Moe's POV
"Please, just stop hurting me!"
My baby's cries slowly died down as he sucked on my breast, his tiny fingers clutching weakly at my dress as if he was afraid I would disappear if he let go.
A few drops of milk rolled down the corner of his mouth and fell on my already stained clothes. I stared at him, my eyes burning, my chest aching in a way that had nothing to do with the feeding. Today again, I was going to be late for work. And Damien… Damien was going to kill me.
He would not really kill me, but his words always felt like knives. He would call me useless, lazy, a burden, a woman who did nothing but sit at home and feed a child that he refused to accept. My stomach tightened at the thought of his cold face and the way he looked at me like I was something dirty.
Dirty.
The hated Gamma's daughter.
The unwanted Luna.
I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes for a few seconds. I was so tired. Every single night, I barely slept. My baby woke up every hour, sometimes every thirty minutes, and I would sit in the dark, feeding him, rocking him, begging him to stop crying because I was afraid Damien would wake up and get angry.
An Alpha's anger was not something anyone in the pack wanted to face.
Ever since I gave birth, my marriage had turned into something I did not recognize. It was never perfect, but at least before, Damien used to smile at me sometimes. Before, he used to talk to me. Before, he used to pretend.
Before the pregnancy.
Before the bond sealed completely.
Now, he did not even try.
I looked down at my son again. He was only six months old. Six months of pain, six months of insults, six months of loneliness. Damien had denied being his father from the moment I told him I was pregnant. He said the child could not be his. He said I must have cheated. He said I was shameless.
But I had never even looked at another man.
He knew I was his mate. The Moon Goddess had bound us the night he turned twenty-five and I turned twenty. The mate bond had snapped into place so violently that the entire pack felt the Alpha's shift that night.
Without a destined mate, an Alpha weakens. His wolf grows unstable. His authority fades. His strength declines. Everyone knows it.
He married me the next week after we both realised the bond and we had our first sex together.
Not because he loved me.
Because he needed me.
I swallowed hard, remembering the day he said those words about when I got pregnant. I had cried so much that day that my chest hurt for two days after. I had begged him to believe me. I had told him I loved him, that I would never cheat on him. He only laughed and walked away.
Sometimes I wondered what kind of heart he had. How could someone be so cruel? How could someone hate a woman who had done nothing but love him?
I married Damien because I loved him. It was that simple.
But I agreed because I wanted to. I thought it was fate. I thought it meant we would be happy.
Instead, my life had turned into horror after horror.
The pack never liked me. I was the Gamma's hated daughter. My father had disappointed the pack council years ago, and that stain followed me. Even as Luna, whispers followed me in the packhouse halls.
Unworthy.
Weak.
Not fit for an Alpha.
I was a nursing mother, working long shifts at the hospital in town because Damien said I had to contribute to the house. An Alpha's mate working among humans was humiliating to the elders, but he did not care. He said if I wanted to stay under his roof, I would earn my keep. But he also refused to help with the baby. He refused to even look at him. Most days, I worked on barely two hours of sleep. Sometimes I would sit in the staff room and fall asleep without realizing it.
If they fired me, I did not know what I would do.
My baby pulled away from my breast and looked up at me with wide eyes. Eyes that were not human brown.
They were silver.
Alpha silver.
The same shade Damien's wolf carried.
He smiled, and for a moment, my heart softened. He was the only good thing in my life. The only reason I was still standing.
"I'm sorry," I whispered to him, brushing his hair gently. "I'm trying my best."
Just then, the door suddenly kicked open.
The scent hit me first.
Dominance.
Power.
Wolf.
I jumped in shock, my heart racing as I looked up. Damien walked in with a strange smile on his face. His aura filled the room instantly, heavy and suffocating, the natural dominance of an Alpha pressing against my skin. My wolf stirred weakly inside me, reacting to him despite everything.
My chest tightened immediately because that smile did not look normal. It looked like trouble.
Then someone stepped in behind him.
My eyes widened.
Laura.
His late cousin brother's wife.
The widow of the Beta.
