Chapter 3

"That's more like it! See how easy things are when you cooperate!"

"Oh, and I was just playing with you—that key I threw in the reflecting pool was fake. How could I ever truly harm my own son?"

Ashton unlocked the silver cage, ordering a warrior to carefully lift our pup out.

He personally gripped the syringe, his fingers steady as he positioned the needle against the vein in my arm.

"Lainey, it's only one hundred milliliters daily. It won't affect your wolf healing abilities at all!"

"Once Kathy's pup is safely born, I'll make sure he calls you mother too."

I stared blankly as my crimson blood flowed through the tube, watching it drain from my body like my hope draining away.

"I don't need that."

Ashton withdrew the needle, a droplet of blood welling at the puncture site. He wiped it away with his thumb, then deliberately smeared it across my lips.

"Lainey, don't be ungrateful!"

"I can forgive you for fabricating those ridiculous Moon Goddess stories, but you need to pay some price for your deception."

"Don't worry—once I've cooled down, I'll send Kathy away so she won't offend your delicate sensibilities."

A pack omega hurried forward to collect the fresh blood, preparing to add it to Kathy's herbal tonic as instructed.

"But Elaine, you've proven yourself too cunning to trust. To ensure your obedience, from now on you'll only be allowed to see the pup after you've completed your daily blood donation."

I gazed at Ashton in silence, my words frozen in my throat.

The summer heat pressed down oppressively, yet all I felt was bone-deep desolation.

Females blessed by the Moon Goddess were never meant to be treated this way—we were the Goddess's mercy, her final gift to a cursed bloodline that had once offended her divine power.

If a Silver-Moon Alpha betrayed his blessed mate, causing her unbearable suffering, the ancient blood oath would activate in her mind.

Then everything the Silver-Moon Pack had gained through their blessed Luna would be stripped away tenfold, returned to the darkness from which it came.

For generations, the Silver-Moon Alphas had honored their mates, terrified of invoking the curse's wrath.

But Ashton didn't believe in destiny. He had chosen Kathy over me, hurt me for her sake, and even endangered our son's life.

I wondered if he could accept the consequences that awaited him.

An omega suddenly burst from Kathy's room, her hands and clothes splattered with blood, her face pale with terror.

"Alpha! Come quickly! Something's wrong with Miss Kathy!"

Ashton's hand cracked across my face with brutal force, the sound echoing through the Pack House.

"Elaine! What dark magic have you used now!"

"Did you poison your own blood somehow!"

"You vicious she-wolf! How could you attack a pregnant woman!"

His fingers wrapped around my throat, crushing my windpipe as he dragged me toward the room where Kathy waited.

Ashton didn't realize—couldn't comprehend—that he had drawn the blood himself with his own hands. I'd had no opportunity to tamper with it.

Yet he still blamed me for everything.

He didn't even allow me a chance to defend myself.

Ashton hurled me onto the floor, and I landed in a pool of wet crimson—my own blood, now splattered across the marble tiles.

The blood that had just been drawn from my veins now painted the room in shades of red where Kathy had knocked over the medicinal bowl in apparent distress.

Kathy threw herself into Ashton's arms with theatrical desperation, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Ashton, I'm so frightened!"

"The moment I tried to drink the tonic with her blood in it, my wolf rejected it violently! My stomach started burning like I'd swallowed liquid silver!"

"I could feel my veins catching fire, and I vomited blood!"

Ashton pulled Kathy protectively against his chest, his large hand covering her eyes to shield her from the gruesome scene.

"Poor little wolf, your wolf must be too sensitive during pregnancy."

"It's fine—we'll have the pack healer extract the essence from Elaine's blood and create a purified serum instead! That way your wolf won't detect it directly."

Kathy buried her face against Ashton's chest, nodding weakly as she gazed up at him with adoring eyes that held a glint of calculation.

"Yes! For our pup's health and the future of your bloodline, I'll endure anything!"

She leaned weakly against him, and he couldn't help but kiss her forehead.

An omega approached with cleaning supplies, but Ashton snatched the bloodied cloth from her hands and threw it directly at my face, the wet fabric slapping against my skin with a humiliating squelch.