My Alpha Erased Me for His First Love

I stayed frozen on my knees, my fingers still reaching for the wolf pup toy that had betrayed my discovery. In the closet mirror's reflection, Lux looked like a predator who had just cornered her prey. Her pregnancy glow was unmistakable now that I knew what to look for—the fullness in her cheeks, the way her hand unconsciously rested on her still-flat stomach.

"Those aren't your things," I said quietly, my voice barely above a whisper. The elixir made my thoughts feel like they were moving through thick honey, but anger cut through the fog with crystalline clarity.

Lux stepped into the room, closing the door behind her with a soft click. The sound made my skin crawl. "Oh, those?" She gestured toward the baby clothes with a casual wave, her lips curving into a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Ryker bought them for me. He said our baby deserves the softest things."

The words hit me like a physical blow. Our baby. She said it so easily, so possessively, as if the life growing inside her had always belonged to both of them.

"You're not dying," I said, struggling to my feet. The room tilted slightly, and I had to grip the closet door frame to steady myself. "You're pregnant. The ultrasound—I saw it."

For just a moment, something flickered across Lux's face. Panic, maybe. Or calculation. But then her expression crumpled, and tears began streaming down her cheeks.

"How could you say that to me?" she sobbed, her voice rising to a sharp wail. "I'm dying, Wren! The doctors gave me days, maybe hours, and you're accusing me of—" Her words dissolved into broken sobs. "RYKER! RYKER, HELP ME!"

Her screams pierced through my skull like silver bullets. I pressed my hands to my temples, the pounding in my head intensifying with each shriek. The elixir was making everything worse—sounds too loud, lights too bright, thoughts too scattered.

Thunderous footsteps pounded up the stairs. The guest room door burst open, and Ryker filled the doorway like an avenging angel, his eyes wild with panic.

"What's happening?" His gaze swept from Lux's tear-streaked face to me standing beside the open closet. "Lux, sweetheart, what's wrong?"

She threw herself into his arms, her sobs muffled against his chest. "She's saying horrible things to me. She found the nursery and she's saying I'm not really sick, that I'm lying about everything."

Ryker's eyes went hard as winter stone when they met mine. "She's barely holding on, Wren. Her body is so weak she can hardly stand, and you're in here harassing her?"

"I'm not harassing anyone," I said, but my voice came out slurred and uncertain. The words felt foreign in my mouth, like I was speaking a language I'd once known but was rapidly forgetting. "There's something wrong here. The baby clothes, the ultrasound—"

"What ultrasound?" Ryker's voice was sharp, dangerous.

I fumbled for my phone, trying to pull up the photos I'd taken, but my fingers felt clumsy and uncoordinated. The screen kept blurring in and out of focus. "I took pictures. The evidence is all here, I just need to—"

"You're not making sense," Ryker said, his tone shifting from anger to concern. He studied my face with the clinical attention he usually reserved for pack business. "Your pupils are dilated, and you're slurring your words. Are you having side effects from the elixir?"

The question hit me like a splash of cold water. Was I? My head felt like it was full of cotton, and every thought required tremendous effort to form. Maybe I was imagining things. Maybe the stress of losing my mate bond was making me paranoid.

"I... I don't know," I admitted, the fight draining out of me. "Everything feels wrong."

Ryker's expression softened slightly. He helped Lux to the guest bed, settling her gently against the pillows before turning back to me. "The elixir affects everyone differently. Memory suppressants can cause confusion, hallucinations, even paranoid delusions."

"I'm not delusional," I protested weakly, but even as I said it, doubt crept in. The photos on my phone looked blurry now, indistinct. Had I really seen an ultrasound with Lux's name on it? Or had my deteriorating mind conjured the whole thing?

Lux sniffled delicately, one hand pressed to her forehead as if fighting a headache. "Maybe you should rest, Wren. This has to be so hard for you, with the bond dissolution and everything."

Her voice was gentle, sympathetic. The voice of someone who genuinely cared about my wellbeing. But something in her eyes remained cold, calculating. Or was that my imagination too?

"Come on," Ryker said, placing a careful hand on my elbow. "Let's get you back to your room. You need to sleep this off."

He guided me toward the door, Lux watching from the bed with wide, innocent eyes. As we reached the threshold, Ryker paused and looked back at her.

"I'll be right back, sweetheart. Don't try to get up—you need to save your strength."

The tenderness in his voice made my chest ache. He'd never spoken to me like that, not even in our best moments. I was the strong one, the capable one, the one who didn't need coddling or protection.

In the hallway, Ryker's grip on my arm tightened slightly. "Good thing you're leaving soon," he said quietly, his voice too low for Lux to hear. "This jealousy isn't healthy for any of us."

"I'm not jealous," I said, but the words felt hollow even to me.

"Get some rest," he said, depositing me at my bedroom door. "And stay out of the guest room. Those are Lux's things now."

He turned and walked back down the hall, leaving me alone with my fractured thoughts and pounding head. Inside my room, I collapsed onto the bed and pulled out my phone with trembling fingers.

The photos were still there—blurry, but visible. The baby clothes, the ultrasound image, the wolf pup toy. But as I stared at them, they seemed to shift and blur, like mirages in the desert.

With the last of my clarity, I opened my encrypted messaging app and found Nadia's contact. My fingers moved clumsily across the screen as I typed:

'If three days from now I don't remember any of this, please remember for me. Something is very wrong here.'

I attached all the photos and hit send just as my vision blurred again. The elixir was winning, eating away at my memories like acid through metal. I was already forgetting Nadia's middle name, the color of her car, the sound of her laugh.

My phone buzzed almost immediately. An incoming call from... someone important. Someone who cared about me. I fumbled to answer it.

"Wren?" The voice was familiar but distant, like an echo from another life. "I got your message. Jesus Christ, what kind of photos are these?"

"I don't... I can't remember your name," I whispered into the phone.

"It's Nadia. Nadia Chen. Your best friend since college, remember? Listen to me very carefully—I just ran Lux Devereaux through the medical database. She was treated for black thorn poisoning six months ago at Silvervale General. She recovered completely."

The words swirled around my consciousness like leaves in a whirlwind. "What does that mean?"

"It means whatever illness she's claiming to have now? It's fake, Wren. She's lying to you both."