My stepmother is pregnant with my mate's child

"Congratulations, ma'am. Your prenatal checkup results are normal, and the baby is healthy."

I clutched the report tightly in my hand, tears welling in my eyes. After four pregnancies and four miscarriages, my fifth child finally survived the three-month miscarriage curse.

My first thought was to tell Isaac—my mate, my husband—the good news. During those long, heartbreaking nights when I was devastated by the loss of my child, he was the one who held my hand and comforted me.

He would be on the top of the moon after I surprise him with our baby's medical report.

At least, that was what I believed until I overheard his conversation with my personal healer.

"Good. Let her keep the baby for seven months in her womb. After that, it will go through the same fate as the previous foetus."

"Her previous four pregnancies all ended in miscarriages within just three months. Why is this one taking seven months? Do you want her to give birth to the puppies this time?"

My healer's voice felt like the punch to the gut. My breath hitched. The medical report, once a banner of hope, slipped from my nerveless fingers and drifted to the floor.

My mind wanted to refuse to believe it, to rewind the last minute and replace it with the loving words I was sure to hear. A misunderstanding. A terrible joke. Because it couldn't be true.

The man who had gently kissed my tears away in the dark, who had held my hand as the doctors confirmed the losses, was the very cause of my sorrow.

The betrayal wasn't a sharp knife; it was a sledgehammer blow to the core of my soul, shattering every memory, every promise, every shared glance we’d ever exchanged.

The only question that still lingered through me, was–Why? Just why?

But, Isaac's chilling response to my healer explained everything. "Lyra is pregnant. She is an omega, and so is the baby in her womb. I need the Alpha blood from Elara's son. So, it must be delivered alive."

"After we exchange their bloodline, no one in the pack will challenge Lyra and her son's authority."

"What will happen to Elara's child then?" The healer asked, her voice laced with concern and curiousity.

"I don't care." He replied flatly, "Have you seen any child survive without blood?"

"Beta Isaac..." The healer's voice was low. "You are using your own children to secure Elara's stepmom's position in the pack. What if she finds out?"

"She will not!" He said, his voice firm. "She is so mad in love with me that she buys every silly excuses I make to be with Lyra."

"She doesn't even know I mated with her only because her father offered me to be the beta of the pack."

"How can the children she conceived be compared to the child Lyra has conceived for me–out of love?"

My eyes widened in shock. Lyra was pregnant with Isaac's child, not my father's?

"And even if someday she finds out, she is harmless. After her father's death, she has no one to rely on except me and Lyra." Isaac's cold taunt pulled me back to the reality.

The room suddenly tilted. I had to grip the doorknob in my hands to steady myself.

Lyra was an omega from our pack. After my mother's death when her body wasn't even buried yet, my Dad introduced Lyra to everyone as his new wife. He declared her the new Luna of the pack.

Within three months of his new wedding, he died. But, she remained the first in line to command the pack.

Isaac, my mate and the beta of the pack, continued serving her as her loyal apprentice. Everytime, I objected his closeness with Lyra, he shut me down saying he was just doing his duty.

It was only now did I realise what duty he was serving.

His words 'l mated with her only because her father offered me to be the beta of the pack.' continued echoing in my head.

The realization was a physical blow. My silent grief, my desperate prayers, the emptiness I had carried—all of it was orchestrated by the man who swore to protect me.

He killed our babies just so his mistress's position remain firm in the pack.

And now, this baby, the one I had dared to hope for, was just a tool. A vessel to carry a child to term, a sacrifice in his sickening power play.

I finally loosened my grip on the doorknob. The overwhelming urge to scream, to rush in and tear him apart, discarded by a primal need for survival.

If I confronted him now, he would kill me, too. He'd discard me just as easily as he planned to dispose of our son after the blood exchange.

'Have you seen any child survive without blood?' His flat, chilling voice echoed in my head.

My tears dried. The joy I had felt moments ago curdled into a cold, hard resolve.

I turned back. The medical reports soaked in tears still clutched in my hands. But, just as I turned, the door was pulled open.

I turned around. My healer, Emily, stood before my eyes. A moment of hesitation flickered through her eyes.

"Elara..." She barely whispered. Just then, Isaac walked up to the door. His face showing no guilt or regret.

He smiled at me. "Emily came to inform me about your pregnancy, Elara."

He quickly wrapped his hands around my waist. "I'm so happy you are pregnant again. This time, I'll take better care of you."

I forced a smile on my face, not wanting them to see through me. I quietly slipped his hands off me, feeling disgusted by the touch of the hands stained with my babies' blood.

"I'm tired, Isaac. I want to go to bed." I said flatly.

Isaac's eyes titled for a moment before he regained his smile, saying, "You are right. You should take proper rest now. Come, let me drop you to our bedroom. After that, I'll give you a foot massage."

"No, I'm fine." I declined him. Before he could say something more, I turned around and made my way to the room I shared with him for six years.

I shut the door behind my back and wrapped my hands around my belly.

"I'm sorry, baby. I could not protect your siblings from your monster Dad, but I'll definitely protect you. I promise."

With that, I dialed a number that I had promised myself never to dial.

"You said you owe me a favor. This is the time to return it." I said as soon as the call was picked up.

There was a small pause before a deep magnetic voice sounded, "Didn't you say you make no deal with devils?"

"What do you want me to do now?"

"Take me out of the Nightshade Pack." I replied.

"You want to leave your birthright pack?" The voice sounded surprised.

"... And my mate." I replied, my voice firm. "I want to break my bond with Isaac Wilson."