Janette POV:

The Ritz-Carlton ballroom dripped with gold.

I stood in the shadows in my fraying blue dress. Garrison and Keyla were center stage.

"Item 45. The 'Tears of the Moon' Sapphire Necklace," the auctioneer announced.

"Oh, Garrison! It matches my eyes!" Keyla squealed.

"Seventy thousand!" Sterling shouted. An obese Alpha from a rival pack, known for collecting young Omegas.

Garrison stiffened. "Eighty."

"One hundred," Sterling countered, grinning gold teeth. He waddled over.

"I'll drop the bid, Garrison," Sterling whispered, loud enough for my ears. "And I'll sign that timber deal. But I want her."

He pointed a sausage finger at me.

"Just for tonight. My heat cycle is starting."

My blood ran cold.

Garrison looked at me, then at Keyla, who was pouting over the necklace.

"I can't sell my wife, Sterling," Garrison muttered, though his voice lacked conviction. He looked glassy-eyed. Keyla had been feeding him drinks all night.

"It's just dinner, babe," Keyla whispered in Garrison's ear. "Sterling just wants company. Don't blow the deal."

Garrison blinked, swaying slightly. The drugs Keyla was using to keep him compliant were working.

"Just... just dinner," Garrison slurred. "Bring her back in the morning."

Sterling grinned. "Deal."

The gavel slammed.

I turned to run, but Garrison caught my arm.

"It's for the pack, Janette," he said, his eyes unfocused. "Do your duty."

A waiter appeared. Garrison grabbed a glass and forced it to my lips.

"Drink." The Command hit me.

I swallowed. Fire raced through my veins. Lust Dust.

My knees buckled. Sterling grabbed me.

"Don't worry," Garrison whispered as they dragged me to the elevator. "It'll be over soon."

As the doors closed, watching my husband turn back to his mistress, the last thread of love snapped.

I didn't just want to leave. I wanted him to bleed.

Flashbulbs popped. Blinding white light.

I woke up on a velvet chaise, naked.

"Chin up, sweetheart. Look devastated," Leo, the pack's fixer, said.

I scrambled for a pillow. "Where is Sterling?"

"Gone," Leo said, checking his camera. "He got his timber deal. He didn't touch you. Garrison just needed the leverage."

I froze.

"Leverage?"

"Proof of infidelity," Leo said. "Compromising photos. If you try to go to the Council about the poisoning, these leak. 'Disgraced Luna Seduces Rival Alpha for Cash.'"

Garrison hadn't sold my body. He'd sold my dignity for insurance.

"Get dressed," Leo tossed my dress on the floor.

I stumbled out into the humid night. Thunder rumbled.

Across the street, at the park, Keyla's birthday party was in full swing.

I watched from the shadows. Garrison was on stage, putting the sapphire necklace around Keyla's neck.

"To the woman who brings light to the Silver Moon Pack," he boomed.

They kissed. Passionate. Deep.

I vomited into the gutter.

My phone buzzed. Don't wait up, Garrison's voice echoed in the Mind-Link.

I imagined a pair of shears.

Block.

I slammed a mental wall down. The static silenced.

The rain started. Heavy and cleansing.

I started walking. I wasn't Janette the victim anymore. I was a ghost. And ghosts don't feel pain.

Janette POV:

I trailed muddy water onto the mansion's marble floor.

I went straight to the guest shower, scrubbing my skin raw.

The door banged open. Garrison stood there, wet and smelling of Keyla's perfume.

"You blocked me," he growled. "I tried to tell you to prep the room for Keyla's gifts."

He grabbed my arm.

I swung. Smack. My palm connected with his cheek.

He froze.

"Janette?" Keyla appeared, eyes narrowing. She threw herself against the doorframe. "Ah! She's hurting him! Garrison, watch out!"

Garrison's eyes bled crimson.

"You dare?"

He shoved me. My head cracked against the tile.

"You are out of control," he snarled.

He pulled out his phone. "I have the photos, Janette. Do you want the Council to see them?"

"No," I choked out.

