AVA’S POV
The day I buried Maribel was the same day I found out I was pregnant.
My nanny. My constant. The closest thing I’d ever had to a mother. Gone. Lowered into cold earth with no ceremony, no pack rites, no pause from a world that didn’t care. Just gone.
I slipped the pregnancy test into a velvet box, hands trembling. Positive. My chest ached with grief and hope tangled together. Xavier, the Alpha of the Blackthorn Pack, my husband of five long years, finally had a reason to see me. Finally, after all this time, I could give him something he couldn’t ignore: our heir.
After the funeral, I went home alone, dragging my sorrow behind me. The packhouse loomed ahead, massive, cold, silent. I hadn’t expected anything, no parties, no celebrations, just quiet mourning.
But when I stepped inside… I froze.
Xavier had planned a gathering. A party. A show. The Blackthorn Pack is reminding the world that they were untouchable. My heart fluttered foolishly. Maybe tonight, I could finally tell him. Maybe tonight, everything could change.
Then I heard her.
Her laugh. Light. Mocking. Familiar. Liezel. My adopted sister. My husband’s first love. The only wolf he had ever truly loved and cared for. When she left five years ago, the council chose me to be his Luna instead. I had thought love could grow between us. I had thought, somehow, Xavier would see me as more than a title, more than a replacement. I even believed, for fleeting moments, that he had. He had shown me small cracks of attention, warmth… but nothing lasting. And whatever bond I tried to build with him was shattered the moment Liezel returned. I had ignored the signs. Blinded by my love for him, I had ignored the truth.
And now she was here. Clinging to Xavier as though she had always belonged.
“She never suspects a thing?” Liezel purred, brushing her hand over his chest.
Xavier’s low, cruel chuckle made my blood freeze. “No. Do you think a wolf like Ava would even dare sniff the truth? Weak. Fragile. Pathetic. She doesn’t even know what’s coming.”
Truth. My stomach dropped.
When they mentioned Maribel’s name, my chest tightened.
“Maribel’s blood was a perfect match,” Liezel said casually. “I feel so much better now. The doctors said draining her could actually cure me.”
I gripped the wall to keep from falling. My nanny… my Maribel… had been sacrificed. Killed. To save Liezel. And Xavier, my husband, had allowed it.
“The old woman was discarded like nothing,” Xavier added, sharp and cold. “No ceremony. No dignity. Gone. That’s what she was, nothing. A tool. Weak. Pathetic. And she deserved it. Don’t forget that.”
I staggered back. My legs trembled. He had promised to love me, to protect me. And now… this.
Then came another blow. Christian, one of Xavier’s closest friends, asked about Liezel’s son, my nephew. My family.
Xavier’s face lit up, proud and cruel. “Strong. He’ll be the next Alpha. He was mine. My son. Nobody will ever touch him.”
Liezel giggled, soft and cruel. “And she doesn’t even know. Imagine her little heart breaking when she learns we had a son.”
I sank to the floor, trembling. The child inside me, my secret hope, should have been enough to reach him, to make him notice me. And yet here he was, their child, their future.
Xavier’s snort carried venom. “She doesn’t need to know. Orphan. No bloodline. She should thank Liezel’s family for taking her in. She should be grateful she’s my Luna at all. A title only. Nothing more. Love? She’ll never get it. I could erase her tomorrow, and no one would blink.”
Every word drove a blade into my chest. Each laugh, each sneer, each casual cruelty. Maribel was gone. My dignity was shattered. And now my hope, my child, my secret, meant nothing to him.
I wanted to scream. To run in and tear them apart. But my wolf, my instincts, told me survival first. Quietly, without anyone noticing, I slipped away.
Down the hallway, faces blurred. Conversations floated around me, laughter, toasts, and clinking glasses. None of it touched me. Only the echo of their words, cold, cruel, final.
I reached my room and locked the door. The velvet box pressed to my chest. My tears finally came, hot and relentless. But beneath them, a fire started to grow.
Vengeance.
The wolf inside me stirred, sharp and hungry. Silent, obedient, patient… for too long. No more. The pack that had taken everything from me, the Alpha who betrayed me, the sister I had trusted, they would all pay.
Maribel’s sacrifice would not be in vain. My child would not grow in the shadow of lies. Xavier would see me, not as a Luna to mock, not as a wife to dismiss, but as a force he could never contain.
I sank to the floor, clutching the box, imagining his face when he realized I had survived. When he realized I would not be broken.
The night outside was quiet. Inside me, the storm had begun.
And I would let it roar.
