I will Stand Tall Without You, Alpha

When my eyes flutter open, the first thing I see is the sterile white ceiling of the Moonridge Pack infirmary. For a heartbeat, I think the shadow leaning over me belongs to Adrian. But it’s only the pack healer, her eyes laced with pity, the kind that makes your soul shrivel.

“Luna Dawn,” she whispers. “We tried everything, but we couldn’t save the pup. You miscarried last night, in your husband’s car.”

Her words slice through the fog in my head.

“Pup?” My voice trembles, barely more than a breath. “I… was pregnant?” My hands clutch at the sheets, fingers shaking uncontrollably.

The healer hesitates before continuing.

“The sleeping pills you took were far too strong. Combined with your blood problem and weakened wolf, it was too much for the unborn.”

My stomach twists as the memory of the bitter tea Caden had handed me that day flashes through my mind.

Before I can process anything, the door swings open. Adrian steps in, my Alpha, my husband, the man whose mark burns faintly on my neck like a fading promise. He’s holding lilies. Funeral lilies. Their sweet scent fills the room like mockery.

“You’re awake,” he said simply. “Don’t worry. I’m here.”

His thumb brushed my cheek, and for a fragile moment, I almost leaned into him. Hope, weak and foolish, flickered within me. Maybe he would hold me. Maybe he would listen.

“Adrian… I- I lost the baby.”

“You’re overthinking,” he said flatly, waving the healer away.

He turned to me, calm and detached, the way an Alpha speaks to a subordinate.

“About last night, I already spoke to the children. It was just a mistake. They didn’t know the pills would cause… that kind of reaction. They thought it was a joke. Now that you’re fine, there’s no need to make them suffer for an accident.”

My wolf whimpered, claws scraping against my ribs. The room tilted. “They didn’t suffer?” My voice cracked. “What about me, Adrian? What about our pup?”

He brushed away a strand of my hair, his touch unbearably gentle. “You’re strong enough to handle this, Dawn. For me. For the pack.”

The pack. Always the pack. Never me.

The memory came unbidden, years ago, when the elders demanded an heir and I was too frail for another pregnancy. Adrian had held my hands then, his voice tender.

‘You’ve suffered enough. Let’s try the artificial womb. I won’t let you go through pain again.’

Back then, I believed it was love. I believed him when he said I was his heart. Even when I carried three pups at once, when the weight of life clawed through my body, I smiled. I bled for him. I almost died for him. And now… he couldn’t even acknowledge the life we lost.

A pain like molten silver twisted through my chest. I coughed, and blood splattered the white sheets like a sign of despair.

“Dawn!” Adrian’s roar shook the air. He caught me as I collapsed, his arms iron around me. His scent, powerful and commanding, wrapped around my fading senses as he bellowed for the healers. “Get the medic team, I want the best! Now!”

For a fleeting moment, I let myself believe it meant something. That I still mattered. His thumb wiped the blood from my lips, and I dared to hope that somewhere inside him still lived the boy who once bought candy from me through the iron gates, whispering promises of rescue.

But then…

His phone rings.

The name flashing across the screen sliced through me like a blade.

Zara.

Adrian’s jaw tightens. “What? You sprained your ankle?” His eyes flicked toward me, weak, bleeding, broken, and then, without a second thought, he turned away. Leaving me like I was nothing. “Stay where you are. I’m coming.”

He hurried to the door, his voice clipped as he orders the healer, “Take care of my wife. Don’t let anything happen to her.”

And then he’s gone.

Not for me.

For her.

Hours blurred into silence. Machines hummed. The moon rose, pale and indifferent, casting silver shadows across my bed. When my phone chimed, I almost didn’t reach for it. But curiosity, cruel, persistent, won.

Photos filled the screen. Zara draped across a man’s lap, champagne in hand, her lips painted with triumph. Adrian’s jacket around her shoulders.

Her caption burned through me like fire.

[Once, he left a million-dollar deal because I got scratched. After five years, nothing’s changed. His heart was always mine.]

Comments followed like fangs: [The perfect couple.] [Poor Dawn, the charity case Luna.] [That mansion he built? Everyone knows it’s hers.]

My gaze froze on the last photo, the mansion I’d been promised, adorned with roses from our wedding year. He once whispered against my hair, “A home for my lovely wife.” I’d never stepped inside. Every time I asked, he smiled faintly. “Not yet, Dawn. The time isn’t right.”

Now I knew why.

I didn’t cry this time. Not like before. I simply liked the post and commented,

[Congratulations.]

The chat went silent instantly. Even through the screen, I could feel their discomfort, their guilt, or perhaps their pity.

That was the moment I understood. I had wasted years fighting for a bond that was already dead.

My hand moves almost on its own, reaching for the phone lying cold beside me. Each breath feels heavier than the last as I scroll through my contacts until I find his name, the one man Alpha Adrian has always feared, the one whose mere existence had once been enough to start a war.

The Alpha King of the Northern Territory.

The man who had once sworn to burn the world just to have me.

I press the call button. The line rings once, twice, before his voice slides through the receiver, deep and dangerously calm.

“I was foolish,” I whispered, my voice a ghost of its former self. “Help me file for divorce. Don’t mention custody; the children were never truly mine.”

A pause. “And your price, Luna?”

I looked at the moon through the window, its light bleeding across my skin like silver fire. My wolf stirred, awake at last.

“In return,” I said, steady now, “you may have the body you once desired. The Luna of Moonridge Pack is yours to claim.”