The scent of cinnamon and honey clung to my dress as I made my way toward the training grounds—his favorite. He always said I made the best honey rolls in the entire territory. I believed him. I believed everything Darius said.
I clutched the small basket to my chest, heart fluttering with the weight of the news I carried. I hadn't planned on telling him today. But the moment I saw the faint flicker of life in the healer's rune, something inside me shifted. Hope bloomed again. Finally. A child. Our child.
The packhouse lights were dim. It was late. Most of the warriors were either on patrol or asleep. My steps slowed when I caught a faint sound—low laughter, breathless moans, the rhythm of bodies colliding.
I paused behind the old stone archway.
The honey rolls dropped from my hands.
My breath caught, lungs freezing mid-inhale. The scent hit me first—his. Darius's musk and... liliana? My head snapped toward the clearing just beyond the courtyard. The moonlight betrayed them, casting their bodies in silver glow.
There he was.
My mate.
Buried inside my sister.
Lilliana's legs were wrapped around him, her fingers gripping his back like she'd done it a thousand times before. He moved with hunger, with desperation—an intimacy he'd never shared with me. Not even when the bond had first formed.
I didn't scream.
I didn't cry.
I couldn't move.
Only when a broken sound tore from my throat did they freeze.
Darius turned first. His eyes met mine—wide, glowing faintly under the moonlight. Not with shame. Not even surprise. Just... indifference. Like he'd been waiting for me to find out.
"Amira," he said simply, adjusting his pants as if I was some guest who'd arrived too early. "You weren't meant to see this."
Lilliana didn't bother covering herself. She stood tall, chin high, eyes burning with triumph. "He is my mate," she said coolly. "The Moon Goddess corrected her mistake."
I stared at her. At him. My mate. My only sister. The two people I trusted most.
"It's not a mistake," I whispered. "The bond—Darius, we completed the mating ritual."
"I was being loyal to the title," he replied. "Not to you."
The words sliced through me. "You told me you loved me."
He shrugged. "It was a lie. You're barren, Amira. The bond was never meant to be permanent. A Luna who can't give her Alpha an heir is a burden."
My knees threatened to buckle.
The child.
He didn't know.
I had come to tell him, and instead, I found this.
I touched my stomach instinctively, the weight of the tiny life inside grounding me.
"You don't know anything," I choked out. "I came to—"
But footsteps echoed behind me.
I turned, heart in my throat.
A crowd.
Pack members. Elders. Warriors. Even the younger omegas. They gathered like vultures, drawn by the scent of drama.
"This is madness," someone muttered.
"Has he rejected her yet?"
"She failed the pack."
I wanted to run. I wanted to disappear. But Darius stepped forward.
And everything fell apart.
"I, Alpha Darius of Silvercrest, reject you, Amira Hart, as my mate and Luna," he announced, voice loud, steady, cruel. No hesitation.
A sharp wind slammed into me. No, not wind—his aura. It tore through mine, shredding the bond that had once pulsed beneath my skin.
My wolf howled inside me, clawing, desperate. Denied. Rejected. Worthless.
"I don't accept—" I gasped, clutching my chest, "I don't—"
But it didn't matter.
The bond snapped.
I fell to my knees.
Laughter.
Whispers.
"Couldn't even give him a child."
"She was weak from the start."
"The Moon Goddess gave him another chance."
My sister stepped into view then. Draped in my Luna robe. The same robe I wore when I stood beside Darius on coronation night. It fit her like it was made for her. My fists clenched.
"You should be grateful," she said with a smirk. "Now you don't have to pretend anymore."
I rose slowly. Not for them. Not for pride. For the small heartbeat fluttering inside me. The life they said I could never create. My baby.
My lips parted, the truth sitting bitter on my tongue.
But something stopped me.
Let them believe I was barren.
Let them whisper.
Let them toss their stones.
I locked eyes with Darius, with the man I once loved, and saw no remorse. Only cold victory.
I swallowed my pain, forced a steady breath, and turned to leave.
But before I did, I whispered to myself…
I watched as they all called me barren...
...but I was carrying Darius's child.