Chapter 0004

“Alright, I’m coming-” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I stepped out of the washroom, “You didn’t have to wait for me, I could’ve just met you out there-”

“You know full well we’re supposed to appear together, you’re my wife-” Mason turned to look at me, eyes widening for a second as he looked me up and down. I couldn’t help but feel a little shy under his gaze – despite my current animosity towards him, I wondered if he thought I looked nice tonight. The silky fabric of my sapphire blue dress flowed effortlessly around me, the fitted bodice accentuating my figure and the skirt flaring out at my waist.

“What?” I asked, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I’d decided to wear a new dress – sapphire blue was always my favorite color and I’d never been allowed to wear anything in it because Father and Mason never approved, and for all these years, I’d never worn anything I truly liked. Seeing myself in a new outfit gave me the confidence that I needed for tonight’s events.

“You-” Mason’s eyes flickered off to the side before he shook his head slightly, “Your dress is too flashy and inappropriate for a married Luna. Don’t you have anything else to wear? What about that brown dress you wore last week?”

“I want to wear this dress. And I could argue that your suit is a little too dignified-” I immediately retorted, not surprised that the first thing to come out of his mouth was an insult, “Doesn’t exactly match the look of a husband whose mistress is his stepsister.”

Mason’s jaw clenched and he let out a little scoff, “You know, it’s precisely because you have such a personality that I was drawn to Vera in the first place. She’s sweet, and gentle, and would never speak to me like this.”

“Oh, get over it.” I snapped, not even bothering to respond properly to his nonsense, brushing past him to walk down the hallway. Men always found excuses for themselves.

***

“It’s just one night, Bianca.” Mason cleared his throat quietly as the doors opened for us, his grip tightening around my hand. I felt disgusted by the fact we were holding hands – I wanted to be at least six feet apart from him, and there was no way in hell I was going to able to pull off a convincing lovey-dovey wife act for the whole night, “It’s a couple of hours of pretending that we love each other, and then-”

“Nope!” I practically cackled, nodding towards the other end of the room as I shook his hand off, “I’m gonna get some fruit punch, I’m parched-”

“Bianca-”

I didn’t give Mason a chance to say anything before I was splitting away from him, making my way through the crowd with my eyes trained on the refreshments table. I wasn’t here to socialize with anyone or pretend that I was in a happy marriage with Mason, I just wanted to skip ahead to when the media arrived. I already had everything planned out in terms of what to say – I’d practiced my monologue in the mirror at least ten times this morning.

“Woah, careful there-”

“Oh, excuse me-!” I apologized quickly as soon as I bumped into someone’s chest. I looked up, my eyes widening in surprise when I saw it was none other than the man from the Wolf Reproductive Centre who had donated his sperm. His presence at tonight’s event meant that he, too, was one of the invited Alphas. “What the hell?”

“Well, well, well.” He let out a light laugh, “It’s been a while! It’s… Bianca, right? I remember seeing your name on the forms you filled out,” He tilted his head in wonder, “I’m Isaac, I’ve been looking for you. How’s the baby? I’m assuming the insemination worked, the doctors told me my swimmers were of very high quality, so-”

I immediately felt my stomach dip in anxiety at his question. What did he mean that he’d been looking for me? What did he want from me?

“This- this baby has nothing to do with you,” I lowered my voice, glancing from side to side to make sure nobody was listening to us as I continued making my way towards the refreshments table, Isaac trailing behind me as he walked with his hands behind his back, “Once the sperm leaves your body, you no longer have any claim to it. You can’t go against the sperm donation agreement, if that’s what you’re here for.”

“Alright, take it down a notch, sweetheart,” Isaac’s eyebrow raised in amusement before he extended an arm towards me, “Why don’t we go for a talk in the hallway? We seem to have a misunderstanding, and it’s a little too hectic here for a conversation about… you know, my sperm and the baby.”

