Leah's POV
I felt the butterfly in my stomach, the lump in my throat, and the burning sensation in every inch of my skin. My heart was pounding so fast that I wouldn't be surprised if it suddenly stopped functioning.
Lucas stroked my hair behind my ear. As his fingers flicked across my ear, my whole body started shivering.
Then, he drew himself closer to me. For a brief moment, I thought he was about to kiss me.
I bit my lips so that I didn't make any awkward moaning sound.
I looked into his eyes. He was so close, yet so far away from me.
Then, I realized that he was just checking out the scar on my forehead.
He looked a bit surprised because the scar was almost healed.
He cleared his voice and said, "Your blood is precious to Josephine. Your blood is the only cure to stabilize her condition. You need to be more careful."
The moment he let go of me, I felt that someone was peeling off my skin.
The excruciating pain made me curl up in a ball of fear.
Josephine wrapped her hands around Lucas' arms and said, "Come on, Luke. Tell me about everything in Skagen City!"
"I'll tell you everything later." Lucas' voice was full of affection and admiration. "Now, I've got a gift for you. It's in the living room. Why don't you go and take a look?"
"Oh, Luke. You're so kind. You don't have to bring me a present every time you see me." Josephine looked flattered.
Then, she took a triumphal look at me and asked Lucas, "Luke, what is the gift?"
"You can go downstairs and take a look at it yourself."
"Is it the thing that I've always wanted?" Josephine's big round doe eyes widened with surprise.
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise." Lucas' lips quirked up with a faint smile.
"Oh, Luke! I love you! I love you! I love you!" Josephine quickly tiptoed and pecked Lucas' face before running out of the room.
A moment later, she came back, tittering and giggling like a little girl, with a giant pendant necklace on her long, swan-like neck.
I recognized that pedant immediately.
It was a giant sapphire stone cut into a heart shape. It was the wedding gift that Lucas gave to me on our wedding day.
I only wore it once. As soon as Josephine saw it, he immediately showed a great interest in it.
I couldn't believe Lucas would give that pendant to her.
"How do I look, Lucas? Does it make my eyes brighter?" She circled around Lucas, jumping up and down like a little bunny.
Lucas caught her, held her in his arms, and gave him a long, passionate kiss on her hair.
"Do you like your gift?" He asked Josephine.
"Like it? I love it!" Josephine exclaimed while clapping her hands.
She glimpsed at me like a guilty child. Then, she immediately turned to Lucas, looking sad.
"What happened, Jo?" Lucas asked.
"It's nothing." Josephine lowered her head and said in a sentimental voice, "I'm just thinking, Basil would be so happy to see me wearing this necklace if he was alive."
Hearing Basil's name, Lucas' face immediately became clouded.
Basil used to be his Beta and best friend. He passed in a battle a few years ago and entrusted his younger sister Josephine to Lucas before he passed away. They were supposed to get married until I, Lucas' mate, showed up.
I still kept the photo that someone sent me on our wedding day. It was a picture that shows Lucas holding Josephine in his arms. They were so close and I wasn't sure if they were kissing each other.
On the back of that picture, there was only one sentence -
You are the third person in this marriage.
I knew it was sent by Josephine. But I didn't tell anyone.
My husband and mate was breathtakingly handsome man as well as the leader of the most powerful pack in the North. No woman in their right mind would resist his look and charm.
Being his mate and Luna, I knew I had to put up with a lot of inconveniences to maintain the legitimacy of our marriage and the decency of my husband.
It's for the better of the pack.
"Come downstairs with me, Luke. Today's such a beautiful day and you're back. I'm wearing such a beautiful necklace. Why don't we have a picnic at the lake? Leah will cook for us! Will you, Leah?" Josephine raised her eyebrows while staring at me.
"Yes, Miss." I lowered my head and whispered, trying to pretend that everything was OK with me.
"Go ahead and get ready for our picnic trip. I'll join you later," Lucas said to Josephine in a soft voice.
Josephine nodded and winked at him.
After Josephine was gone, Rosalie leered at me and said, "Why are you lying on the floor like a piece of trash? Are you trying to win anyone's sympathy? Clean up the mess that you've caused and go do the washing now."
"Yes, Ma'am," I whispered, quickly taking up the shattered pieces on the floor.
