Ella.
Tears streamed down my eyes uncontrollably, blurring everything before me as my chest tightened painfully. My voice came out broken, choking on every syllable. "Alex… what's going on?" I asked, even though my heart already feared the answer.
Before he could speak, Eva let out a sharp, mocking laugh. She tilted her head, her lips curling with cruel amusement. "I knew you were wolfless," she said coldly, "but I didn't expect you to be this dumb." Her words cut deeper because they didn't come from a stranger—but from the woman I had trusted the most.
I shook my head frantically, refusing to accept her voice as the truth. I turned back to Alex, tears spilling freely now. "Tell me she seduced you," I pleaded, sniffing hard. "I am willing to believe you. Just say it. Say it was her."
Silence stretched, thick and suffocating.
"Enough!" Alex suddenly shouted.
I flinched as if struck. My heart dropped painfully. This was the very first time since our marriage that Alex had ever raised his voice at me. The man who once spoke to me with nothing but gentleness now looked at me with cold impatience.
"You know too well that you can't carry my pup, Ella," he said harshly. He stepped closer and grabbed my chin roughly, forcing my tear-soaked face up to meet his eyes. "It was out of pity that I married you, not love."
Each word hurt deeper than I could fathom.
He shoved me away, and I staggered back, barely keeping my balance. "Those three years," he continued flatly, "were nothing but illusions."
"Alex, please," I cried, my hands trembling as I reached for him again. "You're an Alpha. You cannot break your promise. I love you, Alex."
Before he could respond, a sharp sting exploded across my cheek.
My head snapped to the side as Eva's hand landed hard against my face. "Shut up!" she snapped. "You cannot tell my mate that you love him in my presence."
My ears rang as I stared at her in disbelief. Slowly, I turned back to Alex, my heart pounding wildly. "Alex… what is she talking about?"
Eva laughed softly, victoriously. "I'm pregnant, Ella," she said, resting a possessive hand on her stomach. "I am carrying his pup."
The words knocked the air out of my lungs.
She stepped forward deliberately, grabbing Alex's hand and linking her arm through his, claiming him openly. "…So between you and me," she continued, her eyes glittering with triumph, "I am fit to be his Luna."
"No… no… no…" I shook my head repeatedly, my tears falling freely as my chest convulsed with broken sobs. My voice cracked under the weight of disbelief. "You promised me, Alex… you promised to love only me." Each word tore out of my throat like it was being ripped from my soul.
He didn't flinch.
Instead, his face hardened into something cold and unfamiliar, stripped of every trace of the boy I had grown up with, the man I had married. His voice rang out, loud and merciless, carrying the authority of his title.
"I, Alpha Alexander Blake of the Bloodfang Pack, reject Ella Morrison as my mate."
The words struck me like a fatal blow.
"No!" I cried out instinctively, my scream echoing through the room as a sharp, searing pain exploded in my belly. It felt as though something inside me was tearing apart, ripping through flesh and bond alike.
My legs buckled. I clutched my stomach desperately, gasping for air as agony flooded every part of me. No—no way. My pup. A sob tore from my lips as terror wrapped around my heart. I could feel the mate bond snapping, burning, unraveling with cruel finality. The pain was unbearable, far worse than anything I had ever known. I held onto the last fragile thread of strength in me, refusing to fall, refusing to let go.
"Guards!" Alex's voice echoed again, sharp and commanding.
Almost immediately, three hefty men stormed into the room, their presence looming and oppressive. I barely registered them as Alex continued coldly, his words sealing my fate without hesitation. "Take her to the prison house. In three days' time, she is to witness the mating ceremony between Eva and me—before she is executed."
Executed.
The word rang in my ears, hollow and unreal.
My world spun violently, the room tilting as though the ground beneath me had vanished. I couldn't understand what I was hearing. This couldn't be real. Alex—the man who once held my hands and swore to protect me with his life—wanted me dead. Not just dead, but broken first. Forced to watch him bind himself to another woman before ending my life.
My heart shattered completely.
Why did you do this to me?
The question screamed inside my head, but my lips wouldn't move. My body felt heavy, numb, drained of all strength. I wanted to beg. I wanted to scream. I wanted to protect my pup. But the pain, the betrayal, the rejection—it was too much.
My vision blurred as darkness crept in from the edges, swallowing the room, the voices, the faces. The last thing I felt was the dull ache in my belly and the crushing weight of my broken bond.
Then everything went black.