Annie's POV: "Annie, I want you to have a child with my husband, Alpha Alexander." I blinked. The roses smelled sweet on the breeze. Somewhere above us, a bird kept chirping as though Elena hadn't just shattered my entire life. "Sorry—what?" Elena sat across from me in the rose garden, looking much the same as she always did. Her long, pale blonde hair spilled over her shoulders. Her sapphire eyes still held that warm, easy glow she showed everyone. She was elegant, beautiful—the picture of everything a Luna was supposed to be. Everyone in the pack liked her, and it was easy to understand why. Even I liked her, though I had always kept my distance. For a moment, I convinced myself I'd heard her wrong. Elena set her teacup down and folded her hands in her l*p. "A few years ago, the Ironclaw Pack was attacked," she said. "I was badly wounded in the fighting. The wounds healed, but my body can't carry a child anymore." I stared at her. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't sure there was anything a person could say to that. "The Ironclaw Pack needs an heir," she continued. Her voice stayed even, almost detached, as though she were describing a stranger's life. "Alexander is the last of his direct bloodline. If he dies without a child, the strongest families in the pack will tear each other apart, fighting over who becomes the next Alpha." She lowered her eyes. "The Council is already pressuring him. They say that if I can't give him an heir, he should choose a woman who can." Elena's mouth curved, but there was no warmth in it. "I'd rather choose that woman myself than wait for the Council to shove some ambitious she-wolf into my husband's bed." She looked at me again. "Do you understand, Annie? If I do nothing, eventually they'll put a woman beside him—one who wants his title, his bed, and everything that comes with them." I stayed quiet for a moment, trying to make sense of what she was asking. Everyone in the Ironclaw Pack knew how much Alexander loved her. So did the rest of the Northern Territory. They had been mated for ten years. In that time, the pack had survived attacks, food shortages, and territory wars. Through all of it, Alexander's devotion to Elena had never wavered. Whenever she entered a room, his eyes found her. Always. It wasn't duty. It wasn't some public display of respect from an Alpha to his Luna. It was the way a man looked at the woman he loved. And Alexander had never lacked options. He was one of the most powerful Alphas in the North, and women noticed. They let their scents linger—invented excuses to approach him—but he turned every one of them away. Any she-wolf who openly challenged Elena's position risked exile. Nobody was stubid enough to come between them. Yet his mate—his beloved Luna—was sitting across from me, asking me to carry his child. "Why me?" The tension in Elena's eyes eased. "Because you've already had a healthy child. Your body has proven it can do this." I frowned. That was true of plenty of women in the pack. It didn't make me special. Elena seemed to read the doubt on my face. She leaned closer and lowered her voice. "And more importantly—you don't want my husband." I didn't answer right away. Because she wasn't wrong. Before Ironclaw, I had belonged to the Thornwood Pack. My mate, Louis, had been the pack's bravest warrior. Five years ago, enemies crossed our border. When our warriors were forced to retreat, Louis stayed behind and held the line alone. He saved everyone he could. He never made it back. The survivors saw him go over the cliff and into the river below. By the time they reached the bank, he was gone. His body was never recovered. I still remembered kneeling in the mud that day, newborn Jack clutched against my chest. A severed mate bond felt like losing half your soul. I survived, but my wolf let out one desperate, broken howl, then retreated so deep inside me that I could no longer reach her. After that, no matter how often I called, she never answered. I still carried a wolf's scent, but I couldn't shift. I couldn't feel her. The Thornwood Pack dissolved not long after Louis died. A wolfless woman was no use to a pack at war, and I had a newborn son to keep alive. No pack wanted us. So I carried Jack out of our old territory and followed the edges of other pack lands. We had no permission to enter, so we stayed outside their borders, searching for somewhere safe to spend the night. Sometimes we found an abandoned hunter's shack. Sometimes a cave. More nights than I cared to remember, we curled up under the trees and waited for dawn. Eventually, Elena persuaded the Ironclaw Pack to take us in. She gave Jack and me a home when no one else wanted us, and I never forgot her kindness. Even after we were given a place in the pack, I kept my distance from everyone else—no gatherings, no politics, no attempts to climb. My whole world had narrowed to one thing: keeping Jack safe. When Elena later gave me a position in her household, I did everything I could to prove that her kindness hadn't been wasted. I kept her rooms in order, carried out every task she gave me, and made sure she never had a reason to regret helping us. But today, Elena was asking for something no amount of gratitude could make easy. She was asking me to carry her husband's child.