I poked my tongue against the inside of my cheek before giving him a firm nod, letting him loop my arm through his as he led us towards the double doors out to the hallway. Though this wasn’t exactly my priority at the moment, I suppose it would be good to hear what this misunderstanding was all about.

“You know, after you donate sperm you aren’t meant to stalk the mother and ask about her baby,” I joked, the soft click of my heels echoing down the empty hallway, “I don’t think that’s how this works. I mean, men go to the Wolf Reproductive Center to donate their sperm, and that’s the end of that.”

“I wasn’t really there to donate my sperm, though. Obviously I don’t want my sperm to go to just anyone-”

“What?” I paused, “You literally- that’s literally the purpose of the Reproductive Center- I went there because I want a child, you went there to donate your sperm-”

“Well, not quite. I mean, I guess I can see how you’d think that because I did walk out of the room holding a vial of my sperm, but- you know what, I’m just gonna keep it nice and simple-” Isaac patted my hand gently, “I’m trying to have a kid because… How do I explain this to you? Okay, let’s just say my family is really pressuring me to keep the bloodline going, and I’m kind of running out of time. And I thought you were the surrogate mother my assistant picked out for me.”

“How did you-” I pulled away from him, the two of us standing in the middle of the hallway, “How stupid are you? How did you even mix that up?!”

“Hey, don’t pin this on me!” Isaac raised both his hands in defense, “This is my first time doing anything like this, I don’t know what the process is supposed to be like! I thought I was gonna open that door and get to pick a hot girl to have sex with, so imagine my surprise when all I saw in that room was an empty cup and a stack of old PlayWolf magazines! If anything, we should be blaming my assistant for this-”

“Well, it’s too late to turn back now.” I scoffed, reaching down to place a hand on my stomach, “I’m keeping this baby, there’s not a chance in hell I’m giving it up. I waited way too long for this to happen, so… I’ll…” I trailed off, wracking through my brain for any solutions to this strange problem. “I’ll pay you, then. You can call yourself the father of this baby, but at the end of the day, this baby is mine. You get the label and none of the responsibility, and I get to keep the child. Think of it as a deal.”

“Huh.” Isaac glanced down at my outstretched hand before nodding to himself, “I’ll think about it.”

***

“There she is!”

As I re-entered the banquet hall, I wasn’t surprised to see that Mason was already surrounded by a swarm of reporters. I forced a polite smile on my face, the years of media training automatically making me slip into the professional, courteous, demure role I’d played successfully for my whole life.

“There’s my beautiful, wonderful wife-” Mason laughed, turning and shooting a glare at me as he walked towards me, but not before glancing back towards the camera and shooting them a charming smile, “I apologize, everyone. My wife has this silly habit of taking off during important interviews and frequently forgets about her responsibilities and obligations- Where the hell have you been?” He hissed quietly, the smile immediately dropping from his face as soon as his back was facing the cameras. “You think disappearing for twenty minutes makes either of us look good? Jesus, Bianca-”

“I forget about my responsibilities and obligations?” I snorted, pointing a finger into my chest, “Oh, that’s rich, Mason. That’s a good one.” I shook away from his tight grip as I headed straight for the cameras and reporters. Forget the monologue I’d prepared – this was my moment.

“My husband is a real joker, you know, talking about how I’m the one who forgets about her responsibilities and obligations when he’s the one who got his mistress – my stepsister, his sister-in-law – pregnant! I’m done playing house with him. We may be married but we are not in love, and he’s a disgusting, filthy cheater!”

The moment these words left my lips, the room erupted into complete and utter chaos. Flashes from the cameras went off in a frenzy as the reporters jolted forward and shoved their microphones closer to my face, their voices overlapping in a frenzy of questions. The camera flashes illuminated my figure in my bright blue dress, and as I turned to glance at a frozen, wide-eyed, pale Mason over my shoulder, I couldn’t help but feel proud of what I’d just done. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The truth had finally set me free.