“You whore! You betrayed me!”

Jacob’s roar shook the entire living room.

He stood over Isabella, his silver eyes burning with rage. The wine glass in his hand shattered, and blood dripped from his fingers, but he didn't seem to feel the pain.

Isabella cowered in the corner of the sofa, the infant in her arms letting out a weak cry.

The baby’s fur was indeed strange. Not the pure, silver-white of Jacob’s clan, but a mottled gray-brown, with streaks of black.

“Jacob, I swear I didn’t—”

“Shut up!” Jacob slapped her across the face. “The pure Silver Wolf bloodline has endured for a thousand years! We have never produced a mutt like this!”

He reached for the baby. “I’ll deal with this disgrace myself!”

“Stop.”

Damien’s voice cut through the air like a blade of ice.

He emerged from the shadows, his golden, slitted eyes locking onto Jacob. The pressure from a true apex predator froze Jacob in place.

“The child is innocent,” Damien said calmly.

“Innocent?” Jacob laughed, a crazed sound. “The existence of this mutt is an insult to my bloodline!”

“Then prove he’s a mutt,” Damien said, walking to the center of the room. “The Lunar Council has a bloodline tracing ritual. If you’re so sure your wife was unfaithful, prove it with magic.”

Jacob froze.

The bloodline tracing was the most ancient and accurate test. The power of the magic would reveal every source of the child’s bloodline. No one could cheat it.

“I—”

“What, are you scared?” I stepped forward, my voice dripping with scorn. “Or do you already know the truth?”

Jacob’s face changed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” I said, looking at Isabella’s pale face, “perhaps the problem isn’t her infidelity, but what you two did to have a child in the first place.”

Isabella flinched, almost dropping the baby.

“Clara, what nonsense are you talking about!” my father demanded, frowning.

“Then do the ritual,” I said with a shrug. “The truth will speak for itself.”

An hour later, the elders of the Lunar Council arrived.

Five figures in white robes formed a circle around an ancient silver mirror. Moonlight streamed through a skylight, converging into a brilliant beam on the mirror’s surface.

“Place the child before the mirror,” the lead elder commanded.

Isabella hesitated, but with everyone watching, she had no choice but to obey.

The elders began to chant in an ancient tongue, and the surface of the mirror rippled.

Suddenly, a thick beam of silver light shot from the mirror and connected to Jacob.

“Paternal bloodline confirmed,” the elder announced.

Isabella let out a breath of relief, shooting me a triumphant, 'I told you so' glare.

But her expression quickly froze.

Four more rays of light shot from the mirror, connecting to four other male werewolves in the crowd!

The room fell silent.

The four men were all low-ranking, common members of the clan. They were now trembling on their knees on the floor.

“This—this is impossible!” Isabella shrieked.

Jacob stood there, dumbfounded, before erupting in a new, more furious rage.

“You slut! You were with four low-ranking wolves—”