The hospital corridors carried the faint scent of antiseptic and metal. My heels clicked softly against the polished floor as I searched for him, ignoring the curious glances from the pack nurses. They probably recognized me—the bride who had been left alone at the altar.
“Alpha Xavier?” I asked the nurse stationed at the front desk.
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Room 207, Miss Nightwood.”
“Thank you.”
My heartbeat quickened with every step toward the room. I wasn’t sure what I expected—perhaps he was injured, perhaps there was a reasonable explanation that would ease the tightness in my chest.
But when I reached the door and peered through the small glass window, the ground seemed to shift beneath me.
He stood beside the hospital bed, holding a woman in his arms.
And I recognized her instantly.
I had seen her face before—in the old photographs hidden in his drawer, in the stories he shared with a wistful smile. The girl he once loved. The one he claimed had disappeared years ago, leaving behind a scar he thought would never heal.
Victoria.
My breath caught as I pressed my palm against the cold glass. My wolf whimpered softly, her sorrow wrapping around me like a heavy shadow.
Xavier gently brushed his fingers through Victoria’s hair, his voice low and filled with warmth.
“I never thought we’d have a pup together,” he murmured. “I’m grateful you came back to us. I’ll give you everything.”
The words tore through me.
I staggered backward, my vision blurring as the hallway spun around me. The boy on the news—he wasn’t just some child Xavier had rescued.
He was their son.
My knees nearly gave way, and I grabbed the wall for support, biting down hard on my lip until the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. Every promise he had made, every vow whispered beneath the moonlight, shattered all at once.
He had told me he had no mate. That Victoria was gone for good. That destiny had chosen me to stand beside him as his Luna.
Yet there he was… holding her like she had always been the only one who mattered.
Brielle’s POV
When I returned to the pack mansion that night, the quiet felt suffocating in a way it never had before. Each step I took echoed through the halls, the sound hollow and mocking, as though the house itself knew what had happened.
Sleep never came.