Chapter 2

White ceiling panels.

The scent of disinfectant.

The steady rhythm of beeping monitors.

My hand flew to my stomach before I could think—searching for the familiar curve.

Nothing.

Only bandages and emptiness beneath the thin healer’s gown.

“No…” My voice cracked, raw and broken. “No, no, no…”

A nurse appeared—a low-ranking omega with pity dulling her eyes. “Luna Elena, you’re awake. I’ll fetch the healer.”

“My pup,” I rasped. “Where’s my baby?”

She hesitated, fingers tightening on the clipboard. “The healer will explain.”

But she didn’t come back.

Hours blurred into gray silence until another healer entered—a senior medic with the smell of sage and burned silver clinging to her robes.

“You’re lucky to be alive,” she said.

“My pup—”

Her gaze softened but did not waver. “The silver reached the womb before we could draw it out. The toxin destroyed the tissue. We removed what remained.”

I stared at her. “Removed?”

“Your womb. It was the only way to save you.”

A cold, hollow ache spread through me. “No… I’m a wolf. I should’ve healed—”

“Not from silver,” she said gently. “It eats the wolf from the inside out. You were laced with enough to kill an Alpha twice your size.”

I couldn’t breathe. “Where’s Liam?”

The healer hesitated. “The Alpha forbade us to contact him. He said your injuries were the result of an altercation you started.”

“He kicked me,” I whispered.

She looked away. “I’m sorry.”

The machines kept beeping, mocking me with every steady note that said I was still alive when my child wasn’t.

I tried to sit up. Pain ripped through my abdomen—fire licking every nerve where the silver had burned its way through flesh.

“Stay down,” the healer ordered, pressing me back. “Your wolf is still suppressed. The poison’s residue will take weeks to fade.”

“My wolf…”

I tried to reach for her—the part of me that had always been there, the strength beneath my skin. But all I found was silence.

No heartbeat.

No voice.

Nothing.

He’d taken her from me.

When Liam had kicked me, when he’d screamed that I didn’t deserve our pup, our mate bond had cracked—and in his fury, he’d used his Alpha dominance to sever the connection entirely.

That bond wasn’t just love. It was life. Energy. Healing.

And when he cut it, he’d left me human.

Broken.

The healer adjusted the IV. “Try to rest. The council will want a statement later.”

“A statement?”

“About the attack on Luna Camilla.”

I almost laughed. “They still call her that?”

“She’s been acting Luna since your arrest order was issued,” the healer said softly. “The council had to maintain stability.”

I turned my face to the wall, unable to look at her anymore.

The fluorescent lights hummed. My pulse thudded weakly.

And then—another voice. Familiar, sharp, full of restrained fury.

“So,” Lucas said from the doorway, his scent hitting me like old memories—pine and smoke. “You’re finally awake.”

He stood tall in his Beta uniform, gold crest gleaming on his shoulder. The same uniform our father had worn before the rogues took him.

But his eyes—those once-soft gray eyes—were nothing but ice.

“Lucas…” My throat tightened. “Where’s the baby? Did they let you—”

“Don’t.” His tone cut like a blade. “Don’t you dare pretend to be the victim.”

“What?”

He stepped closer, the smell of anger sharp and electric in the air. “Camilla’s still recovering from the concussion you gave her.”

My heart stuttered. “I didn’t touch her. She’s lying—”

“Everyone saw you hit her,” he snapped. “You almost killed the pack’s Luna, and now you want sympathy?”

I stared at him, unable to find words.

He was my brother. My blood. My last family.

And he looked at me like I was the monster.