I whispered.

"The truth will kill us."

"I am stronger than a stray orphan."

"He is not interrogating her!"

"I have to see it with my own eyes."

I walked further down the dark path. The corridor ended in a glowing magical barrier.

I pushed my hand through the shimmering light. It felt like ice against my skin.

I stepped completely inside.

There was no prison cell.

There were no silver chains.

There were no damp stone floors.

The innermost room was fully lined with plush velvet padding. A mahogany table sat in the corner. It held silver platters of roasted meats, fresh fruit, and expensive wine.

This was a sanctuary. A hidden paradise built for two.

My eyes locked onto the center of the room.

A massive, four-poster bed replaced the interrogation chair.

Kael stood at the edge of the mattress. His hands gripped Vivienne's narrow waist.

She kneeled in front of him. Her bare chest pressed against the silk sheets.

He drove his hips forward. He thrust hard into her.

"Look at your naked body," Kael growled.

"Look at what your cock does to me, Alpha," Vivienne whimpered.

"Your body feels too fucking good."

"Fuck me harder, Kael."

"You are so fucking wet. You grip me like you were made for this cock."

"Everything is for you, my Alpha," Vivienne moaned, her fingernails digging deep into his muscular forearms. "Please, fill me up completely. Make me your true female."

"As you wish," Kael panted, his thrusts turning brutal, shaking the massive frame of the bed. "I never knew you had such an intoxicating body. No wonder my wolf was drawn to yours... this is fate."

"Yes, it is the Moon Goddess's will," she gasped out, throwing her head back, her neck completely exposed to him. "Our bodies crave each other. I only pray the cell's barrier holds strong... Elena must never know about us. I would die if I broke her heart."

"You are too good, Vivienne," Kael groaned, burying his face into the crook of her neck, inhaling her rosewater scent. "You are far too kind. I cannot even give you the title of Luna."

"Because I love you, Alpha," she whimpered, arching her back against his relentless pounding. "All I need is to be by your side. I only want you."

My face turned completely ash white.

There was no curse.

There was no dark magic.

There was no interrogation.

They were two lovers, perfectly matched in flesh and soul, indulging in their forbidden lust. I was not a mate fighting to save her husband; I was merely the pathetic obstacle standing between them.

The 'kind' woman was being ruthlessly claimed and bred by the father of my child, begging for his seed with every filthy moan.

A sudden, sharp tearing sensation ripped through my lower abdomen.

Then, I felt something warm and slick trickling down between my trembling thighs, soaking through my dress and pooling on the cold stone.

Blood.

"No... my baby..." I gasped, pressing both hands against my lifeless stomach.

My vision spun into absolute blackness. My knees gave out, and my body crashed heavily against the floor as consciousness was violently ripped away.