Pregnant By The Ruthless Werewolf CEO

Chapter 3 - The Announcement

The pack hall smelled like wolves and judgment.

Luna stood beside Damian on the raised platform, her back straight, her hands clasped so tight her knuckles were white.

200 werewolves stared up at her.

She wore the same white dress from the wedding. Damian’s choice. “You need to look like mine,” he’d said this morning. No warmth. Just fact.

His hand rested on the small of her back. Possessive. Like he was marking territory.

“Today,” Damian’s voice boomed through the hall, “I announce my marriage to Luna Carter. She carries my heir.”

The room exploded.

Gasps. Growls. Whispers that sounded like knives.

Luna kept her eyes forward. Don’t cry. Don’t flinch.

Victoria Hayes stepped forward from the front row. Red dress. Red smile.

“Congratulations, Alpha,” she said, voice sweet as poison. “Marrying a human secretary? In 2 months? While she’s pregnant?”

Murmurs.

Victoria turned to Luna. Her eyes dragged over Luna’s stomach, then back up to her face. “Tell me, Luna. Did you trap him? Or did you just spread your legs and get lucky?”

Someone gasped.

Luna’s blood went cold. This was it. The moment she broke or fought.

She felt Damian tense beside her.

“Watch your mouth,” he said quietly. But quietly in a pack hall meant everyone heard.

Victoria laughed. “Or what? You’ll choose her over your own pack? Over me?” She gestured to herself. “I was supposed to be your mate, Damian. Our families agreed.”

“Things changed,” Damian said.

“Did they?” Victoria’s gaze flicked to Luna’s stomach. “Or did she lie? Humans are good at that. Maybe the baby isn’t even yours.”

That was the line.

Luna stepped forward before she could stop herself. Her voice shook but it was loud.

“The baby is his.” She put a hand on her stomach. “And I didn’t trap anyone. He offered me a contract. I said yes because my mother is dying and I needed money. You want to judge me? Judge me. But don’t you dare call my child a lie.”

Silence.

Then Damian moved.

He stepped in front of her. Shielding her.

“Enough,” he said. The Alpha command rolled through the room and every wolf dropped their eyes. “Luna is my wife. The child is my heir. Anyone who touches her answers to me. Anyone who speaks her name with disrespect answers to me.”

His gray eyes scanned the crowd. “Are we clear?”

“Yes, Alpha,” 200 voices said as one.

But Luna saw Victoria’s smile. It didn’t reach her eyes.

This wasn’t over.

---

After, in the car, neither of them spoke for 10 minutes.

Finally Luna whispered, “Thank you. For defending me.”

Damian stared out the window. “I wasn’t defending you. I was defending my heir.”

The words stung.

“Right,” Luna said. “Business.”

He glanced at her. “You did good in there.”

Luna blinked. “What?”

“You didn’t cry. You didn’t run. You stood up.” His jaw ticked. “Most humans would have broken.”

“I’m not most humans.”

“I know.”

More silence.

Then his phone buzzed. He looked at it and his whole body went rigid.

“What is it?” Luna asked.

Damian turned the phone to her.

A photo. Her mom, asleep in hospital bed, room 302.

Text underneath: *Nice speech. Pity if she never wakes up.*

Luna’s heart stopped. “That’s from today. She’s in danger right now.”

Damian was already calling his head of security. “Get 6 men to City General. Now. Room 302. Do not leave her side.”

He hung up and looked at Luna. For the first time, he looked scared.

“They’re targeting your mom to get to you,” he said. “To get to me.”

Luna nodded, tears finally falling. “What do we do?”

Damian reached over and wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. The touch was gentle. Too gentle.

“We go to her. And after that, Luna, you move into the panic room in the mansion. You don’t leave my sight.”

“I don’t want to be locked up.”

“Then don’t give me a reason to lock you up.” His voice was soft. “Please.”

Please.

The Alpha of the North Pack just said please to her.

Luna nodded.

As the car sped through the city, Luna realized something terrifying.

She wasn’t afraid of Damian anymore.

She was afraid of losing him.

And that was way more dangerous than Victoria.