For ten years, Alpha Ryker was my mate. And for ten years, he slept with other she-wolves.

Every time he touched another woman, the mate bond burned through me like a brand. Still, I played the part of the dutiful Luna. I stood by his side.

His excuse? The pack needed a strong heir.

A past injury had broken my wolf, leaving me barren. He claimed any pup I conceived would be too weak to survive.

But when he brought home his 100th conquest, a she-wolf named Lorelei, I finally broke.

I saw the love in his eyes for her. I felt his wolf stir. It was different.

He hurt me, abandoned me for her, again and again.

He even destroyed my ten-year-old moonflower garden because of her.

I couldn't take the nightly agony anymore. I asked him to sever our bond.

The first time I asked for a rejection ceremony, he panicked. He begged me with red-rimmed eyes not to leave. I tearfully agreed, still clinging to him.

But then he left my side to comfort Lorelei after she had a nightmare.

I asked ten, twenty, thirty more times. He grew numb.

By the fiftieth time, he just sneered.

"Enough, Carys. You're a she-wolf with a dormant inner wolf. Being my Luna is the best you'll ever get. You can't leave me."

But he didn't know. He had already signed our rejection papers.

In three days, our mate bond would be gone for good.

And my phone held an ultrasound of twin pups, along with another message.

"The full moon is in three days. We'll have our mating ceremony then."

"How long are you going to keep this up?"

Ryker’s voice was sharp with impatience.

"You know the mate bond can't be broken. Stop with these childish demands."

I stared at the face I once loved so deeply. His sharp jawline. The way his brow furrowed when he was focused. Those golden eyes that once held a softness reserved only for me.

We had been mated for ten years.

Ever since our ceremony under the laurel tree.

"I, Ryker Blackwood, in the name of the Moon Goddess, bind my soul to yours for eternity..." His vow had been so sincere then.

"Carys, I have to think of the pack. The pack needs a strong heir." His explanation after the first night he didn't come home.

"This is just temporary. It will all stop once we have a child." His promise during our tenth argument.

"Starting this again? You're nothing but a broken she-wolf with a sleeping wolf. Being my Luna is the best you can ever hope for." His scorn the fiftieth time I asked for a rejection.

Sitting here now, watching the mockery on his face, I felt nothing.

Instead, another pair of eyes flashed in my mind. Amber eyes. Kian's.

The man who eased my suffering with his own energy when Ryker's betrayals were tearing me apart. He never said much. He would just press his hand to my back, a pure, warm energy flowing from him into me as he whispered, "Your wolf isn't dead. She's just tired. She needs to rest."

"Did you see the papers on your desk?" I asked calmly. "In your study."

Ryker finally looked up, his brow furrowed.

"What papers?"

I didn't answer. I just turned to leave.

Once he saw them, he would know. Our mate bond would be severed in three days.

My mind drifted back to that night a month ago.

Our tenth mating anniversary.

I’d spent the whole afternoon preparing dinner. I lit candles all over the room, just like our first date ten years ago. I had the rejection papers in my hand, ready to say a final, proper goodbye after one last perfect meal.

Then his phone rang. Lorelei.

"Ryker, the cub is kicking me. It must be calling for its Alpha father... My stomach hurts a little... Can you come be with me?" Her cloying voice whined through the phone.

He didn't hesitate. He was already moving toward the door.

"It's our anniversary," I said, blocking his path.

"Lorelei is carrying my heir," he snarled, pushing me aside. "I can't risk anything. We can celebrate later."

The door slammed shut.

In that moment, my heart died for good.

I took out the rejection papers I’d prepared long ago and placed them in front of him. "Sign it."

He glanced down, stunned for a second, then laughed as if it were the joke of the century.

"What is it this time? The estate in the east? The mines in the north?"

He snatched the pen. He signed his name in one fluid, arrogant stroke, not even bothering to read it. Then he tossed the papers back at me. "Your little tricks are getting old, Carys. Take it. Just stop using this 'rejection' nonsense to get my attention." He thought it was just another one of my ploys for property and reassurance.

He would never know. I never wanted his possessions. I only wanted the love he had long since stopped giving.

Snapping out of the memory, I walked past him. The familiar scent of tuberose hit my nose.

Lorelei's scent.

"And this." I took the moonstone pendant from my neck and placed it gently on his desk. "I broke it by accident."

The pendant made a sharp clink.

Ryker's hand froze.

He had placed that pendant on my neck the day we first met. A symbol of his promise to me.

"What are you doing?"

"I'll be giving up all property and status as the Alpha's mate," I continued, my voice steady. "I'm just taking a few personal items."

He shot to his feet, his chair scraping harshly against the floor.

"Carys, have you lost your mind?"

I saw the panic flash in his eyes and almost wanted to laugh.

"Have you forgotten what you are?" His voice turned cold and hard. "A broken she-wolf with a dormant wolf. How do you expect to survive out there without my protection?"

Broken.

