I'M PREGNANT WITH THE ALPHA KING'S TWINS... AND HE DOESN'T KNOW

"I reject you, Ava Hale." Three words. Two hundred wolves heard them. Torches burned against the stone walls of the Silver Moon grand hall. I stood in white, seventeen years old, about to become Queen. He stood in black. Alpha King Damon Blackwood. Twenty-two. Six foot three of muscle and cruelty. Golden eyes that once promised me forever. The Moon Goddess chose us. Fated mates. Marked from birth. He destroyed it in three words. Pain tore through my chest like claws. Like someone ripped my soul in half and lit it on fire. The mating bond snapped with a sound only I could hear. I hit the marble floor screaming. My scream echoed off the high ceiling. Blood ran down my thighs. Because I didn't know it yet, but I was already carrying his children. He didn't even look down. He stepped over my broken body like I was trash. He walked straight to my best friend. My sister by oath. Selena. "She's pregnant," his voice boomed across the hall, cold and proud and final. "With my heir." The hall exploded. Laughter. Whispers. Fingers pointing. Judgment like stones. "She was never good enough for him anyway." "The King deserves a real Luna. Not that thin thing." "Traitor. Slut." Selena's hand rested on her small bump. She was smiling. A soft, victorious smile. She knew. She had always known. I crawled to my feet, my white dress stained red, my knees bleeding, and I ran. That night, the Silver Moon Pack told the story that the rejected girl died in the woods. That the cold took her. That the rogue wolves got her. Good riddance, they said. They were wrong. The Moon Goddess had other plans. For five years I hid. I worked three jobs washing dishes in a human town where no wolf would find me. I bled. I cried on a cheap motel bathroom floor. I gave birth alone, biting a towel to keep from screaming, to twins with his eyes. Golden. Burning. Just like his. Eyes that would one day rule. I named them Luna and Leo. Because even in the dark, I wanted them to have light. Even when their father called them bastards before they were born. I raised them on love and rage. On empty hands and a locket with two tiny curls. One black like Damon's. One brown like mine. Now I am twenty-two. And I am back. The palace gates opened with a low, heavy groan. Guards in black armor stared at me like I was a ghost. Like they had seen a dead woman walking. "State your business," one growled, his hand on his sword, voice shaking. I lifted my chin. My dress was red. Revenge red. The color of the blood he left on that marble floor. The crown tattoo on my wrist, the royal Luna mark, glowed silver under the full moon. A mark that should have been his. "Tell your King," I said, my voice steady. Loud enough for the stones themselves to hear. "That his rejected mate has returned." The guard blinked. His mouth opened. "That's impossible. The King rejected— he said you died—" "And she brought his heirs with her," I finished for him. He went pale as snow. He slammed a shaking hand on his comm button. "Alpha King, north gate, you need to—" Behind me, I heard it. A low growl. Furious. Shocked. Wanting. Hungry. Damon was here. I turned slowly. There he stood. Twenty-seven now. Broader. More scarred. Black tailored suit stretched over a body built for war. Alpha King of twelve packs. The most powerful wolf on the continent. The man who broke me and made me. His golden eyes widened when they landed on me. Then they dropped. To my stomach. Flat now. But he knew. He inhaled and his whole body went rigid. Wolves can smell their own blood. And his was in me. Twice. Living in two little babies who looked just like him. "Ava," he breathed. Like a curse. Like a prayer he didn't deserve to say. I smiled. Cold. Dead. Beautiful. The smile I practiced for five years in the cracked mirror of that motel. "Hello, Damon. Miss me?" He took one step forward. The air between us crackled with the ghost of the old bond. The one he cut. The one that still ached in my chest every full moon, no matter how much I hated him. "I don't want you," he said, but his fists were clenched so tight his knuckles were white. His wolf was close to the surface. I could see it in his eyes, fighting to get out. "You're nothing to me. You were nothing." "Liar," I whispered. But everyone heard. Every guard, every servant hiding behind the curtains, every wolf in the courtyard. "Then why does your wolf want to claim me? Why are you shaking?" His jaw ticked. Because he felt it too. The pull. The need. The rage. The mating heat that never really left, no matter how hard he tried to bury it with Selena. "You rejected me," I said softly. Only for him now. "You humiliated me in rain, barefoot, pregnant. You called my pups bastards. So don't you dare try to claim me now, Damon. It's too late." "Is it?" he growled, voice dropping to that dangerous Alpha King rumble that used to make my knees weak. "You're standing in my territory. With my blood in your veins." "They're MY blood," I snapped, fury finally breaking through my ice. "I carried them alone in a cabin with no heat. I raised them while you were playing house with your pregnant Luna." Guilt flashed in his golden eyes. There it was. Finally. "I came for two reasons," I said, raising my voice so the whole damn palace could hear. "One: To look my betrayer in the eyes. Two: To tell you that your sons are mine. And you will never touch them unless I allow it." A roar ripped from his throat. Primal. Animal. The ground shook. Windows rattled. "You dare—" "I dare everything," I cut him off. I stepped closer. Close enough to smell him. Cedar and power and regret. "Because you taught me how." I let my power flare. Silver light ran down my arms. The mark on my wrist burned bright. He flinched. "And this time," I whispered, "I'm not here to be loved. I'm here for revenge. And for my children. Luna and Leo." For the first time in five years, I had the power. And I was going to use every second of it.