Aurora and her Alpha mate, Ethan, have been trying for a baby for three years – so she’s heartbroken when she finally gets pregnant and he demands they get a divorce. She runs away with her son and changes her identity, planning to never look back. But when a patient in her old town desperately needs her help, she returns. And she meets Ethan all over again, as an entirely new woman. This is her chance – to get revenge. But as she tries to make Ethan fall for her, just so she can break his heart the way he once broke hers, Aurora’s own heart might be the one on the line. Will she get revenge? Or will she fall for the man that shattered her all over again?
View MoreI stared down at the pregnancy test. My heart pounded. Another ten seconds, nine, eight…
It was time. I swallowed hard, squeezed my eyes shut, and then–
I looked down. My hands shook where they held it. I tried to focus my gaze on the trembling test.
Two pink lines stared back at me. I gasped; a sob built in my throat. I clutched the pregnancy test to my chest, kicked my legs, and whispered to myself, “I’m going to have a baby!”
Tears streamed down my cheeks. I let them fall, gazing down lovingly at my flat stomach, cupping it with one hand and still clinging onto the test with the other. “I’m going to have a baby,” I breathed again, my eyes widening.
Finally.
After three years of marriage, Ethan and I were going to have a baby. I smiled as I cried, imagining my belly swelling with our child, imagining Ethan pressing his hands to my pregnant belly and singing sweet songs to our little one.
He’d always wanted to be a dad, just as much as I’d wanted to be a mum. But it wasn’t just the two of us that wanted this, that needed this; it was our whole pack. With every year that passed – heck, every month – the pressure from our wolves grew and grew.
We needed an heir to secure our positions as Alpha and Luna of the Silver Shade Pack. I’d always known we’d have one, despite the callous whispers I heard around the pack.
“She can’t conceive.”
“That’s what happens when you mate with an Omega.”
“There won’t ever be a baby – unless he cheats.”
“Of course he’ll cheat. What can an Omega give him, really?”
I dabbed at my tears and murmured, “We’ve proved them wrong, little one. You’ll prove to them that I’m worthy of being their Luna, and you’ll grow up as the strongest kid in this pack. Everything will work out now.”
As an Alpha, Ethan needed an heir to continue his legacy. As his Luna, I needed to provide him with one.
Nobody had ever expected him to fall in love with me.
Three years ago, just after my eighteenth birthday, I’d been working as a maid to put myself through college. I was stationed at banquets for big bosses and powerful Alphas – and it was at one such party that I’d met Ethan.
I hadn’t thought he’d even look at me, let alone acknowledge me as his mate. He was everything a girl like me dreamed of, with his dark hair, always artfully dishevelled, with his smirking, arrogant lips, and those eyes…
They were so brown they almost looked black – and they’d been fixed on me.
Not a week later, we’d become a couple. A month after that, he’d asked me to marry him.
And now we were going to be a family. “Ah!” I squealed, grinning to myself.
I couldn’t wait to tell him. I stood up from the bed, my legs wobbly, and crossed over to the window to call him. I looked outside, watching a crow come to land in the tree opposite my window, as the phone rang. My breath hitched on every missed beat. Come on, Ethan, I thought, answer…
The call didn’t connect. I pulled the phone away from my ear and frowned down at it, disappointment swelling in my chest. It wasn’t like him to not answer a call from me, even if he was busy.
‘I’m sure he’s just in a meeting,’ my wolf, Violet, said gently.
‘Yeah,’ I agreed, but something in my gut twisted. ‘I’m sure that’s it.’
Not wanting to think about it, I headed downstairs and started making dinner. My disappointment ebbed away, becoming excitement again as I scattered rose petals over the table and laid out candles. If I couldn’t call him, then I’d cook him a candlelit dinner and tell him in person instead.
‘Now that’s romantic,’ sighed Violet. ‘Him not answering is a good thing. Maybe it was even fate!’
I couldn’t quite shake my worry. On the rare occasions that Ethan couldn’t take my calls, he always rang me back as soon as he could. But dinner was ready, and the table was laid, and I still hadn’t heard from him.
I turned the stove down and left dinner warming on it. Something big must’ve come up at his meeting, I decided, and I flopped onto the couch and flicked the TV on.
