The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 45

POV: Isabella

The equinox party was a resounding success.

I had played my part to perfection, the gracious, powerful, future Luna, the perfect partner to the formidable Zane Volkov.

But beneath the surface of my serene smile, a cold unease was beginning to grow.

I had seen the way Lyra looked at the bastard child.

Lyra was not like her sister, Seraphina, who was easily blinded by her own snobbery and ambition.

Lyra was perceptive.

Her intuition was a known quantity in the pack, a quiet but influential force.

She had looked at the boy, and then at Selene, and I knew in my gut that she saw the truth.

Or at least, she was dangerously close to it.

She was a potential problem. A potential ally for Selene.

And that was a complication I could not afford.

My timeline, which had once felt comfortable, was now rapidly shrinking.

Zane was a tempest of unpredictable emotion. One moment he was punishing Selene, the next he was staring at her with a look of raw, obsessive hunger that made my blood run cold.

He was still bound to her.

The mate bond, that cursed, mystical chain, was still intact.

My position as his fiancée, his future Luna, felt more precarious than ever.

I needed leverage.

I needed an unbreakable hold on him, one that even the mate bond could not sever.

I needed to bind him to me with the one thing an Alpha King could never deny: a legitimate, pure-blooded heir.

My original plan had been to seduce him properly, to ensure a real pregnancy after our mating ceremony.

But time was running out. Selene’s presence, and now Lyra’s suspicion, had forced my hand.

I retreated to my suite after the party, my mind a cold, calculating machine.

If I could not create a truth, I would manufacture one.

That piqued his interest. “Speak freely, child. Your loyalty to the Volkov pack is beyond question.”

This was my moment.

I let a small, tearful sob catch in my throat.

“It is about the succession,” I whispered. “About the true heir.”

I paused, letting the silence stretch, building the drama.

“I have not yet told Zane,” I said, the lie tasting like victory on my tongue. “I wanted to wait until after the formal mating, to do things the proper way. But now… now I feel I cannot wait. For the good of the pack, the council must know.”

“Know what, my lady?” he pressed, his voice sharp with anticipation.

I closed my eyes, picturing Zane’s face, and delivered the final, irrevocable blow.

“Elder Malachi,” I whispered, my voice full of false courage and maternal pride.

“I am with child.”

“I am carrying Zane’s true-blooded heir.”