Annie's POV: "I can't help you with this, Luna. I refuse." I rose from my seat. "Jack should be done with his training by now." I turned and walked away. On the way home, I looked forward to hearing about his day—what he'd learned, what he couldn't wait to tell me. Every day was the same. As soon as I reached the cabin, he'd come running out with his arms open. But today, there was nothing. No footsteps. No voice calling my name. The door stayed shut. Something wasn't right. I pushed the door open. There was no one in the room, only a piece of paper on the table. If you want your son back, come to South Spring. I had no idea who had taken him—a rogue passing through, or one of Louis's old enemies. It didn't matter. Whoever had Jack, I had to face them. I crushed the note in my fist and ran for South Spring. A strange, bitter scent hung in the air. аp'hrodisiаc herbs. Strong enough to drive a werewolf into heat. My stomach tightened. I recognized the scent half a second too late. A dark shape tore through the undergrowth. I couldn't move. Couldn't duck. My back slammed into rough bark, knocking the air from my lungs. A hand. Huge. Hot. Closed around my w***t and fixed me there, spine to trunk, the weight of his body crushing the space between us. His breath came in ragged pulls against the side of my throat. I lifted my chin. Alexander. The herbs had stripped him of reason. Whatever was burning through his blood left nothing behind but instinct. The dr*g wasn't only affecting him. I could feel it burning through me too. He lowered his head, but he didn't k**s me. The herbal scent clinging to his skin filled every breath I took, heavy enough to coat the back of my throat. The heat rolling off his body washed over me. His mouth moved to my other brest, just as hot and rough as before. My fingers found the back of his n**k without my permission and held him there. He g*****d against my skin. His hand slid between us. I heard the buckle of his belt. Then the blunt, damp head of his /cok pressed against the soaked fabric between my legs—even through the thin barrier I could feel how hard he was. How thick. He shoved the fabric aside. With one thrvst, he buried himself to the hilt. I didn't want to want this—any of it. His /cok filled me so completely that my body reacted on instinct, and a m**n slipped from my l**s. My h**s moved before I could stop them. He didn't pull out. Even after he lost consciousness, he remained inside me. Pale daylight filtered through the branches as I opened my eyes. His arm lay heavy across my ribs, and the smell of pine, sweat, and sx clung to my skin. Alexander lay beside me, still deeply asleep—whether from exhaustion or the drug's lingering effects, he showed no sign of waking. As if nothing had happened. As if he hadn't spent the night buried inside me. I just wanted to get away before anyone found out. Alexander was the Alpha. Elena's mate. What happened last night was a mistake. At least, that was what I kept telling myself. The woods were quiet in the early light. My b**e feet found the path without thinking—the same one I'd stumbled through last night, desperate to find Jack. Every step made my t****s brush together, spreading the slickness that still coated my skin. By the time I reached the cabin, my arm had gone numb from gripping the ruined dress against my chest, and my hand wouldn't stop trembling. The door swung open. She was sitting at my table. Elena. а-'cup of tea balanced in her hands. Her sapphire eyes studied me with the same soft, measured grace she carried everywhere. Her gaze moved over my face, my torn collar, the reddened skin at the base of my throat where his stubble had scraped raw. Her eyes caught on the bruises darkening above my collarbone. Something sharp flashed in her eyes before her expression smoothed into its usual calm. She smiled. "That went more smoothly than I expected." My grip on the doorframe tightened until the wood bit into my palm. "Where's my son?" "Jack is training." She rose without hurry. "I've arranged for the pack's best warrior to instruct him personally. The boy has real talent. He deserves proper instruction." "You took him—" "I'm helping him." She cut through my words without raising her voice. "You don't have a wolf, Annie." She studied me without any trace of anger. "You can love him. You can care for him. But you can't teach him what it means to be a werewolf. And in the Ironclaw Pack, strength is the only thing that matters. No one will step aside for him just because he has promise. He has to be stronger than the rest." I couldn't argue. "I wanted to do this slowly," she sighed. "But the Council made their third proposal this week. If Alexander doesn't produce an heir soon, they'll bypass me entirely and put another she-wolf in my place." She reached out and straightened my torn collar. Her t***h was feather-light. Almost tender. "You don't want Alexander—or my position as Luna. You only want Jack." She paused. "That's why you're the only one I can trust." I shut my eyes. "What do you want me to do?" Her smile returned as she took my hand. "Keep letting my husband fk you until you're pregnant."

