Chapter 2

Outside the door, the whispers of the maids and guards drifted in. They were saying Luna had lost her mind.

"First night of the mate bond, and she's already causing such a scene."

"The Alpha's mating night is really something else."

"Aaliyah, why are you crying for no reason?" A voice came.

As Irene disappeared around the kitchen corner, I grabbed Leonard as he was about to get up. "Can't you stay?"

She must have heard me throwing things and came to check on me.

I hurriedly wiped the tears from my face, then playfully wiggled my foot in Leonard's hand, complaining in a cutesy voice, "Leonard and I were messing around.

"He ran too fast, and I couldn't catch him. I got so frustrated that I knocked some things over."

Leonard nodded in perfect sync, playing along with my act. "It's my fault. I hurt Aaliyah."

Seeing us acting all lovey-dovey like nothing had happened, Irene visibly relaxed.

She smiled and headed to the kitchen, saying that since tonight was the mate bond night, she'd cook for us herself. Our whole family could enjoy a nice barbecue together.

As Irene disappeared around the kitchen corner, I grabbed Leonard as he was about to get up. "Can't you stay?" I asked.

Last night, he still spent the night with Seraphine. I told Irene he had pack business to handle, and she told me I should be understanding. I sat there all night, feeling drained and hopeless.

As soon as I picked up the communication crystal, the pack's gossip flooded in. The marriage between the Obsidian Pack and the Silverpine Pack was all anyone could talk about.

The moment Leonard left, the news exploded across the wolves' pack-link network.

"Did you hear? Leonard didn't stay at the main house last night. He went out to the estate on the outskirts to be with Seraphine. Rumor has it she's pregnant with the Alpha's bloodline."

I squeezed the crystal so hard my knuckles went pale.

After a moment, I let out a cold laugh and made a beeline for the Firemoon Square.

Since everyone was already gossiping, I figured I'd give them a real show.

So, at the Firemoon Rite that day, I stood atop the highest platform.

Using Luna's exclusive access to the pack-link, I forcibly projected the scandal, Alpha abandoning his newly bonded mate to secretly meet with a blood-traitor female wolf, into the minds of all ten thousand wolves of the pack.

If they dared to pull something so shameless, then I'd rip the mask off and let everyone see it for what it really was.

My little stunt sent the entire Obsidian Pack into an uproar.

"What the hell are you doing?" Leonard shouted. He stormed into the Firemoon Square, his face twisted with rage. My sharp senses instantly caught the unmistakable scent of what he'd been up to, laced with a faint trace of freesia.

Nausea hit me hard. My face went ghostly pale, but I met his eyes with a defiant smirk, revenge glinting in my gaze.

I said, "I'm fulfilling my role as Luna, keeping the pack updated on their Alpha's whereabouts. What's so wrong with that?"

Leonard said, "Aaliyah, you've gone too far this time. Seraphine was attacked. She was so terrified that she started bleeding, and she nearly lost the pup."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Someone saw it was a member of Silverpine Pack. Who else could it be but someone you sent?" His voice sounded calm, but his words sent a chill straight through me.

"Someone? Don't tell me it was Seraphine again?" I blurted out, still trying to defend myself.

"Aaliyah, Seraphine is pregnant. You can't treat her like this. If you mess up, you pay the price."

The next second, a surge of pure, terrifying Alpha pressure crashed down on me like an invisible tidal wave.

My body reacted before my mind could catch up. My limbs went rigid. My pupils contracted sharply. My throat felt like it was being crushed by an invisible hand. The pheromone suppression of a higher-ranking wolf was enough to force the other into physical submission.

My knees slammed hard against the ground. My back felt as if an entire mountain were pressing down on it. Even breathing became a kind of torture.

Through the haze, I could feel all the shocked and judging eyes on me, but I only stared up at Leonard towering over me. He looked down at me, nearly crumpled on the ground, his gaze cold and distant, like I was a stranger.

Three minutes felt like three years. It was like my mind was being ground down to dust, barely holding together before shattering completely.

At last, he pulled back his Alpha pressure, and I could finally gulp down air. "Can we talk now?" he said.

He fixed those deep eyes on me. "We already came to an understanding last night. So, what's with the drama today? I told you before. If you can't handle this, we can end the bond whenever you want."

I shouted, "No." I was shaking from head to toe, but there was a wild stubbornness burning in my eyes. "As long as I'm alive, you and Seraphine will always be nothing but a shameful secret. It's an affair."

Seeing my stubborn and unyielding attitude, Leonard became thoroughly enraged.

"Aaliyah." He leaned in, his voice openly threatening. "Don't push me to use my Alpha privilege and erase your Silverpine Pack from existence. You know I can do it."

He was no longer that bullied stray wolf. Now, he was the uncrowned king of North Amiston's supernatural world, pulling all the strings behind the scenes.

The fate of countless packs was in his grasp. With a single word, everything the Silverpine Pack had worked for would be gone within a week.

My face went ghostly pale. "Leonard, you're a monster. When you were nearly dead, drained and tortured by vampires, it was the Silverpine Pack who pulled you out of that heap of corpses.

"The Silverpine Pack took care of you for twenty years, gave you the best of everything. And now you turn around and threaten to destroy us?"

"That all depends on you, Aaliyah," Leonard said, standing up and coming over. He softly brushed the soaked strands from my cheek and tucked them behind my ear. "Be good, and nothing will happen to the Silverpine Pack."

The tears finally broke free. Like beads snapping from a broken string, they crashed down in heavy, unrelenting drops. I didn't understand how everything had unraveled so suddenly into this?

After a long moment, he let out a low sigh. He reached out, his fingers deceptively warm as he gently wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes. "I won't hold this against you. Stop crying.

"If you ever feel bored, go hunting or check out the black market. Staying cooped up in the estate all day will only make you overthink things."

*****

For the next few days, Leonard followed his routine with machine-like precision. On the dark moon, he'd be with Seraphine, and when the full moon came, he'd show up at the Sanctuary for me.

"It's getting late. I need to go see Seraphine," he said.

"Dark moon's not until tomorrow," I said. I glared at him. "That was your rule. You said you'd stay at the estate tonight."

He frowned, trying to pry my fingers off him. "Aaliyah, you're the rightful Luna now, but Seraphine and her unborn child only have me. Besides, she needs my scent.

"She's been through so much, and she looks frail and exhausted. I have to stay with her for the next few days."

"You're not going anywhere." I gripped his shirt with everything I had, refusing to let go no matter what.

"Enough, Aaliyah," Leonard snapped, suddenly releasing a surge of Alpha pressure.

The overwhelming force sent me stumbling, and I crashed hard onto the cold marble floor. The backlash from our imprint slammed into me, a wave of agony and darkness swallowing me whole.

When I finally came to, I was lying in the Healing Sanctuary. The pack doctor told me I was pregnant, too.

After finding out I was pregnant, Leonard stopped talking about leaving.

The next morning, when I opened my eyes, he was still there by my bedside, keeping watch over me.

"Today's already the dark moon. Shouldn't you be with her?" I asked, my tone flat and emotionless.

He picked up a cup of warm, restorative elixir, blew on it gently, and held it to my lips.

He said, "The pack doctor said your emotions have been all over the place these past few days, and it's making your pregnancy unstable. As your mate, it's only right that I stay and look after you."

The warm broth flowed down into my stomach, melting away a trace of the cold that had settled deep within me.