I Won't Settle for Pretend Love

On the day of my marking ceremony, my mate, Alex Burke, and my sister, Rose Roth, are caught mating in the dressing room. This renders me the laughingstock of the entire pack.

While I'm drowning in humiliation, the Alpha, Nate Hyland, steps forward and marks me in front of everyone!

After we get married, Nate treats me exceptionally well. However, we're never able to conceive a pup. Eventually, I turn to IVF and finally get pregnant.

Nate becomes even more attentive to me. He even calls me "Darling" in his sleep. I think this is a blessing from the Moon Goddess.

This continues until I hear the conversation between Nate and his Beta one day.

"How could you, Nate? Luna Diana adores you and cares for you so much. But just because Rose is scared of pain and doesn't want to go through pregnancy, you secretly switched their eggs and made Luna Diana carry her child? The pup is due in two months! What are you going to do about this?"

Nate goes silent for a moment. Then, he sighs softly and replies, "When the pup is born, I'll hand him to Rose and let her live out her dream of being a mother. I'll tell Diana the pup was stillborn. She's just an abandoned Omega. Staying with her for life is compensation enough."

So all the love and tenderness he showed me is fake.

I immediately schedule an abortion, as I don't want this filthy pup. And I am certainly not holding on to this sham of a marriage either.

I may be an Omega, but I am no one's pawn.

"How could you do this? Aren't you afraid that Luna Diana will notice?"

There was a long moment of silence before Nate Hyland replied coolly, "She won't find out."

"Why are you so sure?" his Beta asks.

"She depends on me completely." He sounded so sure of himself as he said that without hesitation. "She'll believe whatever I tell her."

His Beta went silent for a few seconds before lowering his voice and saying, "Then I hope you won't live to regret it."

Nate let out a light and relaxed chuckle, like there was nothing to worry about. "That day will never come."

The truth was unimaginably cruel.

I stood outside the meeting room with my nails digging so hard into my palm that they drew blood.

But at that moment, I didn't feel a thing.

I had come to bring Nate his cloak. The northern winds had turned bitter these past few days, and I didn't want him catching a cold while patrolling the territory.

Now, it felt like a wolf's claw had torn straight through my chest, and the freezing wind was slicing through the raw wound.

My wolf howled in my mind, feeling my pain.

I staggered back to the villa we shared and collapsed onto the rug before the fireplace. I curled up tightly and hugged myself as my whole body shook. The tears