My eyes fluttered closed. I tugged the blanket off the back of it and snuggled in, inhaling the warm aroma of spices coming from the kitchen.
Bang!
I jerked awake. “Ethan?” I called, sitting up and stretching.
I squinted into the darkness. The sun had been setting when I’d dozed off, so I hadn’t left any lights on. The curtains were still open; it was cloudy outside, the air thick with pressure. A storm was rolling in.
A figure shifted in the darkness. I jumped. “Ethan, is that you?”
The shadowed figure stepped towards me. My eyes still hadn’t adjusted to the darkness. My belly fluttered.
It wasn’t just me I had to protect now.
I gulped.
“Who’s there?” I asked, drawing the blanket off my legs slowly.
My eyes finally adjusted. I saw a hard jaw, a muscle bunching in it. I saw artfully tussled hair. I saw brown eyes, so dark they were almost black.
I frowned. “Ethan? What are you doing?”
At last he spoke – but his voice didn’t sound like his own. “What am I doing?” He laughed coldly. “What are you doing, Aurora?”
“What am I–”
He cut me off. “I never expected you to be such a despicable person,” he snarled. “I thought you were my mate, my partner, my Luna. I didn’t think you were capable of this.”
My eyebrows shot up. I tried to reach for his arm; he shook my hand off. “Capable of what? Ethan, I don’t understand. Talk to me.”
He scoffed. “There’s no point talking to a liar like you.”
“A liar?” I stumbled back, hurt. “What have I lied about?”
My head spun with a thousand possible explanations. Did he know about our baby? How could he? I’d only just found out myself!
I blinked back tears. I hadn’t lied about anything! “Ethan,” I said slowly, taking a deep breath, “tell me what I’ve lied about. I don’t understand.”
Ethan just shook his head. “There’s no point. You’ll only deny it.”
“No, let’s talk about this. I’m not a liar.” My tone slipped; I didn’t want to sound like I was begging, but I couldn’t help it. I was desperate. He never spoke to me like this. “Please, Eth. You know me.”
He backed away and picked something up. Without saying a word, he marched over to me and shoved it into my hands.
The writing on the paper trembled as my hands shook. It took me a moment to process what I was reading. When I did, I let out a cry.
“No,” I whimpered.
“I want a divorce,” he said flatly.
My world spun. Stood there in the dark, opposite him, not touching, the divorce agreement held between us, I couldn’t believe that this was really happening. It felt like a dream.
No – it felt like a nightmare.
“Why?” I eventually managed to rasp.
Ethan just shook his head again.
I dropped the papers and crossed my arms. “You can’t do this to me! You don’t get to decide this alone and not even tell me what I’ve done.”
He sneered at me. “I can and I will.”
“But I – I’m pregnant!” I blurted out.
A sob built in my throat. I pictured the candles on the table in the dining room, waiting to be lit. They never would be, now. I saw our dinner going cold on the stove, saw the plates being put away, unused, and I saw the evening I’d planned disappear into dust.
This wasn’t how I’d wanted to tell him about our baby. I’d never thought I’d be using our child as a bargaining chip, as a way to get him to stay. The back of my nose burned with tears I didn’t want to let fall in front of him.
His eyebrows arched up in surprise; the corner of his lips lifted. He replaced that tiny shred of emotion with an icy mask of disdain.
“Get rid of it.”
My heart shattered. I opened and closed my mouth uselessly. He – he wanted me to… I couldn’t…
“You don’t deserve to bear my child.”
“But I… I’m your mate,” I whispered, clutching at my chest. The pain was physical. My blood pounded in my ears. White light flared across my vision.
“Not anymore.” His tone was clipped. “I, Ethan Savage, reject you, Aurora Everheart.”
The pain built and built, a tidal wave rising high above me – and then it crashed down, smashing me to pieces. My heart was torn from my chest and sliced apart. Bruised and battered, half of it removed, it struggled to beat.
I fell to my knees. The dull smack of them into the floor barely registered against the pain of his rejection.
Agony flowed through me like a river. Pain and sorrow joined hands to assault me, their claws like knives raking down my soul.
It was too much to bear.
I passed out.
