On the day of his mistress’s birthday, they baked a cake together in our home—our sacred territory, the Moonstone Pack’s Alpha house. It was a place that should have been safe, guarded by the pack’s warriors, yet it had been violated by her presence.

Our young pup, Jax, barely eighteen months old, suddenly developed a high fever, his cries piercing through the night. To silence him, the mistress, Elodie Bishop, fed him a spiced honey cake laced with sleeping pills. It wasn’t just a cake—it was poison, disguised as a treat.

Not long after, Jax was foaming at the mouth, his tiny body convulsing. By the time we rushed him to the pack’s healer, he had gone into shock, his life hanging by a thread.

I confronted my mate, Alpha Jesse, demanding an explanation for how our pup had ended up this way. He stood there, his broad shoulders tense, his expression indifferent. “Pups get sick all the time, don’t they?” he said, his deep voice dismissive. “Elodie meant well. Can’t you stop overreacting? If you keep this up, we might as well sever the mate bond and save you from your constant paranoia.”

His words cut deeper than any claw. He, the Alpha of the Moonstone Pack, the one who should have protected our pup, was defending her. As he wished, I decided to reject him—our bond, our vows, everything.

I moved to a new territory within the pack, erasing his contact from my mind link. Yet, he spent an entire night kneeling outside my den, his Alpha aura diminished, begging for forgiveness. But forgiveness was no longer mine to give.

---

Jax was in trouble again.

When the healer’s mind link reached me, I was out of the pack’s territory, picking up gifts for Jesse and Jax. I immediately booked the earliest flight back. By the time I arrived at the healer’s lodge, night had fully set in.

Inside, I saw Alpha Jesse, his usually commanding presence now pale and shaken, standing beside the healer. I rushed over, my heart pounding. “Healer, how is my pup?”

The healer’s expression was stern, his gaze shifting between me and Jesse. “You seem like a caring mother; why would you allow your pup to consume cake when he was running a fever?”

Cake? Neither Jesse nor I liked sweets. We never bought cakes or desserts. Our pup was barely over a year old. How could this happen?

I turned to Jesse, my voice trembling. “Where did the cake come from?”

He scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit he’d always had. “It’s just some snacks from the den. Jax accidentally opened them. Pups can’t tell the difference.”

The healer’s words echoed in my mind as we returned to the Alpha house, leaving me distracted and uneasy. As soon as we stepped inside, Jesse gently took off my coat, fetched water, and washed fruit, urging me to relax while he took care of everything else.

Over the years, he had always been gentle and considerate, his Alpha aura tempered by a rare kindness. But now, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was deeply wrong.

“Okay, I’ll go pack our things; you’ve been exhausted, rest a little,” I said, my voice hollow.

With pack duties, I hadn’t had a proper sleep in three days, and the flight had drained what little energy I had left. As I collapsed onto the couch, drifting into sleep, the phone on the table suddenly lit up. It wasn’t mine; it was Jesse’s.

I entered the password, swiped in, and saw the top chat, marked with an ‘E’.

Just one message: “Are you asleep?”

When I opened the social media feed, my blood froze.

“It’s my birthday, and I made a cake with him.”

The people in the photo were unmistakable: Jesse and Elodie Bishop. She was wearing his den’s emblem, a bold declaration of her intrusion into our territory.

Just then, Jesse emerged from the room. I noticed what he was carrying—crumpled cake boxes instead of luggage.

And he noticed I held his phone.

Almost instantly, he rushed over and snatched the phone from my hand.

“Who said you could touch that?!” His voice was sharp, his Alpha tone cutting through the room.

“Alpha Jesse,” I said, my voice steady despite the storm inside me, “the cake was made by you and Elodie, wasn’t it? Jax was fed by you both, wasn’t he?”

I wasn’t clueless. The photo on his feed and the cake boxes in his hands made it clear.

At that moment, sleep vanished, replaced by rage. My fists clenched tightly, my wolf stirring in the back of my mind, growling in agreement.

How dare he? To bring her into our den, our sacred territory, and let her harm Jax, his own flesh and blood!

