MY EX-WIFE GAVE BIRTH TO MY RIVAL'S CHILD

DAMIEN HALE ONE MONTH EARLIER The flowers are still fresh in my hand as I push open the door to the house. A strange silence greets me — too much silence. There’s no smell of food in the air. No music. No her waiting with that smile I love. My chest tightens. I take a few steps, still sensing the soft scent of her perfume lingering in the air. My fingers clutch the bouquet tightly. Red roses with white lilies. Her favorites. Today would’ve been our five-year anniversary as mates. I planned everything. To come back before the mission ended, to surprise her. To show her that despite everything, she’s still my heart. But that’s when I hear it. A muffled moan. A man’s moan. Another sound. Louder now. My wolf side stirs beneath my skin. It roars within me, restless, smelling another alpha. One who shouldn't be here. One who should never be near her. My steps grow heavy as I climb the stairs. My senses are on full alert. And when I reach the bedroom door — our bedroom — I see it. Elara is in bed. With him. My greatest enemy. Cyrus. A traitor. An alpha I should have killed years ago. Rage takes over. The bouquet slips from my hand and hits the floor with a dull thud. Red petals scatter across the hallway, like blood. She sees me. “D-Damien…” her voice trembles, eyes wide, desperate. She tries to cover her body with the sheet, but it’s too late. Cyrus turns, naked, that damn mocking smile on his lips. “Well, if it isn’t the lovesick husband.” I don’t think. I tear the world apart with my roar. I attack. My fists find his face with force. I punch once, twice, three times. The smell of blood fills the room. Cyrus tries to fight back, but I’m stronger. I’m out of control. “BASTARD!” I roar, striking him with a blow to the jaw. “IN MY BED?! IN MY DAMN BED?!” “Damien!” Elara screams behind me. I feel her hands trying to pull me back, but my hatred is stronger than any touch. “DON’T TOUCH ME!” I snarl, turning to her with burning eyes. She steps back, as if I’m a beast she’s never seen before. Maybe I am. “Please… listen to me…” she sobs. “It’s not what you think. I swear. He tricked me. I… I love you!” “Don’t start, Elara…” I growl. I turn back to Cyrus and throw him against the wall. He collapses, semi-conscious. Blood drips from his face, and yet he smiles. A mocking smile. She drops to her knees on the floor, desperate, trying to get close. “Damien… please. You have to listen to me. He drugged me. I didn’t want this. I didn’t!” “You chose to open your legs for him. Chose to betray everything we had.” “I love you!” she screams. “Please, listen! I love you!” “You destroyed me.” My voice comes out low, but firm. “You destroyed me, Elara.” She crawls to me and grabs the hem of my pants. Disgusting. Pathetic. “Forgive me, please… don’t do this… don’t say that…” I step back. One step. Two. Just enough for her to feel there’s no bridge left between us. “You are no longer my wife.” She freezes. Eyes wide. “What…?” I take a deep breath. My wolf side groans inside me, but I ignore it. Because this has to be done. It has to end even if I still love her more than anything. “I, Damien Hale, Alpha of the Scarlet Moon Pack, reject you, Elara Dorne, daughter of Thalos, as my mate.” My voice echoes like a sentence. “Damien, please…” “And I ban you from my pack. From now on, you are forbidden to return. If you cross our borders, you’ll be considered an enemy.” “No… NO!” she screams, crawling toward me. “Damien, please! I beg you! I’m yours! You’re everything to me! Don’t do this! No…” She tries to touch me. Tries to reach my face, but I pull away. “You ruined everything. Everything I fought to build with you. There is no more ‘us’, Elara. Only the lie you’ve become.” “Damien…” she cries. “What if I’m pregnant?” Those words slice the air like a blade. I stare at her. Every cell in my body trembles. But I don’t flinch. “I hope it’s Cyrus’s. Then I’ll have a real reason to hate you.” She sobs so loudly it sounds like she’s breaking. I turn my back. “Get out of my house before I have someone drag you out.” She stays on the floor for a few seconds, trembling. Then she gets up, dressing quickly, sobbing. She walks to the door. Before leaving, she turns back. “I love you, Damien. And I always will.” “Leave, Elara.” I clench my fists as I hear Cyrus jump out the bedroom window. I feel my heart shatter inside my chest. The woman I loved for so many years betrayed me with my greatest enemy, and there’s no forgiveness for that. TODAY It’s been a month since I threw her out of my life. A month since I destroyed everything we built. And still, every night, someone knocks on my door with an envelope and a report. Tonight is no different. The knock always