Amelia’s POV

That evening, I arrived home to an empty house. As I entered my room, I found Elizabeth sitting there, her gaze fixed on me. She tossed a stack of papers my way. It was the signed divorce papers. Silas’s signature was unmistakable, as I had seen it on our wedding certificate millions of times.

"How could he…" I began, but Elizabeth cut me off.

"Oh, darling, he did. You truly believed you could keep him? No, no matter how much you open your legs for him, I am the one he loves," she sneered. "Get out of our lives. We're getting married in a week." She rubbed her swollen belly. "My child will not be born illegitimate because of you."

As Elizabeth lunged at me, I pushed her back. "Don't touch me." This only enraged her. She grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the door. To protect my child, I lunged forward and pushed her. She fell, landing on her stomach. A scream tore from her throat as blood trickled down her legs. My eyes widened in horror.

"Oh my God, you’re losing the baby."

Just then, former Luna and Beta Jade appeared. "What's happening here?"

"She killed my baby!" Elizabeth shrieked.

"Capture her and throw her in the dungeon," the Former Luna ordered in panic. "Someone call an ambulance."

Bound in silver chains, I was brutally tortured in the dungeon by Silas's soldiers for allegedly killing his child. My own child was fighting for its life. Perhaps I deserved this for harming Elizabeth's child. The shackles dug into my skin, and I gasped for breath.

"Beta Jade, she's losing consciousness," a soldier reported.

"Don't let her die… she deserves the worst punishment," Beta Jade snarled. I was on the brink of unconsciousness after three days of torture. Jade threw a bucket of cold water on me, and I shivered like a bird in the frosty winter. "You killed the heir. You are dead in Alpha’s eyes. Do you have any idea that you’ll receive a punishment worse than capital punishment?"

I looked at him dead in the eye. "You were with her in this play, weren't you, Beta Jade? Just like old time?"

"You!" he slapped me hard.

"Was Silas involved as well?" I asked. "Was the entire pack playing with me?"

"What do you think?" Beta Jade retorted. "You killed our Former Alpha. You are the reason we are half as powerful as we once were. We were the glorious pack of the East, but you cost us the Alpha, our territory. You were just a liability. You deserved everything that happened to you."

I laughed, a hollow sound. "Jade, kill me. If I survive, I will end each of you. I will give you a death worse than anything. If I die, I will be reborn and avenge myself for what I’ve endured."

Jade scoffed at my empty promises. "It’s too good that you will neither fully die nor live in my torture room."

I lay in the prison, my entire body bleeding. Whenever I’d fall unconscious, they’d douse me with cold water again. It was late at night, everyone asleep, and I wide awake, when I heard the lock of my prison open. A dark wolf appeared, killed all the soldiers, and carried my semi-conscious body away.

"You have to live, Amy," the wolf said.

"Damon?" I whispered. "Why is it you?"

"Perhaps it's my fate to save you again," Damon replied. Something told me he wasn't referring to this unconscious incident, but something far more ancient.

"They will kill you if they find out you saved me," I whispered.

"They won't," he said. "I’m doing it not just for you… but for my nephew or niece… he or she deserves to live."

Before I could ask him anything else, I lost consciousness.

Silas’ POV

It took me ten days to return to the pack.

Ten days of preparing myself, rehearsing what I would say to her.

I was ready. Ready to choose her over everything. Ready to vow that I would stay away from Elizabeth and the child. Ready to fix everything I had broken and start the life we were meant to live. My mate. My Luna. My wife.

But the moment I arrived at the pack house, I knew something was wrong.

The air felt colder. Heavier. As if the walls themselves were mourning.

“Where is Amelia?” I asked, my voice firm.

My mother was the first to appear, her face pale and drawn. I hadn’t seen her like this since the day my father died. My heart dropped.

“Where is she?” I repeated, this time louder.

She didn’t answer right away. Her lips trembled. Then she looked at me with a mixture of pity and restrained rage.

“She attacked Elizabeth,” she whispered.

My breath caught in my throat.

“And… your pup…” her voice broke. “Your pup is gone, Silas. Elizabeth is fighting for her life.”

I froze.

The words didn’t make sense. My pup? Gone?

No. No. That couldn’t be. Amelia would never—never—

“Where is Amelia?” I asked again, my voice like gravel.

“She was thrown in the dungeon.” My mother hesitated. “But… she escaped.”

“Escaped?” My voice turned into a growl. “She is a weak omega. How the hell could she escape the guards?”

No one answered.

I turned to Beta Jade. “Where is she? Is she okay?”

Jade wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“Mom,” I turned back to her. “Is Amelia alive?”

“You’re still asking about her?” my mother snapped. “Not about Elizabeth? Not about your child? She is the daughter of Alpha Dante, Silas! Do you understand what you have done?”

I didn’t hear her.

I shifted as Silver, my wolf, exploded from me in a storm of fury.

I tore through the halls, following her scent. My mate’s scent.

I reached the dungeon. The smell of blood hit me like a tidal wave.

Her blood was everywhere.

There were silver chains with thorns embedded on them. The thorns had dug into her skin and were bathed in her blood. If silver entered her body…. She would die in this condition!

These chains were made for Alpha wolves. And they had been used on her? A weak omega?

My mind couldn’t process it. Silver howled in agony, pacing like a caged beast, searching desperately for her.

But she was nowhere.

We searched until our paws bled. We howled until our throats were raw. By the time dawn came, I had torn half the forest apart.

Still… no Amelia.

Rage blinded me. Madness clawed through my chest. I was going insane. She was gone. My mate. My other half. The woman I was finally ready to love. And I’d lost her.

Not because she left.

But because I didn’t protect her.

Suddenly, a dark figure lunged at me. It was a massive black wolf. Equal to my own strength.

I welcomed the fight. I wanted pain. I wanted punishment.

We clashed, fang against fang, claw against claw, until I collapsed.

The wolf shifted.

It was Damon. My Half-Brother.

He stood over me, his eyes burning with restrained rage.

I inhaled sharply. Amelia’s scent clung to him.

“Where is she?” I rasped, my voice torn. “Where is my mate?”

He looked down at me with disgust.

“Gone,” he said. “Gone to where she was meant to be, far from monsters like you.”

My chest cracked open.

I wanted to scream.

I lunged at him to kill him. To get my mate back. But she was gone.

I collapsed in the dirt, eyes staring into the void above me, knowing that I had just lost everything.

And this time, I couldn’t blame anyone but myself.

I did not cherish her as I should have.

She wanted nothing but love and respect. I have failed to give the bare minimum to my wife.