“What nonsense are you talking? Jax is just a pup who doesn’t know better; he sneaked a taste when I wasn’t looking. You know how pups are—they’ll eat anything,” Jesse said, his voice tinged with impatience.

“Fine, then show me the snacks you bought so I can see if there’s a cake like you said.”

Arguing further seemed pointless; I had no desire to continue debating with him. His desperate attempts to cover up made me feel disgusted.

Jesse stayed silent, standing with a look of irritation, his Alpha aura flickering. “Are you back just to pick a fight? So what if we made a cake? Today’s Elodie’s birthday. She’s alone here. It was just a cake.”

Making a cake is one thing, but how could he leave her alone with Jax and allow harm to come to him? Shouldn’t I get an explanation?

Anger overwhelmed me, tears unstoppable as they streamed down my face. I had never imagined we’d end up like this.

Seeing me this way, Jesse’s tone softened, his Alpha aura receding as he reached out to comfort me. “Come on, it’s a little issue. Jax is fine; don’t blow things out of proportion.”

Blow it out of proportion?

That was a life! The healer said if he hadn’t been discovered and taken to the lodge in time, it might’ve led to brain hypoxia or even shock.

How could he remain so indifferent?

“What are you smiling at?” I snapped.

I raised my hand and slapped him hard, the sound echoing through the den. “Alpha Jesse, you’re nothing but a bastard!”

Mated for ten years, yet I never saw through the person sleeping beside me.

How terrifying in retrospect!

Jesse and I came together purely out of affection. We were trainees in the Moonstone Pack, learning the ways of our kind under the watchful eyes of our mentors. I first met him during a pack run, his towering frame and commanding presence impossible to ignore. Despite being the future Alpha, he was kind and humble, a rarity among those of his rank. We quickly became friends, sharing laughs and secrets during training. Over time, our bond deepened, and we became inseparable.

My family was of lower rank, while Jesse came from one of the most powerful Alpha lineages in the region. Determined to prove myself worthy of him, I worked tirelessly to rise through the pack ranks. Every time I returned late from patrols or training, he would show such concern. He used to say, “Vera, I promise I will always take care of you.” And he truly kept that promise—escorting me back to my quarters and taking me on moonlit runs during our breaks. We became the envy of the pack.

Three years later, Jesse pleaded with his family to let us mate. But Naomi, his mother and the Luna of the Silverclaw Pack, didn’t think I was suitable. She believed I lacked the right lineage and was nothing more than a distraction. Jesse knelt outside the pack hall for three days and nights, enduring the pouring rain until he collapsed from exhaustion and illness. He nearly died in the pack infirmary, leaving him with lasting health issues. Only then did Naomi relent, and we finally completed the mate bond, though she refused to allow a marking ceremony. It didn’t matter to me; being with him was enough.

As we stood before the pack elders to formalize our bond, Jesse’s eyes filled with tears. He spoke the sacred vow, his voice steady but laced with emotion: “I, Jesse Silverclaw, future Alpha of the Silverclaw Pack, accept you, Vera Moonstone, as my mate, bound by the Moon Goddess’s will.” Tears streamed down my face as I responded in kind, my heart swelling with love. *Forever.* Yet a decade has passed since then. The Jesse who swore eternal love for me now lies to protect another she-wolf.

Brought back to the present, I realized Jesse was staring intently at me. His left cheek bore a large, angry red mark from the slap I had just given him. At that moment, his phone buzzed, and out of the corner of my eye, I caught the flashing caller ID. In an instant, I knew it was Elodie. Jesse hadn’t replied to her message yet.

Jesse answered the call, his voice instantly softening. “Okay, wait for me at home; I’ll be right there.”

“Alpha,” her voice trembled through the speaker, “it’s thundering outside. I’m scared. Please be careful.”

He acted as if I were invisible, soothing her while pulling on his jacket, preparing to leave. I said coldly, “Alpha, if you walk out that door, don’t ever come back.”

“Elodie, is Vera there? Then don’t come. Stay with her; she is mature and steady, unlike me. I’m scared of thunder, boohoo...” Her charming, tearful voice echoed through the phone. Jesse’s heart ached for her. He turned to glare at me fiercely, his alpha aura pressing down on me like a weight. “Stop this madness. I’ll be back soon.”