My head was buzzing. My vision blurred. Some of the shards were embedded into my flesh, but I could no longer feel the pain.
Nothing would rival the excruciating pain of being ignored by my own mate.
Rosalie rolled her eyes and me and said to Lucas, "I've talked to Doctor Jafar today. He suggested we should increase the frequency of blood transfer to three times a day."
My heart sank.
I pleaded desperately, "Ma'am, Alpha, please don't do this to me. Twice a day is already too much for me. That's why I keep fainting and being scattered all day round. I really can't afford to do it three times a day..."
"I'm trying to have a private conversation with my son. Who do you think you are to interrupt our conversation?" Rosalie looked crossed.
"And don't look for lousy excuses for yourself! You keep messing up because you're clumsy," she added.
Lucas held his mother's hands and said, "Mother, please go downstairs and I'll talk to her."
Rosalie gave me a dark look and walked off.
The whole room was suddenly empty, with me and Lucas alone.
Lucas looked down at me and broke the silence -
"OK, tell me how much money you want for the blood transfer. Name a price."
"I want nothing from you, Alpha," I answered in a low voice, trying to scrape off the blood stains on the floor with a sponge, but more blood kept dripping on the floor from my head.
Lucas sighed. He took out his mobile and fiddled with it for a while. Then, put down his phone and said, "I've just wired another three million dollars into your account. Increase the volume of blood transfer to three times a day, and you'll get three million for each transfer."
"Alpha, I don't need your money..."
"So what do you want?" He started to look impatient.
"Why do you give my pendant to Josephine?" I asked.
"Are you answering my question with another question?" He frowned.
"You gave that pendant to me on our wedding day. Do you remember?"
My voice wasn't loud, but it managed to surprise him.
"Josephine likes it, so now it belongs to her. Do you have any problems with that?" Dark clouds started gathering on his face. A storm was impending.
"What do you need it for anyway? You never go to parties or balls," he added.
You are the third person in this marriage.
Five years of marriage in exchange for this. I failed on so many levels and I was failed by my mate.
I gave up.
I threw the blood-soaked sponge on the floor and said in a calm, steady voice, "I never go to parties or balls because I have never been invited in the first place. Also, I've been too busy folding napkins and giving another woman my blood."
I had never spoken so many words in a sentence to my mate.
My voice was still quiet, but I managed to make my message clear.
Lucas had an incredible look on his face.
For the first time in his life, he managed to really see me.
"You... " he mumbled.
I could sense the nervousness in his voice.
"Yes, me. I'm standing right in front of you. I used to be your Luna, your mate, the service maid and nurse for your mother and your dearest Josephine. But now, I am only myself. A free, independent woman, who wants to have nothing to do with you anymore."
Lucas looked at me like his world was turned upside down.
"What do you mean?" He asked in an anxious voice.
"You've heard me," I replied and wiped the last drop of blood on my forehead. "I'm rejecting you, Lucas."
"Reje... No, you can't do that." His voice turned high-pitched and dry.
For the first time in my life, I sensed fear in his tone.
"I can do whatever I want, Lucas. So, watch me." I stood up, and stepped forward to close the distance between us.
"I, Leah Eleanor Lewyn of the Defiant Pack, reject you, Lucas Logan Steele of the White Walkers Pack, as my rightful mate."