Annie's POV: Elena made me the maid serving in Alexander's bedchamber. The black uniform appeared on my doorstep the next morning. It gave us a cover story too—I was there to take care of the Alpha's personal quarters. Every evening, I arrived at the appointed hour, straightened his clothes, set out his dinner, and waited for Elena. Before each meal, Elena added something to his food. I watched her do it. Her fingers were steady. A fine powder, the color of rust, dissolved into the broth before the steam had finished rising. Within 30 minutes, the herbs worked. I could hear his breathing change through the door—labored, uneven, the rhythm of a man fighting something he couldn't defeat. Elena would stand at the end of the hallway and watch me. "I'm counting on you again tonight." Her hand smoothed my collar. "Don't let him notice anything." Then a light push between my shoulder blades. The door closed behind me. Heat pressed against my back—his chest, b**e and burning. His arms locked around my w***t from behind and pulled me against him in one motion. The impact of his body against my spine knocked the air from my lungs. His mouth found the curve of my throat. His tongue traced a hot, wet line from my collarbone to my ear. "Alexander—" The word barely left my mouth before his hand closed around my jaw and turned my face toward his. His mouth crushed against mine. There was no patience in the k**s, only hunger. His tongue pushed past my l**s, and the taste of him flooded my mouth. He tasted bitter and metallic from the herbs. My tongue met his. My h**s pushed back against him on their own. His hands yanked the collar of my uniform—one pull. Buttons scattered across the floorboards. Cool air hit my brests, and then his palms closed over them. Hot. Rough. His thumbs worked my nuts until they tightened and ached against his skin. My head dropped back against his shoulder. He spun me around. My back hit the bedpost. His mouth found my brest, tongue wide and flat, then teeth—a graze, just the edge of them, dragging across the peak until my h**s bucked forward and ground against his t***h. The wet fabric between my legs dragged across the hard muscle. His hand slid down my stomach. Rough fingers pushed past the waistband of my underthings and found me. Two fingers slid through the wetness and pressed inside. His /cok spread me wide—each thrvst sliding deep, then pulled back—the slap of wet skin filling the room. The bed frame hit the wall. My fingers clawed at his shoulders, his back, anywhere I could grab. And my h**s were rolling forward, meeting each s****e. I bit my l*p hard enough to taste blood, but every thrvst still forced another broken m**n from my throat. He bent his head. His mouth covered my nut again, tongue flicking, then suking hard enough to pull a broken cry from my throat. My fingers buried themselves in his hair and held him there. The angle shifted. He hit somewhere deeper. Three more hard thrvsts—then his /cok swelled inside me, hot spurts filling me one after another. I could feel it starting to leak down my t****s even before he pulled out. Then his weight finally fell against me, his forehead resting on my shoulder. His breathing slowly evened out. He was asleep. I wasn't. When his breathing steadied into the rhythm of unconsciousness, I eased his arm off my ribs. An inch at a time. My t****s trembled when I slid off the bed. The slickness between them—his release mixed with mine—had cooled and gone tacky. I felt it trickle down the inside of my leg with the first step. The seam of my underthings scraped the inside of my t***h and I suked in a breath. My inner t****s were sticky with dried release, and the swollen l**s between my legs rubbed painfully against the damp fabric. When I pulled the fabric up, the damp cotton clung, then peeled away with a wet sound that made my face heat. I bent to gather my clothes. I pushed the door open and walked out. The corridor was empty. Elena had already gone. Moonlight through the high windows turned the stone floor a sick gray-white. I pressed one hand to the freezing wall and moved. I didn't go far before my legs gave out. I leaned against the cold stone and let the night air find the places his mouth had been. In the morning I would scrub his rooms and pretend I had never been in them. In the morning, I would be a maid again. But tonight the taste of him was still on my tongue, and the herbs were still in my blood. I walked home with my hands shaking and my t****s aching. I didn't know which part of me hated it and which part of me was already waiting for the next night.

