The White Wolf Queen Returns With Twins

The white envelope on the kitchen table was shaking. Or maybe my hands were shaking. I couldn't tell anymore. I had been staring at it for twenty minutes. The bold black letters on top said DIVORCE AGREEMENT in cold, legal font. My name was typed below it. Elena White Black. My husband Alexander Black had not come home for three nights. Three nights of me sleeping alone in our ten-bedroom mansion in Manhattan. Three nights of calling his phone and getting his voicemail. Three nights of seeing Sophia's i********: story with his watch in the background. Alexander is the Alpha of the Black Moon Pack. He is also the CEO of Black Industries worth fifty billion dollars. Everyone in New York fears him. The human world knows him as a ruthless billionaire. The werewolf world knows him as the most powerful Alpha on the East Coast. And I, I was just the weak human girl he was forced to marry two years ago. I opened the envelope with cold fingers that would not stop trembling. Inside, there was a thick stack of papers and a check for five million dollars. Five million dollars to erase two years of my life. And a small yellow sticky note in his handwriting. I knew his handwriting anywhere. Sharp, angry, fast. "Sign it, Elena. We were a mistake. My lawyer will come at 8am. - A" A mistake. That was all I was to him. A mistake. Tears burned my eyes but I refused to cry. Not here. Not in this cold kitchen where I had cooked his favorite steak for his birthday and he never came home. The kitchen was always so cold. Stainless steel counters, white marble island, fridge that cost more than my mother's entire house. I tried to make it warm. I bought sunflowers from the market. I left a cookbook open. Alexander never noticed. He never ate here. He said my cooking was too human, too weak for an Alpha. My wolf whimpered inside me. Yes, I have a wolf. Everyone thinks I am a wolfless human because my wolf is white and silent. I am the last White Wolf of the Northern Pack that was killed ten years ago. My mother hid me before she died. She told me never to tell anyone. So I never told Alexander. I wanted him to love Elena the girl, not Elena the White Wolf. When I was eight, I hid in the hollow oak tree while the rogues burned my pack. I could hear my mother screaming my name. I could smell smoke and blood. I stayed silent. That is when my wolf turned white. From trauma, the pack elder once told me. White Wolves are born when a wolf feels too much pain and survives. That is why we are rare. That is why Alphas hunt us, because our blood can make their pups stronger. My mother made me promise to dye my hair black, to hide my eyes with contacts, to never shift in front of anyone. I kept that promise for ten years. Ever since he started sleeping with Sophia, my childhood best friend, my wolf has been so weak. Sophia has always hated me. She was there when the Black Moon Pack found me as an orphan. She told everyone I was cursed. Now she is a famous model and she wants my husband. Sophia was the one who told the pack I stole food when we were kids. Sophia was the one who told Alexander that I was flirting with the Beta last year, which was a lie. I have only ever looked at Alexander. Sophia has green eyes and perfect blonde hair and a body that models pay for. I have white hair I dye black and scars on my knees from the fire. Of course he would choose her. Anyone would choose her over the cursed girl. I touched my stomach. It was still flat. So flat that no one could tell. I am three weeks pregnant. I found out yesterday morning from Doctor Mary at the private clinic. I was so happy I cried. I bought a tiny pair of white baby shoes and cooked steak and mashed potatoes, Alexander's favorite. I waited until midnight. He never came. He was with her. Doctor Mary's clinic is on 7th street, behind the laundromat. She has a secret back room for werewolves. She did the ultrasound and showed me a tiny dot. "See that?" she said. "That is your pup. Strong heartbeat." I cried so hard the nurse had to bring me water. I went straight to the baby store and bought those shoes. White, soft, with little lambs on them. I held them all the way home in the taxi. I imagined telling Alexander. I imagined his black eyes softening. I imagined him putting his big hand on my stomach. Instead, I came home to an empty house and this white envelope shaking on the table. He thinks I am barren. The pack doctor told him last year that I might never have a pup because I am too weak. He looked at me with such disgust that day. He doesn't know that White Wolves are different. We only conceive when we are with our true fated mate. He is my fated mate. I felt it the first day I saw him. It was in the forest behind the pack house. I was picking herbs for the kitchen. He came out of the trees after patrol, shirtless, covered in sweat, his black wolf still in his eyes. Our eyes met. My wolf screamed inside me, "MATE!" So loud I fell to my knees. He just frowned and said, "What is wrong with you, human girl?" He never felt it. Or he ignored it. Maybe White Wolves mate differently. Maybe he is not my mate. But my heart knows. If he wants a divorce so badly, I will give it to him. But he will never know about this baby. He doesn't deserve to know. He will never be a father to my child if he can throw me away like trash. I picked up the expensive Mont Blanc pen he gave me on our wedding day. My hand finally stopped shaking. I felt so cold, but also so strong for the first time in two years. The pen was heavy. He gave it to me after we signed the marriage contract. "For our future contracts," he said, and I thought it was romantic. Now I understand. Everything with him is a contract. A business deal. I was a business deal to unite his pack with the council. Now the deal is over. He doesn't need me anymore because Sophia's father has more land. I signed my name at the bottom of every page. Elena White. Not Elena Black. I don't want his name anymore. My signature looked so small on that big legal paper. On every page, I wrote Elena White and crossed out Black. My handwriting is soft and loopy, not sharp like his. I pressed so hard the pen tore the last page a little. Good. Then I packed one small bag. Just my mother's old locket, two dresses, and the tiny white baby shoes. I took the five million dollar check and folded it into my pocket. I will need it for my baby. I am not too proud for that. My baby needs food and a home. The locket has a picture of my mother inside. She has my same white hair and blue eyes. She is smiling. I have not opened it in two years because it made me cry. I opened it now and kissed it. "Mama, help me," I whispered. The dresses I packed were not the expensive ones Alexander's stylist bought me. They were my old ones, from before. A blue cotton dress and a white sweater. The baby shoes I wrapped in tissue so they would not get dirty. I walked out of the billionaire mansion that never felt like home. The rain was falling so hard on my face. It mixed with my tears so no one could tell I was crying. I had nowhere to go. My parents are dead. My best friend betrayed me. My husband rejected me. The mansion's automatic lights turned off behind me, like it was already forgetting me. The long driveway was so dark, the rain made puddles that reflected the moon. I had no umbrella. My small bag got wet instantly. A black SUV drove past, maybe one of his men, but it didn't stop. I was truly alone. But as I walked into the dark rainy street of New York, I put my hand on my flat stomach again and whispered, "It's okay, baby. Mama loves you. We don't need anyone else. Just you and me." And for the first time, my white wolf howled inside me, loud and protective. We were going to survive.