Smack.
The sound echoed louder than the pain.
My eyes blurred instantly, tears springing forth as my head snapped to the side. I tasted iron.
For a heartbeat, the world tilted. The expensive chandelier above blurred into streaks of gold and crystal, spinning slowly like it was mocking me. My cheek burned, a sharp, pulsing heat spreading outward, but I welcomed it. Physical pain was easier to endure than what clawed at my chest.
I stood rooted to the spot, legs trembling, sweat trickling down my spine like I had been running for my life.
The air in the room felt too thin. Too tight. Every breath scraped my lungs.
I wasn't shaking because of the slap.
This wasn't the first time Nora's hand had met my face, and deep down, I knew it wouldn't be the last.
I had learned long ago that tears only amused her, so I swallowed them back, letting them blur my vision instead. Crying here was weakness. And weakness was blood in the water.
I was shaking because of the papers spread across the polished mahogany table.
The table itself was a symbol of everything I would never belong to—ancient, carved with sigils of power and lineage, passed down through generations of Raventhorn Alphas.
I had served meals on it. Watched elders argue over it. Been ordered to stand beside it like furniture.
Now, it held my death sentence.
Printed papers.
My heart thudded painfully against my ribs as my eyes locked on the bold heading screaming at me in black ink.
BANK STATEMENT.
The letters might as well have been written in blood.
Nobody needed to explain it to me. Nobody needed to accuse me further.
That was my bank statement.
Every transfer. Every careful withdrawal. Every silent plan I had made in the dead of night while my son slept curled against my chest. I could see it all laid bare—months of hope reduced to numbers and dates.
"How dare you, you lowlife, try to run away with my grandson?" Nora roared, her sharp voice cutting through the room like claws.
I flinched despite myself.
She was my supposed mother-in-law. The woman who had never once looked at me without disgust in her eyes. The mother of the Alpha of Raventhorn Pack.
The woman who had made it clear from the moment I arrived that I was never good enough.
I could still remember the first day I had stepped into Raventhorn territory—hopeful, naïve, believing love would be enough. Believing Kael would protect me.
I had been wrong.
"It's… it's not what you think," I stammered, my voice barely above a whisper.
The words sounded pathetic even to my own ears.
Nora wasn't listening.
Her chest heaved with fury, her eyes burning as though she was already imagining the many ways she could punish me. Her lips curled, not in anger, but in satisfaction—as if she had finally caught me doing something that justified all her hatred.
"Then what are all these transfers of money to a new account no one is aware of?" she yelled, slamming her palm on the table.
The sound cracked like thunder.
"I even heard you bought a house," she continued venomously, "and that you were planning to move out with Eryx."
My lungs stopped working.
For a second, I genuinely thought I might collapse.
The room shrank. The walls felt closer. My ears rang as if I had been plunged underwater.
I never told anyone about the house.
Never told anyone about the plans.
The tiny home beyond the northern border. Quiet. Safe. Far away from claws and cruelty. I had imagined Eryx laughing there. Growing without fear. Growing without shame.
Rebecca.
Of course it would be Rebecca.
She was the only person I had told—and it had been a mistake. A stupid, drunken mistake born from exhaustion.
I had been so tired that night.
"I just wanted us to spend some time together… alone," I defended weakly. "That's all."
I could hear how thin the excuse sounded, but it was the truth. I never planned to steal. Never planned to disappear forever.
I just wanted peace.
A harsh, mocking laugh echoed across the room.
It sent ice straight down my spine.
I didn't need to turn around to know who it belonged to.
The air shifted instantly, thickening, heavy with dominance. My wolf—silent and broken as she was—cowered deep within me.
Standing in the middle of the room was the Alpha of Raventhorn Pack.
My mate.
The father of my child.
Kael Raventhorn.
His presence alone suffocated me. His aura pressed against my skin as he walked closer, slow and deliberate, like a predator approaching prey that had nowhere left to run.
I lowered my eyes instinctively.
I had learned that survival in this pack depended on how invisible I could make myself.
"You are really pushing me, Arielle," Kael said coldly. "And you know who is going to pay for it."
My chest tightened painfully.
Of course I knew.
I slowly lifted my head, forcing myself to meet his eyes.
Once, those eyes had softened when they looked at me.
Once, they had held warmth, desire, love.
I remembered when Kael used to pull me close at night, whispering promises against my hair. When he laughed with me. When he defended me. When he chose me.
Back then, I wasn't a burden.
I wasn't a disgrace.
I was his.
We had been lovers before duty hardened his heart.
Before power replaced affection.
Before I gave birth to a son this pack never wanted.
Now, the same man I once loved was threatening me with our child.
Eryx.
My baby.
My reason for breathing.
From the moment I arrived at Raventhorn Pack as Kael's chosen mate, I had been treated like an intruder. Whispers followed me everywhere. Servants avoided my eyes. Warriors sneered. The elders watched me like I was something rotten hiding beneath silk.
A human-born Luna.
A stain on their bloodline.
When I got pregnant, it only got worse.
They called my child a mistake.
A risk.
A weakness.
I swallowed hard as Kael's words echoed in my head.
"You know who is going to pay for it."
"I'm sorry," I whispered, wishing they would just let everything go so I could go back to my boy.
Eryx would be waiting. Probably asking the nurse when Mama would return. Probably clutching his favorite toy, unaware that his life was being decided without him.
After staring at me with irritation like he couldn't stand the sight of me anymore, Kael said, "Prepare Eryx, he will be tested next week being his fifty year birthday."
What?
The words hit me harder than the slap.
What does he mean tested?
"Tested? I wasn't aware of any test being carried out on Eryx," I said looking up at him.
My heart pounded wildly.
"Well now you know, and the elders need him ready."
Ready… for what?
Cold dread wrapped around my spine.
What was he talking about?
Even though Kael treated me no different from the other pack members, he never made any decision about our son without letting me know.
That was the only respect he gave to me.
"What kind of test? I have not heard anything like that before. What....."
Kael growled.
The kind of growl that warns of danger.
The kind that silences rooms.
"You don't dare question me Arielle. Your work is to do what you are instructed," he yelled right at my face, and I could only bite my lips so as not to scream right back at him.
The taste of blood filled my mouth.
"Yes sir," I forced out before being sent out of their lovely home.
The doors slammed behind me with finality.
I stood there in the hallway, hands shaking, heart breaking.