Chapter 1
By the time they finally untied me, my body was so numb from the pain that I could barely feel anything.
I collapsed onto the ground like my bones had been shattered, and even the slightest twitch of a finger sent waves of agony crashing through me.
The air was thick with the stench of blood. I looked down–beneath me, a pool of blood had long since dried into a deep, dark smear across the floorboards.
The rope burns around my wrists and ankles had cut so deep they reached the bone. The blood had
clotted hours ago.
“Carter, she smells disgusting,” Mila said, clutching her nose with exaggerated revulsion, pretending to gag.
He stared at me, a wreck of dirt and ash, and for a split second, something shifted in his gaze. Was it pity? Was it remorse?
But it was gone the moment Mila added sweetly, “When that rogue raped me, I bled just as much.”
His expression turned to ice.
“Finn,” he said coldly, “hose her down with ice water.”
My body flinched on instinct, trembling. But I clenched my teeth, refusing to beg again.
All of this… just because Mila said she wanted to see what someone looked like hanging upside
down. Carter had ordered his Beta to string me up in the middle of the pack house, like some
twisted display.
I had screamed at him when they bound me.
“Are you insane, Carter?! I’m pregnant!”
He just wrapped his arms around Mila tighter and looked at me like I was something foul.
“This is what you owe her. If you hadn’t framed Mila, she never would’ve gone through all that suffering before finding her way back to me.‘
“Harper, you’ll do anything to be my Luna. You’re pathetic.”
I stared at the man in front of me, utterly dumbfounded. After three years of marriage–three years of living, breathing, loving beside him–how could he believe Mila’s lies so easily?
“She’s lying,” I croaked, throat raw. “Did you forget the video? You saw it with your own eyes—she stole the pack’s secrets. She stole company intel!”
Chapter 1
ALITS
Carter’s mouth was tight, his voice colder than a winter lake.
“She only did it because you forced her to.”
Mila nestled deeper into his arms, throwing me a smug, saccharine smile.
“Harper did it out of love. I don’t blame her. But the pain I went through… it hurt so much.”
That fake–ass whimper of a line made him pull her closer. More protective. More tender.
A sharp pain ripped through my abdomen, making me curl up instinctively.
I was six months along. The pregnancy had been high–risk from the start. The stress, the dehydration, the prolonged suspension… it was too much.
Something inside me tore.
I shook, crying out involuntarily.
“Carter… please… put me down…it hurts… the baby!”
His sperm count had been terrible after the accident. We had tried for over a year. This baby was a
miracle.
When we found out I was pregnant, he held me in his arms and sobbed for three whole hours. He’d been so gentle, so careful throughout the pregnancy–afraid I’d so much as bump into something.
And now?
Now he didn’t even flinch.
He kissed Mila’s hair and asked softly, “Did that make you feel better, sweetheart?”
She giggled and kissed him back.
Then Carter looked at me again–like I was something filthy stuck to his boot.
“You think throwing that baby in my face will make me back down?” he said, voice razor–sharp. “You and that thing in your belly? Neither of you are worth a damn compared to Mila.”
Gone was the man who used to look at me with love in his eyes.
Now those eyes were hollow.
He turned his back to me.
And on the couch, just feet away, they started pawing at each other, kissing, moaning like I wasn’t
even there. Like I wasn’t their Luna. Like I wasn’t dying.
Tears streamed down my face.
Chapter 1
11.11%
My wolf stirred inside, releasing a whimper so fragile it seemed to come from a dying soul.
And inside my chest, my heart shattered like glass.
