Chapter 3

"Once you're out of here, Serena will take good care of you. By then, I hope you'll have thought things through."

He tossed the signed form onto the bed.

Before leaving, he turned back one more time, with the look of someone doing a favor.

"Ivy, you should learn how to be a gracious Luna."

The door shut.

Wind caught the edge of the paper.

Very soon, I wouldn't be his Luna anymore.

A week later, I discharged myself.

The lobby was busy with a long line.

Serena was standing in it with Cain, arm in arm.

When she spotted me, she trotted over and reached for my hand.

"Ivy, checking out today?"

I stepped aside to avoid her touch.

My eyes dropped to her stomach. I smiled, without warmth. "What, pregnant again?"

She stiffened, then exchanged a glance with Cain and pulled me aside.

"He gets... intense. Doesn't let up even at the wrong time..."

Then she clapped a hand to her mouth with an exaggerated look of regret. "Oh, I'm terrible, why am I telling you this?"

"It's been a while since he's wanted you, after all."

She said it with a bright smile, waiting for my reaction.

She had every reason to smile.

Because someone as stupid as me was hard to find in this world.

For years she'd lied about her health needing rest.

So I handed her a villa, hired the best doctors, and sent her the finest supplements.

She slept in my bed, rode my mate, and delivered his pups inside my home — she must have been laughing every single time.

When she was from a wealthy Pack, I didn't mind that she was arrogant.

When her family fell apart and she was serving drinks at a bar, I gave her almost everything I had just to help her make quota.

When I collapsed in the hospital after giving Cain blood, she stood there and called me an idiot.

"A nobody like that — why would you throw your life away for him?"

And yet it was her, when Cain reached the top of the Pack.

Who used my identity as his savior to climb into his bed.

Cain could see from my expression that something was wrong.

He gave an awkward cough.

"My parents don't know about the pup yet. Bring Serena's pup home and let them have something to be happy about..."

I stared at him, stunned.

If he hadn't provoked me on the day of delivery, my pup wouldn't have died.

He had just killed my child. And he had the nerve to ask me to take his illegitimate pup home?

But I said nothing.

Because there's no point reasoning with someone who isn't human.

At six that evening I arrived home right on time.

I was still trying to figure out how to tell my parents that I'd been pregnant, gone into labor, and lost the pup.

My mother had a bad heart. I'd kept so much from her.

Suddenly the door burst open.

Streamers popped, and my parents' delighted faces appeared.

They pushed me into Cain's arms.

They pointed toward Serena at the other end of the room and laughed. "You young people are so romantic. Still celebrating anniversaries after all these years together..."

I couldn't hear what they were saying.

My eyes were locked on the pup in Serena's arms.

Just a month old. Dressed in my pup's shoes, my pup's clothes, wearing my pup's tiny hat.

And around that neck — the gold protection pendant I had personally commissioned as a bonding charm.

One piece was on my neck.

The other was on my pup's... burial urn.

The thought hit me and my whole body went cold.

Cain gripped my arm, a threat in his eyes.

"I've been learning to cook a few dishes from your dad. Sit down — let's have a proper family meal?"

My father was at the counter mixing formula for the pup.

My mother was making the pup laugh.

Serena leaned against Cain, more intimate than she had any right to be.

My mouth was open, but my throat had been cut clean. Nothing came out.

What was there to say?

That this pup wasn't anything innocent.

That it was hard evidence of Cain and Serena's affair.

They brought a secret pup and an outside mate right into my home, bold as anything.

While my pup died covered in blood, and even in death was given no peace.

They'd counted on me to protect my mother's health and stay quiet.

My fingers dug in until they bled.

I went white and lurched forward, throwing up all over Cain.

"Child! What's wrong with you?" My mother scolded me.

Then she stopped. Her face broke open with sudden joy.

"Don't tell me you're..."

I had been. Now I wasn't.

My mother got more and more excited. She turned, picked up Serena's pup, and held it out to me with a smile.

"Here, hold her. It'll help bring a pup to you — maybe you'll get good news at tomorrow's check-up."

I didn't move. Serena did.

She took the pup and stepped close to me, keeping her voice low.

"Ivy, you're so pitiful. Your pup died, so now you get to hold mine."

Then she touched the pendant around the pup's neck and looked at me with quiet satisfaction.

"I forgot to mention — that pendant is your pup's."

"The heart in my pup that was just transplanted... is also your pup's."

"At first I was worried about rejection. Cain said using the heart from a close blood relative would guarantee it worked.