Marry Me Again, Mate!

Maya

My hands wouldn't stop shaking as I stared at the pregnancy test.

Come on. Show me something. Anything.

I'd been holding my breath for so long my lungs were burning, but I couldn't look away from that little window. Not for a second.

Then I saw them. Two pink lines, faint but unmistakable, cutting through the white like lightning.

"Oh my God," I whispered.

The test slipped from my fingers and clattered onto the bathroom counter. I grabbed the edge of the sink to steady myself as tears blurred my vision.

I'm pregnant.

After a whole year of trying, of disappointment after disappointment, it had finally happened. I was carrying Mason's child.

Our child.

The contract flashed through my mind... that stupid, cold piece of paper I'd signed twelve months ago. Clause Two was burned into my memory: The Luna agrees to produce one pure-blood heir within reasonable time. Upon successful delivery of said heir, both parties may pursue dissolution of marriage.

Mason had demanded it. And I... I'd been desperate enough to sign it.

But here's the crazy thing. I wasn't thinking about the contract right now. I wasn't thinking about Mason's father or pack politics or any of that.

I was thinking about Mason.

About the way he sometimes smiled at me when he thought I wasn't looking. About Thursday nights when we'd lie in the dark afterward and he'd trace patterns on my shoulder with his fingertips. About that one time he'd carried me back from the gardens when I'd twisted my ankle, and how his arms had felt like the safest place in the world.

Maybe he's started to feel something too. Maybe this baby will bring us closer. Maybe-

"Stop it, Maya," I muttered to myself, wiping my eyes. "You sound insane."

But I couldn't help it. We were mates. That had to mean something, didn't it? Even if he'd loved someone else before me, even if this marriage had started as just an obligation... mates were supposed to be mates. Forever.

I grabbed the test again, clutching it like proof of something magical.

I have to tell him. Right now.

The thought of seeing his face when I gave him the news sent electricity racing through my veins. Would he smile? Would he pull me close? Would those ice-blue eyes finally, finally look at me with something other than distant politeness?

I practically flew out of the Luna's wing, my feet barely touching the marble floors as I headed toward the Alpha's quarters on the opposite side of the packhouse. My heart was doing somersaults in my chest.

He's going to be so happy. I know he will. He has to be.

But halfway down the corridor, I heard voices.

Two maids were huddled together near a decorative pillar, whispering in that urgent way people do when they're sharing gossip they probably shouldn't.

"-can't believe she just showed up like that-"

"Does the Luna even know yet?"

"Poor thing. How is she supposed to compete now that she's back?"

"Do you think he'll divorce her? Now that Miss Seraphina's returned?"

The name hit me like a physical blow.

Seraphina.

My feet stopped moving. Everything stopped moving.

I knew exactly who they were talking about. Everyone in the Southern Pack knew about Seraphina, Mason's first love. The woman he'd wanted to marry before his father had put his foot down and forced Mason to honor the mate bond with me instead.

She'd left a year ago in a dramatic storm of tears and accusations, telling Mason that if he really loved her, he'd reject his mate and choose her. Mason had begged her to stay, promised he'd find a way to be with her eventually.

But she'd left anyway.

And now she was back?

"No," I breathed. "No, no, no-"

I spun on my heel and practically ran back the way I'd come, making sure the maids didn't see me. The last thing I needed was their pity.

By the time I burst into my room, my lungs were screaming and my vision was swimming with unshed tears.

Why now? Why NOW?

I pressed my back against the door and slid down to the floor, my legs giving out beneath me.

Of course she'd come back now. Mason's father, the man who'd been the only obstacle between them had died three months ago. Mason had been sworn in as Alpha barely two weeks later. The timing was too perfect to be a coincidence.

She'd waited until the coast was clear, and now she was here to claim what she'd always believed was rightfully hers. Mason.

My chest felt like it was being crushed. I couldn't breathe properly. 

"Stupid," I choked out, angry tears spilling down my cheeks. "You're so stupid, Maya."

The contract had spelled it out from the very beginning. Clause One: This marriage is one of convenience and obligation. Neither party should expect romantic love or emotional attachment.

I'd known that. I'd signed that. But somewhere along the way, I'd let myself forget. I'd let myself hope.

And now reality was crashing down around me like a house of cards.

My hands moved to my stomach without conscious thought, pressing against the flat surface where our baby was growing.