Annie's POV: It was dawn—I had to go to work, keep my head down, make sure no one noticed anything unusual. When I put on the uniform Elena had prepared for me, the rough fabric kept rubbing against my swollen nuts, making me wince, because Alexander's mouth had left them sore the night before. Every time I moved, the friction of the fabric against my skin brought back memories of last night. I tried not to think about it, but Alexander's panting sounds, his large hands caressing me, gripping my w***t and pushing deep inside me. He lingered in my body. So much so that the simple morning job of cleaning the lobby felt like some kind of punishment to me. My legs still shook each time I bent. Every movement pulled at the soreness between my t****s. When I bent to wring out the rag, pain tightened across my lower back and ran down my legs. The hard floor digging into my kneecaps was almost a relief. I scrubbed the floor with my head down, trying to focus on my work. Footsteps sounded behind me, followed by a familiar voice. "Elena, you don't look well." Alexander's voice was low and warm with concern. My hand stopped on the cloth, and I lowered my head. "Did you not sleep well last night?" "It's nothing." Elena's voice carried a smile. "The change of seasons. I just haven't been sleeping well." "I'll have the healer bring you something." "No need. I'll handle this small matter." I heard Alexander settle onto the sofa, probably drawing Elena down beside him. "Elena." His tone changed, turning heavier. "Last night. My wolf lost control. I..." My hands trembled against the wet rag. "Whatever happened... I don't remember much. But I know I was rough with you. If I hurt you anywhere—" "It's fine," Elena cut him off, soft. "Really. You're my mate. I'd never hold that against you." Alexander's voice softened. "I'm lucky to have you as my mate." He had called Elena's name throughout the night. He believed the woman beneath him was Elena. And now here he was—apologizing to her. Feeling tender. Carrying guilt. I knelt three steps away, scrubbing the floor while he apologized to Elena for what he had done to me. I stared at the same patch of wood—the grain blurred. "I need to handle territory business." Alexander stood. "Rest. I'll come back at noon for lunch." "All right." Footsteps—toward the door. I kept my head down. Barely breathed. They stopped. A gaze. Heavy. Settled on me. "Are you new?" I lifted my head slowly. Alexander stood above me, morning light behind him, his tall frame swallowing me in shadow. Gray eyes looked down—flat, detached. The way an Alpha looked at any servant he'd never seen. No recognition. Nothing. He didn't remember any of it. "Yes." I dropped my eyes. "Luna Elena assigned me to work in the main house." He studied me a moment longer. Then nodded. Turned and walked away. His footsteps faded down the hall. I stayed on my knees. The wet rag in my fist dripped onto the planks, forming slow dark pools. The hem of my skirt soaked through. I didn't move until the water had gone cold against my shins. When my shift ended, I walked to the healer's cabin on the eastern edge of the territory. Dried herbs hung in the air—sage and something sharp I couldn't name. I pushed the door open. Chloe stood at the medicine cabinet with her back to me, sorting glass bottles. She heard the bell and turned. "Annie?" A smile broke across her face. "What brings you here?" Chloe was the pack's healer and my only friend. I stepped closer, kept my voice low. "Something's been off with my body. Low in my stomach. A few days now. Can you look?" The smile dropped. She led me to the exam room and closed the door. The check didn't take long. When it was done, Chloe didn't speak. She stood at the counter with her back to me, both hands braced on the wood. "Chloe?" She turned around—face pale, mouth opening and closing. "Annie." Her voice came out unsteady. "You're pregnant." The word hung in the air—heavy as a stone. 'Pregnant. I knew. Some part of me had known since the mornings when the kitchen smells turned my stomach, since the fatigue came and went like weather. I knew—I didn't want to—and now it's out in the open, in Chloe's voice, in the pale of her face.' "How long?" I heard myself ask. "Not long," Chloe said. "But it's there. It's real."

