😍Click to continue reading🔞
"Annie, I want you to have a child with my husband, Alpha Alexander." I blinked. The roses smelled sweet on the breeze. Somewhere above us, a bird kept chirping as though Elena hadn't just shattered my entire life. "Sorry—what?" Elena sat across from me in the rose garden, looking much the same as she always did. Her long, pale blonde hair spilled over her shoulders. Her sapphire eyes still held that warm, easy glow she showed everyone. She was elegant, beautiful—the picture of everything a Luna was supposed to be. Everyone in the pack liked her, and it was easy to understand why. Even I liked her, though I had always kept my distance. For a moment, I convinced myself I'd heard her wrong. Elena set her teacup down and folded her hands in her lap. "A few years ago, the Ironclaw Pack was attacked," she said. "I was badly wounded in the fighting. The wounds healed, but my body can't carry a child anymore." I stared at her. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't sure there was anything a person could say to that. "The Ironclaw Pack needs an heir," she continued. Her voice stayed even, almost detached, as though she were describing a stranger's life. "Alexander is the last of his direct bloodline. If he dies without a child, the strongest families in the pack will tear each other apart, fighting over who becomes the next Alpha." She lowered her eyes. "The Council is already pressuring him. They say that if I can't give him an heir, he should choose a woman who can." Elena's mouth curved, but there was no warmth in it. "I'd rather choose that woman myself than wait for the Council to shove some ambitious she-wolf into my husband's bed." She looked at me again. "Do you understand, Annie? If I do nothing, eventually they'll put a woman beside him—one who wants his title, his bed, and everything that comes with them." I stayed quiet for a moment, trying to make sense of what she was asking. Everyone in the Ironclaw Pack knew how much Alexander loved her. So d
