Chapter 3
Dominic changed into a silk robe and settled onto the leather couch, tapping the table to signal for me to pour the whiskey.
I stood there, not moving.
"Harper," he said, his voice low and commanding, leaving no room for refusal.
Before I knew it, muscle memory kicked in. I walked over and poured the drink.
As soon as I got close, his powerful hand pulled me tightly into his arms.
Rough fingertips grazed my cheek, sending a shiver across my skin. It was the instinctive fear and submission of a lower-rank wolf facing a high-ranking Alpha, not love.
His scent enveloped me, that sharp cedar and rain-soaked earth smell suffocating me. Ten years, and it had never brought me peace. Only oppression.
"Tonight is Celeste's and my anniversary," Dominic said, as if I didn't know. As if I hadn't spent ten years living this lie.
"I've decided. You won't take those suppressants tonight. If you get pregnant, consider it a reward for your years of service."
His warm breath fell on my neck, yet it chilled me to the bone. "A child would solidify your standing here. Give you a reason to remain once the contract ends. Isn't that what you want? Stability?"
What he left unspoken was that this child would never be the heir. Would never threaten Jackson's place. It was insurance. Another chain to keep me bound.
Dominic was a top-tier Alpha, relentless and brimming with power.
The month the Alliance Contract took effect, I conceived. Before I could tell Dominic, the pack doctor entered with an ice-blue glass vial. It was a highly concentrated wolfsbane extract.
"Drink it." Dominic's voice held no warmth. "High-ranking Alphas are too fertile. Ordinary drugs won't work. Only wolfsbane can burn out the embryo. It will hurt, but it ensures bloodline purity."
He watched me pull the cork and pour the purplish-blue liquid.
It wasn't medicine. It was liquid fire.
The moment it slid down my throat, it felt like swallowing shards of glass.
My insides convulsed. The wolf inside me let out a dying howl. The wolfsbane suppressed her while ruthlessly stripping away that fragile little life.
I curled up on the cold bathroom tiles for three full days, feeling like ice-cold blades were twisting through my body.
That child, whose gender I never even learned, was gone forever.
For three days, I lay alone in that freezing bed. Dominic never once came to see me.
The only visitor was the pack doctor. He examined me with a frigid face and confirmed I was "all clear."
I remember that pain. Not merely physical, but the kind that tore my soul apart.
That was my baby. My flesh and blood. And with a single word from Dominic, it had been thrown away like garbage.
That night, I cried myself hoarse, and the wolf inside me howled in agony.
And at that exact moment, in my darkest despair, I felt a surge of warmth.
It came from somewhere impossibly far away, spanning thousands of miles, wrapping around my shattered soul.
It was as if another wolf in the distance had heard my wolf's cry and answered, sharing my agony, offering comfort.
That warmth gave me a reason to survive when I had none left.
Back then, I believed it was a sign from the Moon Goddess.
Now I realized that perhaps it was my true mate sensing my anguish from afar.
After every mating, Dominic stood over me while I swallowed the bitter suppressants the pack doctor mixed, the kind that deadened both fertility and my wolf's true nature.
Ten years. Not a single day missed.
Every time I took that liquid, I felt my wolf weeping and pleading.
And every time, that distant warmth returned, as if telling me to hold on. One day, I would be free.
Tonight, Dominic was granting me the privilege every she-wolf craved, the chance to carry an Alpha's pup. By all rights, I should've been falling all over myself to please him.
But for the first time, I dodged his touch, resisting his dominating scent. "Dominic, the ten-year contract ends tomorrow. By pack law, it's my right to walk away."