I was woken by a bucket of ice-cold, silver-laced water thrown on me.
Before me was Damien's face, filled with disgust.
“You're awake. Stop pretending,” he said, looking down at me. “You knew I was announcing the heir with Selena tomorrow, yet you still made a scene about going to a hospital in the neutral territories. Are you that desperate for everyone to think Selena is bullying you?”
Selena stood behind him, holding an unfamiliar wolf pup, tears streaming down her face as she looked pitifully vulnerable.
“Luna, I know you hate me. Take your revenge on me. But why did you have to get the Matriarch to come and take my pup?”
“Before they dragged that attendant away, he was screaming that the Matriarch was filing paperwork to have my pup legally transferred to you! He said I wasn't worthy of being the heir's mother...”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I could only shake my head with all my might, trembling as I pleaded:
“I... didn't... Send me to the healer... The pups... they can't hold on...”
“You're lying again!” Damien frowned impatiently. “My mother left in a hurry and held a late-night meeting with the elders. Weren't you the one who instigated her? Do you think you can secure your position just by stealing Selena's pup?”
“You already gave birth yesterday, didn't you? So why are you still pretending to be in labor? Trying to make me feel sorry for you? In your dreams!”
I was in excruciating pain. The blood on my lower body had long since clotted, and the silver dust burned my skin, emitting a thick, foul stench.
Selena covered her mouth and retched, her eyes welling with tears. “Sister, you know I can't stand the smell of blood after giving birth. You're refusing to clean yourself up just to nauseate me, to make me faint, right?”
She cried until her face was pale, shrinking into Damien's arms, looking utterly pitiable.
“Look at you!” Damien's face was filled with revulsion. “Like a madwoman, reeking. What a disgrace!”
He waved his hand, ordering the Beta guard to continue pouring buckets of silver-laced water over me. My face turned ashen, my body shivered uncontrollably, and my bloodline felt frozen. Only then did he stop them.
Selena, nestled in his arms, cried, “Luna, I'm begging you, please don't separate me from my pup... If you insist on taking my son, I'll jump from the top of this building!”
She made a move as if to jump, and Damien quickly held her back.
His rage finally boiled over. He turned, kicked away my hand that was clutching his pant leg, and leaned down to hiss coldly:
“Don't think you can get your way by manipulating my mother. I've already sent people to lock down the Moonhaven Retreat. Your little plot won't succeed!”
“As for you—I warned you not to bully Selena and her pup, but you just won't listen! In that case, I have no choice but to use special measures.”
He whipped his head around and gave a cold order to the Beta guard:
“She drove Selena to the point of jumping. She should pay the price. Go, tear off her uncle's protection rune and publicly execute him as a traitor!”
“Damien!” I screamed. “Are you insane! That's my uncle! Our family saved your father's life!”
“So what!” Damien sneered. “To get you married into an Alpha family, to make your pup the future leader, your uncle saved my father, using that debt to force me to marry you. Now you're Luna, and I've even gotten you pregnant. It's your own failure that you couldn't give birth to my first pup. The debt is paid. I don't owe you anything!”
“Do it!”
I scrambled wildly toward the Beta guard, trying to stop them, but I was viciously kicked to the ground.
The violent impact sent a fresh wave of agony through me, and the blood that had begun to clot burst forth anew, staining the floor crimson.
The pain was so intense I screamed until my throat was raw, curling into a ball.
Damien was about to drag me again when his eyes fell on my highly swollen belly, exposed by the kick, and then the scarlet spreading across the floor. His face went deathly pale.
He instinctively lunged to my side, holding me, and turned to Selena, demanding:
“What's going on?! I told you to monitor Elara's delivery! Didn't you use the mind-link to tell me she already gave birth yesterday and the pups were sent to the nursery?!”
“Then why is her belly still so big?! Why is she still bleeding?!”
