Chapter 4

Kaelen's aura turned dark the moment Lirael materialized at our threshold. Snarling, he clamped a hand around her wrist and dragged her around the stone pillars into the moon-garden.

"Are you trying to get your throat ripped out?" he hissed, shoving her back off the cobblestone path. "I ordered you never to step foot on this territory! If the Luna catches your scent, you know exactly what I will do to you."

From my vantage point at the second-floor window, the entire confrontation played out beneath me. Kaelen looked like a cornered beast, enraged by her audacity.

Trembling beneath his wrath, Lirael reached into her cloak. Her hands shook as she unrolled a glowing piece of parchment—a Blood-Line Augury scroll.

"I know! I should not have crossed the wards... but... I am carrying your pup."

Kaelen froze.

"The healer said your wolf was too dominant with me last night," she cried softly, clutching her stomach. "I am nine weeks along, Alpha. The magic is fragile. I was terrified. Will the pup survive? This is your firstborn—the heir to your bloodline."

Those words struck my chest like a physical blow, tearing a bleeding, jagged hole right through my core. Lirael was carrying an Alpha heir.

A memory surfaced on instinct. When we first swore our Lunar Oath, we debated siring a new generation. Kaelen had caressed my face, insisting that pups would dilute our sacred mating bond. He wanted our union perfectly untainted, just the two of us, for as long as possible. Foolishly drunk on his supposed devotion, I had diligently consumed barren-root elixirs to suppress my fertility every moon cycle since.

Only now did the sickening truth click into place. He was ecstatic to sire a pup with another female. From the very beginning, he never wanted a child with me.

Down in the garden, Kaelen stared at his shadow-pet's flat stomach. A flicker of genuine confusion crossed his features. He had clearly used magical suppressants during their trysts. How could she possibly...?

But the Alpha's primal instinct quickly swallowed his doubt. The uncertainty faded entirely, replaced by a suffocating, protective possession.

"Nine weeks?" His tone dropped its lethal venom. "We must be cautious. The heir cannot be jeopardized. Wait in your carriage. I will summon the High Healer to examine you off-site immediately."

Her tears morphing into a triumphant smile, Lirael stood on her toes to offer her lips. Kaelen's eyes darkened with raw lust, but he stepped back, denying her kiss.

"We are on Coven grounds. Do not push your luck," he murmured, gently tucking a stray curl behind her ear. "Prioritize the life in your womb."

Then he turned back toward the manor.

I stepped away from the window, dropping into a chair. Nine weeks. That perfectly aligned with the moon he claimed a border patrol had kept him away till dawn. My trembling hand drifted down to my own stomach. "Forgive me, little one," I whispered to my unborn pup. "It is mommy's fault. I cannot give you a proper family."

Minutes later, the door swung open. Kaelen strode in, already buckling his leather war-harness.

"Seren, a crisis has emerged. The Ironfang Pack is testing our southern borders, threatening the Coven's trade routes. I must deal with this personally. Wait for me here."

I offered a placid, understanding nod. Seeing my total lack of suspicion, the tension bled from his broad shoulders. He pressed a lingering kiss to my forehead and hurried out.

I watched his disappearing figure, marveling at how easily he could glide between shedding tears of joy over Lirael's womb and playing my devoted mate.I glanced at the lunar calendar on the wall.

This will be the last time we ever speak.

That afternoon, my Spirit-Comm Crystal pulsed on the vanity. The glass surface lit up with an encrypted message from an unknown magical signature.

The first projection was a localized aura-scan—a glowing, golden echo of life magic nesting within a womb. The second projection shattered my final lingering illusion. It showed Kaelen kneeling on the grass, gently cradling Lirael's swollen belly, his eyes closed as he pressed a reverent kiss to her skin. The raw, profound tenderness on his face was a look I had never once warranted in seven years.

Bearing an Alpha's heir had evidently given my sister the audacity to openly taunt the Luna. But she miscalculated. She could not break a heart that had already been reduced to ash.

For the next two days, Kaelen completely abandoned the estate. I utilized his absence to meticulously erase Seren Thalyn from Moonstone Manor. I donated my extravagant jewelry and enchanted artifacts to the lower-ranking pack sentries, and incinerated my remaining personal items in the den's hearth. Everything but my absolute necessities turned to smoke.

On the morning of the third day, a torrential storm pounded the territory. I stood in the foyer with a single travel trunk, waiting for the ethereal carriage from the Ember Spire to cross the wards.

My crystal vibrated with one final message.

[The seer confirmed it is a strong male, sister. I am carrying the next Alpha. Kaelen is going to officially claim me and our pup. You are a barren, useless female. If you have any dignity left, crawl out of his territory on your own.]

I stared at the glowing runes, my expression entirely devoid of emotion. Slowly, I traced my response.

[Congratulations. Your greatest wish is about to come true.]

The ethereal carriage arrived moments later. I hauled my trunk into the enchanted cabin and took my seat in the shadows.

As the carriage navigated the winding, rain-flooded roads, it passed the Moon-Oath Shrine. Heavy rain hammered the glass, blurring the ancient stone architecture into a gray wash. This was the exact holy ground where Kaelen had pledged his soul to me seven years ago.

Suddenly, a flash of silk caught my eye.

Kaelen was stepping out of the cathedral's doors, shielding Lirael from the storm with a massive black cloak. She was draped in a flowing white maternity gown, a jarring contrast against the miserable downpour. They had just finished an offering to the Goddess. Together.

As Kaelen reached forward to help her into his armored war-carriage, a violent gust of wind ripped through the trees, parting the curtain of rain.

He happened to look up.

Through two layers of rain-drenched glass, his golden gaze locked onto mine. Right in front of the very shrine that had witnessed his eternal vows. The impact of recognition hit him like a physical blow. His eyes blew wide, instantly flooding with shock, utter confusion, and a sudden, paralyzing terror. He dropped the cloak, his mouth moving silently into the undeniable shape of my name.

I maintained a dead, icy stare, blinking once before looking away, letting the carriage pull me out of sight—and out of his life forever.