After My Mate Forced a Miscarriage, I Married His Uncle

The candles flickered across our dining table, casting a warm glow over the carefully prepared meal. I'd spent hours cooking Hayden's favorite dishes—roasted duck with cherry reduction, garlic mashed potatoes, and the chocolate soufflé waiting in the oven. Three years of marriage deserved something special.

"Surprise!" I called as I heard the front door open. "Happy anniversary, Hayden."

He barely glanced at the table, his eyes fixed on his phone. "You didn't need to go to all this trouble, Lyra."

"It's our anniversary," I said, touching the silver locket around my neck—the one my mother had given me before I married into the Pierce family. "I thought we could celebrate."

"We'll eat later," he replied, loosening his tie. "I need a shower."

I watched him disappear into our bedroom, his shoulders tense. Something was wrong. I could feel it in the air between us, thick and suffocating.

The sound of the shower running gave me pause. His phone lay on the counter, screen lit up with a notification. I shouldn't look. But something pulled me toward it.

"Blair Woods: Check this out. Just us in the guest room last night."

My fingers trembled as I opened the message. The video loaded, and I couldn't breathe. There, in our guest bedroom—the one we'd painted together when we first moved in—was my husband. With another woman. An Instagram model with perfect curves and a predatory smile.

"Oh God," I whispered, dropping the phone as if it burned.

The shower stopped. I quickly wiped my tears and tried to compose myself.

"What's wrong?" Hayden asked, emerging in a robe, his hair still damp.

"You know exactly what's wrong," I said, my voice surprisingly steady despite the earthquake happening inside me. "Who is Blair Woods?"

His expression hardened. "Just a friend."

"A friend who sends you sex tapes from our guest room?"

He sighed, running a hand through his hair—that familiar gesture that once made my heart flutter, now just another lie. "You're being dramatic. It's nothing."

"Nothing?" My voice cracked. "How long?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes, it matters!" I cried, tears finally breaking free. "Today of all days—our anniversary—you're telling me you've been cheating?"

He looked at me with disgust. "This is why I can't stand being around you sometimes. This... Beta weakness."

The words cut deeper than any knife. I was a Beta—not an Alpha like him—and he never let me forget it.

"Here," he said, pouring a glass of deep red wine from an unmarked bottle. "This will calm your nerves."

I hesitated, but he was already pushing it into my hand.

"Drink it," he insisted. "We can talk when you're not being hysterical."

Something in his eyes made me obey.

---

An hour later, agony tore through my abdomen. I doubled over, gasping as hot pain radiated through my body.

"Lyra?" Hayden's voice sounded distant. "What's wrong?"

"I need... hospital," I managed, clutching my stomach as warm wetness spread between my legs.

The emergency room lights were too bright, the