Chapter 2

ELARA POV:

The potion tasted of bitter roots and cold earth. The healer watched me with ancient, knowing eyes as I drank it down. The effect was immediate. A chilling cold spread from my womb, seeping into my bones. It wasn't pain, but an emptiness, a hollowing out. The faint, warm flicker of the life inside me was snuffed out, hidden behind a magical veil.

I spent the rest of the day in bed, feeling as if I'd survived a great illness. When I finally rose, the face in the mirror was a pale, haunted stranger. I hid the shadows under my eyes with makeup, put on a simple dress, and instructed the Omegas to pack up every piece of jewelry, every fur coat, every designer gown Kaelen had ever given me.

"Donate them," I said, my voice steady. "To the Pack's unmated she-wolves."

Kaelen came home to find the Omegas carrying out boxes of my former life. He frowned, his powerful presence filling the room. "What is this, Elara?"

"A prayer," I lied smoothly, placing a hand over my now-cold belly. "For our pup. An offering to the Moon Goddess for her blessing."

His expression softened. The Moon Goddess was a name no wolf took lightly. He reached to touch my stomach, to feel the life force he believed was growing there. I gently caught his hand, lacing my fingers with his.

"I'm tired, Kaelen," I said. "Let the Goddess have her tribute."

He let his hand fall, but his eyes narrowed slightly. He could feel it, I knew. The weakness in my scent, the lack of vibrant life that should have been pouring from a pregnant Luna.

Before he could question it, his mind-link chimed. It was an elder. "Alpha, Luna. We are holding a welcome dinner for Lyra. She has returned to the Pack. We expect you both tonight."

Kaelen's reaction was instantaneous. He didn't consult me. He didn't even look at me. He seized control of the link, his voice booming with the undeniable force of the Alpha's Command.

"We will be there."

Before we left, he produced a small, velvet box. Inside was a necklace, a heavy silver chain with a pendant carved with ancient runes of protection. It was breathtakingly expensive.

"A welcome home gift for your aunt," he said, his gaze distant. "You should give it to her."

He wanted me to place a gift from him around her neck. The cruelty was so casual it was almost an art form.

The dinner was held in the grand hall of the Pack House. Lyra stood by the fireplace, looking just as beautiful as she did in Kaelen's paintings. When she saw me on Kaelen's arm, her smile faltered. Shock, then a deep unease, clouded her eyes. She hadn't known her former lover had mated with her own niece.

I walked straight to her, holding out the box. I smiled, a bright, brittle thing. "A gift. From my Mate." I leaned in close and whispered, for only her to hear, "Kaelen's taste has always been very specific."

Her face paled.

Throughout the meal, Kaelen was a different man. He was alive, engaged, his attention fixed solely on Lyra. He forgot I was there. He forgot I was pregnant. He laughed at her stories and passed her favorite dishes.

He even pushed a platter of seared scallops toward her, a delicacy prepared on a silver grill. Silver was a poison to our kind. While the trace amounts on the food wouldn't kill a strong wolf, they were strictly forbidden for pregnant she-wolves. It could harm the pup.

He had forgotten. Or, more likely, he had never cared enough to remember.

He was too busy serving the woman he truly loved.

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