Chapter 1
Tanin's pregnant body felt worn out.
All day, she had baked and prepared to celebrate her birthday with her husband. But as she lay on their bed watching the clock tick, she realized the sad truth.
Damian wasn't coming; he had simply forgotten.
A low, soft moan pierced the silence, jolting Tanin awake. Was Damian finally back?
She sat up slowly as her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room and the scene before her.
Soft candlelight danced across the room, filling the air with the warm smell of vanilla.
Cake crumbs littered the room table where twin wine glasses sat half drunk, and on the couch directly opposite the bed she slept, she could make out two figures.
Her husband and sister, naked below a single sheet and kissing passionately.
"D Damian?!"
Tanin's voice shook with fear and disbelief, the bedside lamp crashing to the floor as she swung her feet from the bed.
Opposite her, the offending couple leapt apart in shock. Their faces red as she flipped a switch, and light flooded the room.
She couldn't believe it. She slapped a hand over her mouth, swallowing her sobs as her body began to tremble.
"Tell me it isn't true," Tanin's voice was a hoarse whisper as she focused her tear-filled gaze on her sister.
Kitana's tangled black hair framed her flushed face. She held a sheet to cover her body as she hid behind Damian.
There was no denying it, her husband was cheating on her with her sister.
Tanin broke down.
"Tanin," Damian sighed softly.
"How could you!" She snapped, anger bluiding in her stomach as she tried and failed to wipe her tears away. "With my sister?!"
Her hands balled into fists as she hit his chest in rage. "Are you crazy?! I'M PREGNANT!!"
At her words, Damian seemed to close up; his grey eyes she loved so much turned to twin sheets of ice as his lips thinned into a line. "Don't you dare, Tanin. I know everything."
Everything? What everything?! Tanin felt a storm bluiding inside her.
"Is this a joke? I'm carrying your child, you bastard!" Her voice cracked as her entire being seemed to crumble in pain. "I—"
"Tanin stop!" Damian hissed. His voice was cold, almost unrecognizable as he took a step back from her.
"That's enough. Kitana told me everything. I know you're not carrying my child."
His words were softly spoken yet they hit Tanin like a ton of bricks. She froze, her brain unwilling to comprehend what she just heard.
"I… I don't understand?"
"The truth is out, Tanin," Kitana whispered pitifully. "Please forgive me, I couldn't hide it from the Lycan, he knows—"
"KNOWS WHAT?!" Tanin barely registered her scream as she shook her head and grabbed Damian's hand. "No no no no, please. You can't believe her—,"
"Tanin, don't be unfair," Kitana tried to separate her from Damian.
"Let go!" She snapped at her sister. Her tears clouding her vision as she turned back to Damian, holding his palm to her stomach. "Dee, you know that's not true. Right? I I wouldn't— you have to trust me this time."
"Tanin," For a second, she saw hurt flash his eyes as he shook his head. "Our marriage is over."
"No!" She screamed, growing hysterical as raw panic threatened to blind her.
This couldn't be happening.
Not again.
Kitana had already taken everything— he was all she had left.
"No no no,"
Tanin was sure she was screaming in her head. Her bones felt filled with fire;
"I'm carrying our son!" Her legs seemed to lose their strentgh as she cradled her stomach, the saltiness of her tears filling her tongue.
She began to mumble to herself, sure she was going mad as flashes of her life flew before her eyes.
The hatred in her father's eyes when Kitana had framed her. The scorn from the pack members because Kitana lied. The hatred from her sister-in-law because Kitana instigated her.
Always Kitana.
"Tanin my love, please stop overreacting; he knows you don't love him. It's unfair to raise to make him raise a bastard as his heir," Kitana's voice dripped with fake concern as she came towards Tanin and tried to reach for her stomach
"SHUT UP!" Tanin hissed, kicking the purple balloons that littered the room. "JUST SHUT UP!"
"I don't love him? But I decorated our room for us?!" She turned to her half eaten birthday cake. "The cake you ate, I baked it?! I'm Pregnant!"
