Choose Your Alpha, Princess

POV Syrena

The plastic test strip mocked me with its single pink line. I gripped the edge of the marble bathroom counter as the Fertility Festival's drums pounded through the pack house walls, each beat a reminder of my failure.

Three years. Three years of trying, and my womb remained as empty as the second window on that damned test.

"Not pregnant." I whispered the words to my reflection, watching my lips form the syllables I'd spoken too many times. The woman staring back at me looked tired—dark circles beneath green eyes that had once sparkled with hope.

My enhanced wolf hearing picked up voices from two floors below, the she-wolves gathered in the kitchen preparing festival foods. Their words carried with crystal clarity, as if they stood beside me.

"Three years and still nothing from Luna's womb," Marissa's voice dripped with suspicion. "But Dr. Hayes keeps saying she's fertile. How is that possible?"

"You know what my grandmother always said about situations like this?" Rebecca's tone turned conspiratorial. "When a she-wolf can breed but won't breed, there's usually witch blood involved."

My blood turned to ice.

"You think Luna Syrena is part witch?" A third voice—young Sarah—sounded scandalized and delighted.

"Think about it," Rebecca continued. "She convinces our Alpha—our strong, virile Alpha who should have multiple mates—to promise monogamy. What wolf in their right mind does that unless they're working some kind of magic?"

"She probably doesn't even love him," Marissa added viciously. "Just wanted the Luna status. And now she's purposely keeping herself barren to spite him, to control him. My cousin says witches can prevent conception with their magic, even when their bodies are fertile."