Before I could respond, he slammed the door and left.

We weren’t arguing about Elodie Bishop for the first time.

Elodie was the new Beta in the Moonstone Pack, appointed by Alpha Jesse himself. She came from a low-ranking pack, and the first time I saw her, her demeanor was timid, her posture submissive, as if she were trying to shrink into the background. Back then, Jesse was the kind of Alpha who respected boundaries. He wouldn’t engage with other females, aside from his mate—me. He preferred male Betas, finding them generally more reliable.

Elodie was late on her first day at the packhouse. She received a stern reprimand, and Jesse demanded to know why. Through tears, she explained that she had to take care of her ailing grandmother in their territory. Jesse was aware of her situation and didn’t press further. But when he returned to our den that evening, he vented to me, “She thinks the pack is a charity. If she needs to look after someone, she should wake up earlier. We’re giving her a rank, and she’s creating chaos.”

I nuzzled him gently, my wolf seeking comfort in his scent. “Come on, she’s young and new to this. Cut her some slack.”

“Honestly, she can’t hold a candle to my Luna.”

I didn’t think much of it at the time. But as days went by, Jesse mentioned Elodie more frequently. It wasn’t just the “she’s clumsy” or “she’s naïve,” but it turned into “sometimes her clumsiness is rather endearing.”

I asked outright, “Do you like her too?”

Jesse chuckled and pulled me close, his Alpha aura wrapping around me like a warm blanket. “Of course not. She just reminds me of you. You, from back in the day.”

When we first met, I was shy and insecure, a low-ranking wolf from a small pack. But over the years, I’ve worked hard to prove myself, rising to become the Luna of the Moonstone Pack. I’m no longer the old Vera. Didn’t Jesse fall for the introverted me all those years ago?

Suddenly, panic set in. I realized Elodie might not be as innocent as she seemed.

I spent a whole day tracking down Elodie’s social media account. It was filled to the brim with posts, every single day. Starting from ten years ago, when Jesse and I first became mates, she’d been updating it non-stop. All were about her secret crush on Jesse.

“Today, Alpha Jesse smiled at me. His mate is such a nuisance.”

“I really like him. When will I be by his side?”

“I’m planning to join the Moonstone Pack; soon I’ll run into him!”

That’s when I remembered during our early days, there was often a young wolf who would come to ask Jesse questions about pack hierarchy. It was her!

After reading her posts, I felt nothing but disgust and deep fear. So, when Jesse returned from patrol that evening, I confronted him.

Jesse barely reacted and even criticized me, “That’s her private matter. By doing this, you’re stomping all over her feelings. Vera, when did you become as petty as other Lunas?”

I stared at him in disbelief. How could he scold me while defending Elodie?

“She likes you. Isn’t that something I should confront?”

“That’s her business. Elodie’s been through a lot, sacrificing just to join the Moonstone Pack.”

His eyes even held a hint of sympathy. I was seething with anger. Many wolves work hard to join the Moonstone Pack. She’s just another hopeful among many. As his Luna, how can I tolerate someone with ulterior motives for my mate staying close to him?

I demanded Jesse demote her. To my shock, Jesse turned on me, “Vera, just because you’re Luna now doesn’t mean you can boss people around. Remember? You used to be like that, and you weren’t even as capable as she is!”

That was the cruelest thing he’d ever said to me. My self-respect, my dignity—he crushed them completely, leaving me humiliated. He knew what I had endured during that time. Now Elodie gets his sympathy, while I fought to be where I am today, drowning my sorrows, spending time in the healer’s den, nearly losing my life.

Looking at the man before me, he seemed like a stranger. I should have demanded a rejection. A mate bond where betrayal begins and a third party intrudes will never survive.

But I was pregnant. Carrying his pup.

Only then did Jesse start to back off. He promised to keep his distance from Elodie. She was shifted to a lower-ranking position. But it lasted only a few months. Until today, when this happened.

I checked Elodie’s social media page. 10:40.

“With you around, I feel so at peace.”

I rushed to the bathroom and vomited until I was empty. He hadn’t severed ties with Elodie at all.