That word used to sting like a poisoned needle.

Now, it meant nothing.

"I know."

His phone rang again, cutting him off.

I watched his features soften instantly, his voice becoming impossibly gentle. "Lorelei?"

"Your stomach hurts again? I'm on my way."

He hung up. When he looked back at me, his eyes held only irritation.

"I have to go see Lorelei. She's carrying my child, and her condition is unstable." He grabbed his car keys and headed for the door. "Marcus will transfer some money to your account. It'll be enough for you to live on for a while."

He left without a backward glance.

The sound of the engine faded into the distance.

I stood in the empty study and pulled out my phone, dialing a number.

"Elder Aldric, it's me, Carys."

"I need to confirm the details of the rejection papers one more time."

A deep, solemn voice answered on the other end. "Luna, the agreement has been signed by both parties and witnessed by the Moon Goddess. It is sacred and irrevocable. It will take effect automatically on the night of the full moon, in three days."

My heart pounded in my chest.

"I understand."

I hung up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

In the night sky, a crescent moon was slowly waxing toward full.

In three days, I would finally be free.

"Carys! How could you not tell me!"

Two days later, Chloe's voice cracked like a whip across the café. Her silver eyes flashed with her wolf's fury.

"You wait until now to tell me something this huge!"

I sat across from her, a small warmth spreading through my chest as I watched my best friend lose her mind on my behalf.

"That bastard Ryker!" Her voice rose. "I always said he was going crazy for his so-called 'strong bloodline'!"

Other customers started to stare.

"Chloe, keep your voice down."

"Quiet? Screw quiet!" She slammed her hand on the table. "It's not enough that he let that bitch move into your home? Now he's humiliating you in public!"

She shot to her feet, her wolf's presence growing stronger.

"I'm going to rip him apart right now!"

"It's okay." I quickly grabbed her hand, a weary smile on my face. "I don't care anymore."

Chloe froze, her eyes instantly turning red.

"How could you not care!" Her voice trembled. "You were mated for ten years! I saw how much pain you went through for him!"

She was right.

Every time Ryker was with another woman, the mate bond sent waves of soul-crushing agony through me. I would curl up on the bathroom floor, biting a towel to keep from screaming.

"You think I didn't see you on all those painful nights?" Chloe's tears started to fall. "Every time I wanted to kill him, you told me to wait, to just hold on a little longer."

Seeing the look on my face, she quickly wiped her tears.

"Fine, let's not talk about it."

Watching my friend fight for me, my nose began to sting. For ten years, she was the only one who stood by my side.

"Chloe." I said softly, placing her hand on my lower stomach. "I'm going to be a mother."

Chloe's eyes widened, and her face went pale.

"You're keeping Ryker's cub?" she practically screamed. "Carys, are you insane!"

Everyone in the café turned to look at us.

"It's not his," I clarified quickly.

Chloe's expression shifted from shock to confusion.

"Not his? Then who—"

Just as I was about to say Kian's name, the door to the restaurant's VIP room swung open.

Ryker walked out with his arm around Lorelei.

The woman was dressed in an expensive white dress, her stomach showing a slight swell. She was leaning against him, cooing.

"Ryker, the cub is kicking again. He must be so excited to feel his Alpha father."

Her voice was so sickeningly sweet it made me want to gag.

Chloe saw them, and pure rage ignited in her eyes.

She stood up abruptly and grabbed her glass of red wine.

"Chloe, no—"

But before I could finish, she was moving.

Splash.

The red wine hit her white dress like a spray of blood.

"Who the hell do you think you are, carrying an Alpha's child!"

Lorelei shrieked and immediately hid behind Ryker.

"Ryker, she's crazy!"

Ryker's face darkened as he shielded Lorelei.

"Chloe, what are you doing!"

"What am I doing?" Chloe sneered. "I'm teaching a shameless little bitch a lesson!"

Lorelei started to cry, looking pitiful. "I know this must be hard for you," she purred. "After all, being unable to give your Alpha an heir... to feel the joy of a cub connected to his bloodline in your womb... it's the greatest failure for a Luna. Ryker was only doing what was best for the pack. He had no choice but to... set you aside."

Her words were a knife straight to my heart.

Chloe was completely enraged. Lorelei wasn't just flaunting her pregnancy; she was using the "joy of motherhood" to define my "failure."

"Listen here, you little bitch!" she snarled, pointing a finger at Lorelei's face. "He has a Luna! What you're doing is called homewrecking! It's shameless!"

Lorelei clutched her stomach and burrowed deeper into Ryker's arms.

Ryker, finally snapping back to reality, shoved Chloe away.

His eyes were filled with a biting cold. "Chloe, watch your place! Carys is my Luna, and Lorelei is carrying my heir. You, an outsider, have no right to interfere."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over me before he added coldly, "And you have no right to disrespect the mother of my child."

Chloe's face went white at his words.

My own face hardened, and I stood to stop him.

