Chapter 2 Cold Words&Burning Touch

Selene

The divorce papers lay spread before me, a crisp white contract with a number that could buy entire cities: five million dollars. Five million to make me disappear.

I traced my fingers along the edge of the document, watching as a thin layer of frost followed my touch. Pale morning light filtered through the curtains, casting shadows that seemed to mirror the fragmentation of my life.

Once, I'd been Selene Frost, promising young executive and heir to the Crystal Bay Pack. Every man desired me. My moonlit silver-blue eyes were hailed as one-of-a-kind. Back in university, so many brilliant young men pursued me, worshipping me as their dream goddess.

And now? I’ve been reduced to a rejected Luna. How ironic!

Memories flickered through my mind—Vortend's cold eyes, his ruthless words. "I would have refused you. Even now, I would refuse you for Adriana." The betrayal cut deeper than any physical wound, a pain that seemed to crystallize in my very bones.

My hand instinctively moved to my stomach. The doctor's words from yesterday echoed: "Congratulations, you're pregnant!"

Now, those words felt like a cruel joke from some malevolent universe intent on breaking me.

I walked to the full-length mirror, studying my reflection. The woman staring back was pale—too pale—I can't believe I've become so haggard.

The lunar mark in my right eye—a tiny crescent visible only up close—seemed to pulse with a quiet, dangerous energy.

Stay calm, I reminded myself. Stress is not good for the babies.

The phone rang, shattering the silence.

"Selene," Vivian's voice was professional but tinged with concern. "I need you to come to Aurora Medical Center. Now."

Aurora Medical Center, the place that once delivered my joyful news.

Vivian Clark waited in her office, her green eyes studying me with a mixture of medical scrutiny and genuine friendship. As my friend and the pack's most respected physician, she was one of the few people I could trust completely.

The ultrasound machine hummed to life, its screen flickering with two distinct shapes. Two heartbeats. Two lives. My breath caught in my throat.

Vivian's fingers moved expertly across the screen, her brow furrowing. "Your energy signatures are... complicated."

"Complicated how?" I asked, a thread of frost spreading across the examination table where my hands rested.

She sighed, worry etching itself across her face. "Your werewolf lineage—particularly your ice and lunar abilities—they're in flux. The stress of being rejected by your mate is creating dangerous energy fluctuations."

Rejected. The word felt like a physical wound, a tear in the delicate fabric of my existence.

"Will I lose them?" The question emerged as a whisper, my silver-blue eyes locked on the ultrasound.

"Not if we're careful," Vivian said firmly. "But you must avoid emotional stress. Absolutely no confrontations. The twins are fragile."

Twins.

In an instant, I became mother to two children - a reality filled with both possibility and danger. A legacy I never expected, a future Vortend had so casually discarded.

"No one can know," I said, my voice gaining strength. "Not yet. Especially not Adriana."

Vivian nodded. Her fingers adjusted some settings on the machine. "Werewolf pregnancies, particularly for ice-line wolves like you, are delicate. Your ability to conceive again—if something goes wrong—might be impossible."

The weight of those words settled over me like a funeral shroud. My entire future, my lineage, balanced on a knife's edge.

The city of Black Pine wore its winter coat—gray skies, bare trees. My body radiated a heat that defied the winter chill, a protective mechanism for the two lives growing within me.

Memories of Vortend surfaced—rare moments of tenderness that now felt like elaborate deceptions.

"May our children take after you," he whispered, fingers threading through my silver-blue strands.

"Me?"

"Yes, my frost sprite," he breathed against my lips, kissing the petal-soft blush of them. "As beautiful as you are—preferably with the same hair. I’d even wish for three."

"When we have a boy, I'll name him Ethan."

The irony was a bitter knife twisting in my gut.

Like a ghost, I left the hospital and turned the corner, suddenly stopping in my tracks. There, in the park where we once strolled together, sat Vortend and Adriana on a bench. Her long, slender legs were barely covered, provocatively crossed, the edge of her short skirt teasingly revealing the pale skin of her thighs, glowing enticingly in the faint winter light.

My keen hearing picked up every word they said, even from a distance.

“Oh, Vort, I was worried you might’ve actually fallen for my sister,” Adriana purred, her voice silky and deliberately seductive. She tilted her body slightly, the curves of her chest subtly outlined under her tight sweater, as if on display just for his eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Vortend’s voice was icy. “This was always how it should’ve been. I should’ve done this years ago.”

“Now we can finally be together. Just like before she got in the way,” Adriana said, her delicate fingers tracing slow, ambiguous circles on the sleeve of his suit, her touch teasing and suggestive.

“Three and a half years, Vortend,” her voice dropped low, husky with temptation, almost a whisper against his ear. “Three and a half years, and still no heir. Don’t you think it’s time to discuss… other options?”

Vortend’s response remained restrained. “The pack expects the bloodline to continue.” His posture was rigid, the perfect image of an alpha wolf, yet his fingers tightened slightly, as if suppressing some primal urge.

His gaze swept across her face, lingering on her slightly parted red lips, momentarily captivated by her defiant expression.

“She’s never given you what you wanted,” Adriana continued, her voice sinking into a seductive murmur, like a lover’s secret. Her hand slid upward, resting on his thigh, her fingertips lightly brushing the fabric of his suit pants, bold and challenging, openly staking her claim.

“Selene was just… a pretty facade. Useful for political alliances. Nothing more.” Her fingers traced small circles on his thigh, inching closer to more dangerous territory, her gaze glinting with triumphant provocation, as if reveling in this game of control.

Her words were like meticulously crafted daggers, designed to wound. And they did. Each syllable spread through my veins like frost.

“I can give you what she never could,” Adriana went on, her voice dripping with raw seduction. Her hand moved higher along the inside of his thigh, her touch growing bolder, as if deliberately stoking his desire. Her body leaned closer, the softness of her chest nearly brushing against his arm, the heat of her breath mingling in the air. “A child. Loyalty. Everything the Moon Goddess failed to provide.”

Vortend’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, as if repressing a deeper emotion. “The Luna Dissolution Ritual is set for tomorrow. Once it’s done, we can discuss… future arrangements.” His voice remained steady, but a fleeting glint in his eyes betrayed him, as if he were restraining some ineffable emotion.

That made me a little confused.

Adriana leaned in even closer, her red lips nearly grazing his ear, her voice a practiced, sultry coo that sent pulses racing. “Imagine it. Our child. With your cunning, my social finesse. We’d be unstoppable.” Her breath was warm, brushing against his skin like a feather, teasing his senses. Her hand lingered on his thigh, pressing lightly, a silent invitation.

My hand instinctively pressed against my stomach. The two lives within me seemed to pulse—a silent, defiant heartbeat.

The words hit me like ice picks, sharp and poisoned. I clamped a hand over my mouth, stifling the gasp that clawed its way up my throat.

A warning? My heart hammered against my ribs. An overwhelming sense of foreboding pierced through the shock.

Fear was a cold knot in my stomach, but something stronger rose to meet it – the fierce, primal instinct of a mother. It cut through the haze of panic, sharpening my senses.

I had to do something.