Her sobs choked her as she looked to Damian. "It's my birthday, but I wanted to celebrate with you and I don't love you?!,"
The question was almost stupid out loud because they both knew that she did.
He turned his head, his hands balling into fists by his side. "Who's the father? What's his name?"
Hurt slammed into Tanin, but she gritted her teeth, swallowing as she spoke.
"I'll forget about the cheating— I forgive you," Her voice trembled with rage as she begged. "Do anything you want. Anything but don't end this marriage,"
"It's not fair to the pack–" Kitana butted in.
"Tanin, don't," Damian added, his eyes flashing with something to disgust and hurt. "Kita already showed me proof. I saw the videos and the picture."
Tanin was sure she was going insane. What Proof?!
She shook her head, balling her hands into fists.
She caught her husband and sister cheating in her room on her birthday, but here she was. Without a shred of dignity, begging to save her marriage.
"I'll take a Paternity test,"
Damian's expression shifted for the first time as he stared at her in surprise.
Kitana had taken everything from her, she would be damned if she let Kitana take her marriage too.
Her skin prickled hot with shame, but she held her head raised up, cradling her stomach as she began to sink to her knees. Almost immediately, sharp pain struck her abdomen.
"Tanin!" Damian pushed away from Kitana, his eyes flashing with the first sign of fear as he rushed for her. "Are you mad?! Get up!"
Kitana also rushed for her, holding her arms. Her face full of concern.
Damian tried lifting her up, but the pain had intensified.
Tanin's breath came in short spurts as she felt an unnatural movement in her stomach, and the iron smell of blood filled the room. She was bleeding.
The room swam around her.
"Tanin? Tanin!" She felt Damian's fear but couldn't respond as a sharp pain hit her and she let out a bloodcurdling scream.
"Lycan! Do something!" She vaguely heard Kitana scream as cool tears landed on her shoulder. "Tanin, my love, please hang on!"
Tanin herself felt weak; she was hemorrhaging, the dark blood soaking her pale pink nightdress.
"GET HELP! Be fast!!"
Kitana continued to scream where Tanin no longer had a voice to do so.
Damian grabbed his phone and rushed from the room.
The minute both sisters were left alone in the room, Kitana dropped Tanin like the woman's body was on fire.
Tanin gasped for breath, her vision swimming as Kitana rolled her eyes and her lips curled in disgust.
"You'll do a test," Kitana mocked. "Are you trying to discredit me?! Like I would let that happen."
Tanin tried to say something. To scream or curse at her sister, but her body betrayed her. She couldn't so much as move without taking deep breaths.
"I asked your maid to slip you something but she's so silly. All the poison did was make you hemorrhage."
Kitana hissed angrily as she retrieved her purse from beneath the couch and pulled out a syringe.
"K kita?" Tanin croaked, renewed panic crashing into her as she watched her sister tap the syringe gently.
Poison?! The girl was trying to kill her. Through the pain, she glanced at the door, but Damian was gone.
"You got married to the Lycan King! And even got pregnant for him." Kitana turned back to Tanin, crouching beside her feet. "What did you think? That I'd marry an ordinary Alpha and be beneath you for the rest of my life?"
"W what are y you doing?!" Tears rolled down the sides of Tanin's eyes. Her body couldn't move, all she could do was twitch. "P please, Kita—"
"Sshhh," Kitana whispered, holding Tanin's leg as she began to drive the cold needle into her big toe.
No no no. Her baby! Kitana couldn't do this!
Tanin's fingers weakly tapped her nightdress, as she tried and failed to reach the cake knife on the floor.
Kitana chuckled and kicked the knife farther. "Don't bother; they'll never find the needle mark anyway. You'll just be another mother who died from childbirth."
Tanin tried to scream.
Where was Damian?! Something had to happen! Someone had to save her!
But as her twitching slowed and her ragged breaths calmed, it registered that her pain was gone.
Where her stomach had been on fire, now she felt nothing but peace—warm, numb peace.
"DAMIAN!!! HELP!!! Somebody help me, PLEASE!!," Kitana's fearful shrieks echoed in Tanin's ears.
Then everything went black.