When I clawed my way back to consciousness, the sharp scent of blood and herbs invaded my nose. My body felt hollow, my belly a pit of emptiness as if something precious had been torn away from me. The healer's voice cut through the haze, cold and merciless, "The pup didn't survive. We must clear what remains. Steel yourself, Ms. Sander."
Her words echoed inside me, ripping through my chest like claws. The world tilted, and I struggled to breathe. My wolf whimpered inside, thrashing against the hollow ache in my womb. The healer worked with steady hands, but every touch reminded me of the life that had slipped from me. By the time it was over, I was nothing but an empty shell, my spirit shredded alongside my body.
Shaking, I reached for Caleb through the bond, my heart clinging to a shred of hope. Hours later, he finally appeared, his presence filling the room with dominance and irritation, not care. His eyes, once the warmth of a mate's promise, now carried nothing but cold contempt.
"Isabel, how long are you going to keep this up?" His voice was sharp, dismissive, like the growl of an Alpha tired of a subordinate's weakness.
The words I wanted to scream stuck in my throat: Our pup is gone. My chest heaved with the weight of unspoken grief.
Instead, I stared at him, drinking in the image of the male I had once trusted above all. His handsome face no longer carried tenderness, only disdain.
"What are you staring at? What did you do this time?" His eyes narrowed, his tone dripping with accusation.
Agony ripped through my lower belly, twisting and tearing like a thousand fangs sinking into me. My claws dug into the sheets, anchoring me against the pain, against the storm raging in my heart.
Serena's venom seeped into my mind, her mocking words, her sly smile. And Caleb blind, foolish Caleb had always believed her lies. That was the cruelest wound of all.
I had begged him once to end this bond, told him it was poisoned beyond repair. He had sworn he would cast Serena out, had promised me his loyalty, his devotion. I had stayed, believing him, hoping for something better. If I had run then, I would never have carried a pup, never known the hollow agony of losing one.
He could hurt me with his neglect, but why should an innocent pup bear the punishment? What had it done but trust me, grow within me, expecting safety, expecting love?
A strangled howl clawed up my throat, trapped behind clenched teeth. Tears burned my eyes, sliding hot and merciless down my cheeks.
Caleb's gaze finally flickered, confusion breaking through his contempt. His eyes darted to the sheen of sweat on my skin, the trembling of my body. "Isabel… are you sick? What's happening?"
Too late. His sudden spark of concern was nothing but ash in the fire of my rage.
What sin had I committed to deserve such torment? Why was I hunted by betrayal, torn apart by deceit? Why must my pup's heartbeat be silenced because of their cruelty?
Love had rotted into sorrow, sorrow into fury. My wolf snapped at the edges of my soul, demanding vengeance. I was no longer his mate, no longer bound by tenderness or hope. I was a she-wolf stripped of her pup, her womb hollow, her heart burning with vengeance.
Serena's scent lingered in this place, clinging to the walls of this healer's den. Smug, brazen, reeking of victory. She had arranged this. She had stalked me into this trap, every step laid with precision.
And Caleb had played his part willingly, blind to the treachery, blind to the blood staining his hands.
But I was not broken. I would not remain prey in her games. For every drop of blood spilled, for the pup whose heartbeat was stolen, for every tear that carved lines into my face, they would pay.
They thought I was finished, that my strength had bled out with my child. They thought wrong.
I lay there, weak but alive, a shadow of grief and fury. My wolf rose within me, snarling, its eyes glowing with the promise of retribution. Serena would choke on her triumph, and Caleb would learn the cost of choosing lies over the truth of our bond.
They had stolen my future, but they would never take my spirit. I would make them regret underestimating me.
I swore it on the blood I had lost. I swore it on the pup they had taken.
This was not my end. This was the beginning of my vengeance.
Even if I bared the truth like a wound, Serena would only twist it, cloak herself in lies, and parade her false "proof" before the pack. She thrived on deception, weaving illusions that made me look like the wolf gone mad.
If Caleb truly trusted me, he could scent the truth himself. He could follow the trail, dig beneath the rot, and uncover her treachery. But he didn't. His eyes were locked on Serena, his loyalty wrapped tight around her. That was all she needed his blind devotion. It gave her the courage to keep striking at me, confident her claws would never be seen for what they were.
I knew her tricks too well. I had bled under them before.
But this time, I wouldn't be the naïve she-wolf. I wouldn't lower my head and walk away so she could slide into my place beside him, legally bound by pack law. No. She would never get that satisfaction.
I swallowed my grief like poison and locked the truth of the lost pup deep inside me. That was my hidden weapon, a blade I would not unsheathe until the right moment. If I exposed it now, Serena would spin it as she always did turning agony into something petty, washing away blood with her crocodile tears until the pack forgot.
Not this time.
My tears came too often, and Caleb began to notice. His voice lost its edge, his stare softened, if only a little. "Stop crying. Is it because I haven't been at your side? I've been tangled in a major project, Isabel."
Even with his heart chained to Serena, the bond between us tugged at him still. He couldn't completely cast off what we had once been.
"Caleb…" My voice shook, raw. "I dreamt you no longer loved me. That you had abandoned me. I woke with my heart clawing my ribs in fear."
He frowned, brushing my cheek as though the touch could erase my doubts. "Don't be ridiculous. How could I ever stop loving you?"
His words burned like a cruel irony, but I let myself lean into him. Serena had plotted for this moment. She thought she would burst in to find us tearing each other apart, my howls echoing off the walls, our bond snapping beneath her smile. She had timed her visit with perfect malice, confident she would catch me cornered, desperate, rejected.
But instead, when she entered, she saw Caleb's arms around me. His warmth covering me. His voice, if only for that heartbeat, claiming me as his. The blood drained from her face, leaving her pale and stricken.
That was when my resolve hardened into steel. I would no longer wait for him to choose. I would carve the truth out of shadows myself.
I began to hunt for proof of her betrayal. Every whisper, every lingering glance, every message she tried to bury I collected them all.
Serena was cunning. She never let things go far enough to bind her fate outright. The closest she came was a stolen kiss, her lips brushing against Caleb's, a sin in itself though not the final seal of betrayal. She used even that to torment me, sending taunting images, sly messages dripping with poison, then vanishing them as though they'd never existed.
But she underestimated me. Every single word, every picture, every fleeting thread of her schemes I kept them. Screenshots. Recordings. Traces of her hand in the dark.
She thought she was the hunter. But I was patient. I was silent. I let her think she had the upper paw.
All the while, I sharpened my claws.
The wedding reception would not be the celebration she imagined. It would be her unmasking. I would bare her lies to the entire pack, strip away her charade, and let the truth tear through the crowd like a howl at midnight.
She had taken my pup, my peace, my place in Caleb's heart.
But at that gathering, under the eyes of the pack and the law, I would take everything back.