Genevieve’s POV
Kael picked up before the second ring had fully faded.
“Genevieve.” His voice flowed through the line—controlled, refined, and edged with something glacial. “I didn’t expect to hear from you.”
Even separated by distance, his presence felt tangible. Kael Virelli did not waste words, and when he spoke, even seasoned Alphas measured their replies carefully.
I forced myself to breathe evenly. “I need Nikolai brought down,” I said. “And I can’t accomplish that on my own.”
A deliberate silence followed. It wasn’t hesitation. It was calculation. Then a low, knowing laugh drifted through the speaker, dark and faintly amused.
“I was curious how long it would take you to reach this point,” he said softly. “Start from the beginning.”
So I did.
I told him about the messages arriving at my father’s burial site, about the images of Sabrina in the Alpha suite, about Nikolai installing her in my place without hesitation. I described the threats, the warning about my father’s wolf sanctuary if I dared to leave. This time, I did not cry. My tone remained steady, almost detached, as though I were recounting the downfall of a stranger instead of my own humiliation.
Kael never interrupted.
When I finished, he asked only one question. “How soon do you want him beneath the dirt?”
“Yesterday,” I answered without pause.
A genuine chuckle escaped him. “I appreciate decisiveness. He won’t anticipate this.”
For the first time since the funeral, something other than grief stirred inside me. It felt fragile, unfamiliar—hope, perhaps.
“I’ll begin shifting loyalties tonight,” he continued. “When the moment comes, you’ll know.”
His voice altered slightly then, losing its faint amusement and settling into something firmer.
“There is one condition.”
I closed my eyes briefly. Nothing in Kael’s world came freely. “Name it.”
“Become my mate.”
The words were not raised. They didn’t need to be.
They settled heavily between us.
I couldn’t form a response.
—
Sleep avoided me entirely that night. I lay awake in the guest chamber, staring at the ceiling while Kael’s proposal replayed over and over in my thoughts. He hadn’t pressed for an immediate answer. He had simply told me to consider it carefully and contact him when I was certain. Once I agreed, he promised he would come for me himself.
Protection. Authority. Retribution.
But binding myself to Kael Virelli meant more than revenge. It meant stepping into the true heart of the pack’s power structure—the shadowed realm Nikolai navigated cautiously.
What would I gain?
What would I sacrifice?
By dawn, I had no clarity, only exhaustion clinging to my bones.
And then everything changed.
I stood alone in the bathroom, staring at the small white test resting in my shaking hands. Two unmistakable lines.
Positive.
For several seconds, I felt nothing at all. Then a fragile, broken laugh escaped me as tears blurred my vision.
Pregnant.
After years of hushed consultations, after enduring the word barren whispered like a curse, after watching disappointment flicker across Nikolai’s face month after month—I was carrying life.
And the timing was cruel.
Nikolai had already revealed exactly who he was.
I pressed the medical report to my chest, my pulse racing painfully. If he discovered this, he would never release me. The child would become leverage, legacy, possession.
My phone vibrated.
A message from Kael.
Everything is prepared. Three days. Decide.
Three days.
I stared at the screen as my thoughts spiraled. I could not raise a pup inside walls filled with deceit and calculated cruelty. Growing beneath Nikolai’s shadow would mean manipulation, expectation, and the constant weight of dominance politics.
What kind of mother would knowingly choose that path?
My vision blurred as I dialed the hospital.
“Preston Medical Center, how may I assist you?” the receptionist asked pleasantly.
My throat tightened, but I forced the words out. “I need to arrange a termination.”
There was no change in her tone. “We have availability tomorrow morning. Does that suit you?”
The sooner it ended, the cleaner it would be.
“Yes,” I whispered.
After the call ended, a hollow ache settled deep inside me. I was about to erase the one blessing I had begged the Moon Goddess for.
My thoughts drifted backward, to six years earlier.
Nikolai had been furious over a failed alliance negotiation. He had paced our penthouse relentlessly, whiskey in hand, his wolf close to the surface. I had pleaded with him to let the driver take us home. He refused, insisting control was his to maintain.
I still remembered the sudden glare of headlights. The scream of twisting metal. The copper taste of blood flooding my mouth before darkness swallowed me whole.
When I woke in a hospital bed two days later, a healer explained gently that the internal damage had been extensive. Conceiving naturally would be unlikely.
I had wept until my body trembled. Nikolai had remained at my side then, brushing my hair back, murmuring apologies, promising he would never abandon me, swearing we would find another way.
He had looked at me as though I were irreplaceable.
I had believed him.
Love had made me blind.
“Well, this is an unfortunate picture.”
Sabrina’s voice pulled me sharply back to the present.
I stiffened. “I’m not in the mood.”
She entered the living room with deliberate grace, one hand resting theatrically against her stomach.
“You look drained,” she observed lightly. “Is being Luna exhausting?”
I gripped the edge of the table to steady myself. “What do you want?”
She offered a careless shrug. “Can’t I check on my sister?”
“Not after sharing my mate’s bed.”
A soft, taunting laugh left her lips. “Nikolai was restless. You were always so composed. He wanted something… spirited.”
Anger coursed through me, but I refused to give her the reaction she craved.
“You should have seen him,” she added sweetly. “He was insatiable.”
When I didn’t respond, a flicker of irritation crossed her face.
The distant sound of an engine signaled Nikolai’s return.
I rose immediately.
“Not staying to welcome him?” Sabrina asked.
I walked past her without answering and retreated to the guest room, locking the door. My limbs felt heavy, my chest tight with suppressed emotion. Three days, I reminded myself. Three days and I would no longer be trapped here.
I had just closed my eyes when the door burst inward with violent force.
Nikolai entered, fury radiating from him like heat before a storm.
“What is your problem?” I demanded, startled by the aggression in his posture.
He didn’t answer.
His hand struck my face with brutal force, snapping my head sideways as white light exploded across my vision.
Silence swallowed the room, broken only by the sharp ringing in my ears.
