While Carrying His Pup, I Severed My Alpha Bond

The mind-link woke me before dawn. Spencer's voice slid into my head like cold water.

"You're being selfish, Kailani."

I lay in the healer's ward cot and stared at the ceiling. My hand was already pressed to my sternum. The pup was still there. Still safe.

"I've been patient," he continued. His Alpha tone threaded through the words, making my wolf whimper. "But you need to understand. Your independence drove me to this. Your refusal to submit. A Luna should support her Alpha, not challenge him at every turn."

I didn't respond. I'd learned that silence was safer. Anything I said through the link, he twisted into proof of my failure.

"Aylin knows her place," he said. "She respects the bond between Alpha and Luna. She doesn't question. She doesn't make me feel small."

I closed my eyes. The bond hummed in my chest, that traitorous tether still pulling me toward him. My wolf wanted to crawl to him. Wanted to fix whatever was broken. But the cold place inside me—the place that had formed in the doorway three nights ago—knew better.

"We'll discuss this later," Spencer said. "Publicly. So the pack understands that you're the reason for the distance between us."

The link went quiet. I opened my eyes and watched the dawn light creep across the ceiling. My wolf was still whimpering. I told her to be quiet. We had work to do.

Nora found me in the healer's ward an hour later. She shut the door behind her and crossed her arms. "He's installed her in the east guest suite. The one with the balcony."

I nodded. I'd already known. The pack house mind-link carried whispers even when wolves thought they were being quiet.

"Pack members are talking," Nora said. "They don't understand why the Alpha's spending so much time with an Omega's daughter. But no one's questioning him directly."

"They won't," I said. My voice sounded flat. Distant. "He's the Alpha."

Nora sat on the cot beside me. She didn't touch me. She knew better. "What are you going to do?"

I pressed my palm harder against my sternum. "Wait."

"For what?"

"For her to make a mistake."

Nora's jaw tightened. "Kailani—"

"I'm not leaving," I said. "Not yet. Not until I'm ready."

She studied my face for a long moment. Then she nodded. "Okay. But when she makes her move, don't go alone."

I didn't promise anything.

The message came two days later. A young Delta knocked on the healer's ward door and handed me a folded note. The handwriting was neat. Precise.

*Kailani, we should talk. As adults. There's a café in town—Riverside Brew. Tomorrow at noon. Just us. No pack politics. —Aylin*

I read it twice. Then I handed it to Nora.

She swore under her breath. "It's a trap."

"I know."

"Then don't go."

I folded the note and tucked it into my pocket. "I have to see what she's planning."

"Kailani—"

"I'll be careful." I met her eyes. "I'm not the same wolf I was a week ago."

Nora looked at me for a long time. Then she sighed. "Fine. But I'm tracking your location. And if you're not back by two, I'm coming in."

I nodded. That was fair.

Riverside Brew was a small café on the edge of the human town, the kind of place where pack members went when they wanted privacy from pack house politics. I arrived fifteen minutes early and chose a table in the back corner. My back to the wall. Eyes on the entrance. Warrior instincts I hadn't used in three years.

The café was quiet. A few humans sat scattered at tables, nursing coffee and staring at laptops. None of them looked up when I walked in. I ordered tea I wouldn't drink and waited.

Aylin arrived exactly at noon. She wore a soft blue dress that made her look younger than she was. Innocent. Her hand rested on her stomach as she walked toward my table. The gesture was deliberate. Visible.

She sat across from me and smiled. "Thank you for coming."

I didn't smile back. "What do you want?"

"I want us to understand each other." Her voice was soft. Almost apologetic. "I never meant to hurt you, Kailani. But Spencer and I—" She paused. Looked down. "We have a connection. A real one. And I'm carrying his pup."

My hand pressed flat against my sternum. My own pup was still there. Still hidden. Still mine.

"I know this is hard for you," Aylin continued. "But maybe it's for the best. You and Spencer were never really suited. You're too strong. Too independent. He needs someone softer. Someone who can support him without challenging him."

I watched her face. Every expression was calculated. Practiced. She'd rehearsed this.

"I'm not asking you to leave the pack," she said. "Just to step aside. Let me be the Luna he needs. Let me give him the family he deserves."

I leaned forward slightly. "Are you finished?"

Her smile faltered. Just for a second. Then it returned, wider. "I'm trying to be kind, Kailani. I'm trying to make this easy for you."

"There's nothing easy about this," I said quietly. "And you're not kind."

Her eyes hardened. The soft mask slipped. "You think you're better than me because you were born into rank. Because the Moon Goddess matched you to an Alpha. But you don't deserve him. You never did."

I stood. "We're done here."

I turned toward the door. Behind me, I heard her chair scrape back. I heard her footsteps. Fast. Too fast.

I was three steps from the entrance when she screamed.

The sound was sharp. Terrified. I spun around and saw her tumbling down the café entrance steps, her hands clutching her stomach, her body hitting the pavement hard. The humans in the café rushed to the windows. Someone shouted. Aylin lay on the ground, sobbing, her dress torn at the knee.

"She pushed me!" Aylin screamed. "The Luna pushed me! I'm pregnant! She's trying to kill my pup!"

My wolf froze. My body went cold. I hadn't touched her. I'd been walking away. But every human in the café had heard her scream. Every witness was staring at me.

I heard the roar of an engine. Spencer's truck pulled up to the curb. He was out of it before it fully stopped, flanked by two Betas. His eyes found Aylin first. Then me.

He didn't ask what happened. He didn't ask for my side. He just looked at me with something cold and final in his gaze.

"Kneel," he said. Out loud. His Alpha tone slammed into me like a physical blow.

My knees hit the pavement. I couldn't stop them. The tone was absolute. My wolf whimpered and submitted even as the cold place inside me screamed.

Aylin stood slowly, one hand still on her stomach, tears streaming down her face. She walked toward me. Spencer didn't stop her.

Her hand came across my face hard enough to snap my head to the side. The humans gasped. The Betas shifted uncomfortably. Spencer just watched.

"That's for trying to kill my pup," Aylin whispered. Only I could hear her. Only I could see the satisfaction in her eyes.

I knelt there. Jaw set. Hand pressed to my own belly. And I filed every detail into the cold place where vengeance was taking shape.