Ava's POV

"Ms. Crawford." A gentle voice pulled me out of my racing thoughts. The elderly doctor adjusted his glasses and added, "All of your test results are ready."

My heart lurched. My nails dug painfully into my palms, my voice trembling. "Doctor, how... how are the results?"

This hospital sat quietly in the neutral zone between packs, far from the Darkmoon Pack's territory. A place every pack agreed not to touch. I chose it on purpose, because I didn't want a single soul to know what I was doing here.

Four years. Ever since my first year married to Damon, the word "infertile" had been branded into me over and over again. Like a hot iron pressed against my skin until I actually believed my body was broken from the start.

Whenever pack members looked at me with that mix of pity and contempt, I would instinctively drop my gaze and remind myself: an Omega with no known background should be grateful an Alpha even noticed me. Humility was the only leverage I had to hold this marriage together.

"You're perfectly healthy." The doctor flipped through the report casually, like he was announcing today's weather. "And fully capable of conceiving."

My mind just... went blank. I could conceive. I was never infertile. How could that possibly be true?

For four years, every Darkmoon Pack doctor had sworn up and down that my body was too weak, my system too unstable to carry a strong Alpha child.

Coming here was pure stubborn instinct, the last shred of fight left in me.

"Doctor, are you sure?" I stared at him, desperate. "Can you check again? They kept telling me..."

"I'll stake my entire career on it." His expression sharpened when he noticed how shaken I was. "Actually, today happens to be your ovulation day. If you want a child, tonight is an excellent opportunity."

Joy and hurt slammed into me at the same time. I sucked in a shaky breath. I could give Damon a child, our child. The thought nearly made my knees buckle. I wanted to run to him right that second and tell him this unbelievable miracle.

My Damon, Alpha of the Darkmoon Pack, the second strongest on the East Coast. He was power and authority in human form, the dream partner of countless she-wolves.

Four years ago, right after my eighteenth birthday, fate threw us together. He knew I was a nobody, an Omega with no past, and even after hearing I was "infertile," he still chose me, even publicly marked me in front of the whole pack.

Even so, the whispers never stopped. I did everything, used the medical products I developed to lead the pack to greatness. But the one problem remained: I couldn't conceive.

Now that problem was about to disappear. I would become a Luna the pack truly accepted. More importantly, this child would be proof of love between me and my mate. Nothing could have made me happier than this moment. Not even a deal worth hundreds of millions.

I grabbed my bag and basically sprinted out of the hospital.

At the Alpha Manor, I headed straight for his office. The door was slightly ajar. I lifted my hand to knock, only to freeze when I heard a woman's muffled moan from inside.

I thought I misheard. But when I leaned toward the gap in the door...

I saw my husband, my Alpha, holding another woman so tightly it felt like the air around them belonged only to the two of them. The woman had this wild, fiery red hair and a body that practically melted into his. Her arms were looped around Damon's neck, and Damon, the man who was always so composed, so controlled in front of me, was leaning down toward her with a softness I didn't even know he had.

My blood turned to ice on the spot.

Her annoyed voice slipped through the crack of the door and stabbed straight into my ears. "Damon, when are you going to divorce that Omega? I'm done waiting. Our son Leo deserves a real family."

Leo, our little wolf pup we "adopted" from the orphanage three years ago. Damon said he picked Leo at random, said he just wanted to help me heal from "the pain of being unable to conceive." I was so touched by his thoughtfulness that I offered to give up authorship for all my research files.

The child I'd raised for years... was his and Sylvia's? I was certain now. She was Sylvia, Damon's former mate.

The pack said she had rejected her first mate. Damon was her second chance. In our world, before an Alpha claimed someone, the Moon Goddess couldn't belong to anyone.

I forced myself to keep listening.

"Sylvia, calm down." Damon's voice came soft and gentle, like he was soothing something precious. "The pack doesn't accept a Luna with a questionable past. That's why my parents drove you out back then. But going public with you takes time."