But then I heard Lorelei’s tearful voice add the final blow. "Besides," she added, her voice dripping with fake sympathy, "if Ryker hadn't taken pity on you, how could a... defect... like you ever be Luna?"

Ryker. He told her my secret. He told her about my dormant wolf.

My vision blurred as my eyes turned red.

Ryker frowned, looking at me. A flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes.

But it was gone in an instant.

He pulled the woman in his arms closer, his voice as cold as ice.

"Was she wrong? Is your wolf not dormant? Are you not barren? I'm already showing you mercy by letting you stay in this pack. I never even planned on taking away your title as Luna!"

Each word was like a blade to my heart. I could barely stand.

Lorelei smirked from the safety of his arms, her face filled with triumph.

I suddenly started laughing, my eyes turning bloodshot as I stared him down. "You're disgusting, Ryker."

With that, I turned and walked away.

I couldn't bear to look at him for another second.

"Carys!" Chloe called, trying to follow me.

Just then, a foot suddenly shot out in front of me.

I lost my balance and crashed into a nearby table.

Silver cutlery clattered, and a knife sliced across my arm. Blood welled up instantly.

The sharp pain made me grunt, my vision swimming.

"Ah!"

Lorelei screamed from behind me.

I turned just in time to see her recoil dramatically, stumbling back into Ryker's arms as if I'd attacked her.

"Ryker, I'm so scared..." she said weakly. "My stomach hurts... The baby... Did the fall scare the baby?"

Ryker's eyes flickered to my bleeding arm, then to the "agonized" Lorelei in his arms.

The last trace of hesitation vanished, replaced by cold resolve.

He scooped Lorelei up, not even giving me a second glance. He left me with one final, chilling threat. "If anything happens to her or my pup, Carys, you will regret the day you were born."

"Bastard!" Chloe cried, rushing to help me up. "Carys, are you okay?"

I looked at the cut on my arm. It was still bleeding.

But my heart was strangely calm.

"Take me to the pack hospital."

Chloe's hands trembled as she dialed the pack hospital's emergency line. My consciousness began to fade as they loaded me into the ambulance, and then everything went black.

...

The hospital room was quiet.

The pack doctor finished examining my wound and spoke gently. "You were out for a full day. But the cut isn't deep. It will heal quickly."

"The baby?" I asked, my voice tight with anxiety.

"The pups are strong," he reassured me with a smile. "No harm done. But you need to get more rest."

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"Doctor, is Alpha Kian still at the hospital?"

The nurse's face lit up with envy when she heard the name.

"Alpha Kian left yesterday," she said excitedly. "I heard he's preparing for his mate's blessing ceremony. His mate is finally pregnant, and he's over the moon. The entire Healers' Alliance is celebrating with them."

My heart began to race.

A blessing ceremony...

That meant tonight was the full moon. The night Kian and I would be formally mated.

I remembered that night a month ago, after Ryker signed the rejection papers. The pain from my mate bond was worse than ever. I was trying to get to the Healers' Alliance when I collapsed.

It was Kian, who had been watching over me for ten years, who found me.

He poured his incredibly pure energy into my body, his eyes filled with sorrow.

"Why don't you tell him the truth?" he’d asked. "Tell him your wolf went dormant because it absorbed the blow of a curse meant for him. Your body is ravaged by that curse. It needs an equally pure lunar energy to be reawakened."

In the depths of my pain and despair, I broke down in front of him for the first time.

He held me, soothing me like a wounded cub.

Under the full moon, his power resonated with the sleeping wolf inside me. A warmth I’d never felt before, a current of life, surged through my body.

The attraction was primal, immediate. It went beyond reason.

It didn't just seem to awaken my wolf. It healed her.

That night, I conceived with Kian. The pups Ryker and I could never have... I conceived them in a single night with another man.

Maybe everything had been wrong from the start. Maybe it was always meant to end.

"I need to be discharged," I said, getting up and looking at the nurse.

"Now?" she asked, surprised. "Your wound still needs observation..."

"I'm fine."

I had more important things to do.

I had to get the last thing my mother left me—the precious moonflower seeds.

They were kept in the exclusive greenhouse at the Alpha's estate.

They were the only thing in that home I still cared about.

And then, I was going to see the real father of my child.

I rang the bell at the estate's main gate.

The butler, Marcus, came out. He looked stunned to see me.

"Luna? Why are you here?"

"I need to get something from the greenhouse."

Marcus looked conflicted.

"Luna, about that..." he hesitated. "The Alpha gave Miss Lorelei permission to enter the greenhouse half an hour ago."

My blood ran cold.

"What?"

"The Alpha said she wanted to... redesign the space. To prepare a 'better environment' for the future heir."

Redesign.

My mother's last gift. The moonflower garden I had cultivated for ten years.

He let that woman destroy it...

I pushed past Marcus and ran toward the greenhouse, a dark premonition seizing my heart.

Please... don't let it be true...