Ethan’s POVRage bubbled in my chest.There was no sign of Selene or Serena anywhere in the house. Even though I knew they’d gone, I expected to find something - a toothbrush, one of Serena’s drawings, anything - but it was all gone. Our house was always clean, but now it was too clean. Too perfect. Too… empty. Their absence was everywhere I looked.Selene going didn’t bother me. If anything, it made my life easier. But taking my daughter? My hands curled into fists.It didn’t help that Aurora and Sammy were gone, too. Aurora’s exit had left a ragged, aching hole where my blackened heart was supposed to be.With my pack silent, save for the weak moans coming from the medical centre, I felt more alone than ever.I aided the few wolves still capable of working. I tried to understand the research Aurora had left for the last remaining member of staff in the hospital, but nothing about this illness made sense. Dragging my hands through my hair, I kicked my chair back from the desk and
Aurora’s POV I rushed to my son. I couldn’t hear over the rush of blood in my ears, but I could feel the tearing of my throat as I screamed. “Sammy,” I choked, grabbing him just as he hit the floor. I scrambled to keep him upright, clutching his head to my chest and stroking his clammy forehead. “Is he okay?” Zoe croaked, trying to sit up to see. “I don’t know.” My hands flapped uselessly. “I don’t know what’s happened to him.” ‘Calm down,’ said Violet, her voice firm. ‘You aren’t helping him by panicking.’ ‘You’re right. I can deal with this,’ I said, more to myself than to her. I was exhausted, and my nerves had been frayed to their ends - but dwelling on that wouldn’t help Sammy. “His heartbeat is strong, but too fast.” I spoke aloud, both to steady myself and to keep Zoe informed. “He’s breathing, but each breath is shallow.” I took a deep breath. “He’s alive.” I ran my eyes over him, giving myself one last second to be a caring, terrified mother. He looked so small
Aurora’s POV I knew it was Zoe - but if I hadn’t been made aware of her condition beforehand, I never would have recognised my dear friend. She sat hunched in the bed, frail shoulders curved in on themselves. She’d aged years since I’d last seen her; wrinkles carved into the skin of her face, like gorges left behind years after the rivers had evaporated. Zoe wore no makeup. Her eyes looked softer without her signature eyeliner, creased and small and sad. Her black bob hung limply about her shoulders, dishevelled and left to grow out longer than I’d ever seen it. Grey streaked through its lengths.“Zoe?” I breathed, my voice lodging in my throat. This couldn’t be her. It didn’t matter that her father was stood beside her bed, his expression drawn. It didn’t matter that she looked up at me when I said her name.This couldn’t be my friend.“Hi, Aria,” she croaked. “Hey, Sammy. You both look well.”I swallowed hard. “I wish I could say the same about you.”Alpha Brutus shot me a men
Aurora’s POVSammy slept the whole way to the Eternal Bonds pack. My heart throbbed painfully every time I looked at him. I was terrified for my friend, but I still had no answers about what had happened to my son.At least I finally felt peace about Ethan. He knew who I was and he knew that Sammy was his son. My shoulders were lighter after baring those truths to him.I just wished he could have come with me.Violet perked up like she had something to say. I spoke before she could. ‘I know why he couldn’t,’ I sighed. ‘I just wish he was here. We’ve just…’‘I know,’ she said softly. Sammy woke up just before I pulled into the car park. I’d told him what was happening and where we were going before we’d left, but he still looked around with a confused furrow to his brow.“Are you okay?” I murmured, reaching over to smooth his hair back from his forehead.He was too warm. He wasn’t sweating, but I could feel heat pooling in front of his skin. I held a worried hand there a moment longer
Ethan’s POVI stood outside my house, balling my hands into fists. ‘How do you want to do this?’ asked Sterling.‘No idea,’ I replied. I’d never been scared to go inside my own house before. Dawn had broken over the horizon, painting the sky in eerie shades of grey and purple. It swelled like a bruise over the quiet expanse of my pack.My heart felt too full to go and face Selene. Telling her I was leaving her for Aurora - no, I had to make sure I said Aria - was going to be hideous. ‘Do you have to say Aria?’ said Sterling. ‘I’m pretty sure Selene knows who she is. She keeps nearly saying Aurora when she’s meant to say Aria.’I cracked my knuckles. I wasn’t a coward; I wouldn’t hesitate out here a second longer. ‘Let’s go and find out.’I thought of my Aurora as I went inside. I was doing this for her, and for our son. I wouldn’t make Sammy grow up in a broken home. No more broken than it already had been…A tiny prickle of anger ran down my spine. I let it warm me.I held the ima