"Things are different now. You're the Alpha. You can rewrite that stupid rule!" Sylvia's seductive voice rang out again.

"I will." Damon kissed her forehead, his tone firm. "But... Ava is still useful. Her research is exactly what I need to secure the Crawford Pack partnership. Once the deal goes through, we'll replace the Crawfords as the strongest pack. After that, I'll strip her of her title immediately." He leaned closer, voice dropping low. "You'll soon be the Luna of the strongest pack. Isn't that worth waiting a little longer?"

"But I've been gone for four whole years," Sylvia said, testing him. "I'm worried you've actually fallen for her."

Damon paused, cupping her face, and the words that came next were like poison. "That will never happen. You are the mate the Moon Goddess chose for me. And Leo will be my only heir, don't worry. I had the pack hospital forge her infertility diagnosis. Those vitamins she takes every day? They're birth control pills. She's an Omega. She doesn't deserve to carry my bloodline."

No...

A piercing ringing exploded in my ears. My heart felt like it was being pierced from the inside out, shard by shard. All those nights I cried in the dark, tormented by the belief that I was broken. All those moments I wondered if Damon regretted choosing me. Every ounce of that suffering had been carefully orchestrated by him, used to control me, to use me.

"I chose her," Damon's voice continued, cold and steady, "because she submitted a medical research paper in college that was extremely valuable to the pack's economy. More importantly, choosing an Omega as my mate would build the image of a compassionate yet powerful Alpha. Very effective in business negotiations."

"Aren't you worried she'll figure it all out and expose us?" Sylvia asked.

"That will never happen." Damon's tone was absolute, as if the entire world bent to his logic. "In the werewolf world, no one believes an Omega woman can lead a pack. Their purpose is to be protected, marked, locked in bedrooms producing heirs, not standing at the negotiation table redrawing the map of power. Ava's biggest joke is that she genuinely believes if she works hard enough, someone will eventually acknowledge her. But even if she stood in front of every pack in the country and shouted the truth, not a single one would change a thing."

"You're right," Sylvia sneered. "An Omega living in a fantasy will eventually be discarded like a stray dog."

The suffocating sounds from the office started up again. I couldn't take another second. I spun around, stumbling out, barely able to feel my own legs.

Outside, the rain came down in sheets, soaking me to the bone. I couldn't feel the cold, couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet. I just stood there, letting everything inside me sink, bit by bit, into the downpour.

I had been an orphan since I could remember, wandering the edges of different packs, picked up, chosen, foolish enough to think I'd finally found a home. But that home had been built on lies from the very first brick, constructed by his hands and demolished by those same hands.

I opened my banking app. The screen showed a few dozen dollars. All I could think about was what I'd once said to Damon, gentle and blind: "Darling, I don't need a salary. I just need you."

God. That line used to sound so sweet. Now it cut through my chest like a knife.

Nobody in the Darkmoon Pack recognized me as their Luna. Nobody cared what I'd done for them. Nobody would speak up for me. I had no way back, no safe haven, nothing to lean on.

Then my phone rang. Unknown number.

I answered, feeling numb. An old, respectful voice came through the other end. "May I ask if this is Ava Crawford?"

"Speaking." It took everything I had to force the words out.

"Ma'am, I am the steward of the Crawford Pack. It is with deep regret that I must inform you that your father, the Alpha of the Crawford Pack, passed away yesterday. According to his will, you are the sole legal heir. Everything he left behind, including the entirety of the Crawford Pack, now belongs to you."

I just stood there, letting the rain wash over my face. After a few seconds of silence, a fierce, steady force rose from somewhere deep inside me, a feeling I had never experienced before.

Damon, you've been dying to get the Crawford Group on your side. I bet you never imagined who'd be sitting across from you at the negotiating table.

I wiped the rain from my face and spoke into the phone, my voice so calm it barely sounded like my own. "Prepare a divorce agreement for me. The sooner the better.