Alexander's POV: I woke with a headache that pounded behind my eyes and a mouth that tasted of iron. My throat was raw, my hands ached, and there was a scratch across my shoulder blade I didn't remember getting. The morning light was gray through the windows, and the bed was empty beside me. Elena had already risen. She was an early riser, always had been, and I was grateful for it this morning, because I didn't know what I would have said to her if I had woken with her in my arms. I sat up—the room tilted—I gripped the edge of the bed until it steadied. Last night came back in pieces, like trying to hold water. Fragments. The dark. The heat. The sound of cloth tearing. A glimpse of skin in the dark, the curve of a shoulder, my name called over and over in a voice I couldn't quite place, until the world narrowed to skin and breath and the wolf running wild in my blood. I had lost control. That was the only clear thing. My wolf had taken the night, and I had been rough. Rougher than I had ever been with Elena, if the memory of my own hands was worth anything. I had hurt her. I didn't remember exactly how, and that made it worse. I washed my face in cold water and went to find her. She was in the main hall, by the low sofa, and she looked exhausted. There were shadows under her eyes, and she smiled at me anyway, the way she always did. That was my fault too, I thought. I had kept her up, taken from her, and left her to face the morning alone. "Elena." I sat down and drew her beside me. "Last night. My wolf lost control. I..." The words were hard. "Whatever happened, I don't remember much. But I know I was rough with you. If I hurt you anywhere, tell me. Let me make it right." "It's fine." Her voice was soft. "Really. You're my mate. I'd never hold that against you." "My mate". She said it the way she always said it, easy and kind, and something in me eased. I had married the best woman in the pack. I had known it for ten years—spent the night treating her like a stranger in the dark. She'd forgive me anyway. "I'm lucky to have you as my mate," I said. And I meant it. I would be better. I would make it up to her. I would love her the way she deserved, every day, for the rest of my life. I made the promise to myself there, on the sofa, with her hand in mine, and I meant to keep it. "I need to handle territory business," I said. "Rest. I'll come back at noon for lunch." "All right." I stood and walked toward the door. The servants were moving through the hall, and I paid them no mind. The pack had staff, and I didn't keep their faces. The maid was on her knees by the far wall, scrubbing the floor. I saw her the way I saw any servant, in passing, nothing. Then I saw her. Leon went wild. My wolf had been quiet since the night, sulking and restless, and in the space of one heartbeat he was anything but. He surged to the surface, and I felt his joy, his hunger, his certainty, and it took everything I hadn't to stop walking. Mate. The word wasn't a thought. It was Leon shaking with it, battering at me. She is ours. She is ours. Finally. The Moon Goddess put her in our path, and she is ours. I didn't look at her again. I couldn't. I stopped in front of her, because stopping was less strange than walking past her, and I heard my own voice come out flat and calm, like a man asking about the weather. "Are you new?" "Yes." Her voice was low. "Luna Elena assigned me to work in the main house." I nodded. I turned. I walked away. Behind me, Leon was howling at me to turn back, to look, to take what the Moon Goddess had given us. I didn't turn. I walked down the hall. My boots made the same sound they always made. My hands didn't shake, and no one knew the Alpha had just met his fated mate and walked past her like she was a shadow. I made it to the end of the hall, stopped, put my hand on the wall, and closed my eyes. "Leon." My voice was barely above a whisper. "Be still." She is ours. He wasn't calm. He had never been this far from calm. You