My hands trembled as I stared at the pregnancy test, a single crimson line glaring up at me like an accusation.

Pregnant.

It wasn't possible.

My mate was impotent, doomed to be the first Alpha in generations unable to produce heirs. Yet this cheap plastic stick I had bought on a whim seemed to suggest otherwise.

I swiped at the beads of sweat gathering along my hairline, my breaths coming faster. "This can't be right," I muttered. But the crimson line remained, taunting me.

My wolf stirred restlessly, a pleased rumble echoing through our bond.

"A pup! Our Alpha's pup," she purred. I pressed a hand to my still-flat stomach, emotions churning wildly. Of course I was overjoyed - as Luna, providing heirs was my most sacred duty. After nine months sharing Adrian's bed with no success, I had accepted my fate.

But now everything had changed. By some miracle, I found myself carrying the next generation of Silver Moon royalty. Pride and exhilaration should have flooded me at this news. Instead, uncertainty gnawed at my gut as I burst from the dingy convenience store bathroom, the positive test still clutched in my fist.

The perky sales girl called out as I rushed past, "Um, excuse me Miss! You forgot your change!"

I barely heard her over the roaring in my ears. There was only one thought, driving me relentlessly forward through the busy street. I had to get to Adrian. My beloved mate deserved to hear our joyous news first. Bursting into the small neighborhood clinic, I staggered to the front desk, chest heaving more from emotion than exertion.

The receptionist glanced up in surprise. "Oh, Luna Olga! What brings you..." Her words trailed off as she took in my disheveled state. I must have resembled a madwoman - hair askew, clothing rumpled, clutching a pregnancy test with white-knuckled hands. She cleared her throat delicately.

"Is everything alright, Luna?"

I slowly uncurled my fist, placing the test on the counter between us. "I need to speak with a healer at once," I requested, proud my voice hardly shook. "I must confirm if what this claims is true. If I'm..."

Understanding lit the receptionist's face. "Of course, say no more!" She whisked away the test discreetly and picked up the phone, murmuring urgent commands into it. Within moments a matronly wolf in the crisp white uniform of a healer appeared through the nearby doorway, gesturing for me to follow. We stepped into an empty exam room and he drew the curtain closed behind us.

"Luna Olga," the she-wolf greeted gently, hazel eyes warm with concern. He gestured to the crinkling examination table. "Please, have a seat so I may determine what ails you."

I perched stiffly on the edge of the table, unable to keep still as she ran through questions in her lilting accent, likely trying to calm my obvious anxiety. She took my vitals and drew several vials of blood for tests. Too keyed up to make small talk, I merely nodded or shook my head mutely in response until she stepped back with a satisfied nod.

"Very good. We should have the results shortly so we can get to the bottom of this. Might I fetch you some chamomile tea while we wait?"

When I declined with a jerky shake of my head, she smiled kindly and slipped from the room to check on my test results. Alone with my spiraling thoughts, I raked trembling hands through my hair.

"How would Adrian react to this news?"

We had already grieved our inability to conceive heirs together and reluctantly made peace with it. Would stirred up grief make him doubt the child was his? Surely not! We were true mates - he knew I would never betray that sacred bond.

But others might not see it that way. Rumors had plagued me from the start, when Adrian first claimed me publicly over more suitable, highborn females.

An orphaned stray finding favor with the powerful, pure-blooded future Alpha? Unthinkable! Tongues wagged that I must be deceitfully seducing him somehow. Adrian paid the gossip no mind, fiercely protective of me in all things. But this pregnancy could spark dangerous assumptions...

The healer returned then, stirring me from my worried thoughts. I searched his face desperately. "Well? What did the tests say?"

He smiled. "Congratulations, Luna. You are indeed expecting a little one."

As she reviewed vitamins and follow-up appointments, everything around me seemed to fade away until only that one word remained. Expecting! Overwhelming joy crashed through me then. I was carrying Adrian's child - proof of the unbreakable bond we shared! No one could deny me now, question my worth. I had succeeded where all those highborn bitches failed. I was bearing the next heir to the Silver Moon dynasty!

Suddenly light-headed from the rush of euphoria and relief now flooding my system, darkness crept into my vision. The last thing I registered was the healer calling my name sharply before everything went black.

