Broken Wolf Heart

[Prologue]

I thought the mate contract meant staying together until death. But my Alpha was about to tear out my living heart to save the substitute sister who had poisoned me.

I endured the agony of wolf venom corroding my blood vessels and carefully protected the fragile life that had just taken root in my belly, foolishly believing he would one day see the truth.

Until tonight, when he smashed a cold mechanical heart into my face, using an unborn child as a bargaining chip to strip me to the bone.

I finally understood—some hearts could never be warmed. And metal gears could never nurture living life.

Chapter One: Cold Machinery and Brutal Promises**

"Bang!"

The door was violently kicked open with brute force, letting out a sharp crack. Simon's tall frame filled the doorway.

"Thwap."

A thin document was thrown roughly onto my blanket.

"Sign." Simon's voice was ice cold, carrying unquestionable Alpha authority, blunt and direct.

My gaze froze on the black ink on white paper.

"What does this mean?" I opened my mouth, my voice cracking with hoarseness.

"Laila's heart has completely failed. She won't last through tonight." Simon looked down at me from above, his ice-blue eyes filled with absolute certainty. "She needs an immediate transplant. In the whole family, only your heart is a perfect match. Once it's removed, the doctors will implant this mechanical heart into your chest."

"Simon, are you insane?" I clutched the blanket tightly, trying to straighten my weakened spine. "How could I possibly go through with it? I can’t even withstand a common cold right now! Look at me—I can barely lift my arm! The moment I go under the knife, I'll die!"

"If sister really doesn't want to... then forget it."

A frail sob suddenly echoed through the room.

Laila entered, leaning against Simon's arm, tears falling like broken beads. She gripped his suit hem tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"Simon, I'm fine." She lowered her head, her voice trembling with perfect measures of understanding and grievance. "Don't force sister. She's just too scared of surgery, that’s why she made up this excuse... I'd rather die alone than watch you two become like this because of me."

After speaking, she arched her back, clutching her chest, screaming as though her heart were being ripped out, her body falling backward.

"Laila!" Simon's expression changed drastically, extreme worry flashing in his eyes. He scooped her into his arms and growled softly yet furiously, "Shut up! Don't talk about dying. Your parents saved my life five years ago. I swore I'd take good care of you."

But when his gaze cut past Laila’s shoulder and slashed toward me like a blade, whatever warmth had lingered vanished instantly.

Only bottomless violence and hatred remained.

"Still not dropping that act of faking illness, Zora?!" He let out a cold, mocking laugh, each word a blade. "You're strong—this pathetic state of yours is clearly the effect of drugs you took yourself! You're just selfish! Jealous that I'm paying attention to her. To avoid saving a life, you can fabricate any lie. You vicious woman make me sick."

A sharp, twisting pain surged through my chest.

"I'm not lying!" I forced out a desperate wail from deep in my throat, trying with all my strength to push myself up from the bed. But my legs had no strength at all, and I fell heavily back down.

"Enough!"

Simon completely lost his patience. He tossed a mechanical heart violently, leaning in as he slammed it against my body. "This mechanical heart is top Alliance technology. Its output will keep you alive and kicking—you won’t die!" His towering presence fell over me, his suffocating pheromones crushing my entire airway. "Just sign it. Get on the operating table. Everything will be settled."

He pretended to be gentle as he lifted my chin and kissed my forehead like he always did.

"As long as Laila survives. I promise you." His voice softened, offering bait he knew I could never refuse. "Right after the surgery, I’ll officially marry you. Not only give you a title, I'll give you the one thing you dream about—your little wolf pup."

Little wolf pup.

Those three words struck like lightning, shattering the last piece of hope in my skull. The string in my mind, stretched to its limit, snapped with a sharp crack.

For five years, I had stayed by his side pathetically begging for scraps of love, trying everything to make him love me. Yet every time we lay in the same bed, he forced me to take contraceptives. I had secretly bought a baby crib, staring at the diagrams over and over, fantasizing about our future pup.

Now, he was using those words as anesthetic—while preparing to cut out my living heart.

I looked over his broad shoulder toward Laila, still hiding in his arms.

In the angle Simon couldn’t see, Laila’s once weak and pained expression had completely shifted. That pale face curled into a cruel, triumphant smile. She narrowed her eyes, looking down at me like a predator eyeing prey.

My chest heaved violently.

No. I couldn’t sign. Even if it killed me, I couldn’t sign.

I slowly shifted my gaze away from Laila’s mocking eyes and lowered my head, gently caressing my belly, where a fragile life with fingernails not yet grown was forming. A life I had conceived by secretly swapping out the contraceptives.

I had thought that when pushed to this extreme, I would scream, curse, or go mad. But when the ultimate pain crushed my heart, the sound that left me was calm as still water.

"But Simon."

The tears I had fought so hard to hold back finally dropped onto my hand. I lifted my bloodless face, staring at the Alpha I had loved for so many years.

"A heart without a wolf soul..." My voice was faint as a murmur, yet carried the dead calm of total surrender.

"Can never nurture my little wolf pup."

"And Simon, with wolf venom in me… I won’t live much longer anyway."