The Human Luna's Second Chance Mate

Chapter 5: She Wanted to Kill Me

Gloria POV

Time did not exist in the dark. No windows. No clock. Just the drip of water from the ceiling and the slow, desperate rhythm of my breathing. I had counted the drops until I lost count—somewhere around three thousand. Two days? Three? My side throbbed where I had hit the stone floor. My head pounded from Sylvia's slap. But none of that mattered as much as the gnawing ache in my belly. Hungry. So hungry.

I pressed both hands against my stomach, still flat, still secret. "Still there, little one?" The words echoed off the damp walls. A flutter. So faint I might have imagined it. Not the baby moving—too early. Just... hope. Stubborn, irrational hope. The tray by the door held stale porridge and water. I had eaten two handfuls of the hard, tasteless mush hours ago, fighting the nausea that came with pregnancy and despair. The water was warm, metallic, but I sipped it carefully, making it last.

Survival. That was the game now. Stay alive. Keep the baby safe. And wait. For what, I did not know.

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The clicking of heels on stone woke me. Not the guard's boots. Stilettos, sharp, expensive, deliberate. Only one person I knew wore those to a prison. I dragged myself upright, pressing my back against the cold wall. Every movement sent pain sparking through my ribs, but I refused to let her see me crumble. Charlotte appeared at the bars, radiant in crimson silk, diamonds at her throat, including my diamond necklace, the one Hunter had given me for our first anniversary.

The Luna crown was not on her head yet, that happened at midnight, but she wore the attitude like a second skin. And she was carrying my bag. My heart stuttered. The bag I had left in Hunter's car. The bag with my report. "Surprise," she said, tossing it through the bars. It landed at my feet with a heavy thump. "Thought you might want your things. After all, you will not be needing them much longer." "What do you want, Charlotte?" She tilted her head, studying me like an insect pinned to a board.

"I want many things. The crown. The title. Hunter's mark on my neck." She smiled, slow and sharp. "But tonight? Tonight I want to make sure there are no... loose ends." The word hung between us, heavy with finality. "Hunter will never forgive you for hurting me." "Hunter?" She laughed like breaking glass. "Hunter gave me the key, sweetheart. He said—and I quote—'Make sure she does not cause trouble during the ceremony.' He is protecting his heir, Gloria. The real heir. Not your pathetic attempt at motherhood."

She reached into my bag and pulled out my prenatal check-up paperwork.

Even in the dim light, I recognized the hospital logo and my name clearly printed on the page. Prenatal examination. Patient: Gloria Reed. Gestation: 3 weeks. f**k. "Found this in the Luna vehicle. Imagine my surprise. The barren human actually managed to conceive." She tucked the paperwork into her bodice. "At first I thought maybe you f****d some useless human to get pregnant, but then I read the report. It actually is Hunter's spawn. Unfortunately for you, that does not fit into my plans. This pup in my belly will be the only heir.

Your useless, half-breed abomination cannot live to see the light of day, and neither should you. I did not work this hard just to have you ruin my plans. As long as you are alive, Hunter will always be tethered to you. See, this changes things. I thought you were just a pathetic obstacle. Turns out, you are a threat." She stepped closer, close enough for me to smell the champagne on her breath. "Hunter does not know, does he? About your little miracle?" She did not wait for an answer. "Of course he does not. You were waiting for the perfect moment. 'Surprise, honey, I am pregnant! Now throw away your surrogate and come back to me.'"

She laughed. "Pathetic. And futile." "It would not be futile," I whispered. "He loves me." "He loved you." She emphasized the past tense like a blade. "While you were getting poked and prodded, he was in my bed. While you were crying over failed IVF, he was planning our future. You are just... a phase he went through. A mistake the Moon Goddess made." She reached into her bodice again. This time, she did not pull out the paper. She pulled out a syringe. The liquid inside was black as tar, catching the dim light with an oily sheen.

My instincts, maternal, primal, terrified, screamed that it meant death. "Wolfsbane extract," she said softly. "Mixed with a few special ingredients. One injection and your heart stops within minutes. They will find you tomorrow morning, dead of natural causes. Grief, probably. Or weakness. Everyone knows humans are fragile." My blood turned to ice. She inserted the key into the lock. The click echoed like a gunshot. "Do not worry, Gloria. I will take good care of your Luna duties. And your man." The door swung open. She stepped inside. Locked it behind her. I looked around desperately for an escape route, but there was none.

I was trapped like a rat. A rat that was about to die at the hands of an unhinged she-wolf. I knew I could not take her, even at full strength. I was human, and she possessed supernatural strength and speed. Not that Hunter ever allowed me to train anyway. He always said he would protect me. Like a fool, I believed him. But look at me now. I was the exact embodiment of the useless human Luna they always accused me of being. "What are you doing, Charlotte? You already won," I pleaded. "Please do not hurt my baby. When Hunter releases me, I will run as far away as I can. I am no threat to you."

Surely she could not be this cold. She was about to become a mother herself. She only chuckled darkly, reaching into the bodice of her dress. "One thing my father always drilled into me is to leave no loose ends," she said, slipping off the cap with an evil glint in her eye. "You and your half-breed die here today. Then I will go inside to my Luna ceremony and take your place in Hunter's life and bed. He was always meant to be mine! Then you came along and cast some spell on him. Either that, or the Moon Goddess was high when she paired you to him. A cruel joke, maybe. But I will fix her obvious mistake."

She stepped closer, the dark liquid in the syringe catching my eye. "I should have killed you the first day you set foot onto my pack lands. But I will remedy that right now." No. This could not be how I died. I had not even had the chance to meet my precious baby.