The Alpha’s Heir She Stole

The Night She Stole The Alpha's Throne Nyx Calder's POV The bass from the clubhouse speakers hit me before I even opened the door. That deep, bone-rattling thump that the Grimfang Riders loved, the kind that made your wolf pace restlessly under your skin. I shouldn't have come tonight. Something in my gut had been screaming at me to stay home, to curl up with the secret I'd been carrying for three weeks now. But Ronan had asked me to come. My Alpha. My mate. The man whose ring I'd be wearing in two months when I became Luna of the Grimfang pack. I pushed through the heavy oak door, and the smell hit me like a fist. Blood, Whiskey, Sweat and Dominance. And something else. Something sweet and cloying that made my wolf snarl. The music was deafening, some rock song I didn't recognize, but as I stepped into the main room, the laughter cut through it all. The male laughter. The kind that came from wolves who thought they'd gotten away with something. I moved through the crowd, my boots silent on the worn wooden floor. Wolves parted for me without thinking, their eyes sliding away from mine like I was already a ghost. That should have been my first warning. These men had watched me grow up. They'd celebrated when Ronan chose me as his mate. They'd never avoided my gaze before. The laughter was coming from the center of the room, near the bar. I pushed past Dane Cortez, Ronan's second, and froze. The world tilted. There, standing beside the pool table, was a woman I'd never seen before. Young. Pretty in that soft, delicate way that made men stupid. Her hand rested on her swollen belly, the curve of it impossible to miss. And beside her, close enough that his scent was all over her, stood Ronan. My Ronan. His hand wasn't touching her, but it might as well have been. The way he stood, the protective angle of his body, the fact that his wolf's scent was mixed with hers in a way that made my stomach turn. She was marked. Not mated, but marked. Pregnant. And marked by my Alpha. The room went dead silent. Someone cut the music. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. My wolf was howling inside me, clawing to get out, to rip and tear and make this not real. "Nyx." Ronan's voice was careful. Too careful. Like I was a bomb that might go off. "You're early." Early. As if timing was the problem here. "Who is she?" My voice came out steady. Cold. I barely recognized it. The woman's eyes were wide, frightened. She took a step back, her hand moving protectively over her belly. My wolf noticed. Catalogued. Raged. "This is Sera," Ronan said, and I hated how gentle his voice was. How guilty. "She's.." "Pregnant." I finished for him. "I can see that. I can smell that." I took a step closer, and several wolves shifted nervously. "What I want to know is why she smells like you. Why is she in our clubhouse? Why is every single wolf in this room looking at me like I'm the problem? Ronan's jaw tightened. "The council decided." "The council?" The laugh that came out of me was sharp enough to cut. "The council decided you needed a brood mare? Is that what you're telling me?" "Don't call her that." His voice had that Alpha rumble now, the one that made lesser wolves submit. I wasn't a lesser wolf. "What should I call her then, Ronan? Your surrogate? Your backup plan?" I looked around the room, meeting the eyes of every wolf who'd dared to be part of this. "How long have you all known? How long have you been planning this behind my back?" Dane stepped forward, his expression pained. "Nyx, it's not personal. The pack needs.." "Don't," I held up a hand, and he stopped. "Don't you dare tell me what the pack needs. I know what the pack needs. I've known since I was sixteen years old and Ronan first told me I'd be his Luna. I've trained for it. Bled for it. Waited for it." I turned back to Ronan, and something in his eyes made my blood run cold. He wasn't denying it. Wasn't explaining fast enough. Wasn't doing anything but standing there with his guilt written all over his face. "You chose her," I said softly. "The pack chose an acceptable womb over me." "It's not like that.." "Then what is it like?" I demanded. "Explain it to me, Alpha. Make me understand why there's a pregnant woman wearing your scent standing in the middle of our clubhouse." He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. The silence was enough. Something inside me shattered. Not my heart, that would come later. This was deeper. This was the death of every dream I'd built around this man, this pack, this life. My hand went unconsciously to my own stomach. Flat still. No one could tell. No one knew that I'd been carrying his child for three weeks. That I'd been planning to tell him tonight. That I'd imagined his face would light up, that he'd swing me around, that everything would be perfect. I was such a fool. I looked at Ronan one last time, memorizing the face of the man who'd destroyed me. Then I walked past him, past the pregnant surrogate, past the wolves who couldn't meet my eyes. The keys to Ronan's custom Alpha bike were hanging on the hook by the door. The pride of the Grimfang Riders. The machine he loved almost as much as his pack. I took them. The sound of metal against metal was deafening in the silence. "Nyx." Ronan's voice was sharp now. Commanding. "Don't." I turned, and the look on my face must have been something terrible because he actually took a step back. "You don't deserve my child," I said. The words hung in the air like a curse. Like a promise. Like goodbye. I saw it then, the moment understanding hit him. His nostrils flared. His eyes went wide. His wolf had finally caught the change in my scent, the subtle shift that marked me as something more than I'd been three weeks ago. "Nyx, wait.." But I was already gone. The storm outside matched the one in my chest. Rain lashed against my face as I swung my leg over Ronan's bike, the engine roaring to life under my hands. Behind me, I heard shouting, heard wolves pouring out of the clubhouse. I didn't look back. Thunder cracked overhead as I disappeared into the night, carrying two secrets now instead of one. The first was the child growing inside me. The second was that Ronan Virex had just made the worst mistake of his life. And I was going to make sure he remembered it forever.