felt it. You know it. The Moon Goddess put her in our path, and you walked past her. "I have a mate," I said out loud, and it sounded like the truth, because it had been the truth for ten years. "I have Elena. I made her a promise this morning. I meant it." Leon went quiet. Not convinced. Quiet. He wouldn't forget. I knew that. But he would wait, because I was the Alpha, and I had given him a command, and he had never broken one. I walked out into the morning. The sun was bright, and the territory was waiting for me. I put the hall, the maid, and the moment somewhere I didn't intend to visit again. Leon circled inside me all morning. I kept him chained, kept my word, and didn't go back to the house until noon.

  Annie's POV:   "...What?" I was sure I'd heard wrong.   "You're pregnant." Chloe set the moonstone in front of me, her expression more serious than I'd ever seen.   "Moonstones react when a new life takes root in the w'omb. Annie, the glow is still faint. You conceived recently."   For a second, I couldn't think. Then one fact became clear: if Elena learned before Jack was safe, the pregnancy would give her even more control over me.   Pregnant?   How was that possible?   Only ten days had passed since the night at South Spring, but Chloe had said the moonstone could detect a pregnancy almost immediately.   "Annie," Chloe murmured. When I didn't respond, she walked over and stood in front of me, arms folded. "Tell me. Who's the father?"   I opened my mouth, but my throat locked. Not a single word came out.   Alexander's name sat right there on my tongue, but I couldn't make myself say it.   Chloe studied me for a moment, then sighed. "Oh, so you've been seeing someone and never told me. We've known each other this long, and you kept something like this from me?"   "It's not like that, Chloe. I haven't."   "Then who?"   She frowned, thinking, then her eyes lit up and she leaned forward. "Wait. Is it Jasper?"   "Jasper?" I blinked.   "Elena's brother. The pack Beta." Chloe looked pleased with herself. "I've noticed he acts differently around you. When he trains Jack, he always finds an excuse to help you carry things. Every time he passes your cabin, he stops to check on you. Last gathering, when another wolf nearly barreled into you, he stepped in front of you first."   She grew more convinced as she talked. "Honestly, it makes sense. Jasper's a Beta, but he's strong and reliable. He's always looked out for you and Jack. If the baby is his, I wouldn't be surprised at all."   "Chloe." I cut in. "It's really not him."   "No?"   "He just feels sorry for me. He looks after Jack because Jack is one of the pups he trains. When he helps me, he's just being kind."   Chloe clearly didn't buy it. "A Beta goes out of his way for a woman like that and you think it's just sympathy?"   "You're reading too much into it."   She looked at me in silence for a long while, then finally dropped it.   Chloe's amusement vanished. She pulled a chair closer and took both my hands.   My fear sharpened. I couldn't name Alexander without exposing everything Elena had done.   "Under pack law, every pup must have a registered father. If a she-wolf gets pregnant without a mate, and no one claims the child..."   She paused. Her gaze was unreadable.   "The Council won't allow that child to be born."   My whole body went rigid.   Chloe tightened her grip on my hands. "So you need to find the father and get him to claim the baby. Fast. Once you start showing, there's no hiding it."   I sat there—ears ringing.   Her voice faded beneath the rush of my thoughts. I would tell Elena, demand Jack's return, and reveal the father's identity to no one else.   By the time I left the healer's cabin, I was carrying a jar of herbal salve and a few packets of pregnancy-safe herbs. One thought followed me the whole way.   I'm pregnant.   I walked out the back door in a daze, heading straight for Elena's place. Whatever else was true, she had arranged all of this. She needed to know I was pregnant. Maybe once she had what she wanted, she'd let me go. Let me see Jack. Let this end.   