"What am I supposed to do?" I whispered. "What happens to us now?"

According to the contract, once the baby was born, I was supposed to hand it over and disappear from Mason's life. We'd both get what we wanted-him, his heir; me, my freedom.

Except I didn't want freedom anymore.

I wanted him.

A sharp knock on the door made me jump.

"Luna?" Flora's voice drifted through the wood. "The Alpha has requested your presence in his room."

My stomach dropped.

Right. Thursday.

Thursday nights were our "scheduled intimacy" nights, Mason's clinical term for the one night a week we were supposed to try for an heir. He'd always treated it like a business meeting on his calendar. Meanwhile, I'd spent every Thursday counting down the hours until I could be close to him.

"Tell him I'll be there in a few minutes," I managed to say.

Flora's footsteps faded away.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror across the room. My eyes were red and puffy. My hair was a mess. I looked exactly like what I was, a woman whose world was falling apart.

Get it together. You can do this.

But as I stood up and smoothed down my dress, I couldn't shake the terrible certainty settling in my bones.

Tonight might be the last time Mason and I were together like this.

Everything was about to change.

---

Mason's door was exactly where it had always been, but somehow it felt like I was walking toward a guillotine instead of my husband's bedroom.

I raised my hand and knocked, my knuckles barely making a sound against the heavy wood.

"Come in, Maya." His voice rumbled from inside, deep, smooth, devastatingly attractive.

A voice that had never said he loved me.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Mason's room was massive, decorated in dark woods and deep blues that screamed wealth and power. Everything about it was designed to remind you that you were in the Alpha's private domain.

He was sitting at his desk across the room, head bent over a stack of papers, pen moving across one of them in quick, decisive strokes. He didn't look up when I entered.

For a moment, I just stood there, drinking in the sight of him.

Even now, even with my heart breaking, I couldn't deny how beautiful he was. Sharp jawline, high cheekbones, ginger hair that was always just slightly too long. He looked like he'd been carved from marble by an artist who specialized in devastating women.

But tonight, there was something different about him. A tension in his shoulders. A distraction in the way he kept stopping mid-sentence to stare at nothing.

He's thinking about her, I realized with a sick twist in my gut. 

I moved to the bed and sat down, my hands folded in my lap like a good, obedient wife.

"I visited your parents today," Mason said suddenly, still not looking at me.

My head snapped up. "What?"

"I paid them this month's fee." His tone was flat, businesslike. "Your mother asked for more. Something about maintaining appearances as the Luna's family."

Heat flooded my cheeks. "I'm sorry, she-"

"I gave her what she wanted," Mason interrupted, finally setting down his pen. "It's fine. I promised to take care of your family's needs until we..."

He trailed off.

Until we divorce.

The words hung between us, unspoken but deafening.

I should tell him about the baby. I should just blurt it out right now and get it over with. But my throat had closed up completely, and all I could think about was Seraphina, Seraphina, Seraphina-

"Is it true?" The question burst out of me before I could stop it.

Mason's eyes finally met mine, one dark eyebrow rising slightly. "Is what true?"

"Is Seraphina really back?"

The temperature in the room dropped about ten degrees.

Mason's expression didn't change, but something flickered behind his eyes-something I couldn't read.

"So what?" he said coldly.

Two words. That's all he gave me.

So what.

It felt like he'd reached across the room and slapped me.

What did that even mean? So what do you care? Or so what if she is? Or so what does it matter to you?

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. What could I possibly say?

He didn't owe me an explanation. He didn't owe me anything, not really. That's what the contract was for, to make sure neither of us owed the other more than what was written on paper.

Mason stood up and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"We should get this over with, Maya," he said, his voice brisk and efficient. "I have a lot to do tonight."

I bet you do, I thought bitterly. I bet Seraphina's waiting for you somewhere right now.

But I didn't say it. I just lay back on the bed and closed my eyes as he climbed on top of me.

His hands were familiar now, I knew every callus, every scar, every place where his touch made my breath catch. For one year, I'd memorized every detail of these Thursday nights, storing them away like precious treasures.

Tonight was different, though.

Tonight, every kiss felt like goodbye.

Tonight, I could practically feel him thinking about someone else while his body moved against mine.

It was unbearable. And before I could stop myself, before I could think about what I was saying, the words tumbled out:

"I think we should get a divorce."