Adele's POV
I was moving too fast.
The thought echoed in my head as I hurried down the wide stone staircase, one hand clutching the railing, the other pressed lightly to my stomach as if I could shield the tiny life growing inside me from the chaos of this house.
I didn't want to be late. I couldn't afford to be late. When Caden Wayne's routine was disrupted, the entire pack felt the consequences.
Halfway down, the world tilted.
My vision swam, the edges of the hall blurring as nausea surged violently through me. I gasped and clutched the banister, my knees threatening to give out beneath me. My wolf whimpered weakly inside my chest—she was still adjusting, still fragile, just like the secret I carried.
Early pregnancy, the pack doctor had once said in passing, could be especially hard on unmarked or unhappy she-wolves.
I closed my eyes and breathed through it until the spinning eased. When I finally straightened, sweat dampened my palms.
You can do this, Adele.
I forced myself onward.
The kitchen was already awake—fire crackling beneath iron pans, the scent of herbs and meat hanging in the air. Servants moved around me, but none met my eyes.
Some looked through me as if I were invisible. Others wore thinly veiled disdain. They took their cues from their Alpha, and Caden's indifference toward me had poisoned the way the entire pack treated their Luna.
I didn't complain. I never did.
I was enduring. For hope. For love. And now—for my child.
My baby.
My hand drifted to my belly again as I prepared Caden's preferred breakfast, my movements automatic from years of repetition. He didn't love me. I had accepted that truth long ago. But I loved him. I always had. And somewhere deep inside, I believed this child was the Moon Goddess's answer to my prayers—a miracle born from longing and loneliness.
Maybe once the pup was born, Caden would see me differently.
Maybe then, I wouldn't be alone anymore.
I was so lost in those fragile thoughts that I didn't hear him until it was too late.
Arms suddenly wrapped around my waist from behind.
I screamed.
The pan slipped from my grasp, hot oil splashing against my wrist and forearm. Pain flared white-hot, but nausea overwhelmed it instantly—not from the burn, but from the scent behind me. Wrong. Sour. Predatory in a way that made my wolf recoil.
I shoved backward with everything I had.
"What are you doing?!" I snapped, spinning around. "Get away from me, David. I am your Alpha's mate."
David Wayne—Caden's stepbrother—only laughed.
"Relax, Luna," he said smoothly, stepping closer as I retreated. "You should be flattered. My brother doesn't know how to appreciate what's right in front of him."
His eyes roamed over me with open hunger, and bile rose in my throat.
"Leave," I warned, my voice shaking with fury. "Or I will scream."
"And who would believe you?" he mocked, his grin widening.
He lunged.
I cried out as he trapped me against the kitchen island, his body blocking any escape. I thrashed, striking his chest, his arms, but he was stronger. When his hand tangled in my hair, terror froze my blood.
Then the air shifted.
A powerful Alpha presence flooded the room, thick with rage.
"What the fuck is going on here?"
David stumbled back instantly, fear flashing across his face.
"C-Caden," he stammered.
I didn't think. I ran straight to my mate, pressing myself behind him, my hands gripping the back of his shirt like a lifeline. His body was solid, unyielding—an Alpha in full control. I should have felt safe.
Instead, dread settled deep in my bones.
"She tried to seduce me," David said quickly, lowering his eyes as if ashamed. "I was only trying to stop her."
The words struck like claws.
"What? No—he's lying!" I cried.
David scoffed. "Why would I lie? Why would I betray my own brother?"
Stepbrother, my mind screamed.
I looked up at Caden, desperate for him to see the truth—to smell it, to feel it through the mate bond.
But his eyes were already burning.
He grabbed my wrist roughly and dragged me through the halls, ignoring my pleas, my stumbling steps. The door to our bedroom slammed shut behind us.
"Was I not enough for you last night," he snarled, his voice thick with jealousy and rage, "that you go searching for my blood to satisfy yourself?"
My heart shattered.
"I didn't do anything," I whispered, tears spilling freely now. "I swear it. He touched me—"
"Silence," he growled, his Alpha command crashing down on me like a physical force. "Do not speak."
He turned away, furious, blind to everything except the lies he had been fed.
I curled inward on the bed, sobbing silently, my hands wrapped protectively around my stomach as my soul screamed in agony.
I had done nothing wrong.
Nothing.
***
Outside the room, Sylvia Wayne stood in the corridor, listening.
A satisfied smile curved her lips as she heard Caden's rage echo through the walls. Everything was unfolding exactly as she intended. By the time she descended the stairs, her expression was calm once more—until she found David waiting in the kitchen.
She hissed at him, low and sharp. "You were reckless."
"I wasn't caught," David smirked.
"Be smarter," she snapped. "If you want her, take her quietly. Do not provoke Caden. His wolf kills without hesitation."
David laughed softly. "Don't worry, Mother. I know exactly what I'm doing."
They shared a look—cold, calculating.
Neither of them cared that Adele was innocent.
All that mattered was power.
And with enough lies, even an Alpha could be made blind.