Claimed as the Alpha's Second Luna

Chapter 6

Annie's POV:

"...What?" I was sure I'd heard wrong.

"You're pregnant." Chloe set the moonstone in front of me, her expression more serious than I'd ever seen it. "Moonstones react when a new life begins growing in the womb. Annie, the glow is still faint. You conceived recently."

Fear replaced thought for one stunned second. Then one fact became clear: if Elena learned before Jack was safe, the pregnancy would give her even more control over me.

Pregnant?

How was that possible?

Only ten days had passed since the night at South Spring, but Chloe had said the moonstone could detect a pregnancy almost immediately.

"Annie." Chloe said my name softly. When I didn't respond, she walked over and stood in front of me, arms folded. "Tell me. Who's the father?"

I opened my mouth, but my throat closed up. Not a single word came out.

Alexander's name sat right there on my tongue, but I couldn't make myself say it.

Chloe studied me for a moment, then let out a sigh. "Oh, so you've been seeing someone behind my back. We've known each other this long and you kept something like this from me."

"It's not like that, Chloe. I haven't."

"Then who?"

She frowned, thinking, then her eyes lit up and she leaned forward. "Wait. Is it Jasper?"

"Jasper?" I blinked.

"Elena's brother. The pack Beta." Chloe looked pleased with herself. "I've noticed he acts differently around you. When he trains Jack, he always finds an excuse to help you with heavy lifting. Every time he passes your cabin, he stops to check on you. Last gathering, when another wolf nearly bumped into you, he stepped in front of you first."

She grew more convinced as she talked. "Honestly, it makes sense. Jasper's a Beta, but he's strong and reliable. He's always looked out for you and Jack. If the baby is his, I wouldn't be surprised at all."

"Chloe." I cut in. "It's really not him."

"No?"

"He just feels sorry for me. He looks after Jack because Jack is one of the pups he trains. When he helps me, it's just convenience."

Chloe clearly didn't buy it. "A Beta goes out of his way for a woman like that and you think it's just sympathy?"

"You're reading too much into it."

She looked at me in silence for a long while, then finally dropped it.

Chloe's amusement vanished. She pulled a chair closer and took both my hands. Her voice dropped. "Annie, listen to me carefully. This is important."

My fear sharpened. I couldn't name Alexander without exposing everything Elena had done.

"Under pack law, every pup must have a registered father. If a she-wolf gets pregnant without a mate, and no one claims the child..."

She paused. Her gaze was complicated.

"The Council won't allow that child to be born."

My whole body went rigid.

Chloe tightened her grip on my hands. "So you need to find the father and get him to claim the baby. Fast. Once you start showing, there'll be no hiding it."

I sat there, a ringing in my ears.

Her voice faded beneath the rush of my thoughts. I would tell Elena, demand Jack's return, and reveal the father's identity to no one else.

By the time I left the healer's cabin, I was carrying a jar of herbal salve and a few packets of pregnancy-safe herbs. Only one thought kept circling in my mind.

I'm pregnant.

I walked out the back door in a daze, heading straight for Elena's place. Whatever else was true, she had arranged all of this. She needed to know I was pregnant. Maybe once she had what she wanted, she'd let me go. Let me see Jack. Let this end.

I cut through the central square, avoided the patrol warriors, and took the path through the bushes toward Elena's residence.

Elena lived in a two-story cottage behind the main house, surrounded by a rose garden. Alexander usually stayed in the main house, but Elena preferred the quiet here and spent most of her time in this cottage.

I stepped onto the stone path through the garden. From a distance, I could see the front door half-open.

Voices carried from inside.

Elena's, and a man's.

I stopped outside, hand raised to knock.

Then I heard Jasper's voice.

"Sister, I did what you asked."

Jasper. Elena's brother. The Ironclaw Pack's Beta. Jack's trainer.

His tone was different from usual. Normally he was mild and polite with everyone, measured in his speech. Now there was an edge in his voice. Anger.

"You told me to pursue the Silver Moon Pack's princess. I did. You told me to act interested in her in front of everyone. I did that too. But sister—"

He stopped. His voice rose.

"Why are you breaking our deal?"

Silence inside. A few seconds passed.

Then Elena's voice came, light, as if she were discussing something trivial. "What deal?"

"You said," Jasper's voice shook, "you said that if I helped you secure the alliance with Silver Moon, you'd give me a chance. You knew I had feelings for Annie—"

My breath caught.

Jasper?

"You have feelings for her?" Elena's voice carried a mocking edge. "Jasper, wake up."

"I'm more awake than anyone," Jasper said. "Annie is kind and hardworking. She raised Jack on her own and never once complained. She's better than any she-wolf I've ever met—"

"She's a wolfless woman."

Elena cut him off, her tone turning to ice.

"She has no wolf. No fighting ability. No family. Nothing. Her status in this pack is lower than a servant's. Jasper, you're the Beta of the Ironclaw Pack. Your mate should at least be—"

"I don't care about that."

"But I do." Elena's voice sharpened suddenly. "You're my brother. I'm not going to watch you throw your life away over nothing."

"Sister!" Jasper's voice cracked with anger and disbelief. "You—"

"Jasper. Enough." Elena's voice went cold. "Who I choose to carry the heir is my business. You do what you're supposed to do. The Silver Moon alliance is your responsibility as Beta. Don't forget your duties over some wolfless outcast."

"I haven't forgotten. But I'm not giving up on Annie."

"You will."

Elena's voice dropped to something almost gentle, so quiet I had to hold my breath to hear it.

"Because once she has the baby, I'm going to kill her."

The world went silent.

I couldn't hear the wind. I couldn't hear the birds. I couldn't hear the insects in the rose garden. The only thing that existed was Elena's voice, each word driving into my skull like an ice pick.

Kill me.

She said she would kill me once the baby was born.

"...Sister, what did you say?" Jasper's voice sounded like something had gotten stuck in his throat.

"You heard me." Elena's tone didn't waver, as if she were discussing what to have for dinner. "A wolfless woman who knows too many secrets. What's the point of keeping her alive? Once she delivers the heir, she's outlived her usefulness. After that, we make up a reason. Illness. An accident. Who's going to care about the death of a nobody?"

"You're insane—"

"I'm not insane," Elena cut him off. "I'm protecting this family. Protecting you. Protecting Alexander's legacy. Jasper, don't let emotions cloud your judgment."

"This is a person's life!"

"This is a tool."

My legs shook.

Not from fear. Not from grief. A coldness seeped out from the marrow of my bones, filling every gap.

She never intended to let me live. All that talk about being a "second mate," about how "everything would be different," about how she "didn't have to worry about me stealing him away." All of it was fake.

From the very beginning, I was nothing but a tool to her. Use it, then throw it away. Use it, then destroy it.

Jack.

What about Jack, trapped in her hands?

I stepped back.

Then another step.

My heel caught on something. No, someone.

A pair of large hands gripped my shoulders from behind, steady and firm.

In that instant, a cool note of cedar and rain reached me beneath the rose perfume drifting from the cottage. It was not an ordinary smell but Alexander's private mate-scent, something no unrelated wolf should have been able to perceive.

I went rigid. Recognizing his mate-scent frightened me more than his sudden arrival, because it suggested a bond I did not want and could not safely acknowledge.

I turned my head slowly.

Alexander's face was less than a fist's width from mine.

He looked down at me, his dark gray eyes clouded with confusion. He'd clearly just arrived and found me standing motionless at the door.

"Annie?" He frowned. "What are you doing here?"