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All the she-wolves in the pack envied my sister Aurora and me for being mated to the Alpha twins.

But our mates cut off our mind-link when I was 8 months pregnant and we were attacked by rogue wolves. They told us not to disturb them while they saved their stepsister, the one that they truly loved.

I lost my child, and my sister can never shift again, becoming an Omega.

After confirming that Aurora had also regained consciousness, I immediately sent Alexander a mind-link message about severing our mate bond.

For two straight days, there was nothing but silence from his end.

I realized that he had blocked my mind-link.

"Our baby is gone," I finally sent through phone message.

Surprisingly, this message triggered an immediate response, and Alexander's angry voice came through the phone.

"Aria, is this how you act? You don't get responses to your messages, so you decide to get rid of our child?" His voice was ice-cold with fury.

"I told you to stay safely in the pack house while carrying my heir, but you had to go wandering off. Then you bombarded me with nine mind-links in a row when I didn't answer immediately. Are you mentally unstable?"

"Seraphina was in danger! Her kidnapping almost caused her to lose her pups. What could possibly be more important than saving two lives?"

"Let me make this perfectly clear – stop using our child to manipulate me. If you want to terminate the pregnancy, then go ahead. Do whatever you want!"

"Alex," I heard Vicky's weak voice in the background of our link. "Don't be angry with your mate. She was just worried about you. This is all my fault..."

"Vicky, this has nothing to do with you..." His voice softened before he abruptly cut our call.

I lowered my hand from my temple, a bitter smile forming on my lips.

Of course. How could I ever compare to precious Vicky in importance? Trying to reach out again would only bring more humiliation.

I placed my hand on my now-flat stomach, grief overwhelming me. My poor baby had been five months along, growing strong with a steady heartbeat. Now it was gone, torn to pieces by those rogue wolves.

The pack doctor had told me the wounds were so severe that I might never be able to conceive again. The rogues' claws had damaged my reproductive organs beyond repair.

Alexander didn't know this yet. He didn't know that in his quest to save Vicky, he had lost not only his unborn child but any chance of future heirs.

The rogue wolves attack clearing was never random—it was aimed specifically at me, and all because of Alexander!

When the rogue wolves surrounded me, their alpha immediately struck me across the face with his claws. I reeled back, dizzy from the blow.

Through my disorientation, I heard his snarling voice: "Your mate expelled my entire pack from our territory! We lost everything because of him! Our hunting grounds, our den, everything gone!"

"We heard your mate's brother holds significant territory to the north. Once we have you, he'll surrender those lands to us in exchange!"

Hearing they only wanted territory, I felt a small surge of relief.

At least there was a chance they might spare my baby.

But after nine desperate mindlinks and only silence, the tenth brought nothing but Alexander's cold rejection.

His words stripped away any value I had in the rogues' eyes.

I had never known such terror before.

I fell to my knees, begging and pleading repeatedly.

I would do anything if they would just spare my unborn child.

But my pleas meant nothing. The rogue alpha's claws tore into my stomach with savage precision.

A pain like nothing I'd ever felt before ripped through me as my blood poured onto the forest floor, warm and sticky.

My baby was gone, just like that.

Yet only this morning, I had felt those tiny kicks inside me.

I began to lose consciousness as my body temperature dropped with each passing moment.

Without my baby, I had no will to live anyway.

Just as I was surrendering to death, Aurora crashed through the trees.

She glanced at my bloodied form and the still-active mind-link connection glowing at my temple. Her face contorted with rage as she screamed, "Why didn't you call me? If I hadn't sensed your pain through our sister bond, what would have happened to you? "

She lifted me carefully, frantically sending a mind-link to Ethan.

"Looking for Vicky. Don't bother me." Those six words left her frozen in shock.

She tried to call for the pack guards, but we were too far from pack territory for the telepathic connection to work.

With no other choice, she half-carried, half-dragged me through the forest as the rogues pursued us.

They caught up quickly. One drove a silver dagger deep into Aurora's abdomen while others bit into her arms and legs.

Still, she fought on, protecting me even as silver poison spread through her system.

By some miracle, we stumbled upon the border patrol.

The rogues scattered, but the damage was done.

Perhaps fate had written this ending for us. As I slowly closed my eyes in the pack hospital...

The pack healer confirmed what I already knew. My child was gone, torn from my womb by vengeful claws.

What I didn't expect was the news about Aurora. The silver had penetrated too deeply into her system. She would never shift again—her wolf permanently suppressed by the poison.

She had sacrificed her wolf form—the most sacred part of any werewolf's identity—to save me.