Rejecting the Alpha Who Used My Womb

Sterling, the golden wolf of Ferralon Town,

dream, trying to set up a bank deposit a

imple gesture, a way t

akes her head, her eyes cold as she slid

"this account can only be h

nk, co

their m

harpens, al

them, true enough. But their dam? Colette Fon

mind dissolvi

s fated first, the she-wolf h

older than the moon, their claws rent th

oons of carrying, after nearly bl

ets me into the top-floor office, but the door's cracked open,

ht-you really think a welcome feast's wise? Your p

ies, his voice carrying a fai

h a Fontaine she-wolf. I'm bound now, a

rie

a laughs

grunted. But Isabel? Not kin. You chained her to your shadow because her scent mirrored Colette's, used moon-c

y fingers digging into the polis

ty for her," the beta drawls, his voice low e

is the pack's world spins on. If she ever sniffs out the truth? That she's nothing but a vessel to carry your bloodline, a wa

eavy with something like

mpensation, she'll live as my Luna,

world

ng, sleet slashing my f

lstones cracking against my skull,

lack mask of leathered flesh, his breath reeking like carrion as he loomed closer. It was a snare-my own folks slipped som

broke free, and crash

dow, my palms flattening against his chest as if his body might leach the fir

-but then his gaze hit my face. Something black and hungry flickered in his

ou. you're her shadow made flesh. Let me ease the fire,

through the fog-sh

to be bartered, no

ue coiling to spit "no"

pack's sun made flesh, now staring at me like I h

word bleeding from my lip

kiss fell like soft rain. I knew I was a substi

a binding ceremony tha

rs whispered of his devotion. What other she-wolves scraped for, I drown

-calloused from clawing through underbrush, steady as stone during pack trials-gentled over my belly, stirri

em in. I let myself believe-foolishly-that love for them had spilled over, that I was n

Just not me. Colette was the one. I

t I still call the housekeeper to fetch

I've raised them, loved them, given t

re my

truth, I don't kno

le home,

ills, her tiny feet pat

you'll catch a chill!" Adrian pipes up, h

ens, tears burni

I start, but a s

s shove

irs, my forehead splitting open, blood dripping

thick with panic. He drops to his knees beside me, his little fi

? I can't... I can't let you. Now she won't stop us f

et's go find her, please?!" Ivy begs, h

y eyes ope

brow barely creased bef

aff, then curls his fingers around the

stone, "when it's Colette or your mother, Colette come

her? She's just a silly placeholder. We lie to her all the

sharp for a child. "If Colette could be our real mommy, I

their shoulders. I lie there, blood seeping into the carpet, tears carvi

ched. These are the children I built my wo