Leah's POVThe Miami sun burned through the penthouse windows, a ruthless glare that made the glass shimmer like a fever dream. Eight years had carved lines into my soul, but my stride was sharp, heels clicking like gunfire on the marble floor of Liam's sprawling office. The place reeked of money—polished wood, leather, and the faint musk of power. I stormed in, my black suit clinging to me like armor, the fabric whispering threats I didn't need to voice. Liam, CEO of the biggest conglomerate on the east coast, sat behind his fortress of a desk, looking like a kid caught sneaking cookies, his tie askew, his face flushed with that boyish guilt he never could hide from me.I slammed my fist on the desk, the sound cracking through the room like a whip. "William Joseph Pintard, you son of..." My words caught in my throat as a small, angel-faced boy poked his head out from under the desk, his wide eyes locking onto mine before he shrank back like a startled pup. My ra
Leah's POVThe moon hung low, a sullen bruise in the sky, casting its pale judgment over the stone walls of Lucian's study. Its light slithered through the high windows, pooling on the floor where I stood, my swollen belly heavy under my dress, a reminder of the life I carried and the debts I owed. The air was thick with the scent of old parchment and wax, and I felt the weight of every step I'd taken to get here, each one a defiance of the exhaustion that clawed at my bones. My father, Lucian, sat behind his desk, his broad shoulders hunched over a sprawl of documents, his face carved with lines of weariness and resolve. The room hummed with the quiet authority of his presence, a king who wore his crown like a shackle.I didn't speak at first, just let my gaze drift over the shelves, the maps pinned to the walls, the faint glint of a dagger resting on a side table. My heart thudded, a traitor in my chest, as I remembered the last time I'd stood in a room like this wit
Lycidas' POVThe morning light seeped through the narrow windows of the chamber, its pale fingers clawing at the stone walls, casting a dim glow that felt more like a shroud than a blessing. I stood there, cloaked in shadow, my breath a quiet snarl in my chest, the beast within pacing its cage. Finn was before me, his back turned, gazing out as if the world beyond held some answer I'd never given him. He didn't hear me approach - my footsteps were a predator's whisper, honed from years of stalking prey through moonlit forests and blood-soaked battles.As I closed the distance, he turned his head, and I caught the flicker in his eyes - relief, perhaps, or a fool's hope. His lips parted, the ghost of a smile tugging at them, but before it could fully bloom, I struck. My claws, sharp as moonlight on steel, tore through his chest with a wet, ripping sound. Blood bloomed like dark flowers across his shirt, vivid and cruel against the white fabric, spreading as if eager to c
Leah's POVI stepped out of Redwood Mansion, the heavy doors groaning shut behind me like a beast drawing its last ragged breath. The moon hung low and vicious in the sky, its bloody light spilling over the battlefield, painting the carnage in shades of rust and shadow. The air reeked of death - smoke curling thick and acrid, blood pooling in the dirt, the metallic tang clawing at my throat. Before me, the crowd shuffled through the wreckage, their faces hollowed out by exhaustion, hands stained red as they hauled bodies and hacked at the earth. Some wailed, others worked in silence, but all moved like ghosts trapped in a nightmare they couldn't wake from. My hand drifted to my swollen belly, fingers trembling against the faint kick of life inside me. It was the only thing tethering me to this fucked-up world.A sudden blur of motion snapped my head up, and I froze as two massive shapes lunged out of the haze. Direwolves - huge, hulking bastards with eyes like burning
Leah's POVThe darkness clung to me like a second skin, heavy and suffocating, as I lay crumpled in that cursed cage. Pain gnawed at my bones, a relentless beast that had long since made a home in my flesh. My left eye was swollen shut, a throbbing reminder of Magda's fists, but I forced the right one open, squinting through the haze of blood and exhaustion. That's when I saw him - Lucas. He stormed into the room like a thunderclap, tall and handsome, his presence a jagged blade slicing through my despair. Majestic, he was, even with that chrome-colored mechanical arm glinting cruelly in the dim light, a stark contrast to the flesh I'd once known.He didn't hesitate. That gleaming arm shot out, fingers wrapping tight around Magda's throat, squeezing until her gasps rasped against the silence. With his other foot, he smashed the cage door open, the metal shrieking as it bent under his fury. I flinched at the sound, my body tensing out of habit, but then his eyes found m
Leah's POVI opened my eyes to a nightmare carved into my own flesh. My skin was ulcerating, sores splitting open like overripe fruit, weeping pus and blood across my arms, my legs, my chest. The stench hit me first - rotting meat, sour and thick, clogging my throat - but there was no pain. No sting, no burn, just a cold, creeping numbness that pinned me down like chains. I tried to move, to claw my way out of this decaying shell, but my limbs wouldn't answer. My body was a traitor, a cage of meat and bone, and I was trapped inside it.In front of me, Leo thrashed under the grip of a naked werewolf - a hulking, beastly thing, more monster than man, its matted fur streaked with filth. His bloodshot eyes locked onto mine, wild and desperate, pleading for something I couldn't give. Through our Mindlink, his voice rasped into my skull, faint and final - "I'm dead now. You will be the next, sister."The words sank into me like teeth, tearing at the last threads of ho