Chapter 1

The echo of the door closing behind her was the heaviest sound Ariana had ever heard. The apartment — shared until just hours ago with the man she'd believed she loved — now felt like a glass tomb. City lights filtered through the tall windows, casting long shadows across the hardwood floor.

She moved mechanically, her body numb from the clinic procedure. The doctor's measured, professional voice still played in her head: The process was successful, Ariana, but biological conception may take a few days to become definitive. Your body needs rest. Be patient, take it easy, and let nature do its work.

"Patience..." Ariana whispered to herself, her hand drifting to her still-flat stomach with a mix of hope and fear.

She collapsed onto the bed without even changing her clothes. The emotional exhaustion outweighed the physical. She closed her eyes, trying to erase the image of Mateo and Elena, replacing it with the possibility of a tiny life that — with luck — was beginning to bloom inside her. In that state between sleep and waking, the silence of the bedroom became her only refuge.

Hours passed before a ray of morning sun forced her awake. The pain was still there, but her determination not to be defeated ran stronger. She needed structure, she needed a plan, and above all, she needed income for the new life she intended to build alone.

She got up carefully, mindful of the doctor's warning, and made herself a cup of tea before sitting down at her computer. When she opened her inbox, a new email stood out above the social media notifications and the apology messages Mateo kept sending — messages she deleted without reading.

The subject line read: "Job Offer: Live-In Nanny — Blackwood Residence."

Ariana's heart lurched. She'd applied through a prestigious nanny placement site days earlier, almost on instinct, drawn by the high salary and the remote location the listing promised.

Dear Miss Ariana,

We have reviewed your profile and your prior experience in childcare. We would like to schedule an in-person interview for the position of nanny to young Ethan. Mr. Blackwood requires an individual with absolute discretion and dedication.

Please present yourself tomorrow at 10:00 AM with your updated resume and references at the following address:

Blackwood Mansion — Summit Road, Sector 7.

For any questions, you may contact Mrs. Martha, head housekeeper, at the number attached.

Ariana pulled up the location on a map. It was a wooded, exclusive area, far from the noise of the city and — more importantly — from anywhere she might run into her past. She didn't know this Alexander Blackwood. The listing mentioned he was a businessman who traveled constantly, which suited her perfectly: an absent employer meant fewer questions about her health.

"Blackwood Mansion," she read aloud.

She didn't know that Martha, the woman who would interview her, was the Alpha's former nanny and his most trusted confidant. She didn't know that while she was printing her resume, the clinic's "mistake" was already reshaping her metabolism. A small spark of energy — a force that didn't belong to the human world — was staking its claim inside her womb.

Ariana closed her laptop. Tomorrow she would go to that mansion. Tomorrow she would start working for the man who, without knowing it, was already the owner of the secret growing inside her.

She lay back down, this time with a faint smile. Fate was opening a door, and she was ready to walk through it — with no idea that a wolf waited on the other side.