My Alpha Rejected Me for His Fake Pregnant Beta

The penthouse was quiet when I walked in. Too quiet. Like a tomb.

I didn't turn on the lights. I knew the layout by heart. Four years of living here. Four years of folding his shirts, brewing his coffee, making sure the place smelled like cedar and lemon the way he liked.

My hands were still shaking from the cold. The gravel had scraped my palms raw when they threw me down. I rubbed them together and walked to the kitchen.

The trash can sat under the sink. I pulled it out and set it on the counter.

Then I went to the bedroom.

My things were still in the corner. A cardboard box with my name on it in Carmen's handwriting. She'd packed it while I was serving dinner. Efficient. I opened it. Two sweaters. A toothbrush. My mother's old hairbrush with the cracked handle.

I set the box aside and opened the drawer by the bed.

The pressed wildflower was wrapped in tissue paper. I'd kept it there for years. Yellow petals, brittle as old parchment. Evan picked it on our first pack run. He was nervous that day. His hands shook when he tucked it behind my ear. "You're beautiful," he'd said. His voice cracked on the word.

I held it for a moment. Then I walked back to the kitchen and dropped it into the trash. It landed on top of a coffee filter. No ceremony. No tears.

Next was the jacket.

It hung in the hall closet. Black leather, worn soft at the elbows. Evan wrapped it around me the night my wolf almost didn't come. I was sixteen. The awakening had failed twice already. One more failure and I'd be demoted to Omega or exiled as a rogue.

He stayed up all night beside me. Wolf form. His body curled around mine, keeping me warm while my bones tried to break themselves apart. When the sun came up and my wolf finally surfaced, he licked my face and wagged his tail like a puppy.

I pulled the jacket off the hanger. It still smelled like him. Pine and smoke.

I walked back to the kitchen and shoved it into the trash. The sleeve hung over the edge. I pushed it down until it disappeared.

This was not grief. This was a foreclosure. I was ending the story myself before the bond ended me.

Behind me, the door clicked open.

"Well, well," Carmen said. "Still here?"

I turned slowly. She stood in the doorway, one hand on her hip. The midnight blue dress clung to her like a second skin. Her other hand rested on her stomach. Protective. Maternal.

"I'm leaving," I said. My voice was flat.

"Good." She stepped inside and shut the door. "But first, I want you to know something."

I said nothing. I just looked at her.

"The video," she said, smiling. "That was mine. I designed the whole thing. Hired the team. Paid them with offshore accounts. Took me three months to get the lighting just right."

My wolf snarled inside me. I kept my face blank.

"You thought you were so clever," Carmen continued. She walked closer, her heels clicking on the tile. "Hiding your little royal bloodline. Playing Omega. But you were just pathetic. A princess scrubbing floors for a man who never wanted you."

She stopped in front of me. Close enough that I could smell her perfume. Jasmine and something chemical.

"You'll leave with nothing," she said softly. "No mate. No pack. No proof. And tomorrow, when Evan signs that charter, I'll be Luna. My child will inherit everything."

She smiled. Then she stepped back.

And threw herself down the stairs.

It happened fast. One moment she was standing. The next, she was tumbling backward, arms flailing, a scream tearing out of her throat.

She hit the landing hard. Then rolled to the bottom.

I didn't move.

The front door slammed open. Evan ran in, eyes wild. He saw Carmen crumpled at the base of the stairs, one hand clutching her stomach. Then he looked up at me.

"What did you do?" he roared.

I opened my mouth. No sound came out.

He crossed the space in two strides and slammed me into the wall. My head cracked against the plaster. His forearm pressed across my throat. Not enough to choke. Just enough to pin.

"You pushed her," he snarled. His face was inches from mine. Spit flecked his lips. "You tried to kill my child."

"I didn't—" I choked out.

"Shut up!" The Alpha tone crushed down on me like a boot on my chest.

I looked into his eyes. Brown. Familiar. Empty.

The boy who stayed up all night to keep me alive did not exist. Maybe he never had.

Evan released me and ran to Carmen. She whimpered and clung to him, sobbing into his chest. "She pushed me, Evan. She said I stole you. She said she'd make me pay."

"I know, baby," he murmured. "I know."

He pulled out his phone. A few taps. Then he looked at me over Carmen's head.

"That video?" he said. "It's live. Every network. Every platform. Human and wolf. By morning, the whole world will know what you are."

He stood, lifting Carmen in his arms. She buried her face in his neck. As he carried her out, she peeked at me over his shoulder.

And smiled.

The door shut.

I slid down the wall and sat on the floor. The bond pulsed hot and sick in my chest. My phone was gone. My laptop was smashed. But they didn't know about the cloud.

I pulled myself up and walked to the window. Outside, the city glittered. Cold and indifferent.

By morning, I would be viral. Canceled. Hated.

But I would still be standing.

And when the summit came, they would learn exactly who they had thrown away.