+++++

Groggily, sensation returned one piece at a time. The crisp linen beneath my fingertips. Antiseptic tang burning my nose. Hushed voices nearby, palabras indiscernibles. With considerable effort I pried my eyes open, wincing against the glare of fluorescent lights. The kind face of the healer swam into focus above me, lips pressed with concern.

"There you are, Luna," she fidget. "Gave us all a fright when you fainted dead away. But no matter - you seem to be stabilizing well now."

Shakily I pushed upright, head still spinning. The pregnancy. I had to tell Adrian. But when I swung my legs down to stand, the healer pressed me back firmly against the pillows.

"Please wait Luna. Healer's orders that you rest here a while longer before the Alpha arrived. Don't want you toppling over again."

Hurried footsteps echoed from down the hall before I could reply, the exam room curtain swept back violently to reveal my mate filling the doorway, broad chest heaving. The breath caught in my throat at the sight of his windswept mahogany hair and vivid azure eyes, concern etched onto his classically handsome face. Then my joy stuttered at the fury darkening his gaze.

The healer leapt up, sputtering, "Alpha Adrian! I didn't think-"

"Out," he bit out sharply. "I would have words alone with my mate."

When they scurried to obey, Adrian turned that blistering gaze on me. I sat frozen as he stalked closer, the unyielding power of his wolf swirling dangerously around him. He braced his hands on either side of me, bringing us eye to eye.

"Explain yourself," he grit out.

I flinched, this cold detachment so unlike my tenderhearted Adrian. Swallowing hard, I lifted my chin.

"My love, is it not wondrous news?" I whispered pleadingly. "We are to have a child!"

I took his large hand, meaning to press it joyfully against my still flat belly. But he wrenched away as though scalded, lip curling. Fear trickled down my spine. Why was he looking at me this way? Like I was some contemptible stranger?

"A child?" He released a biting laugh, devoid of any humor. "And I suppose you claim this bastard child festering in your belly is mine?"

I sucked in a sharp breath, gut churning at his cruel words. Adrian spun away, raking both hands through his disheveled hair. His sculpted frame nearly vibrated with fury, his wolf so close to the surface I glimpsed the glow of Alpha red in his eyes. Still, I forced quavering words past the growing dread in my throat.

"Of course the babe is yours, my heart! Our blessed little one, proving you are not truly infertile as we feared. Is it not a joyous miracle?"

In a flash he whirled back to me, closing the distance between us before I could even flinch. One hand grasped my jaw in an iron hold, wrenching my face up to meet the hellfire in his gaze.

"You still dare to spew such filth to my face?" he seethed, lethal rage etched into the harsh lines of his beloved features. "I should rip your treasonous tongue from your lying mouth!"

Tears flooded my eyes but I couldn't look away, paralyzed by agony and dawning horror. This wasn't my Adrian. My kind, patient mate would never speak so cruelly, treat me so callously.

"I don't understand," I choked out, clawing at his unyielding wrist. "It's your child, I swear it!"

At my tearful cry, Adrian released me with a snarl, turning away as if unable to stand the sight of me. Shame flooded through me then. He knew - somehow word had already reached him of my impossible pregnancy. He thought me an unfaithful traitor entertaining another male's pup, an unforgivable betrayal among mated pairs.

Bile scorched my throat. How could this have gone so horribly wrong? Just hours ago discovering that tiny cluster of cells inside me was cause for joy and celebration of our love. Now it only seeded doubt and rage.

I reached for Adrian beseechingly just as he straightened, visibly leashing his fury. When he faced me again, his wolf was once more contained behind that infernal emotionless mask I hated so much. Somehow his remote calm was infinitely more chilling that the explosive rage.

"Despite the insult dealt me by your whorish behavior," he intoned coolly, "I shall grant you mercy rather than the traitor's execution you deserve."

His callous words were like fists driving the breath from my lungs. Still reeling, I scarcely processed his next biting declaration.

"I, Alpha Adrian, hereby formally reject you as Luna of Silver Moon and remove you as my mate. You are henceforth exiled and forbidden from returning here on punishment of death."

Everything seemed to sway dangerously around me. Exiled? Mate bond broken? It couldn't be real. I clung to him desperately but he shook me off like troublesome filth. This had to be some hideous nightmare!

"Adrian please!" I wept brokenly. "I have only ever been yours! Don't do this, I beg you!"

But he was already striding emotionlessly from the room without a backward glance. Helpless sobs wracked me as my happily ever after collapsed to dust in the span of mere minutes.

How could fate be so viciously cruel?