Luna's POV
The pregnancy test slips from my fingers and clatters on the bathroom floor.
Two pink lines stare back at me like tiny daggers.
Positive.
No, I whisper, pressing my hands against the cold tile. No, no, no. This can't be happening.
My wolf, Storm, pushes forward in my mind. It's his baby, she says, her voice filled with joy I don't feel. Our mate's child.
We don't have a mate! I snap out loud, my voice echoing in the empty bathroom. Kael Thorne rejected us three years ago, remember? He stood in front of the entire Silverpine Pack and said we weren't good enough!
Storm whimpers, but she doesn't back down. The baby doesn't care about rejection. She's real. She's ours.
I grab the test again, hoping I read it wrong. But no two clear pink lines. I'm pregnant with the baby of a man who destroyed me.
My phone buzzes on the counter. Elena's name flashes on the screen. My best friend has impeccable timing or maybe she just knows me too well.
Did you take the test? Elena asks the second I answer.
I'm pregnant. The words taste like poison in my mouth.
Silence. Then: Luna, you need to come home. To Silverpine.
Are you crazy? I stand up so fast the room spins. I can't go back there! They hate me. The whole pack thinks I'm trash because my parents were traitors. And Kael My voice cracks. He made it very clear he never wants to see me again.
Pack law doesn't care about your feelings, Elena says gently. Pregnant wolves must return to their home pack. Especially if you're carrying an Alpha's baby. It's not safe in the human world.
I look around my tiny Seattle apartment the life I built after running away. I'm Lena Hart here, wildlife photographer. Nobody knows I'm a werewolf. Nobody knows about the mate who broke my heart.
What if Kael doesn't believe the baby is his? I ask quietly.
Then you'll prove it, Elena says firmly. But Luna, you don't have a choice. Wolf pregnancies are dangerous. The baby will grow fast. Rogues will be able to smell you're pregnant in a few weeks. You need pack protection.
I hate that she's right.
I'll think about it, I lie.
Luna
I have to go. I hang up before she can argue more.
I sink down on the bathroom floor, hugging my knees. How did this happen? Kael and I were together one night three years ago. One perfect, horrible night.
The memory hits me like a punch:
The Blood Moon Festival. The mate bond snapping into place so strong it knocked the breath out of me. Kael's golden eyes finding mine across the bonfire. The way he pulled me into the forest, his hands shaking as he touched my face.
Luna, he breathed my name like a prayer. You're my mate.
I know, I whispered back. I feel it too.
We made love under the full moon. Our wolves were so happy they sang. For one night, I thought all my dreams were coming true.
Then morning came.
Kael looked at me with cold, empty eyes. This was a mistake, he said. We can't tell anyone.
What? I couldn't breathe. Kael, we're mates. The bond
The bond is wrong, he said harshly. You're a traitor's daughter, Luna. I can't be tied to someone like you. It would destroy my position as future Alpha.
Two hours later, he rejected me in front of the entire pack.
I, Kael Thorne, reject you, Luna Hartley, as my mate.
The pain was so bad I wanted to die. Most wolves do die when their true mate rejects them. But I survived. Barely.
I force myself back to the present. My hands move to my stomach, which is still flat. There's a baby in there. Kael's baby.
What am I going to do? I whisper to the empty room.
Storm answers immediately. Go home. Face him. Claim what's ours.
He doesn't want us.
He'll want his child, Storm insists. Alpha wolves are protective of their babies. He'll have to acknowledge us.
I'm not so sure. Kael threw me away once. What's to stop him from doing it again?
My phone buzzes. A text from my brother Jason: Elena called me. Is it true? Are you pregnant?
I stare at the message. Jason is the only family I have left. Our parents were executed for treason when I was seven. Jason raised me, protected me, and kept me safe even when the whole pack hated us.
But Jason still lives in Silverpine. He's the CEO of our family's small company, trying to rebuild our name.
I type back: It's true. Don't tell anyone.
His response is instant: Come home. I'll protect you.
Fat chance of that, I mutter. Jason means well, but he can't protect me from Kael Thorne. Nobody can.
I spend the rest of the day in a daze. I try to work on editing photos from my last job, but I can't focus. Every time I close my eyes, I see Kael's face.
By evening, I've made a decision. I'm not going back to Silverpine. I'll figure out another way. Maybe I can join a different pack. Maybe I can hide in the human world long enough to have the baby, then
A sharp pain cuts through my stomach.
I gasp and double over. It feels like something is twisting inside me, trying to get out.
Storm surges forward. The baby is announcing herself. She wants the pack to know she exists.
What? I manage through gritted teeth.
All wolf babies do this. It's instinct. She's calling to her father.
No! I try to fight it, but it's too late.
Power explodes out of me in a wave the unmistakable signature of a pregnant she-wolf carrying an Alpha's child. Every werewolf within fifty miles will feel it.
Including Kael.
The pain fades, leaving me shaking on the floor. My phone starts buzzing immediately. Elena. Jason. Numbers I don't recognize.
Then a new message pops up from a number that makes my blood run cold:
I felt that. I'm coming to Seattle. Don't even think about running.
It's from Kael.
I stare at the message in horror. He knows. He knows I'm pregnant, and he's coming here.
This can't be happening, I whisper.
But Storm is practically purring in my mind. Our mate is coming for us.
He's not our mate! I shout. He rejected us!
Another text: I'll be there in four hours. We need to talk. Don't make this harder than it needs to be.
My hands shake as I read it. Kael is coming here. Tonight. After three years of silence, he's going to show up at my door and what? Accuse me of lying? Demand a DNA test? Reject me all over again?
I look around my apartment wildly. I should run. Pack a bag and disappear before he gets here.
But where would I go? The baby's power signature has already announced my pregnancy to every pack in the area. There's no hiding now.
My phone buzzes one more time. Another message from Kael:
I know you're scared. But we need to figure this out together. For the baby's sake.
For the baby's sake, I repeat bitterly. Not for me. Never for me.
I sink onto my couch and wait. In four hours, I'll have to face the man who destroyed me.
In four hours, everything is going to change.
Again.