“I could’ve explained everything! Why did you get rid of the child without telling me? I was his father!” “You put him in me, remember? You made me his mother—even though he wasn’t my blood!” My mate used a witch to implant my sister’s child into my womb. Why? Because she didn’t want to carry it herself. But she needed that child to solidify her title—as Luna of my first mate’s pack. That’s right. She stole my mate. And now she wanted to use my body to carry her child. So I got rid of it. “How could you?” my sister gasped. “What will you do now, without a child?” I smiled coldly. “Worried about me?” I said. “You should worry about yourself… How are you going to explain to your mate that you lost his heir?”
“You should be standing at the altar right now, not here.”
“Yeah! That’s it!” My sister Megan’s breath hitched between kisses, her voice dripping with saccharine sweetness, “You’re going to be late.”
“It doesn’t matter. She can wait,” came the familiar voice of my mate, just before their words were drowned by the sound of more kisses.
“Right now, you’re the only thing that matters.”
“Not too deep—I don’t want to get pregnant.”
“That’s not your call.”
The next second, the unmistakable sound of fabric tearing—
While I remained standing at the altar, looking straight ahead.
It was the night of our Mating Ceremony.
I stood before the altar adorned with silverleaf flowers, clutching our engraved vow rings. My heart thudded in my chest, heavy with nerves but full of hope.
I believed that once my mate held my hand, our destinies would forever intertwine under the Moon Goddess’s witness.
But the next moment, a Beta rushed over, his expression grim as he whispered something to the pack elder.
A hush swept over the crowd. Uneasy murmurs followed.
I turned toward the resting chambers, a knot of dread tightening in my chest—
Until a warrior opened the door leading there. And in that moment, my entire world shattered.
There stood my mate, bare-chested, and in his arms—
Was my sister, Megan, the one I had nurtured, protected, and trusted with everything.
She looked straight at me, her lips curled into a triumphant smirk.
The crowd erupted—not in cheers, but in cruel laughter.
Blessings turned into whispers. Whispers into sneers. Sneers into open mockery.
I stood frozen, and the ring slipped from my fingers, hitting the ground with a crisp clink—like the sharp echo of a heart breaking.
“Lauren, what’s done is done. Just let him go—to your sister,” my mother urged softly at my side.
My mind went blank.
Tears streamed down, but I couldn’t even feel them.
My parents murmured gently, trying to soothe me, as if that would ease the betrayal.
“I now declare that the bride tonight… is Megan, not Lauren.”
“Enough.”
A low voice cut through the chaos.
The crowd fell silent and parted instinctively.
Landon, Alpha of the neighboring Seafall Pack, stepped forward in a sleek black suit. His face was cold as stone, but his eyes burned with fury.
He was mysterious, rarely seen in public.
He stopped in front of me, dropped to one knee without hesitation, and reached out a hand:
“Be my Luna. I’ll show everyone that you are the only one worthy of honor.”
I glared at my mate and my sister, then turned to Landon—and placed my hand in his without a second thought.
What should have been a mating ceremony with my fated mate, became the moment I was claimed by a different Alpha.
After we sealed the mate bond, he treated me with the utmost tenderness.
But despite our efforts, we were never able to have a pup of our own.
One day, in the gentlest voice, he said… maybe I was the reason we couldn’t have a child.
Desperate, we sought the help of a witch.
Her potion worked—and for the first time, I was expecting a child.
From then on, Landon treated me with even greater care and devotion.
I believed—truly—that he was my home. My fate.
Until the day I overheard his conversation with a friend.
“Landon, that was cruel. Luna Lauren’s been nothing but good to you—
How could you have the witch transfer Megan’s child into Lauren’s womb just because Megan didn’t want to go through labor? You turned her into a breeder.”
“And the child’s due in two months. What then?”
He was silent for a moment. Then sighed.
“Once the child is born, I’ll give it to Megan. It’s what she’s always wanted.”
“And Lauren?”
“As for Lauren, I’ll tell her the child didn’t make it.”
“Of course. I’ll stay by her side for the rest of her life.”
So that was it.
His gentleness, his care—
All for her.
“Aren’t you afraid Lauren will find out?”
After a pause, Landon replied,
“She won’t.”
“You really believe that?”
“She trusts me,” he said, voice steady.
“If I say it’s true, she won’t doubt me. She never does.”
There was a silence. Then his friend lowered his voice:
“Just don’t regret it.”
Landon gave a faint laugh. “I won’t.”
I stood outside the door, my fingers digging into my palms. There was no pain. I’d gone numb.
I had only come to bring him afternoon tea.
Now, all I felt was a gaping hole in my chest, as if something had been viciously torn away.
The cold wind pierced through me.
I stumbled back to the pack house and didn’t even bother turning on the lights.
Collapsed onto the sofa, I shivered uncontrollably.
Tears slipped silently down my cheeks—too drained to even wipe them.
Then I heard the door click open.
He was home.
