Now You'll Never Be Safe

Maria’s POV

Something's wrong.

My wolf's voice echoed through my mind as I adjusted the crimson dress for the third time, her restless energy making my hands shake.

Stop it, I whispered internally, smoothing the silk fabric over my still-flat stomach.

Everything is perfect.

The dining room looked like something from a magazine. Forty-seven candles flickered across every surface, one for each month we'd been together casting dancing shadows on the walls. The scent of rosemary and garlic from his favorite osso buco filled the air, mixing with the vanilla candles and the roses I'd scattered across the table.

I'd spent hours preparing everything, down to the playlist of songs from our first date. Tonight, I would tell him about the baby. Tonight, we would start planning our future as a family.

He should be here by now, my wolf growled.

I glanced at the clock. Seven-thirty. He was only thirty minutes late, nothing unusual for an Alpha with pack responsibilities. But my wolf's agitation was infectious, and I found myself checking my reflection again, wondering if the dress was wrong, if I should have chosen the blue one instead.

The red one was his favorite. The way his eyes darkened when I wore it, the way his hands would find my waist before I could even finish greeting him. I needed that reaction. I needed him to see me, really see me, before I shared our news.

"Nothing is wrong," I said aloud, my voice echoing in the empty house. "He's just running late. He'll be here soon, and when he sees what I've prepared..."

But my words died as I moved toward the kitchen to check on dinner. There, scattered on the marble counter where I'd been preparing his favorite meal, were the contents of my purse. My phone, my wallet, my keys, everything I'd apparently dumped out while searching for something earlier.

That's when I saw it.

A cream-colored envelope, thick and expensive, with the Moonstone Royal Pack's seal embossed in gold. It must have fallen from Marcus's jacket pocket when I'd hung it up earlier.

My fingers trembled as I picked it up. The envelope was already open, the invitation inside elegant and formal:

The honor of your presence is requested at the Royal Gala celebrating the engagement of Alpha Marcus Blackwood to Lady Serena Caldwell, heir to the Capital Pack.

The words blurred as I read them again. And again.

Serena Caldwell. His ex-girlfriend. The one who'd broken his heart when she chose pack politics over love five years ago. The one he'd claimed to be over, the one he said meant nothing anymore.

I told you, my wolf whispered, her earlier agitation now making terrible sense.

The invitation was dated three days ago. Three days he'd known about this, and he'd said nothing. Three days while I'd been planning our romantic dinner, buying pregnancy tests, imagining his face when I told him about our child.

The mate bond in my chest, usually warm and steady like a second heartbeat, flickered. Just for a moment, like a candle in a draft, but long enough to make me gasp.

"No," I breathed, sinking onto one of the kitchen stools. "No, this has to be a mistake. Maybe it's just a social obligation. Maybe he's going to decline. Maybe..."

Maybe he's choosing his first love over his mate, my wolf finished grimly.

I stared at the invitation until the words became meaningless shapes. The osso buco continued simmering on the stove, filling the house with the scent of the meal he'd never eat. The candles continued burning, marking time he wouldn't share with me.

Eight o'clock came and went. Then nine. The food grew cold, and I moved it to the refrigerator with mechanical precision. The wine sat untouched, taunting me with its promise of celebration.

Call him, my wolf urged, but I couldn't bring myself to pick up my phone.

What would I say? "Hi darling, I found the invitation to your engagement party"? "Are you planning to tell me you're marrying someone else"? "Is our baby just an inconvenience now"?

Instead, I found myself wandering through our house like a ghost, trying to understand how everything had gone so wrong.

Ten o'clock.

Eleven. Midnight.

The candles had burned down to stubs and my beautiful dress felt like a costume for a play I'd never auditioned for.

My wolf's restlessness had evolved into something sharper, more focused. We can't stay here, she insisted.

"What if he comes home?" I whispered, though even as I said it, I knew he wouldn't. Not tonight.

Then he would have been here hours ago.

She was right. She was always right about these things, reading the currents of emotion and instinct that my human mind tried to rationalize away. The mate bond that should have told me where he was, how he was feeling, had been strangely muted all evening.

I grabbed my coat from the hall closet, not bothering to change out of the red dress that suddenly felt like a mockery.

Finally, my wolf breathed, her energy shifting from anxiety to something more dangerous. Now we hunt for truth.

The forest roads that connected our territory to the Capital Pack lands were treacherous in the dark, winding through dense woods where cell service died and only wolf senses could guide you.

But I didn't care about the danger. I needed to see for myself what was happening at the Royal Gala. I needed to know if my mate, the father of my unborn child, was truly choosing another woman over us.

The engine roared to life, and as I pulled out of our driveway, I caught a glimpse of myself in the rearview mirror. The woman looking back wasn't the hopeful, excited wife who'd spent all day preparing a romantic dinner.

This woman had fire in her eyes and a wolf crying for blood.

As I drove toward the Capital Pack territory, my phone finally buzzed with a text from Marcus: Sorry, got called away on pack business. Don't wait up.

The lie was so casual, so effortless, that it made my wolf snarl.

Oh, my love, I thought, pressing harder on the accelerator, you have no idea what you've just unleashed.

By the time I reached the forest road that would take me to the Royal Gala, I could smell smoke in the distance and hear the unmistakable sound of celebration, music, laughter, and the howls of wolves celebrating what should have been the happiest night of someone else's life.