I shoved the heavy oak doors of the Alpha's study open. They slammed against the plaster walls, rattling the framed pack maps.
Lily froze. She stood over the whirring paper shredder, feeding a stack of our pack's financial ledgers directly into the metal teeth.
"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded, crossing the Persian rug in three strides.
"Just clearing out some old trash, Evelyn," she said, her voice far too sweet. She didn't stop feeding the pages into the machine.
I snatched her wrist. Her skin felt clammy, her pulse racing beneath my fingers. "These are the winter budget reports. The timber contracts. You've been draining our accounts for months, and now you're destroying the evidence."
Chase had been distant through most of our year-long bond, but the last three months were worse. Since his brother died, Lily had taken over every room that mattered. She claimed the master suite, demanded round-the-clock guards, and gained unrestricted access to the pack vault while I, Chase's fated mate, was pushed into the guest wing.
"Let go of me," she hissed, her sweet facade slipping. She yanked her arm, but I held firm.
"You bought a diamond necklace yesterday using the pack emergency fund," I said, my grip tightening. "You told Chase it was for a memorial tribute. Where is it?"
"The pack owes me," Lily sneered, leaning closer. "My mate died for you people."
"He died in a rogue attack. It was a tragedy, not a blank check." I pulled her away from the desk, twisting her hand away from the shredder. "Tell me what you're hiding in these ledgers."
"He doesn't care about the money," Lily laughed, a sharp, grating sound. "He only cares about me. And the baby."
Heavy footsteps pounded against the hardwood floor in the corridor. Chase.
Lily's eyes darted toward the open doorway. A strange, cold smile curved her lips.
"Watch this," she whispered.
Before I could release her arm, she threw her entire body backward.
She launched herself toward the steep marble staircase just outside the study.
"No!" I lunged forward, my fingers grazing the silk of her blouse.
She tumbled backward down the steps. Her shoulder slammed into the stone, then her hip, her body twisting as she rolled. She hit the bottom landing with a sickening thud.
Chase burst through the hallway entrance right as she landed.
"Lily!" he roared.
He rushed past me. The draft of his movement chilled my arms. He didn't spare me a single glance. He vaulted down the remaining stairs, dropping to his knees beside his dead brother's mate.
Blood pooled on the white marble beneath Lily's leg, impossible to ignore.
"Chase," she whimpered, reaching a trembling hand up to him. Tears streamed down her pale face.
He gathered her into his chest, his large hands hovering over her swollen belly. "I've got you. You're safe. Someone get the doctor!" he shouted over his shoulder.
I stood at the top of the stairs, my nails biting into my palms. My throat felt tight, coated in dust.
"I was just trying to help," Lily sobbed, burying her face into his shirt. "I promised Evelyn I would leave right after the baby was born. I told her I didn't want to be a burden to your pack anymore. She didn't have to push me."
"Shut up," I said, my voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "I never said a word to you."
Chase's head snapped up. His golden irises flared, the glowing ring of an Alpha pushed to the edge of violence. The air in the stairwell turned thick, pressing against my lungs like a physical weight. The scent of pine and ozone, usually so comforting to me, turned sharp and suffocating. My knees trembled under the crushing pressure of his command, but I locked my joints, refusing to bow to him.
"You pushed a pregnant woman down a flight of stairs," he snarled.
"She threw herself backward. I caught her shredding the ledgers."
"Liar." He stood up, lifting Lily effortlessly into his arms. Her head lolled against his collarbone, leaving a smear of crimson on his white shirt. "My brother died protecting this pack. I swore on his grave I would protect his unborn child with my life."
"And what about me?" The words tore out of my throat before I could stop them. "I am your mate."
Chase took one step up the stairs, his gaze locking onto mine. The absolute hatred in his eyes made my chest cave in.
"You are nothing but a jealous, spiteful woman," he said, his voice a low, gravelly rumble. "You couldn't stand that I was caring for my brother's widow."
"She is stealing from us, Chase. Look at the shredder!"
"I don't care about the damn ledgers!" he yelled, the force of his voice vibrating through the floorboards. "Look at her! She is bleeding!"
I stared at the blood dripping from Lily's leg onto the pristine marble. The sight made my stomach churn.
"If her child doesn't survive this," Chase said, stepping closer, his fangs elongating past his lower lip. "You will pay with your life. I will execute you myself."
I stared at his expression. The man I had loved, the mate the Moon Goddess had chosen for me, was promising to kill me over a lie.
My hand instinctively floated upward, hovering just inches over my own flat stomach.
Eleven weeks.
I was eleven weeks pregnant with his pup. The doctor had confirmed it yesterday. I had bought a tiny pair of knit socks, planning to tell him tonight over dinner. I had foolishly hoped this baby would finally bridge the gap between us, that it would make him look at me the way an Alpha should look at his mate.
Instead, he was looking at me like an enemy.
I pressed my lips together, sealing the secret inside. I refused to let my child become a pawn in this twisted, suffocating house. I would not beg for my life using the baby growing inside me. If he wanted to kill me, he would have to do it looking me in the eye, without knowing what he was truly destroying.
"Say something," Chase demanded, his jaw clenched so tight the muscle twitched.
I gave him a single, slow nod. "Take her to the doctor, Alpha."
My formal title for him made him flinch, a tiny fracture in his rage. But he recovered at once, his expression hardening into stone.
"Get out of my sight," he barked, turning his back on me.
He carried her toward the medical wing, shouting for the pack nurses to prepare a room.
From my vantage point at the top of the stairs, I watched them go. Lily's arm hung limp over Chase's broad shoulder. Her fingers were coated in blood, dripping small red dots onto the hallway runner.
As they moved out of the main corridor, her hand twitched.
She slipped her bloody fingers into the pocket of her cardigan, pulling out a small black smartphone. Her thumb slid across the screen, pressing the red record button.
