Chapter 2

The old wooden cabin at the edge of the suburban wasteland was drafty everywhere.

The haunting howls of rogue wolves came from outside the window. This was the true edge of the territory, a place of exile.

But I didn't feel cold.

I sat on the rough wooden bed, my hand gently resting on my flat stomach.

There was a faint but incredibly resilient spark of life inside.

This was a pureblood white wolf pup. My trump card. My key to returning to the Crimson Moon pack and claiming my birthright as ruler of the werewolf empire.

My phone screen lit up in the dark. It was Caleb.

I answered but stayed silent.

"Aurora, you left quickly," Caleb's voice was filled with arrogant impatience. "But you forgot to hand over the core territory pass and the spare key to the crystal mine vault."

I sneered. The vault?

That rundown warehouse that couldn't even hold a few hundred low-grade energy stones?

Before I could speak, Jasmine's whiny voice came through the phone.

"Caleb, make sure she hands them over. That little stray might hold a grudge and sneak back to steal from us. Those crystals are our lifeline for the winter!"

"Hear that?" Caleb's tone grew colder and defensive. "Hand them over to the border guards before sunrise tomorrow."

"Got it. I'll leave them at the border outpost tomorrow."

I hung up without hesitation and tossed those beat-up access cards into the trash.

The cabin fell back into dead silence.

I opened the chat logs I had saved for three years.

The pinned message at the top was Caleb's arrogant bragging from three years ago.

"Aurora! The former Alpha suddenly died, and his remnants submitted to me! I took this richest territory! I am the chosen one!"

Looking at this message, a mocking smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth.

He had no idea that the brutal former Alpha didn't die suddenly.

It was me. I charged into the enemy camp alone and ripped the tyrant's throat out with my own white wolf claws.

I was the one who used absolute bloodline suppression to force the entire enemy pack to bow and pledge loyalty to Caleb.

While he was gloating over his new territory, I was enduring severe pain, washing the blood off my hands bit by bit.

He didn't know any of this. And he never will.

Early the next morning, the shrill ringtone broke the cabin's peace again.

This time, it was Caleb's mother.

"Good thing you knew your place and left," the old hag's bitter voice sounded like a rusty saw. "Caleb is a powerful Alpha now. A stray Omega like you, with your mysterious past, was never good enough for him."

I stared blankly at the dead trees outside the window. "Are you done? If you're done, I'm hanging up."

"Wait!" She raised her voice, ordering me around. "Hand over your family's healing moonlight herb recipe before you get out!"

My eyes turned cold.

"Jasmine is a high-ranking she-wolf. She comes from a noble family and has a delicate body. She needs that recipe to condition her body so she can give Caleb a pureblood heir sooner," the old hag babbled on. "Using good stuff like that on your cheap body is a waste!"

I was so angry I laughed.

"You want the recipe? Fine," I said coldly. "But the herbs need my blood as a primer. Without my blood, the recipe is deadly poison. Are you sure you want her to drink it? If you want her dead, I can write it down for you right now."

"You evil bitch—"

I cut the call and blocked the number.

The next day, wrapped in an oversized black trench coat, I went to the downtown werewolf hospital.

I needed a comprehensive prenatal ultrasound for the pup.

Just after drawing blood, I was resting on a cold bench in the hallway when my phone vibrated again.

Caleb's name flashed on the screen.

I frowned and answered.

"Aurora."

But it was Jasmine's careless voice on the line.

"What do you want?" I instantly went on alert.

"Relax. I just found some interesting things while cleaning the master bedroom." Jasmine chuckled, sounding very curious. "Hidden in the bottom drawer of your old nightstand were a few top-quality herbs."

My heart skipped a beat.

Those were extremely rare pregnancy herbs. I bought them for a fortune on the black market. I left in such a hurry the day before yesterday that I forgot them.

"Why would a useless, unmarked Omega hide things only high-ranking pregnant wolves use?" Jasmine slowed down her speech.

I forced down my racing heartbeat, my palms sweating.

"Just some worthless weeds I picked in the forest," I said, keeping my voice flat. "If they bother you so much, throw them out."

"Weeds?" Jasmine faked a gasp. "But why do these 'weeds' have a weird sweet smell on them? And... this smell is exactly the same as what I smelled on the old clothes you left behind this morning."

My pupils shrank.

The awakening scent of my Moon Goddess bloodline was getting stronger as the pup grew.

This faintly sweet scent, a mix of moonlight and milk, was too unique to the sharp noses of high-ranking werewolves.

"Don't touch my stuff, just throw it away."

I hung up with a snap, veins popping on the back of my hand.

The cold wind from the end of the hallway hit me, and I instinctively shielded my stomach.