Chapter 1: The Final Humiliation

Three years after Alpha Atlas Vale reclaimed Elena Hart as his mate, she was pregnant.

As his Luna, Elena had learned not to argue with him.

When his border patrols ran late, she no longer went to meet him.

When he got blackout drunk with the pack’s senior members, she only asked the pack house staff to prepare a hangover soup.

When he was so buried in pack business that he rarely returned to their rooms on the top floor, she stopped asking where he was through their mind-link.

When she was eight months pregnant, she found a box of rose-scented face cream—not hers—in his coat pocket, and she simply put it back.

Until the day she went to the pack hospital for a prenatal checkup and walked straight into the final, crushing humiliation.

Two young doctors were just coming out of the maternity ward.

“Alpha Atlas is certainly attentive to the late Beta’s widow. Mara just had a boy, and he gave her the best postpartum suite in the hospital.”

“Rowan Quinn died fighting for the Blackwood Pack. It makes sense the Alpha would look after his widow. "

"But staying with her all day and not coming home at night? That’s more than just keeping a promise, don’t you think?”

“Luna’s due soon, too."

" I wonder how she’ll react when she finds out that pup has already been registered under the Vale bloodline and will be part of the Alpha heir’s naming ceremony."

They lowered their voices, but Elena heard every word.

A werewolf’s hearing wasn’t always a gift. Not in this moment.

Through the half-open door, she saw Atlas holding a newborn while talking to several guards who had once served under Rowan.

The baby was swathed in Atlas’s heavy cedar scent, a clear declaration of protection that told everyone he’d been holding the pup for days.

Then she heard Atlas call the pup his own.

Her eyes burned.

She would dissolve their mate bond.

And this time, she would never take him back.

...

“Congratulations, Alpha. The pup is very healthy.”

“When Luna’s pup is born, if it’s a girl, you’ll have both a son and a daughter.”

“Luna doesn’t know about this, does she?”

The men in the room were all Atlas’s trusted subordinates, men who had once guarded the border with Rowan.

Atlas’s expression darkened. “Of course not. And none of you are to breathe a word of this to her. She’s in the final stage of her pregnancy. She can’t handle any stress.”

“How long can you hide it? A male pup’s full-moon naming ceremony requires the elders as witnesses. You won’t be able to keep it a secret.”

Atlas was silent for a moment. “We’ll deal with that after she gives birth. Once she has our pup, she won’t leave me.”

Lying on the bed, Mara spoke softly. “Is this going to make things difficult for you? After Rowan died, all I ever wanted was for someone to protect me. "

"Giving you a pup is more than enough for me. I never dreamed of taking Luna’s place.”

Atlas sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her into his arms. “Mara, I promised Rowan I’d take care of you, and I won’t abandon you."

" I’m just sorry you’ve had to suffer these past three years, living in the guards’ cottage, hiding your pregnancy from everyone.”

Elena stared at that familiar face. He was always so calm and severe when dealing with the pack, but in this moment, all his tenderness belonged to another woman.

Three years ago, Elena had first demanded to dissolve their mate bond because she’d found him tangled up with Mara.

When she’d tried to leave, Mara claimed that her inner wolf had become unstable after Rowan’s death.

She said she couldn’t shift safely and was at risk of dying from a forced transformation.

Atlas had chosen Mara.

In the three years after their bond was dissolved, he’d set aside his duties to the Blackwood Pack and chased Elena all the way to the Pine Ridge territory in the south.

When he finally found her, he stood before her and her family, reined in his Alpha pressure, and humbled himself, begging her to return in the ultimate posture of lupine submission.

He swore he had only ever loved her.

He’d said they only separated because he was afraid Mara would actually die.

and because he couldn’t betray Rowan, who had sacrificed himself for the pack.

To reassure her, he promised he would send Mara to another city, where she would be cared for by doctors and Rowan’s family.

They had known each other for ten years and been in love for five.

Elena hadn’t been able to let go completely, so she’d accepted his second claim. The Registry restored her status as Luna, and the elders and guards swore their loyalty to her once more.

After they returned to Blackwood, Atlas’s devotion bordered on obsession.

She loved the caramels from a shop in Coast City, and no matter how busy he was, he would send a patrol car to bring them back for her.

She was afraid of the cold, so he left his thick cloak with her, even if it meant he had to patrol through the snow without it.

Even when he was at the border, he reported his safety to her every day through the pack link.

But only now did she realize he had never sent Mara away.

He had hidden her in a guards’ cottage just a short distance from the pack house, continued his relationship with her, and let her give birth to his child.

Elena finally understood how wrong she had been.

She had given him her trust, and he had given her just enough love to make her believe him. But when the same person tears a bond apart twice, it’s no longer worth mending.

A few days ago, Atlas had told her he was leading a team to the northern border and would be gone for a month.

She had believed him.

If she hadn’t changed her prenatal appointment at the last minute, she might have been kept in the dark until Mara’s son was entered into the Alpha bloodline at his full-moon ceremony.

The baby in her womb suddenly kicked, hard. Twice.

Elena clutched her stomach and bent over. “It hurts.”

Not just her stomach.

A passing medical assistant rushed to her side. “Luna, are you all right?”

“Who’s outside?”

The hospital room fell silent as everyone inside turned toward the door.