Chapter 4

ELARA POV:

Damien's chosen stylists descended upon the Alpha suite like a flock of birds, chirping about silks and jewels. They dressed me in a gown the color of midnight, my hair swept up in an elegant cascade. I was a perfect doll, beautiful and empty, ready to play my part.

At the gala, I stood by his side, a fixed smile on my face. We were the pack's power couple, the fated Alpha and his gifted Healer mate. Wolves came to us, offering congratulations on my new position, their eyes filled with an admiration that now felt like mockery.

"An anniversary gift, my love," Damien said, his voice loud enough for those nearby to hear. He clasped a diamond watch around my wrist. The band was woven with strands of pure silver. It seared my skin, a burning reminder of his neglect. I didn't flinch.

The pain was nothing compared to the agony in my soul.

The evening reached its peak. Damien was giving a speech about loyalty and family. And then, it happened.

A small body crashed into my legs. It was Leo. He clung to me for a second before recoiling, his face twisting into a theatrical mask of fear.

"Bad woman!" he shrieked, pointing a small finger at me. "You want to take my daddy away!"

A shocked silence fell over the grand hall. Whispers erupted like wildfire. Eyes turned to me, no longer with admiration, but with confusion and suspicion. In their eyes, I was suddenly the other woman, the one threatening the Alpha's family.

Cassia rushed forward, all maternal concern. "Leo, darling, no! You mustn't say such things." She tried to pull him away, but the boy scrambled to Damien, burying his face in his father's legs.

My gaze was fixed on the boy's wrist. He wore a small leather bracelet. Dangling from it was a single, sharp, milky-white wolf's tooth.

An Alpha's first fang, shed during his first shift. A powerful talisman, traditionally saved for the Alpha's firstborn child with his true mate. Damien had promised it to our future son.

The sight of it on Leo's wrist broke something inside me. All the pain, the betrayal, the heartbreak, coalesced into a single, blinding flash of rage.

I lunged forward, my hand reaching for the tooth, needing to see it, to confirm the final, ultimate betrayal.

"Elara, stop!" Damien's voice was a roar.

He didn't try to understand. He didn't ask. He just reacted, protecting his son. He shoved me, hard. The force of his Alpha strength sent me stumbling backward.

My head cracked against the sharp corner of a marble table. A universe of stars exploded behind my eyes. An even sharper, more horrific pain erupted in my abdomen, a tearing, cramping agony.

I felt a warm gush of liquid slide down my legs. The faint, flickering life force of the pup inside me, the fragile lunar energy I had sworn to protect, was vanishing like smoke.

Damien didn't even look at me. He was kneeling, checking a small scrape on Leo's knee, murmuring soothing words as Cassia hovered over them both.

I lay on the floor, my midnight gown stained with my own blood. The life of our child was draining out of me, and my mate had turned his back. The whispers of the pack were a rising tide of judgment, and then, the world went black.