The brother who died during the rogue war last year.
For a few seconds, my brain refused to work. I could only stare at her in disbelief. What was she doing here? For the past year, I had noticed how close she and Damien had become. The late-night calls, the secret meetings near the pack borders, the way he defended her every time I asked questions. But I never thought he would bring her here. Into my house.
Into the Alpha house.
Damien's expression changed when he saw me. His smile disappeared, replaced with his usual cold face.
"You're not at work, Moe?" he asked, his voice full of indifference.
I ignored his question completely. My hands tightened around my baby.
"What is she doing here?" I asked.
His eyes darkened with irritation.
"What she is doing here is none of your business," he said coldly. "Now answer my question. Why are you not at work? Is it because I buy everything and spend on everything that you are becoming lazy? Do you want me to block access to our joint account?"
For a moment, I just stared at him. He did not love me. That was the truth. But I would not let him keep disrespecting me like this in my own home.
Before I could speak, Laura stepped forward.
"Oh Damien, if your wife does not want me here, I can go," she said softly. Her scent carried false submission. Her face changed into that fake guilty expression she always used. Her eyes even became watery. "I was only thinking that maybe I could stay for a while and help her with the baby."
I clenched my teeth. She thought she was clever. She thought I could not see through her.
"You see!" Damien barked suddenly, his Alpha voice cracking through the room like thunder. "You can never be good like her. She only asked to stay here after losing her husband. The least you can do is shut the fuck up!"
The command laced in his tone pressed against my wolf, demanding obedience.
Something inside me snapped.
For the first time in years, I found my voice.
"I would not shut up Damien and let you disrespect me in my own house because you are my fucking husband!"
The moment the words left my mouth in a desperate need to talk back, the room became silent.
Damien's face turned dark with rage. "What did you just say?"
He stormed toward me and grabbed my arm roughly. I gasped in pain, my body shaking. My grip on my baby loosened, but I quickly held him tighter with my other hand.
"Let me go, Damien. You are hurting me and the baby," I cried.
Instead of letting go, his grip became tighter.
"You dare talk back to your Alpha?" he growled, his eyes flashing gold.
"Let me go!" I shouted, my voice breaking.
SLAP! He hit me at once.
The sound echoed in the room.
My head snapped to the side, and for a second, everything became blurry. My ears rang. My body lost balance, and I stumbled backward.
My baby slipped from my arms and time seemed to slow. And then he fell.
He hit the ground.
His loud cry filled the room — but beneath it, a small sharp growl escaped him.
The air shifted as my baby's silver eyes flashed brightly.
"No!" I screamed as I rushed forward, falling to my knees. My hands trembled as I picked him up. His face was red from crying, and there was a small bruise on his head.
My heart shattered. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I sobbed, kissing his forehead again and again.
Damien only sneered.
"If it is this bastard that is giving you courage, I will discard him," he said coldly.
My chest tightened painfully.
Just then, Laura walked closer."I only want to help," she said softly.
She reached out to touch my baby.
I slapped her hand away and she fell to the floor dramatically.
I froze.
I did not even push her.
But she began crying loudly. "I am only trying to be nice, Moe. Why do you hate me so much?"
Before I could react, Damien grabbed my neck.
His fingers tightened. I gasped for air, my body struggling. His Alpha strength made it impossible to fight back.
"How dare you touch her!" he shouted. "Don't you know she is pregnant with my child!"
The words hit me like thunder.
Everything stopped. My body went cold. My heart broke into pieces.
Pregnant.
With
His
Child.
Another heir.
Another child he would proudly claim.
Tears rolled down my face as my vision blurred.
My hands trembled around my baby as I stared at the man I loved, the man who had destroyed my life, the Alpha who had married me for power, the mate bound to me by the Moon Goddess, the man who had just destroyed my heart as those words repeated in my head again.
PREGNANT. WITH. HIS. CHILD
And I finally understood.
He never rejected my son because he doubted the blood.
He rejected him because if my son grew strong, the pack would never accept another Luna's child over his true lover.