The air in the pack doctor's office felt thick, smelling of sterile herbs and ancient secrets. Alpha Quinn stood paralyzed. The medical report that the doctor read fell like a resound in his ears.
"I dare you to say that again," Quinn growled, his voice a low vibration that made the glass vials on the shelves rattle.
The doctor didn't flinch, though his scent soured with nerves. "The genetic markers are identical, Alpha. Shireen, the woman you brought in as a paid surrogate-is your fated mate. Her high fertility ratio normalizes your low sperm count."
Quinn's mind raced. "If she is my fated mate, how could she be my surrogate? We chose her from a list! She was an asset, a vessel for the bloodline and Alpha family dynamics state no surrogate can be a fated mate. It's the curse we have been carrying since ages. Don't you know that?"
"I do." The doctor struggled to maintain an even voice though she was shivering with fear from inside. "But that's a deeper situation you need to find out from your dad. As far as my duty goes, I had to inform you that she is your fated mate who can give you an heir with zero complications."
"Is she the only wolf who has a high fertility ratio? I can always choose someone else as my surrogate." Alpha Quinn was insistent.
"Alpha, you know we collected as many as one million samples in the last six months. Out of all Shireen is the only girl whose sample matches with yours hundred percent. Other samples have a lot of complications. The fetus will not be healthy. That's how I know she is your fated mate. Your forefathers didn't encounter this situation because their mates were infertile. They couldn't beget powerful lineages or their mates died before the child was born."
Quinn knew he had no reason to argue with the doctor but the anger in him wouldn't subside. Out of the whole draining conversation that he had with the doctor Quinn liked only one sentence from her. His father is the only person who will be able to answer all his questions.
The Confrontation
Quinn stormed into his father's study, slamming the doors open. The retired Alpha sat by the hearth, looking every bit the weary king of a cursed line.
"You lied to me," Quinn spat. "This 'genetic condition' that forces us to use surrogates... it's not biology. It's blood debt, isn't it?"
His father sighed, the flames casting long shadows across his face. "It was Dina," the old man whispered. "The lost wolf our ancestor took by force. With her final breath, she bound our loins. No ForestGrow Alpha would ever sire a powerful heir with his true Luna. To love our mates was to ensure our pack's extinction."
"What?" Quinn narrowed his eyes in abhorrence. So you forced us to become cold?" Quinn's voice rose in fury. "You turned our bloodline into a business transaction to bypass a curse?"
"It was the only way to reign, Quinn! A surrogate is a contract, not a bond. The curse doesn't recognize a paid womb. The Moon Goddess has played a hand we didn't see coming."
"What do you mean?" Quinn tilted his head, unable to understand anything of what his dad spoke.
The old man sighed. It was the time for his son to know the truth. "For centuries our family depended upon surrogates to continue our legacy as Alphas of Forest Grow pack. But when your turn came I was all the more frightened."
Quinn huffed, releasing the first button of his plain white shirt. This conversation took longer than expected. "Come straight dad. I don't have the time for your twisted truths."
Kappa noted the restlessness in his son's face. And he hastily continued. "I knew I needed the support of a powerful force before you ended up with the curse of another she-wolf. You had been a fearless, cold, powerful, and arrogant Alpha who is known for his strength and ruthless leadership. Many women despised you but they were mute because of the power you withheld. Dina's curse became the verdict of heaven not because of her strength but by the consent of the Moon Goddess. So I had to pray for the Goddess to have mercy. And she decided to cast her boon on us. But there is a loop."
Kappa looked at his son sadly. Quinn could recognise that scent. It was called the scent of retribution. Quinn felt the world tilting. He could read the lines on the face of Kappa through his werewolf powers. The Moon Goddess hadn't been kind; she had been revolutionary. By making the surrogate and the fated mate the same woman, she had created a loophole. The child Shireen carried would be born of both duty and destiny-the key to breaking Dina's curse forever. But the weight of his own cruelty would crash down on him. Alpha Quinn understood he would never be the sole owner of Shireen's love. HE WILL ONLY HAVE A SHARED MATE.
Quinn's eyes turned red with unshed tears. He had treated Shireen like a plaything, a pawn bought with ForestGrow gold.
Beta Danish found him hours later on the balcony, staring out at the dark treeline. The Alpha's usual predatory confidence had vanished, replaced by a hollow silence. "You look like a man mourning his own funeral," Danish said, stepping into the light. "The doctor told me the child is healthy. Why the gloom?"
Quinn turned, his eyes reflecting a rare, agonizing vulnerability. "I saw Shireen only as a playtoy, Danish. A tool to be used and discarded once the heir was born." He gripped the stone railing until it cracked. "Now I find she is my fated mate. The woman who was born for me to cherish is the same woman I just humiliated. How am I supposed to look her in the eye and ask for a soul I've already tried to buy?"
Danish remained silent. There was no easy answer for a king who had forgotten how to be a man. But at the same time something else ignited in him. THE EVIL HOPE TO RULE THE KINGDOM OF FOREST GROW.
Danish understood Shireen held the mystical powers which could turn the fate of Forestgrow packs in a better way. The pack which survived for centuries on the legacy built by surrogates now gets a chance to beget a powerful heir from the Alpha's own legally wedded mate. But Beta Danish would never let it happen. His ancestors had served the Alpha's family for centuries out of only one motto - destroy the Forest grow heir and take the rule in their hands. How will he be able to achieve that? The answer is to KILL SHIREEN.
