Three weeks ago, the lift cage in the Moonspire Tower fell.
I was thirty-seven weeks pregnant with my first pup, hurrying toward the pack tower lift with two paper bags of garlic rice and soy chicken which I had cooked them myself because my mate, Gavran Stormridge, skipped breakfast again.
The Moonspire Tower stood in the heart of the Stormridge Pack Territory, where Gavran ruled as Alpha over his wolves and their businesses.
Then the lift jolted and it dropped.
The bags flew from my hands. Hot sauce splashed across my dress. Th heat, the pain, and the scream of iron chains, until my body slammed against the wall before I collapsed to the floor.
I screamed Gavran’s name.
The lift cage trembled, stopped, then dropped again, only a little, just enough to crush the air out of my lungs.
Then everything went dark.
When I woke, pain covered my whole body.
A healer from the pack’s Moonfang Healing Hall told me a maintenance wolf heard the alarm rune. He forced the iron doors open and carried me out while I drifted in and out of consciousness.
But Gavran? He wasn’t there.
They said they needed my Alpha mate’s permission to perform the blood ritual surgery. There were risks. Time was important.
They called him. Again and again. Ninety nine times but he didn’t answer.
When he finally did, his voice sounded cold and annoyed. “Vika, what now? I told you, I’m in a damn council meeting.”
My throat tightened. “Gavran! I fell… I am bleeding. I’m at the Healing Hall. Please.”
But then, sounds of footsteps appeared, followed by laughter.
“Gavran, baby, hurry,” a woman’s voice said. “We will be late. You know how much I hate being late.”
It’s Morana. My twin sister.
The one who returned to the pack six months ago covered in bruises and tears, carrying a story too tragic to question. The one I welcomed into my den, even into my mate bond. Into my life.
“She needs help, Gavran,” I had said back then. “Please. You cannot abandon her.”
He agreed and allowed her to stay in our packhouse. I cooked for her, drove her to healer visits and opened my heart to her while my own life slowly bled away.
Three months ago, she claimed she was pregnant with her former mate’s pup. She begged for my help. I believed her.
Moon Goddess helped me, I believed her.
I never realized the truth. All her gentle smiles, her tears, her soft thanks were poison hiding behind a mask. The jealousy she carried for years, the hatred for my life and happiness, she had been waiting in silence, planning everything in the shadows.
Tears blurred my vision. My hands pressed over my stomach, trying to protect the pup inside me, but it was already too late.
Because of the delay, my pup didn’t survive.
I fell into a coma.
Days later I woke, staring at the white ceiling of a healing chamber while magical monitors blinked beside me.
That was when I heard Gavran’s voice outside the door.
“Keep her asleep.”
“But, Alpha…” the healer sounded nervous, then continued, “it has already been several days. Keeping her under moon sedation this long is dangerous.”
“The transplant ritual is finished, right?” Gavran replied. “Morana is stable now. She can rest. While for Ravika, keep everything in secret.”
My breath stopped. My hands froze.
The healer hesitated. “You mean… she doesn’t know what you…”
“I paid you to keep your mouth shut,” Gavran snapped. “If you speak, you lose everything.”
And that was the moment my life truly ended.
Days later, I saw them together inside the recovery chamber. Gavran gently brushing Morana’s hair while she smiled, her hand resting on her stomach.
“You did it,” she whispered. “Our pup is safe.”
Everything I lost. Those words didn’t just hurt. They shattered me.
I stumbled into the bathroom, locked the door and stared at my reflection.
I didn’t recognize the woman in the mirror. Her face looked pale and empty, like her soul had already left.
The door opened behind me.
Morana stepped inside with a sweet smile that hid sharp fangs.
“Why are you hiding, sister?” she asked softly. “Don’t you want to see our pup?”
I slowly turned. “Get. Out.”
She tilted her head. “Oh, why so rude? After everything I took from you, at least you must feel grateful, I think.”
“You’re the one who slept with my mate and killed my pup!”
Her smile grew wider. “Killed? No, no. He was born alive. I even have pictures.”
She tapped her crystal communicator and the screen lit up. A tiny pup with my eyes slept quietly in a healer crib.
My heart stopped.
“W-where is he?”
Morana tilted her head again. “Oh, you don’t need him anymore, sister. Your pup… he didn’t make it.”
I froze.
“Poor little nephew,” she continued, scrolling to another video. “Isn’t he handsome? Look at him. Perfect little wolf… and now?”
She paused the video and showed me the screen.
The frame showed the pup, lifeless, thrown into a trash bin like worthless garbage.
No, no…NO!!
My stomach twisted and bile rose in my throat.
“Gavran said it himself,” she continued calmly. “Your pup was never his. You were cheating on him, right? The healer only followed Alpha orders. If the pup wasn’t his, then…”
She shrugged like it meant nothing.
“Now he’s gone. All I have left are the stem cells they harvested for my ritual. He’s dead, sister. Completely dead. Isn’t that poetic? My poor heart mourns with him.”
Something inside me finally broke.
My hands lunged for her.
Before I could reach her she laughed, cold and sharp.
“You monster!” I gasped.
Bur she didn’t even flinch. “Monster? No. I only did what needed to be done. And Gavran… he’s very pleased with me.”
I slapped her and grabbed her hair. She screamed for Gavran.
Gavran rushed in. The moment he saw us, he grabbed my hair and threw me into the wall.
My head struck the tiles and the world spun.
“You attacked a pregnant woman!” he shouted. “You don’t deserve to be a mother. That’s why your pup died.”
Then he carried her away, leaving me bleeding on the floor.
That was when I finally understood. He never loved me. He never would.
My hands shook as I picked up my crystal communicator.
“Nolric,” I told my lawyer, “prepare the mate bond severance. I want them signed within a week.”
I ended the call without hesitation.
Then my thumb moved again, guided by instinct.
I called Rhydan Kingspire.
My mate’s step uncle. A powerful Alpha Lord from the Kingspire Territory. Ten years older than me. The man Gavran hated because Rhydan always saw the truth. Because Rhydan never looked at me like I was disposable.
The call rang once.
“Ravika?”
I closed my eyes.
“You once asked me if I would ever choose you instead of Gavran, remember?”
“Yes.”
“I am choosing now.” My voice didn’t shake.
“I will be your mate.”
