The rejected child

My mate, Alpha Kaelen, was supposed to be my everything. But in his eyes, I was just a placeholder for the other woman in his life, Lyra.

When Lyra claimed she was attacked by Rogues and pregnant with a bastard pup, Kaelen made his choice.

He commanded me to tell the pack elders that I was the one who had been defiled.

He commanded me to claim Lyra's child as my own.

Then, when I discovered I was pregnant with our own pup, he gave me his final command: go to the Healer and get rid of it. Our child, he said, would cause Lyra too much stress.

He gave her sweet comfort through their private mind-link while ordering me to kill our baby. I was a tool for his convenience. She was a treasure to be protected.

But when his mother locked me in a silver-lined cell, leaving me to miscarry our pup in a pool of my own blood, the last of my love turned to ash.

As I lay there, broken and empty, I gathered the last of my strength and let out a howl I hadn't used since I was a child.

It was a sacred call for my family—the royal family of the Whitefang Clan—to come and collect their princess.

Chapter 1

SERAPHINA'S POV:

"Seraphina, go to the Elder Council. Tell them you were the one taken by the Rogues."

The voice was not a sound. It was a pressure inside my skull, cold and sharp. It was the voice of my mate, my Alpha, Kaelen. It came through the mind-link, the invisible connection that ties every member of the Bloodmoon Pack together. For most, the link is a comfort, a constant sense of belonging. For me, it had become a cage.

My hands trembled, and I clutched the simple cotton dress I wore. "Kaelen, no. Please. I already agreed to claim Lyra's pup as my own when it's born. I can't… I can't also take the shame of being… defiled."

The words were a desperate whisper in my own mind, a plea sent back across that psychic bond. There was a pause, a moment of chilling silence.

Then his voice returned, laced with an authority that made my knees weak. It was the Alpha's Command, a power unique to the leader of a pack. It wasn't a request. It was an order woven into the fabric of my being, compelling obedience.

"You are the future Luna. You must be strong enough to bear this for the pack's stability. Lyra is fragile. This scandal would break her. Her family's alliance is critical right now. You know this. Do not make this difficult. "

His praise was a slap in the face. He saw my sacrifice not as a gift of love, but as a duty I was expected to perform. My strength was not for me; it was for her. For Lyra.

I squeezed my eyes shut, a wave of sickness washing over me. "And the pup?" I asked, my own thought trembling with a fear so profound it felt like ice in my veins. "Our pup?"

There was another silence, longer this time. I could almost feel his irritation, his impatience.

"The timing is wrong," he finally said, his voice flat and devoid of any emotion. "Lyra is already unstable. The stress of another pup in the pack house, one born so close to hers… it would be too much for her. Go to the Healer. He is waiting for you."

The command wasn't spoken, but it was there. An unspoken, brutal order. Get rid of our child.

My breath hitched. My hand flew to my still-flat stomach, a protective gesture that was purely instinct. Our pup. A tiny, forming life that was half me, half him. He was telling me to destroy it. For another woman.