Chapter 2

For a split second, the line went silent.

In that instant, a sliver of my agony shot through our mate bond, the one he’d almost completely severed.

I heard him gasp.

"Stella…" His cold tone finally cracked. "You…"

"I'm not lying." I pressed my cheek to the cold floor, tears mixing with the sweat on my face. "Caleb, I'm really dying."

He was silent.

In the tiny crack of our link he’d left open, I could feel his hesitation, his panic.

"...I'll have a doctor check on you," he finally said. "If I find out you're lying, you…"

"Ahhh!"

Suddenly, a piercing scream erupted from the other end of the line.

It was Serena.

It was followed by the sound of frantic footsteps and a nurse shouting, "Alpha! She's hemorrhaging! Her blood pressure is dropping!"

"Serena!" Caleb’s voice was sharp with fear. "Stay with me, look at me…"

"Caleb!" I croaked his name.

"Hold on, Stella. I'll send someone over later."

The line went dead.

I held the phone, staring blankly at the "Call Ended" message on the screen.

So, even if I was truly dying, it meant less to him than the slightest possibility of danger to Serena.

Another contraction seized me, and I curled into a ball, biting my own wrist to keep from screaming.

I don't know how much time passed. Half an hour? An hour?

My phone suddenly rang again.

I practically lunged for it. "Caleb!"

"You did this, didn't you." His voice was like ice.

"What?"

"I just caught a pack medic trying to inject anesthetics into Serena's IV. That's what caused the hemorrhage," he growled. "She confessed. She said the Luna ordered her to do it."

My mind went blank.

"...What are you talking about?"

"Stella, I am so disappointed in you," he sneered. "I thought you were just selfish. I never thought you could be this vicious. How can someone like you be the mother of my pups?"

"It wasn't me!" I screamed, a metallic taste flooding my throat. "Caleb, I can't even get out the door! I don't know any nurses! Someone framed me!"

"Enough." He was lost in his own rage, deaf to my pleas. “I know you're jealous of Serena. I told you it's because she's Ethan's widow, but you refuse to listen. And now you try to kill her!”

“No, no…” I shook my head weakly, unable to say anything else.

We were destined mates. I had been his Luna for five years. But none of that mattered next to Serena.

“I see now that all your talk of dying was just another lie. Stella, this time, you will be punished.”

“I was about to send Beta Ryan to get you, but now I see you don't need it! I'm pulling the guards. You can stay there and think about what you've done until you learn your lesson!”

I looked at the blood beneath me, at my own weak body, and let out a hollow, mocking laugh.

I was his Luna, yet he punished me for a crime I didn't commit while I actively miscarried his pups. Could anything be more absurd?

I lay there, helpless, as waves of intense pain washed over me.

The next second, the lights overhead flickered and died with a pop.

The entire manor plunged into darkness. Then, the hum of the air conditioning stopped.

The night air grew cold, the chill from the marble floor seeping into my bones.

I knew this was also Caleb's punishment. He wanted me to "reflect" in the cold and dark.

I lay in the pool of blood and began to shiver, this time from the cold.

The pups inside me seemed to sense something was wrong. Their movements became frantic, then weak, like a desperate plea for help.

"Babies…" I pressed a hand to my belly, tears hitting the floor. "I'm sorry, Mommy is so sorry…"

I don't know how much later it was when I heard a sound at the door.

I looked up, a flicker of hope in my heart.

The door opened. Standing in the doorway was Caleb's Beta, Ryan.

“Luna, are you alright? I was worried, so I came to check on you, against the Alpha's orders…”

The next second, he saw me lying in a pool of blood.

“Oh, goddess… Luna, what happened? Why is there so much blood!”

In a panic, he pulled out his phone and started a video call with Caleb. “Alpha! It's not good! The Luna wasn't lying, she's in premature labor! Her water broke a long time ago, there's blood everywhere!”