Chapter 3

Looking around this home that was once filled with our shared dreams, it suddenly felt foreign.

This was never my home.

That night, I tossed and turned amidst the wreckage.

The year Derek inherited the Alpha title, I stood beside him, building everything from a dilapidated camp into what it was today.

Now, we possessed vast territories, but the love we started with was gone forever.

For ten whole years, I had molded my entire life around him, pouring everything I had into his happiness.

Now, it was time to let go.

Tears silently tracking down my face, I burned every remaining photograph.

I dumped every single keepsake that carried our memories into the trash.

The next morning, I went to the Vance Pack Healer to fetch an herbal draught for an abortion.

In the clinic hallway, I ran straight into Derek and Lara.

Unlike my past hysterical outbursts, this time I walked right past them, not caring in the least why they were at the clinic.

Derek stepped in front of me with a scoff. "Thought we broke up? Why are you stalking me again?"

"Flatter yourself much?" I didn't even bother looking at him.

"Sienna, all you have to do is beg, and I'll come back."

Watching his arrogant posture, I burst out laughing.

How eerily familiar. Those were the exact same words he said five years ago when he cheated on me the first time.

The day I found out he was cheating was my birthday—and the day of my first miscarriage.

I had hidden the pregnancy report inside a gift box and spent the afternoon decorating the pack banquet hall to surprise him.

When I pushed the doors open, I saw him with his arm around another woman, walking into the adjacent suite.

I went completely insane.

I grabbed that woman’s hair and slapped her across the face.

Then I beat Derek’s chest, sobbing hysterically.

"Why?! Why would you do this to me?!"

He scowled and pushed me away hard.

"Enough! You look like a raving lunatic. Aren't you embarrassed?"

"Can you stop throwing tantrums?"

"What successful Alpha doesn't have a few side pieces?"

He demanded that I get on my knees and beg for his forgiveness.

Looking at his cold, detached face, panic had consumed me.

I was terrified of losing him, and even more terrified that our pup would grow up fatherless.

In the end, I had humbled myself: "I'm pregnant..."

"As long as you cut ties with her, I'll pretend this never happened."

A dark, calculating glint flashed across his eyes before he put on a gentle facade.

He helped me back to the suite, fussing over making me nutritious meals.

Yet that very night, I suffered an unprovoked miscarriage.

We both thought my body was just too weak and that the emotional shock had caused it.

He had knelt on the floor, holding me tight, crying as he apologized.

"I'm sorry, Sienna... It's all my fault..."

"I broke it off with her."

"I swear to the Moon Goddess, I will only love you for the rest of my life. This will never happen again."

God, I had been an idiot. I actually believed him.

Looking back now, that woman five years ago was Lara!

They had never broken up!

Inside the clinic, I stopped an apprentice and took the draught.

As I turned to leave, Derek’s mocking voice trailed behind me.

"Let's see how long you can keep up this tough-girl act!"

I choked down every tear and swallowed the bitter draught in one breath.

I wondered... if my pup had been born, would they have looked like me?

Too late now.

When I walked out of the clinic, all color had vanished from my face.

Just outside the doors, my steps faltered.

My wolf picked up an unshielded Mind Link between Derek and Lara.

Lara’s voice sounded in my head: *If I get pregnant, will you slip drugs into my food to make me lose the pup, just like you did to Sienna back then?*

Derek’s reply followed without hesitation: *She could never compare to you. She's old and boring. You're my real heart. If it weren't for her status as the Vance Pack Alpha heir, do you think I would have tolerated that old hag for this long? Once we hold the Mate Ceremony in a few days, I'll find a way to ruin her health completely. Then everything Vance Pack owns will belong to us.*

I froze.

My first miscarriage was never an accident.

Derek didn't just want my support—he wanted to usurp control of the Vance Pack!

I bit down on the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood, searing every single syllable into my soul.