Ethan’s POVI couldn’t stop staring at Sammy. I’d been pummelled by revelations today - Aurora was alive, and here, and she was willing to forgive me - and, perhaps even more incredible than that…I had a son. We had a son.The woman I had pined for was here, her warm body pressed to mine, our son slumped against us, asleep, and I couldn’t believe it. My life had been turned upside down. That didn’t mean I wasn’t angry. Damn it, I was furious. She’d kept my boy from me. ‘You can’t blame her for that,’ sighed Sterling. ‘I know. Don’t make me remember,’ I replied, but it was too late. My mind was spinning down the one path I wanted to always avoid.I’d been swayed by idiocy and left my mate out in the cold. The fact she’d lost our other baby because of me…I wasn’t the same man I’d been then. I couldn’t believe I’d treated her like that.But I had.I’d pushed her to make those crazy choices. She’d gone to extremes to keep herself, and our child, safe from me. It made my throat fill
Aurora’s POVThe words lingered in the air between us. I could’ve reached out and plucked them with my fingertips. They were a palpable thing - a curse I wished I could recall.Then Ethan let out a single, sharp breath.My chest squeezed as I watched the emotions racing across his handsome, chiselled face. His jaw tensed, then relaxed, then tensed again.I waited on tenterhooks for him to speak.“I knew it,” he said eventually, the words rough around the edges. “Not for sure, but… I felt a connection to him. And, damn it, Aurora, he looks just like me.” His brow creased; he refused to meet my eyes. “I wondered why I wanted to be close to him. Separate from wanting to be close to you, I mean. I-“ He cut himself off and dragged a shaking hand through his dark hair. I had so much to say, but I held my tongue. He needed to process this. He finally looked at me. “You kept my son from me.” It wasn’t an accusation. It was simply a fact. A cruel, horrible, awful fact.“I had no choice. I wo
Aurora’s POV Ethan spent the night. Not in the way I’d anticipated or even hoped - and yet it was infinitely better. I longed to share a bed with him, skin on skin, a melding of bodies and minds as we kissed and talked and made love… But instead he was here, taking care of us. I had a front row seat to watch my son’s relationship with his father bloom. Before everything had happened, I’d dreamt about bringing up a child with Ethan. Then I’d feared him ever finding out the truth. Now, telling him the truth felt like the most natural thing in the world. How he hadn’t seen it for himself I didn’t know. They looked so alike, sat together on the sofa, heads bowed as they spoke. Ethan ruffled Sammy’s hair; my heart squeezed painfully. ‘It’s only a matter of time until he works it out,’ Violet said. ‘He knows who you are now, and he knows how old Sammy is. It wouldn’t take a genius to put two and two together.’ I bit my lip. ‘I hadn’t thought of that. I’ve had so much else to think
Aurora’s POV I glanced back at Ethan. He nodded, his jaw set. He stepped closer to me, a silent promise that he - quite literally - had my back, no matter what I opened the door to reveal. I opened it. Sammy lay crumpled on the floor. I dropped to my knees with a cry. “Sammy, sweetheart, look at me,” I pleaded with him. He mumbled something incoherent. I scooped him into my arms; Ethan held the door open for me so I could bring him inside. His eyelids flickered as I laid him down on the sofa. “Sammy?” I whispered, pushing a lock of dark hair off his forehead. He looked so pale, but I could see the steady rise and fall of his chest and hear the soft intake of his breaths. “Shit,” Ethan cursed, running both hands through his hair. He looked between me and the still-open door. “They only just knocked. Whoever took him has to still be close, Aur. I can go after them, or I can stay here with you and Sammy.” I cradled Sammy’s icy cheek. I wanted him to stay, to comfort
Welcome to GoodNovel world of fiction. If you like this novel, or you are an idealist hoping to explore a perfect world, and also want to become an original novel author online to increase income, you can join our family to read or create various types of books, such as romance novel, epic reading, werewolf novel, fantasy novel, history novel and so on. If you are a reader, high quality novels can be selected here. If you are an author, you can obtain more inspiration from others to create more brilliant works, what's more, your works on our platform will catch more attention and win more admiration from readers.
Comments