Chapter 2

"Let's be honest—I'm young and fertile. My body is stronger than yours, you old she-wolf pushing thirty!"

Kathy's voice dripped with venom as she deliberately emphasized my age, knowing full well that in werewolf society, females who hadn't produced multiple pups by my age were often viewed as failures.

Ashton stood there listening to Kathy humiliate me, his jaw set in stone, offering not a single word in my defense.

Yet I remembered so clearly how he used to be—when a pack dinner didn't include my favorite venison, he would shift halfway and snarl at the omega cooks until they scrambled to prepare it exactly how I liked.

"Are you just going to stand there and watch your mistress humiliate your Luna like this?" I looked at him.

"Elaine, both of you will bear my pups. If you truly love me, you should embrace what I embrace."

"I've told you—no matter what happens, you're still my Luna. Isn't that enough!" His words felt like claws raking across my heart.

Kathy bit her lip and nodded with false sweetness.

"Luna Elaine, please don't worry, I..."

Her words cut off abruptly as her legs buckled beneath her, and she collapsed onto the velvet couch in a dramatic heap.

Ashton's panic was immediate and all-consuming. He mind-linked the pack healer frantically while cradling Kathy's face, his hands trembling as he checked her pulse.

The pack healer arrived within minutes, her medical bag clutched tightly as she examined Kathy with practiced efficiency.

After the examination, the healer announced that Kathy was merely experiencing mild anemia common in early pregnancy—nothing that threatened her or the pup.

"Anemia? Then we'll do blood transfusions!"

"Elaine, you and Kathy share the same rare blood type. From now on, you'll donate blood to her daily!"

Ashton didn't know—couldn't possibly understand—that my special blood type was intrinsically linked to my blessed lineage, a gift from the Moon Goddess herself.

Other wolves who received my blood would experience their veins burning like liquid fire, their bodies rejecting the divine essence. In severe cases, the transfusion would trigger a fatal rejection that would kill them within hours.

And any competent healer knew that mild pregnancy anemia wasn't treated with blood transfusions anyway—it required iron supplements and proper nutrition.

"Ashton Silver, have you lost your mind!"

Ashton's eyes turned cold as winter steel as he glared at me. "Elaine! When you were giving birth, Kathy stayed outside the delivery den for twelve hours straight!"

"She offered to donate her blood if you needed it during delivery, risking her own health for you!"

"Now when it's your turn to help her, you refuse with every fiber of your being!"

"I'm only now seeing your true nature—you're cruel and selfish! You want Kathy and her pup dead, don't you!"

Ashton lunged forward with supernatural speed and ripped my month-old pup from my arms, his grip so rough that the baby wailed in terror.

"Since you won't agree, I'm locking the pup in the silver-lined cage!"

"When you finally come to your senses, then you can have him back!"

"Ashton Silver! That's your own flesh and blood!"

"How can you use your own son as a hostage!"

Ashton barked orders through the mind-link, and two warriors materialized to restrain me. They held my arms behind my back despite my desperate struggles and pleas, their grips like iron shackles.

He carried my screaming pup toward the Pack House dungeon, where a silver-lined cage awaited—the kind used to punish rogue wolves.

It was the height of summer, and the dungeon was a furnace. The silver bars would burn any werewolf who touched them, and the heat in that enclosed space could kill a grown wolf within hours, let alone a helpless pup barely a month old.

My wolf surged forward in my mind, howling for her young, but the warriors' hold was too strong.

I tore free from their grip with a burst of desperate strength and ran toward the dungeon entrance.

The cage door was already locked, Ashton dangling the silver key from his fingers as he watched me with cold calculation.

"Elaine, I'll ask you one final time—will you donate blood to Kathy or not!"

I pressed against the dungeon bars, ignoring the searing pain as the silver burned my palms. My pup lay inside the cage, his tiny body already turning red from the oppressive heat.

The temperature was climbing rapidly, and I could see his little chest heaving with labored breaths. His lips were already becoming pale and cracked from dehydration.

"My blood will kill her! The Moon Goddess's blessing makes it toxic to ordinary wolves!"

"Ashton! Please, take our pup out of there!"

Ashton's laugh was harsh and mocking. "Still clinging to your lies!"

"Elaine, you really believe you're some kind of blessed oracle, don't you? What's next—claiming your blood has divine magic?"

With deliberate cruelty, Ashton threw the silver key into the reflecting pool in the courtyard, where it sank into the blessed moon-water that would corrode the metal within minutes.

"If you want your pup so badly, figure out how to open that cage yourself!"

I shifted partially, using my wolf's claws to tear at the silver bars, but even with supernatural strength, I couldn't bend them. My hands blistered and burned, the flesh peeling away as the silver poisoned my system.

"Save your energy. Those bars are reinforced with witch-forged silver. Even an Alpha couldn't break through."

My pup had stopped crying inside the cage. His tiny chest barely moved with each shallow breath, his body going limp from heat exhaustion.

I collapsed at Ashton's feet, my pride shattered.

"I'll do it! I'll give Kathy my blood!"

"Just save our pup, please!"

Ashton reached down and stroked my hair with false tenderness, then pulled a second silver key from his pocket with a satisfied smirk.