Chapter 3
I spread the photographs across my desk, each one driving a knife deeper into my heart. The manila envelope Kaelen had given me contained dozens of images, all telling the same devastating story—Marcus's secret life with Rachel Morrison and their son Leo in a secluded cabin nestled within Crescent Moon territory.
My fingers trembled as I picked up one particular photograph. Marcus kneeling, arms wrapped around a dark-haired boy of about six, his smile wider and more genuine than any I'd seen since Emma died. The resemblance between them was striking—the same strong jawline, the same dimple when they smiled.
"He looks just like him," I whispered, my voice breaking in the silence of my study.
Aria howled within me, a sound of pure anguish that only I could hear. *He built another family while we mourned our daughter.*
I traced the outline of the boy's face in the photograph. Leo Morrison. Six years old. A child Marcus had never once mentioned, yet clearly adored. In another photo, Marcus sat on the cabin's porch swing, Rachel nestled against his side, Leo sprawled across both their laps as Marcus read from a storybook.
The perfect family portrait.
My stomach lurched. I rushed to the bathroom connected to my study and retched until there was nothing left but bitter bile. Clutching the cold porcelain, I fought to regain control as Aria's rage threatened to trigger a shift.
*We need more,* she growled. *We need to know everything.*
When I returned to my desk, I stared at Marcus's laptop. As Luna, I knew his passwords—not because he'd shared them willingly, but because I'd watched him enter them countless times over the years. He never suspected I was paying attention.
I opened his private email account, the one he used only for Alpha business. Scrolling through recent messages, I found nothing suspicious until I searched for "Morrison." Dozens of emails appeared, dating back years. I clicked on one from six months ago, sent just two days before Emma died.
"Organ donation paperwork processed as requested. Recipient preparation underway. All medical staff briefed on confidentiality protocols."
The room spun around me. Organ donation. Emma's organs. My hands flew to my mouth to stifle a scream as I frantically searched for more emails.
There it was—a response from Marcus: "Ensure compatibility is verified again. We cannot afford mistakes. N knows nothing and must not suspect."
N. Me. Natalie.
I couldn't breathe. The walls of the study closed in as I desperately searched for dates, confirmation, anything that might disprove the horrific suspicion forming in my mind.
A calendar invitation caught my eye: "Leo's surgery—Moon Valley Medical, 8 AM." The date matched exactly—the day Emma died. The day my world ended.
I pulled up another email thread, this one between Marcus and a Dr. Whitman at Moon Valley Medical Center.
"Heart transplant successful. Patient responding well to treatment. Donor information sealed as requested."
The floor seemed to drop from beneath me. Emma's heart. They took my baby's heart and gave it to his secret son.
"No, no, no," I moaned, clutching my chest as if I could feel the phantom pain of my daughter's stolen heart. The room tilted and swayed as hysteria threatened to overwhelm me.
Aria's voice cut through my breakdown, cold and precise. *He killed our daughter for his other child.*
"It can't be true," I whispered, even as the evidence stared back at me from the screen. "He couldn't have..."
But the dates aligned perfectly. The secretive behavior. The missing blood samples Elara had mentioned. The way Marcus had insisted on cremation rather than the traditional pack burial rites—to destroy any evidence of what had been taken from her.
My entire body shook with the force of my grief and rage. Emma hadn't died from a random allergic reaction. Her death had been orchestrated by her own father to save a child I never knew existed.
Aria's fury merged with mine, our shared consciousness burning with a single thought: *He will pay for this. We will make him suffer as we have suffered.*
As if summoned by my thoughts, I heard the front door of the pack house open, followed by Marcus's familiar footsteps in the hallway. I quickly closed the laptop and swept the photographs back into their envelope, tucking it beneath a stack of papers.
By the time he appeared in the doorway, I had composed my features into a mask of calm, though inside, something fundamental had changed. The mate bond that had once been my greatest comfort now felt like poison in my veins.
"Luna," he smiled, completely unaware that I had uncovered his monstrous betrayal. "I've missed you today."
I smiled back, a perfect reflection of the devoted mate he believed me to be, while Aria whispered darkly in my mind: *Let the hunt begin.*
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