comes at ten sharp. It has to be discreet. No one in the pack can know their alpha — the one who rejected her publicly — still watches her in secret like a lovesick coward. I open the door. Caleb, one of my most trusted men, has a serious expression. He hands me the envelope and a small notebook with notes. “Daily report?” I ask, as if I still believe this is just duty and not a silent obsession. “Yes, Alpha Hale. She was seen downtown today, at a mall, with two friends. They had coffee. After that, she went to a hospital. Stayed there until nightfall. Didn’t leave with anyone.” My chest tightens. Hospital? “She was sick?” my voice comes out before I can control it. “Didn’t seem like it. She walked normally. But stayed inside for hours.” I swallow hard. I nod, ending the conversation. “You can go.” He nods and disappears into the night. I shut the door, locking it tightly, as if that could hold back what I’m feeling inside. I walk to the office. The lights are off. I toss the envelope onto the desk and sit in the leather chair, leaning my head back. One month. Thirty days. Thirty nights. And I still can’t forget her scent. Her voice. Her touch. I take a deep breath and open the envelope. Photos. Lots of them. Elara walking through the streets. Elara smiling on a park bench. Elara reading a book at a café. Elara wearing sunglasses entering a pharmacy. Elara laughing with a friend while picking baby clothes… I freeze. My eyes go back. Baby clothes? I skip that part. I don’t want to feed hope. That almost killed me last time. I keep flipping through the pictures until I find one that makes my hand freeze. She’s standing in front of the hospital. With him. Cyrus. That damned worm. The cause of everything. He’s beside her, saying something. She looks uncomfortable. Arms crossed. And he, with that same disgusting smile. Is he trying something? Getting closer again? Helping? Protecting? It doesn’t matter. I tear the photo in half. Then another. And another. In seconds, I’m destroying everything — memories and records — as if that could erase the pain. I throw a glass against the wall. It explodes, like the control I fought so hard to keep. She betrayed me. Destroyed me. Made me feel like nothing. And even so… Even so… “Damn it!” I shout, punching the desk so hard it shakes. I grab the phone and call Caleb. He answers on the first ring. “Alpha Hale?” “That’s enough.” My voice comes out cold, final. “You’ll stop watching her. From now on, I don’t want to know where she is, who she’s with, or what she’s doing.” “Are you sure, sir?” “Yes.” I pause, the pain piercing my chest. “It’s over. She means nothing to me.” He hesitates for a second but doesn’t argue. “Understood.” I hang up. I put the phone in the drawer and turn off the office lights. And I never see Elara again. 9 MONTHS LATER The night is cold. The fireplace burns in the living room, but the warmth doesn’t reach my chest. I’m alone. As always. I don’t go out with the people from my pack like I used to. Now I’m known among them as the betrayed alpha. It’s better this way. Or at least that’s what I tell myself every day. The knock on the door pulls me out of the trance. I’m not expecting anyone. I glance at the clock. Two in the morning. I walk to the door with slow steps and open it, ready to tell whoever it is to leave. But who stands there freezes me. It’s Maela. The old healer from the Dorne pack. Elara’s pack. She wears a dark cloak, her white hair soaked by the rain. She’s breathless, as if she ran a long distance. “You… need to come with me, Damien.” Her voice is firm, though trembling. I roll my eyes. “I’m not interested. Whatever it is, it’s no longer my problem.” I turn around, ready to close the door. “She’s in labor.” I stop. I turn slowly. “What?” “Elara. Your ex-mate. She’s in labor right now.” My heart stops for a second. Then it starts beating in a chaotic rhythm. “You came all the way here, in the middle of the night, to tell me that?” My voice comes out hollow. “She needs you.” “No.” I shake my head, trying to hold back the avalanche forming inside me. “It’s not mine. I already told you. I’m not the father of that… child.” Maela stares at me with eyes that cut deep. “It is yours. The baby is yours, Damien.” “She was with Cyrus. I saw it.” “You saw what he wanted you to see. And now you’re going to miss the chance to be there when your child is born?” My knees nearly give out. I swallow hard, the weight of the world pressing down on my shoulders. “Is she… okay?” The voice that leaves me is lower than a whisper. “She’s fighting. But weak. And asking for you.” “She’s no longer my wife.” “She still loves you more than anything in this world, Damien.Your mate needs you, and so does your child.”