Chapter 7: Forsaken by the Bond
Fiona’s POV
I never imagined I’d give birth alone, abandoned in a hallway that reeked of bleach and betrayal.
My body was shaking, soaked with sweat, but it wasn’t just from the pain tearing through me-it was from the heartbreak. From his choice.
Alpha Dorian.
My mate.
My bonded Alpha.
He chose her.
Not me. Not our pup.
Cecilia had been wheeled into the emergency room moments ago, nurses scrambling like she was some kind of royal birthing goddess. And me? I was left out here like discarded trash, crying into thin hospital sheets that smelled nothing like home, nothing like pack, nothing like safety.
My wolf whimpered inside me, confused, wounded. She was trying to make sense of the rejection, the way our mate hadn’t even looked at us. It was like we didn’t exist. As if this pain splitting me in half wasn’t real. As if the life growing inside me wasn’t his, too.
I clutched my belly, breath hitching, another contraction making my spine arch off the damn stretcher. It was unbearable. Everything hurt. My muscles, my heart, my soul.
How could he?
I kept thinking it over and over again, each word like a knife slicing deeper.
He’d promised me we were a family. He’d marked me. And yet the moment she cried out, he became someone else. Desperate. Pleading. Willing to pay any price to save her. Cecilia, the woman who had wormed her way into our lives and torn them apart.
The sharp scent of betrayal still clung to the air.
“I’m here too.” I whispered to no one. “I’m in pain, too.”
But no one heard me.
The nurses kept rushing past like I was part of the décor, not a Luna in labor. Like I wasn’t carrying the next heir to the Crescent Moon Pack.
My pride burned hotter than my tears. I gritted my teeth and tried to steady my breathing, even though I wanted to scream. I wanted to shift and rip every smug nurse’s head off. But my wolf was too weak, too distressed, curled inside me in pain.
“You don’t need him,” I growled under my breath. “You’ve got this. You’ve got you.”
But even that lie trembled in my chest. Because I was scared. I’d never done this before. I didn’t know what to expect-except more pain. And it was getting worse.
Then-Chloe.
My best friend. My sister in all but blood.
She appeared like a storm, her fiery scent cutting through the sterile air. “Fiona!” she cried, grabbing my hand like it was the last lifeline in the world. “Hang on. I’m here. I’ve got you.”
My fingers gripped hers like I was drowning.
“I can’t-Chloe, it hurts-I don’t know what to do—” I sobbed, my voice hitching as another contraction hit me like a freight train.
“Shhh, you’re not alone,” she whispered fiercely. “You hear me? You’re not alone.”
Then the nurse finally showed up. She looked about fifteen and had the face of someone who’d just seen a massacre. “I-I’m so sorry,” she stammered, eyes flicking nervously between me and Chloe. “We’re trying to find another room. Please, just hold on-
Another room Chloe exploded. “She’s crowning, you dumb cow!”
The nurse flinched.
Chloe turned to me again, brushing my damp hair from my forehead. “You’re gonna get through this, Fiopa. You’re stronger than you think.”
But I didn’t feel strong. I felt abandoned. I felt forgotten.
I felt like screaming when I remembered where Dorian was-with her. Behind those heavy, sterile doors, protecting her, swearing he’d do anything to save her. As if I was no longer his bonded mate. As if I was just… nothing.
Another contraction came, and I screamed. Not just from pain-but from rage.
This wasn’t just labor. This was a battle.
And I was done being the one left bleeding on the floor.
“You don’t get to break me, Dorian.” I hissed under my breath. “Not today. Not ever again.”
I clutched my belly and focused on the tiny heartbeat inside me-the only heartbeat that mattered now.
I was going to bring this pup into the world with or without anyone’s help. With or without an Alpha. With or without the damn pack.
I didn’t know how long I was lying there before the real chaos began.
The hallway blurred into white walls and blurry shapes, and I was panting like a wild animal. Chloe’s voice was distant now, her hand squeezing mine, grounding me, even as my world spun.
And still-no help.
No doctor. No room. No damn healer.
Until Chloe lost it.
She stormed toward the group of nurses standing around like clucking hens. “Are you all deaf or just freaking useless?!” she shrieked, pointing back at me. “She’s in labor, you pack of half-brained squirrels! She’s dying! Are you blind.””
She shoved one of them. Actually shoved her.
I’d never loved her more.
“She’s your Luna, you disrespectful bitches!” Chloe screamed, eyes glistening with fury. “She carries the next Alpha! But oh no, let’s all serve the mistress with the pretty smile and Alpha Dorian’s checkbook instead, right
One of the nurses scurried away, finally doing something that looked productive. I wasn’t sure whether to cry or cheer.
The pain had become a blur-a dull, dragging weight punctuated by sharp, searing fire that made it hard to breathe, let alone think. But I still heard her.
Chloe’s voice cut through the haze, laced with fury and heartbreak.
“Alpha Dorian, you’re a son of a bitch!” she screamed, pointing straight at him like she was about to shift and rip his throat out. “You think just because you have money, you can decide who lives and who suffers? You’ll pay for this, I swear!”
My heart thudded against my ribs-part pain, part adrenaline, part pure disbelief. But what truly gutted me was the way he just looked at her.
Startled, for a second. Like she was a fly buzzing in his ear. Then-nothing. No guilt. No flicker of shame. No glance in my direction. Just a cold return to watching her.
Cecilia.
Lying behind that emergency room door like she was the Luna of the pack. Like I hadn’t carried his mark, shared his bed, dreamed of a future where our pup would rum wild in the training fields with his eyes and my fire.
He’d chosen her. Right in front of me. And he didn’t even flinch.
2/3
“Fiona, hold on! Don’t you dare give up!” Chloe’s hands gripped the sides of my stretcher, grounding me. “They’re going to pay for this. I swear to the Moon Goddess, Alpha Dorian will regret every damn thing!”
1 blinked hard, trying to keep my eyes open. Everything felt… distant. Like I was sinking beneath the surface of my own body. Like I was watching all of this happen from inside a locked cage I couldn’t break out of.
But Chloe’s words wrapped around me like a lifeline. My sister in arms. My wolf howled faintly inside me, still aching, still grieving, but no longer alone.
“You’re all going to be sorry!” Chloe snarled at the nurses, her voice cracking but never backing down. “This isn’t over!”
No, it wasn’t.
This was just the beginning.
Then it happened-like thunder rolling down the hallway, a voice snapped the world into stillness.
“Take my niece out of this goddamn hospital!”
The sound ripped through the chaos like claws through flesh. Deep. Commanding. Alpha-deep.
My head jerked weakly toward the source, my vision blurred by pain and tears, but even I could feel it-that undeniable presence.
A tall man strode toward us, his aura massive and wild. Not pack-polished like Dorian. No. This one radiated something older, more primal. His voice was a growl that shook the floor tiles and sent every nurse scuttling like prey. I could smell his dominance-earth and iron and storm-soaked pine.
He wasn’t just another Alpha.
He was a Lycan.
“Don’t they know who she is?!” he roared, and the walls felt like they might crack from the force of his fury.
Chloe froze, her hand still wrapped tightly around mine, her eyes wide. Then she looked at me, and I looked at her-and for the first time since this nightmare began, I saw something like hope flicker in her expression.
