Chapter 3 Chapter 3

Chapter 3

- Aria -

The cramps hit me in the middle of the night, ripping me from sleep with a scream. Blood soaks through my clothes as I curl into a ball, clutching my stomach.

"No, no, no," I sob, stumbling to the bathroom. "Please, not my baby."

The pain is excruciating, worse than the broken mate bond that still throbs with every heartbeat. I need a hospital, but I can't go. They'll ask questions. They'll want identification.

A knock pounds on my door. "Keep it down in there!" my neighbor shouts.

I bite my hand to muffle my screams, tasting copper. The blood won't stop. My baby. I'm losing my baby.

Another knock, harder this time. "Open up, or I'm calling the cops!"

With shaking legs, I make it to the door, leaving bloody footprints. I crack it open, and my neighbor's angry face shifts to horror.

"Jesus Christ! Lady, you need an ambulance..."

"No!" I gasp. "No ambulance. Please."

"You're bleeding everywhere!"

The world tilts. I grab the doorframe, but my fingers slip. The last thing I see is my neighbor pulling out his phone before darkness claims me.

I wake to the sound of machines beeping. The sterile smell of hospital fills my nose. Panic shoots through me, they'll find me, Marcus will know I'm alive -

"Don't move."

The voice is deep, commanding. I freeze, my eyes flying open to meet the most unusual amber eyes I've ever seen. They're almost gold, with flecks of red. Wolf eyes in a human face.

The man sitting beside my bed is massive, even seated. Dark hair falls across his forehead, and intricate tattoos peek from beneath his black shirt collar. Power radiates from him, Alpha power, but different from Marcus. Darker. More dangerous.

"Who are you?" I whisper.

"The better question is who are you?" He leans forward, and I catch his scent, pine, smoke, and something wild. "A she-wolf with a damaged mate bond, carrying a pup, dying in a human apartment under a fake name."

My heart races. "I don't know what you're talking about -"

His hand moves faster than I can track, pressing against my stomach. Heat flows from his palm, and suddenly the pain... stops.

"What did you do?" I gasp.

"Saved your pup." He removes his hand, his expression unreadable. "Barely. Another hour and you both would have died."

"How? You're not a doctor..."

"I'm many things." He stands, and I realize he's even taller than Marcus. "Including the Alpha who owns this territory you've stumbled into."

My blood freezes. Another Alpha. "I'll leave. Today. I'm sorry, I didn't know..."

"You're not going anywhere." His tone brooks no argument. "Not until you tell me why Aria Rivera, the supposedly dead Luna of Silver Moon Pack, is bleeding out in my city."

I can't breathe. "How do you..."

"Your execution was big news in the wolf world. An Alpha killing his own mate for attempted murder?" He tilts his head, studying me. "Except you're very much alive, and I doubt you tried to murder anyone."

"Why would you doubt that? You don't know me."

"Because I know Marcus Rivera." His lips curl in disgust. "And I know Sophie Santos. She was my brother's mate before she decided being a Beta's mate wasn't enough for her ambition."

I stare at him in shock. "Your brother?"

"She rejected him for Marcus three years ago. He killed himself a month later." His eyes flash red. "So when I heard she'd returned to Silver Moon, pregnant with Marcus's child, I've been watching. Waiting."

"For what?"

"For Marcus to show his true colors. And he did, with you." He pulls out his phone, showing me photos. "My spies have been documenting everything. The fabricated evidence. The bribes to keep people silent."

"You have proof?" Hope flares in my chest.

"Enough to destroy them both." He puts his phone away. "But that's not my concern. My concern is the dying Luna in my territory."

"I'm not a Luna anymore."

"You're carrying an Alpha heir. That makes you valuable."

Fear shoots through me. "Are you going to send me back?"

"No." The word is firm. "Marcus Rivera is my enemy. Keeping you from him is just good strategy."

"So I'm a pawn."

"You're an opportunity." He moves closer, and his scent overwhelms me. "I'm offering you a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"Marry me."

The words hang in the air like a bomb. I laugh, but it's hysterical. "You're insane."

"I'm practical. You need protection. I need a Luna who understands betrayal, who won't be corrupted by power." His amber eyes bore into mine. "And I want to watch Marcus Rivera lose his mind when he discovers his dead mate is alive, married to his greatest rival, and carrying his child."

"You want to use me for revenge."

"We'd be using each other. You get protection, resources, and a pack that will actually respect you. I get a Luna and the satisfaction of destroying the man who drove my brother to suicide."

"You said Sophie drove your brother..."

"Sophie was the weapon. Marcus was the one who wielded her." His jaw clenches. "She never would have rejected my brother if she hadn't known Marcus would take her."

I think of the pain in his eyes when he mentioned his brother. This isn't just about strategy or revenge. It's personal.

"I don't even know your name."

"Jason Volkov. Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack."

My eyes widen. The Blood Moon Pack is legendary, ancient, powerful, and ruthless. They control half the western territories.

"You're the Alpha who killed thirty rogues single-handedly."

"Thirty-seven." He shrugs. "They were trafficking she-wolves. I don't tolerate that in my territory."

"And you want me to marry you. A complete stranger."

"I want you to consider it. Take a week to recover, then decide." He heads for the door, then pauses. "Oh, and Aria? The doctor who helped you fake your death, Doctor Mills. She's dead."

My heart stops. "What?"

"Executed this morning for treason. Marcus found out she helped you escape." His eyes are sympathetic but hard. "Sophie apparently discovered the empty grave when she went to... desecrate it."

Tears stream down my face. Doctor Mills died because of me.

"This is what Marcus does to those who help you," Jason says quietly. "How many more will die if you don't have protection?"

"That's manipulation."

"That's reality." He opens the door. "My offer stands. Think about it."

He leaves, and I'm alone with the weight of Doctor Mills' death and an impossible choice.

A nurse enters, a she-wolf by her scent. She checks my IV with gentle hands.

"The Alpha saved your pup," she says softly. "His healing gift is rare. Most Alphas can't do what he did."

"Why would he save my baby?"

She looks at me with knowing eyes. "Because he knows what it's like to lose everything. His brother, his parents, his first mate, all gone. The Blood Moon Pack follows him not out of fear, but because he protects the broken ones. The rejected. The abandoned."

"His first mate?"

"Killed by rogues five years ago. He hunted every one of them down." She adjusts my blanket. "He's not a gentle man, but he's a fair one. And he never breaks his word."

After she leaves, I stare at the ceiling, my hand on my stomach where my baby still grows, saved by a stranger's magic.

Jason's words echo in my mind. "We'd be using each other."

Maybe that's exactly what I need. Not love, that destroyed me. But partnership. Strategy. Revenge.

When Jason returns the next evening, I'm sitting up, determination replacing despair.

"One condition," I say before he can speak.

He raises an eyebrow. "You're negotiating?"

"When we destroy them, I want Sophie to know it was me. I want her to see everything she stole crumble to ash."

His smile is predatory. "Now you're thinking like a Luna."

"When do we start?"

"Tomorrow. We'll do a quiet mating ceremony, just enough to make it legal. Do we have a deal?"

I think of Doctor Mills, dead because she helped me. Of my baby, almost lost because I had no one to protect us. Of three years wasted loving a man who never loved me back.

I take his hand. His skin is warm, calloused, strong.

"We have a deal."