CHAPTER ONE

LISA’s POV

Three months pregnant and waddling around the mansion often made me feel like a clumsy elephant, rather than the wife of the successor to the alpha of Brimstone Pack.

I placed the tray of food before my father in-law, and he flashed me one of his rare smiles, humming in satisfaction when he took a bite.

I turned around to walk away, but was halted by his loud choking coughs that filled the room. I turned to him abruptly, to see him gasping for air, pain evident in his features.

Fear gripped me.

“My Alpha!” I called out, rushing to pour him a glass of water. He fell off the chair, his mouth now coated with blood.

How did things go wrong so fast? Oh, my God.

I rushed to where he was lying on the floor, my fingers a trembling mess. I was so confused and scared, I didn’t know what to do.

“Help! Somebody, help!” I screamed at the top of my voice, tears cascading down my face in streams.

“Lisa, what...” he stopped in his tracks, his eyes growing wide in horror at the view in front of him.

He stared at his father lying lifeless on the ground, then averted his gaze to me.

Oh, no.

“What did you do?” His voice was dangerously low, spilling venom. His dark brown orbs seemed to have darkened even further, shooting daggers at me.

The atmosphere in the room had darkened, heightened tension filling it to its brim.

“I-I didn’t... It wasn’t...” I tried to explain, but I couldn’t construct a perfect sentence.

My heart thundered against my rib cage, sweat breaking out on my forehead. How was I going to explain that I had nothing to do with all these happening?

“What did you do, Lisa!?” His voice rose octaves higher, startling me. “How could you!? How could you kill my father? How could you kill the alpha of the pack!?”

He thrashed me with questions, giving me no chance to say anything.

“What have I ever done to deserve this? I got married to you on my father’s request, and you go on and you kill him?”

“I didn’t...”

“Lies!” He growled. The veins in his head popped out, threatening to burst through, his rugged breathing, filling the room.

“I didn’t, I swear!” I managed to scream back.

“I knew I shouldn’t have married you! I knew you were nothing but disaster, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” He turned deaf ears to everything I was saying, convinced that I had indeed murdered his father in cold blood.

“And my father? He could not bare to hear a single word against you and what did he get in return?” His eyes brimmed with unshed tears, mirroring his fury.

“Draco, I didn’t kill the Alpha, I swear. I would never...” My voice broke at the end, strangled sobs escaping my lips.

“He got killed, by the one he trusted the most.” He continued, like he never stoped, a lone tear sliding down his cheek.

“Guards!”

“Draco, no. You can’t do this to me, I’m your wife! I’m carrying your child.”

“You are a sinner,” he said at the exact same time the guards, all hefty and scary looking, trooped in.

“You know I wouldn’t do this, I have no reason to. Draco, you can’t do this to me. Please.” I begged in desperation, folding my hands before him.

“Seize her.” He commanded, and two of them came over to where I crouched on the floor, gripping my arms mercilessly, pulling me to my feet.

“Draco...” I trailed off.

“Throw her in the slaves quarters.” And with that, he stormed off.

"Let me go! I'm innocent, I swear!" I begged, my voice hoarse with anguish as I pleaded with the guards, but they remained silent, their expressions cold and impassive.

The guards pulled me with them to the slave quarters. I tried telling them to let me go, I tried jerking my arms from their grip, but all my efforts proved futile.

As we reached the entrance to the slave quarters, my heart sank with dread. I knew what awaited me beyond those doors—pain, humiliation, and the harsh reality of my newfound belittled status as a slave.

"Please, just listen to me!" I pleaded one last time, but the guards only exchanged a knowing glance before flinging open the doors and hurling me inside.

Loosing my balance, I stumbled into one of the cupboards, the sharp edge poking at my protruded belly.

The impact sent searing pain shooting through my body, and I cried out in agony as I landed awkwardly on the hard stone floor. Clutching my belly, I felt a sharp twinge of pain, a sensation unlike anything I had ever experienced before.

"Something's wrong," I gasped, my breath coming in ragged sobs as I struggled to push myself upright. "I think... I think… It can't be right. My child is coming.”

But the guards paid no heed to my distress, their faces stoic as they locked the door behind them and left me alone in the darkness of the slave quarters.

Alone, frightened, and in excruciating pain, I curled into a tight ball on the cold floor, my mind reeling with disbelief. How had everything gone so horribly wrong? How had Draco, the man I loved and trusted, come to believe such monstrous lies about me?

But as the waves of agony washed over me, drowning out all coherent thought, there was no room for doubt or despair. All that mattered now was the life growing inside me, a tiny beacon of hope in the midst of darkness.

With each contraction, I cried out in pain and desperation, praying for deliverance from the nightmare that had become my reality. My life would never be the same again.