Third Person’s POV
The packhouse was cloaked in an unsettling stillness as Alpha Chester returned, his steps echoing in the silence. Though the air was still saturated with the familiar scent of his dominance, something felt wrong—off-kilter. It didn’t take him long to pinpoint the absence that irked him: Everett’s scent. It was missing, like a melody gone silent. His brow furrowed as he walked into the bedroom they once shared, expecting her to be curled up in the blankets—vulnerable, broken, and where he believed she belonged. But the bed remained untouched, the covers smooth and undisturbed.
She wasn’t there.
Chester’s teeth ground together, annoyance simmering just beneath the surface. He would address her disobedience later. At the moment, more pressing matters demanded his attention.
He released a breath of irritation, turning toward the sturdy wooden dresser. With a swift pull, he opened a drawer and reached inside, his hand seeking out a velvet box that housed a necklace meant for Stella. She had complained once more about wanting new jewelry, and Chester, eager to quiet her constant demands, had intended to give her the piece that very night. But instead of the soft touch of velvet, his fingers brushed against a rigid edge.
A folder.
His expression darkened with curiosity as he pulled it out and flipped it open. Sharp golden eyes scanned the document inside—and then his body stiffened.
It was a medical report.
A pregnancy confirmation.
Chester’s grip on the paper tightened as he devoured the information with growing disbelief. The date was recent. Only a few days old. Everett had been pregnant. Again.
A savage curse slipped from his lips as he crumpled the paper in his fist. No. She couldn’t be allowed to keep this child. He had already taken measures to ensure their first child would never see the world. There was no room for mistakes. Not now.
His breaths came harder and faster, chest heaving. He had controlled everything—her place, her behavior, her silence. He had manipulated her world so she would never rise above what he deemed her worth. And yet, behind his back, she had dared to carry his child? Without telling him?
Fury roared through him like wildfire. She had to return. Immediately.
He yanked out his phone, fingers dialing her number with force.
Ring.
Ring.
No answer.
A low growl vibrated in his chest. He redialed. Still nothing.
Snarling, Chester switched to a different number, calling a healer from the western territories—someone Everett had known and visited in the past. When the call connected, a soft yet wary voice greeted him.
“Alpha Chester, good evening.”
“Where is she?” he demanded, his tone sharp and unrelenting.
A pause.
“Are you asking about Everett?”
“No, the Moon Goddess herself,” he snapped, the sarcasm sharp. “Of course, Everett! Get her on the line. Immediately.”
Another beat of hesitation. Then the healer replied, voice shaky, “Alpha… she was here. She arrived about thirty minutes ago and was resting in the ward. But when I went to check a few minutes ago… she was gone.”
Chester’s jaw locked, the muscles twitching in his fury.
“Gone?” he echoed coldly.
“I-I don’t understand it myself,” the healer stammered. “She was there… I swear. But now the bed’s empty.”
Chester’s snarl was deep and vicious, barely contained. His wolf paced under his skin, furious and wild.
Everett had vanished? That wasn’t acceptable.
He inhaled deeply, trying to maintain control. “The pregnancy report I found—was it accurate?” he asked, voice low and dangerous. “She really is pregnant?”
The silence that followed was telling.
“She hadn’t told you yet?” the healer finally asked.
Chester said nothing. He didn’t need to. The answer was written in the silence.
“Yes, Alpha. Everett’s pregnancy was confirmed last week. And… the baby is doing well.”
Those words hit him like a punch to the gut.
His child. Another heir. Alive.
No. That couldn’t be allowed to happen. Not again.
Before he could speak, the healer continued, almost too casually, “I assumed she had told you by now. About the pregnancy. And… that her hearing returned.”
Chester’s heart missed a beat. “What did you just say?”
“She regained her hearing. It happened about seven days ago. You weren’t aware?”
The world tilted beneath Chester’s feet.
She could hear.
For an entire week.
The weight of realization crashed into him with bone-shattering force. Everett had heard everything. Every cruel dismissal. Every cold word he’d thrown at her. Every affectionate whisper meant for Stella while Everett had been bleeding out just feet away.
His throat went dry. It wasn’t just the pregnancy.
That wasn’t the end of it.
As if fate decided to add insult to injury, the television mounted on the wall flickered to life. The screen filled the room with the drone of a news broadcast. Chester barely acknowledged it—until a headline blazed across the screen in bold letters.
PRINCESS Everett IN CRITICAL CONDITION FOLLOWING SHOCKING ACCIDENT
His lungs locked. His pulse thundered in his ears.
His gaze snapped to the screen.
A hospital bed. A young woman lying still, unconscious, hooked up to machines. Her long dark hair fanned across the pillow. Her pale face etched with pain.
Everett?
No. It couldn’t be.
Everett was an omega. She had no royal lineage.
But the face on the screen…
The resemblance was uncanny.
Too uncanny.
And her name—
Everett.
