**Faith's POV**
It's a good thing I had an adoptive family before marrying the Alpha.
I quickly called Sophie.
She arranged for Lena to be placed under healing treatment, then took me home afterward.
I was German—born, raised, and schooled in Freiburg, Germany. I never knew my mother. I only knew my father, Lukas Leon, who died when I was barely six years old. He told me my mother was dead, but never how she died.
I always knew I wasn't human. Because I have been alive for over two hundred years.
When I turned three, a human child born on the same day as me had turned thirty.
Father always had to hide me. He lived an extra fifty years before he died, but I was still five or so, in height, size, thinking. I knew I was different. I knew I was special.
Everything changed on my twenty-first birthday.
I fled to a city near Freiburg and somehow ended up in the Black Forest. The moment I crossed it, I found myself in the Tribe of Jermany; an alternate Germany. Even its flag mirrored the exact human Germany flag, except for a wolf's head emblazoned at the center.
The instant I stepped foot here, I knew I was home. Because even my slow growth had stabilized. I began to age normally.
Sophie's mother took me in. She was a witch, just like Sophie, and fated to a werewolf who already had a daughter—Emma. I became their third daughter.
I was lucky to must have found favour in the sight of the Alpha's grand father because he had suddenly married me to the Alpha who I was tied to by strings of fate.
And so… we had been married for five years.
Only Sophie knew I had come from the human world.
"So," Sophie said irritably, steering her scooter, "I thought your mate would be here by now? Where is he?"
She never called him Alpha as others did. She wasn't a fan of him.
"At work, I think," I replied.
That was what he had said, after all.
She rolled her eyes and made a sharp U-turn. "Typical of that prick. There was a vampire attack, you were hurt, and he's working? Working for what, to earn money for your funeral?"
"Probably," I joked.
I meant it.
Sophie's jaw tightened, clearly pissed with my word, "And you're okay with that? What if I hadn't come? Your wounds could've been infected. And Lena—"
"It's fine," I cut in gently, "I and Lena are fine now, aren't we?"
Sophie didn't know it yet that I hadn't told Alpha Gustav about Lena.
After dropping me off, Sophie returned to work.
Jermany was identical to Germany. It had cars, phones, modern life, only laced with magic and the supernatural.
I didn't have time for the Alpha's servants so I avoided them and went straight to my room.
After showering, I prepared for bed. I tried to find peace, but my thoughts circled endlessly around what I'd overheard at the healing house from those junior healers.
Oregana had only been scratched.
Just a scratch! Yet my mate had ran to her like she was about to die.
Oregana was a Moonsinger, blessed by the Moon Goddess, a Gamma, the goddess's favorite. Unlike me. A wound like that would heal in seconds.
So why had my mate rushed to her as if she were dying?
I opened the first drawer for my vitamins. I noticed it was the wrong drawer. It was Gustav's. "Oops!"
But soon, my face turned pale, and my heart clenched when I saw the document lying in the drawer. It was a pregnancy test result.
It definitely wasn't mine.
It had the name Oregana Jermany. And the result was that she was four weeks pregnant.
My heart tightened as I stared blankly at it.
So this was why he had rushed to her side.
I smiled bitterly.
Alpha Gustav and Oregana had been puphood sweethearts. I was probably the one who tore them apart by agreeing to marry him.
Grandfather Jermany probably wanted to do the right thing by marrying his grandson to his right mate—me.
Gustav was probably angered by the forceful union and that was why he treated me with less interest. Wasn't that right?
I had foolishly believed the werewolf who found me lost at Jermany's gates might one day love me back when he realize I have been loving him all along since that day.
"Tsk!"
But Oregana had always been a thorn in my marriage.
I tried to ignore how sticky she was to my mate, always thinking I can endure it as long as Gustav stays faithful. But now, that thorn has taken root and was going to sprout seeds soon.
My marriage is already dead.
Being persistent will only make me a fool.
——
Alpha Gustav returned home very late at night. The house was as silent as a graveyard so I heard when he asked one of the servants, "Where is the Luna?"
"Luna is in her room. When she came back, she just went straight to her room and hasn't come down till now. She didn't even have dinner."
"I didn't want to disturb her but now you are here, Alpha. Should I make the meal warm and send it to her?"
"Do not trouble yourself," My mate clearly said indifferently. "If she is hungry, she will come down to eat."
That was it.
The next moment, he came into my room, took a shower and went out. Probably to his own sacred room where he refuses to ever take a shower. He stayed there for a while before coming into my room again.
I opened my eyes again, but I didn't move. I looked at the bedside clock and it was past 1am.
It was around this time I usually go into his room to give him a head message. Foolishly thinking I was winning him over with my service.
He probably only considered me a servant.
I felt the spot next to me sink in as he lay down.
She turned over to glare at him. "Why are you in my room?"
He scoffed. "This entire house is mine. Meanwhile, you have been awake and never once thought to present yourself in my chambers to say hello?"
Tsk, say hello in your chambers or to come give you a head massage in your chambers?
"Let's have a child, Gustav."
Gustav went still. His face turned darken.
His voice hardened with anger. "Have you lost all sense of restraint? Don't tell me you have been awake all night obsessing yourself over a child?"
I bit my lip, holding back the shame I felt at this moment. "What else do I think about when your mother has made it a daily ritual to remind me that I am wolfless and useless. She believes a child might awaken my wolf—or at least make me worthy as the Alpha's mate."
Gustav gave a cold, mirthless laugh. "Is it truly about my mother or about your fear of losing your title as Luna?"
My heart clenched. So this was what he thought of me!
"I do not need you to have a wolf and Jermany does not need you to be useful to them. I have also assured you repeatedly that you shall remain Luna as long as I rule Jermany. Yet you are still afraid of losing your title as Luna?"
I simply smiled faintly. "Any woman in my place would do same. They would do anything to keep that title as Luna of Jermany and more. So yes, I am desperate. I have lost restraint. Yes, I am afraid."
That angered him.
He got up from the bed. "Do not speak to me about children again. I have no desire for children."
My smile instantly shattered.
What about Lena?
Oregana's pregnancy report flashed through my mind and I felt more pained by his statement.
I stopped him before he could leave. "Dear Alpha, Is it that you don't want children… or that you don't want them with me?"
He paused, then glared at me. "What is the difference? I do not desire children, I do not desire them with you."
My fist clenched. "Then let's break this bond! Reject me, Alpha Gustav of Jermany."