Before I left him, I was pregnant with his twins

Alpha Adrian Blackthorn had spent three years proving that Selene Rivers was everything.For a time,Selene believed she was his entire world.He cherished her in ways she thought would last forever.

But forever did not last long.

Hiding inside a closet at Alpha Adrian’s birthday party,Selene's fingers trembled as she tightened her hold on the pregnancy test and house keys meant to surprise Adrian.

Three years she had stood at his side,bound to him by the Moon Goddess’s decree,convinced loyalty and sacrifice could make her his true mate.Tonight,that fragile faith splintered.

“Adrian,will you not call for your Luna?”one warrior drawled.

“She’d only dampen the mood,”Adrian replied,his tone cool.

The pack erupted in laughter.Selene’s fingers tightened around the pendant,her nails biting into her skin.

“Cassandra has returned from the Northern Territories,”another voice said slyly.“What will she think when she learns you mated her younger sister instead?”

A sneer followed:“So which sister will you keep,Alpha?”

Selene’s chest seized.She prayed for denial,for some defense of her worth.Instead,Adrian’s voice cut like a blade.

“Selene is a stand-in.Weak.Desperate to please.If I ordered her to bare her throat to me,she would obey without hesitation.”

The cruelty struck deeper than any claw.Tears slid down her face as she muffled her sobs in her sleeve.

“When will you cast her aside?”another warrior pressed.

Adrian chuckled.“Do you not pity a stray wolf abandoned in the rain,begging for scraps?That’s Selene—naïve enough to believe she belongs.I’ll keep her dangling a while longer.”

Selene's legs buckled.The small test she had hidden tumbled from her grasp and clattered against the stone floor.A thin line marked across its surface confirmed the secret she had carried:she was pregnant with his pups.The sound drew silence;warriors shifted,then wandered off to investigate.

Selene pressed a hand to her belly,terror and resolve colliding in her chest.She slipped from the shadows,cast the keys into a rubbish urn,and fled into the cold night.

“Forgive me,little ones,”she whispered,voice shaking.

At the river’s edge,black water churned beneath the moonlight.She stepped forward,numb,whispering through her tears,“Your mother was a fool.My poor babies…”Death beckoned—until a sudden kick inside her womb stopped her breath.Selene fell to her knees on the gravel bank,sobbing as she realized she could not end the lives she carried.

Adrian never loved her.The woman he loved was her stepsister,the woman she hated most,the one who had destroyed her mother and her wolf pack.The cruelest part was that everyone around them knew,everyone except her.That was the moment she decided to erase every last trace of who she was.

Selene connected with her good friend Mara in the Wolf Pack office through a telepathic link:"Dear,I want to erase everything about me and leave Adrian completely."

"Selene,are you sure you want to delete your identity and sever your mate bond with Alpha Adrian?That means you’ll have no protection,no identity,no rank,not even as a rogue."

"Yes."Selene's fingers trembled."I want no trace left for him to cling to,not a damn fingerprint,not a hair,nothing!"

"Also,I need you to help me draw up an agreement to prove that I am severing my relationship with Alpha."

"Okay,I'll have everything you need done within a week."

——

When she finally staggered back to the cottage she had bought with her own toil,the windows glowed.Adrian was already home.

She wiped her cheeks and entered.Every creak of the door echoed like the ghosts of his lies,every shadow filled with memories of empty promises.

“Selene,why so late?”Adrian asked,his expression feigned with concern,the same mask he had worn when they first met.“It’s my birthday.I expected a surprise.And no meal awaits me.”His gaze slid over her,disdain stark in his icy eyes.

“How was the feast?Surely you’ve eaten enough,”she answered flatly.

He hesitated,then shrugged.“It was good.Odd thing,though—someone discarded the key to a new Alpha lodge.Imagine throwing away such a prize.”

Selene’s hands shook.She said nothing.

“Also,Cassandra has returned.She’s hosting a gathering tomorrow and invited you.”

Cassandra—the sister treasured by their parents,the golden child.Selene,left in an orphanage,had never been welcomed,never chosen.Even after the truth of their bloodlines surfaced,her family’s coldness never changed.

When Selene did not respond,Adrian’s sigh carried authority rather than care.“Cassandra has always tried to mend ties.She is kind.You will go,won’t you?”

His eyes bore into her,no trace of guilt—only command.

“I will,”she whispered.

His smile snapped back into place,as though the cruelty of the evening had never happened.He leaned down to kiss her lips,but she turned,offering her cheek instead.

“I’m tired.”

Surprise flickered across his features before he masked it with calm.“Rest,then.”

He pulled her into his arms,her back stiff against his chest.“You still have much to learn.Everyone tries for you,yet you sulk.”He kissed her hair as if sealing his authority,his breathing soon steady in sleep.

Selene lay stiff in his embrace,lips pressed shut to cage her grief.Inside her,the two small heartbeats pulsed steady and sure,the only truth she had left in a world built on lies.

Seven days,only seven days of patient waiting,she would leave here forever,escape from this relationship full of deception and lies.