Sorry, Alpha. This Pup Isn’t Yours

Chapter 1

On our fourth wedding anniversary, Adrian Blackwood came to pick me up himself.

The Alpha of the Blackwood Pack had never liked being driven around. He always said the mate he'd chosen should sit beside him, not a row behind him while someone else drove.

We weren't fated mates brought together by the Moon Goddess. We were chosen mates who had chosen each other.

When he'd left his mate mark on the inside of my wrist 4 years earlier, he had told me that fate might make mistakes, but he never would.

For four years, the front passenger seat of that black SUV had been mine alone.

But when I opened the door that day, a young woman was already sitting there.

She had adjusted the seat for her height. The overly sweet scent of gardenias drowned out Adrian's cedar scent, and even the rearview mirror was angled toward her face.

My wolf bristled immediately in my mindscape.

"Hello, Luna. I'm Chloe Hart, the Alpha's new executive assistant intern."

She straightened the silver name badge on her chest but made no move to get up.

"Only high-ranking werewolves are allowed at the Moon Goddess Auction tonight. I begged the Alpha to take me so I could see what it's like. There's plenty of room in the back. You won't mind, will you?"

I almost laughed.

"Of course not."

Her eyes lit up.

"Because you're the one sitting in the back."

I released only a trace of my aura. As the Silvercrest heir, that was all it took to make Chloe's shoulders buckle.

"Get out."

"I just thought it would be rude for an employee to sit in the back while her boss was driving..." She bit her lip, her eyes reddening almost instantly. "I didn't know the Luna had a rule about that."

"Making his wife sit in the back would be rude."

Adrian had just finished his call and came around the front of the car.

Chloe immediately lowered her head. "It's nothing. I just didn't understand the rules."

Adrian glanced at her, then opened the passenger door for me.

"Do as the Luna says."

After we left the estate, he kept one hand on the wheel and took mine with the other. His thumb stroked my mate mark with easy familiarity.

"She just graduated from a university in the human world. She doesn't understand pack etiquette yet. Why bother getting upset with an intern?"

"Because she knew that seat was mine."

Adrian chuckled, lifted my hand to his lips, and kissed it.

"So my Luna does get jealous."

His voice was as low and gentle as ever, and his kiss sent a faint warmth through my mate mark.

"She's only a subordinate. I would never let another woman come between us."

Just a few hours earlier, he had messaged me, reminding me to wear a coat over my evening gown. The blue moonstone necklace being auctioned that night was engraved with the words we had chosen together: My choice, always.

I had planned to exchange our chosen-mate vows with him again after he placed the necklace around my neck.

I calmed my restless wolf and told him plainly, "This is the first time, and it will be the last. Adrian, I don't want anyone else testing the boundaries of our marriage."

He squeezed my fingertips.

"There won't be a next time."

That night, he won the blue moonstone necklace for 200,000 dollars.

As the gavel came down, he leaned close to my ear. "After four years, I'd still choose you."

But on the way home, the jewelry box never made it into my hands.

Adrian only said something urgent had come up and told the driver to take me back to the estate first.

The next morning, Mara sent me a screenshot from the company intranet.

Chloe was standing in the lobby of Blackwood Headquarters with the blue moonstone necklace around her neck.

The Alpha says every she-wolf who's been wronged deserves to be protected.

I stared at the photo as my mate mark stung as if pricked by a red-hot needle.

At that exact moment, an encrypted message from my private physician appeared on my screen.

Private Physician: Your blood screening came back positive. Congratulations, Lady Silvercrest. You are carrying a high-ranking werewolf pup.

A blood test could detect a change in bloodline before a werewolf could pick it up by scent. At this stage, the pup's scent had barely begun to form.

On one side was the woman wearing the anniversary gift that should have been mine.

On the other was the surprise I had wanted to give my husband.

I rested my hand over my still-flat abdomen and, for the first time, didn't know which piece of news to cry over first.