The Alpha's Cruel Bet On His Unborn Heir

Aleida POV:

The Oak Hall was suffocating.

Hundreds of wolves from the Obsidian Pack filled the grand ballroom. The air was thick with the scent of roasted meat, expensive wine, and the underlying musk of aggression.

I stood by the buffet table, wearing the red dress. It clung to my pregnant form, making me feel exposed.

Everywhere I looked, I saw eyes.

Male wolves leered at me, their gazes lingering on my chest and hips. I recognized some of them from the chat logs. They were the bidders. They were looking at me like I was a piece of meat on a hook.

"Attention!" Edison's voice boomed over the microphone.

The room went silent.

"Tonight, we celebrate the return of a beloved daughter," Edison announced. "Please welcome... Elsa Ortega!"

The doors swung open. Elsa walked in. She was wearing a gown of shimmering silver, looking like a moon goddess herself.

The pack cheered.

She walked straight to the dais where Derek stood. He took her hand and kissed it. The spark between them was fake-there was no Mate Bond there-but the pack didn't know that.

Elsa took the microphone. "Thank you. It's good to be home. I missed my family." Her eyes locked onto me across the room. "Even those who didn't want me here."

A ripple of murmurs went through the crowd.

"Aleida," Derek called out. His voice was amplified, booming through the hall. "Come here."

The crowd parted. I walked the gauntlet. I could smell their disdain. Fat. Useless. Cheater. The whispers followed me.

I reached the dais.

"Elsa has graciously prepared a toast," Derek said. "To bury the hatchet. Apologize to her, Aleida. For sending her away."

He used the Alpha Tone. It hit me like a physical slap, forcing my knees to bend slightly.

"I..." My throat constricted. "I welcome you back, Elsa."

Elsa smiled, a serpent's grin. She picked up two glasses of champagne. One was clear. The other had a faint, swirling blue tint.

She handed me the blue one.

"To sisterhood," she said.

I knew what it was. The Submission Serum.

If I refused, Derek would force it down my throat in front of everyone. It would be a scene. I needed them to think they had won. I needed them to drop their guard.

I took the glass.

"To the truth," I said.

I drank it.

The effect was instantaneous. A cold fire raced down my throat. My limbs felt heavy, like lead weights were attached to my bones. My wolf, who had been pacing anxiously, suddenly collapsed in my mind, silenced by the dark magic of the potion.

"She drank it!" someone shouted.

Laughter erupted.

My legs gave out. I fell, but Edison was there, catching me. His hands were hot and greasy on my bare back.

"Gotcha," he whispered in my ear.

He dragged me to a chair in the center of the room. I couldn't move. I couldn't blink. I could only see and feel.

"The drug works fast," Elsa laughed, tapping my paralyzed cheek. "Look at her eyes. She's terrified."

"Let the games begin!" Derek shouted. "The betting pool closes in ten minutes! Who is the father?"

Wolves surged forward, shouting names of Rogues, throwing cash into a bucket Edison held.

Then, the pain started.

It wasn't the drug. It was lower.

A sharp, tearing sensation in my womb.

Elsa had messed up the dosage. Or maybe she hadn't.

My uterus contracted violently. It felt like a knife twisting inside me.

No, I screamed in my head. No, no, no!

I tried to clutch my stomach, but my arms hung limp at my sides. I was a statue trapped in a burning building.

Warmth gushed between my legs. It soaked the red dress, turning it a darker, sinister shade.

"Hey," a wolf in the front row pointed. "She's leaking!"

"Is that... blood?"

The smell hit the room. The metallic, sweet scent of amniotic fluid and blood.

Derek stopped laughing. He sniffed the air.

The pain was blinding now. I felt life slipping away from me. My baby. My son.

Derek! I screamed through the Mind-Link, putting every ounce of my dying soul into the mental shout. Help us! It's our son!

Derek flinched. He heard me.

For a second, I saw fear in his eyes.

But then he looked at Elsa. He looked at the pack. He looked at his pride.

Don't lie to me, cheater, his voice came back, cold and final. Let the bastard die.

And then, he cut the link.

A massive, invisible blade severed the connection between us.

At that moment, inside my womb, the frantic heartbeat I had felt for eight months stopped.

My inner wolf let out one last, ear-splitting howl of grief that only I could hear, and then she vanished into the darkness.

I sat there, paralyzed, bleeding out onto the hardwood floor, surrounded by monsters in expensive suits.

The Pot of Gold was gone.

And with him, the last trace of Aleida the Luna died, too.

What remained in that chair was something else entirely. Something hollow. Something cold.

Something that would burn this world to ash.