THE WHITE QUEEN'S TWINS

I was kicked into a blizzard to die, pregnant with his babies. No one knew I was the last White Queen. On the morning of my 19th birthday, I still believed in fairytales. I stood in front of the mirror in the tiny attic room they gave me, wearing the white dress I had saved for three years. My hand trembled on my stomach. Flat. Still flat. But inside, two heartbeats fluttered like scared birds. I had just found out yesterday. Twins. "He will be happy," I whispered to my reflection. My wolf was silent — she had always been silent. I was born wolfless. Worthless. The only wolf in Blood Moon Pack history to never shift. "He is my mate. He has to be happy." Downstairs, the whole pack was gathered. Music. Lights. The Alpha's birthday rejection ceremony. It was tradition — on your 19th birthday, if you had not found your mate, the Alpha assigned you one. But I had found mine. When I was twelve. Alpha Kaden. He was 25 now. Golden hair, golden eyes, a body built for war. He had been my savior when I was a child, pulling me out of the river when my stepmother tried to drown me. Since then, I have loved him like air. When I walked into the hall, silence fell. Mirelle, my step-sister, was standing next to him. She was beautiful, curvy, and she already had her wolf. She wore my mother's necklace — the silver crescent moon of the White Queen. The necklace that should have been mine. "Elara," Kaden's voice was cold. It cut through the music. "Step forward." I smiled, tears already in my eyes. I thought he was going to accept me. I thought he was going to say "I, Alpha Kaden, accept you, Elara, as my Luna." I stepped forward. My hands protecting my secret. "For 19 years, you have been a burden to this pack," he said loudly, so everyone could hear. "You are wolfless. You cannot shift. You cannot fight. You cannot even hear your wolf. You are an embarrassment to the White Queen's bloodline." I froze. "What?" "My father made a mistake sheltering you. The White Queen is dead. Her line is dead. And you," his lip curled in disgust, "you are nothing but a human pretending to be a wolf." Mirelle giggled. "Tell her, Alpha." "I, Alpha Kaden of Blood Moon Pack, reject you, Elara Moon, as my mate and Luna." The words were a knife. No — worse. When an Alpha rejects his mate, it physically breaks the bond. I felt something in my chest SNAP. I fell to my knees. A scream tore out of my throat, not human, not a wolf. Agony ripped through every vein. And then blood. Warm blood ran down my legs. My babies! "No! Please!" I crawled to him, grabbing his boots. "Kaden, please, I'm pregnant! I'm pregnant with your babies! Twins!" His eyes finally flickered. Shock. Then disgust. "Liar," Mirelle hissed. "How can a worthless wolfless b***h carry an Alpha's pups? She slept with a rogue, Alpha! Everyone knows!" "I didn't! I didn't! Only you! Only ever you that night after the full moon—" That night. A month ago. He had been drunk, broken from a border war. He came to my attic. He said my name softly for the first time. "Elara." And he kissed me like I was water in a desert. I thought it was love. It was just need. "Get her out of my sight," Kaden ordered his Beta. "Throw her out. Let the blizzard take her. The pack does not need liars." Two warriors dragged me. I kicked, I screamed, I begged. They dragged me past the pack border, into the Forbidden Blizzard Zone. No wolf had ever returned from there. The snow was ten feet high, the wind like knives. They kicked me. Literally kicked me in the stomach, into the snow." Die here, wolfless b***h. And take your bastard rogue babies with you." Then they left. The snow was not white anymore. It was red. My blood. I lay in the blizzard, in my thin white dress, hands on my stomach, feeling my twins slipping away. The cold ate my fingers, my toes. "I'm sorry," I whispered to them. "Mommy couldn't protect you. Mommy is worthless... just like he said..."I closed my eyes to die. That's when the snow stopped falling on me. A huge shadow blocked the wind. A wolf — bigger than any Alpha I had ever seen, pure black with silver eyes — stood over me. Behind him, a man in a black cloak. His voice was deep, ancient. "So this is where the last White Queen was hiding. Bleeding in the snow." He knelt. He touched my forehead. His hand was warm. And for the first time in 19 years, I heard a voice in my head. My Queen. Finally, I found you. My eyes, which had always been brown, flashed pure, blinding white.