I cut through the central square, avoided the patrol warriors, and took the path through the bushes toward Elena's residence.   Elena lived in a two-story cottage behind the main house, surrounded by a rose garden. Alexander usually stayed in the main house, but Elena preferred the quiet here and spent most of her time in this cottage.   I stepped onto the stone path through the garden. From a distance, I could see the front door half-open.   Voices carried from inside.   Elena's, and a man's.   I stopped outside, hand raised to knock.   Then I heard Jasper's voice.   "Sister, I did what you asked."   Jasper. Elena's brother. The Ironclaw Pack's Beta. Jack's trainer.   His tone was different—normally mild and polite, measured in his speech—now there was an edge. Anger.   "You told me to pursue the Silver Moon Pack's princess. I did. You told me to act interested in her in front of everyone. I did that too. But I did everything you asked."   He stopped. His voice rose.   "Why are you breaking our deal?"   Silence inside. A few seconds passed.   Then Elena's voice came, light, as if she were discussing something trivial. "What deal?"   "You said," Jasper's voice shook, "you said that if I helped you secure the alliance with Silver Moon, you'd give me a chance. You knew I had feelings for Annie."   My breath caught.   Jasper?   "You have feelings for her?" Elena's voice dripped with mockery. "Jasper, wake up."   "I'm more awake than anyone," Jasper said. "Annie is kind and hardworking. She raised Jack on her own and never once complained. She's better than any she-wolf I've ever met."   "She's a wolfless woman."   Elena cut him off, her tone turning to ice.   "She has no wolf. No fighting ability. No family. Nothing. Her status in this pack is lower than a servant's. Jasper, you're the Beta of the Ironclaw Pack. Your mate should at least be someone worthy of standing beside you."   "I don't care about that."   "I haven't forgotten. But I'm not giving up on Annie."   "You will."   Elena's voice dropped low, hard with anger.   "If you keep pushing me like this, I can't guarantee I'll keep her alive after the baby comes. A wolfless woman who knows too many secrets has no reason to live. We'll come up with a reason when the time comes. Illness. An accident. Nobody cares about the death of a nobody."   She wanted me dead.   My legs shook.   I stepped back, and my heel struck something on the porch. A flowerpot. The crack of ceramic split the silence.   Inside the cottage, the voices stopped mid-sentence.   The door swung open.   Elena stood in the doorway. For one second, her composure slipped. She recovered fast, but I had already seen the crack.   "Annie." Her voice was soft, almost gentle. "Come here. Let me explain. What you heard isn't what you think."   I backed away. Whatever she said next, I wouldn't believe it.   Elena's expression went cold. She said nothing—her eyes told me what happened to those who knew too much.   Her hand shifted, claws extending from her fingertips. I stepped back.   Then I bumped into Alexander.   Elena went still. For a heartbeat, fear flickered across her face. I could say it all right here, in front of the Alpha. The аp'hrodisiаc at South Spring. The tonic in my tea every night. The heir she was forcing me to carry. One word from me and everything she'd built would fall.   She spoke before I could. "Annie, I was just telling you how well your boy is doing at the training camp. Jack's the pride of the pack. Would you like to see the photos his instructors sent?"   My blood went cold.   Alexander walked past Elena and stopped at my side.   "What happened, Annie?"   Jack was under her control, and she was telling me, right in front of the Alpha, that my son's life depended on what I said next.   Would Alexander believe me when I told him the truth, or would he believe Elena’s lies?