"Then you will be punished." The Command dropped. "Go outside. Kneel in the rain. Stay there until I tell you to move."

My body jerked, obeying.

I walked out into the storm and knelt on the sharp gravel.

I looked up at the master bedroom window. The light turned on. They were watching.

I knelt for hours. But inside, a spark ignited. Something ancient.

My inner wolf bared her teeth.

Let them watch, she whispered. Because when we stand up, we will tear their throats out.

Tomorrow was the yacht party. The lawyers had the files. The hidden camera was sewn into my dress. The vitals-masking herbs were in my blood.

This was the last time I would ever kneel.

The Siren's Call superyacht gleamed under the harbor lights.

I stood by the railing in a white dress that looked like a shroud.

Garrison was drinking. Keyla was holding court.

I caught Keyla's eye and walked toward the dark stern. I released a tiny amount of pheromones. Not submission. Mockery.

She followed.

"Thinking of jumping?" Keyla asked, holding a martini.

"I was thinking Garrison will get bored of you," I said calmly. "He told me. He just needs your family's money."

"Shut up!" Keyla hissed. "He loves me! He covered for me when I poisoned that old hag!"

Got her. The camera button on my dress blinked.

"He knows you killed the Healer?"

"He knows everything!" Keyla gloated. "And he didn't care. Because I am his future."

She stepped closer. "You're just a stray dog, Janette."

"At least I'm not a murderer."

"I am the Luna!" She shoved me. Hard.

I didn't fight it. I tipped backward over the low railing.

"No!" I screamed for the witnesses.

As I fell, I grabbed the railing for a split second, ripped my wedding ring off, and flung it into the dark water.

Then I hit the freezing ocean.

I sank. Darkness swallowed me.

A shadow moved in the deep. A submarine drone. Shadow Claw tech.

I reached out.

Goodbye, Janette.

Garrison POV:

The party noise was grating.

I felt an itch under my skin. The bond.

"Garrison!" Keyla appeared, breathless.

"Where is Janette?"

"She... she's gone. I saw her by the railing. She was crying. She said she couldn't take it anymore."

A sharp pain pierced my chest.

"Janette!" I roared, running to the stern.

Empty.

"Garrison," Keyla handed me a damp piece of paper. "She left this on the deck."

I can't do this anymore. You win.

I stared at the black water.

"Where's her ring?" I mumbled. "She never takes it off."

My wolf woke up and howled. A sound of pure loss.

Mate?

Silence.

"She wanted to leave you," Keyla whispered.

The pain dulled into a throbbing ache.

Keyla led me to the lounge and poured a drink. "To new beginnings."

I drank. It tasted bitter.

Minutes later, the room swam.

"Keyla... I don't feel right."

"Shh," she cooed. "Just let me take care of you."

She dragged me to her apartment.

She pushed me onto the bed.

"Say it," she whispered. "Say I'm your Luna."

My brain was fog.

"Luna," I whispered.

Keyla smiled.

My wolf curled into a ball and snarled. Not her.

I woke up with a splitting headache.

Keyla was naked beside me.

"Good morning, Alpha," she purred.

I scrambled back, falling off the bed.

"What the hell?"

Memories flashed. The yacht. The bitter drink.

I saw a glass with blue residue on the nightstand. Blue Lotus. Hypnotic.

"You drugged me," I accused.

"I helped you relax!"

"By raping me?"

"You called me your Luna!"

I looked at her. Without the glamour, she looked ordinary. Her scent was rotten.

My wolf paced, searching for the bond. Finding nothing.

Janette.

The realization hit like a freight train. I didn't love Keyla. I loved the idea of her. The pull had always been Janette.

"Get dressed," I said coldly.

"Garrison, wait-"

"I said get dressed!" The Command slammed into her.

"I am leaving to find my wife."

"She's dead! She's fish food!"

I grabbed her chin. "If she is dead, I have no mate. And I will never take another."

I stormed out.

Please, I prayed. Let her be alive.

But the cold, empty space in my soul told me I was too late.