A maid sent by Empress Dowager Claire stepped forward, her face paling as she examined the name tag on the baby's ankle.

"It's Concubine mate Nancy's child," she stammered.​

Leonard let out a triumphant howl, nuzzling the infant affectionately.

"Nancy, you've given me an heir. You shall be named luna tomorrow!" he declared, his voice booming with pride.

"Take the young master inside at once, and keep him warm."​

As some of the concubine mates reached out to tend to their own crying children, Leonard snarled at them.

"Silence! Disturb Nancy's child, and you'll pay the price!"​

The other concubine mates exchanged angry glances, their wolfish growls low in their throats. "With the Empress Dowager's representative here, how could Nancy's child be chosen?" one muttered.​

Nancy's expression darkened at the comment.

In her agitation, she accidentally released the white cat she held. With a ferocious screech, the beast lunged towards the infants.​

Chaos erupted as the women, their motherly instincts kicking in, rushed to protect their children. Since all the infants were wrapped identically, it was impossible to tell them apart quickly. The cat, its teeth bared, attacked anyone in its path.​

Pushing through the crowd, I scooped up my own children.

But the cat turned on me, its claws raking across my face.

I felt its sharp teeth sink into my flesh as it clung to me, snarling viciously.​

I carried the children back to our chambers, relief washing over me only when the pack healer confirmed they'd escaped unharmed.

My gaze lingered on their sleeping forms-even now, the memory of Alpha Leonard commanding those hellhounds to tear them apart in my past life still echoed in my ears.

Their tiny screams had haunted every moment since I was reborn; in the jaws of those beasts, they'd been no more than morsels.

Thank the Moon Goddess the heirloom title was already bestowed upon Nancy's whelp.

With that, she'd have no reason to end her own life, and my pups would stay alive.

Amy, my handmaiden, snatched up my blood-stained gown, her wolfish growl barely contained. "The Alpha is despicable! Too busy to summon a pack healer, yet he found time to beg the Luna Queen to name a concubine's pup."

"Nancy is his mate now," I cut her off, wincing as the healer's salve-laced with moonflower-stung my claw marks.

"Watch your tongue."

Before the bandages were even tied, a royal summons arrived: the Luna Queen demanded my presence.

Her normally steely gaze softened at the sight of my wounds-deep gashes that oozed blood.

"Child, you've suffered," she murmured, tracing the edge of a gash.

"But are you certain? Trading three generations of Bennett pack's battle honors for a clean break?"

I bowed deeply, my forehead touching the floor.

"I beg the Queen's mercy."

She sighed, scratching a decree into a silver scroll.

"I wed you to Leonard to keep his pack in check, but I thought him a loyal Alpha. Now that you're fated mates no more, take a new identity as my repayment."

As I left the royal manor, I collided with Leonard and Nancy.

The moment Nancy saw the scroll in my grasp, she shifted to her knees.

" I shouldn't have coveted the heir title! Beat me, -just spare my pup!"

Leonard's amber eyes flared.

"Vixen! You swore to repent, yet you slither to the Queen to curse Nancy's whelp!"

My fresh bandages split open, silver-tinged blood soaking through.

Ignoring my cries, Leonard fisted my hair and dragged me toward the royal Manor, my heels carving bloody furrows into the obsidian floor.

"Beg the Queen to revoke this! I'll let you stay as a lowly maid in my pack."

Darkness nibbled at my vision, but Nancy's shrill voice cut through the pain. "Alpha, release her! When she took your mate bond, the Queen exiled my entire family on false charges. Now she'll have me skinned for sure!"

Leonard's grip tightened as he pulled Nancy into his arms, her body trembling.

"Why didn't you tell me this, love?"

"I feared you'd choose pack loyalty over me," she whimpered, nuzzling his chest.

"After all, she's the Beta's daughter, backed by the Queen."

Leonard snorted, flinging me against ae pillar.

"Choose her? " He snatched the scroll and slammed it into my face.

"If you don't revoke this, I'll dig up your father's bones and feed them to the crows! How dare you-"

His words died as the scroll unrolled.

"'Voluntary bond revocation'? You begged the Queen to leave me?!"

I pushed the scroll toward him, blood trickling from my mouth.

"I'm unworthy of the mate bond. May you and Nancy.rule the pack together."

Leonard's expression shifted.

I collapsed into darkness.

The second time, Leonard Thorne's brooding silhouette loomed over me.

"Did you beg for that imperial decree just to ruin Nancy's grand celebration? To embarrass me in front of the noble ladies?"​

I tried to speak, but he cut me off with a snarl.

"Enough! Nancy is kind - hearted. She insisted I give you some dignity, so your twins can attend the ceremony. But mark my words, their clothes and belongings must never surpass that of Nancy's child. Respect for the elder is a lesson they must learn from the cradle."​

"I decline," I replied icily.

My children and I would vanish for good, and I needed none of his false charity.​

His temper flared.

With a roar, he shattered the medicine bowl in his hand, shards of porcelain flying everywhere. "Then rot in the hall with your brats, you disgraced woman!"​

After he stormed out, Nancy Davis entered, flanked by servants.

All pretense of sweetness dropped from her face.

"Camille Bennett, you're no longer a Luna. What right do you have to stay here?"​

Amy stepped forward to protest, but Nancy brandished a token.

"The alpha's orders. How dare you, a lowly servant, stand in my way?"​

I held Amy back, watching coldly as they wrecked the room.

The mandarin Butterflies Leonard once carved for me-a symbol of our supposed eternal love-lay in pieces on the floor.​

Amy's eyes filled with tears.

"That was the alpha's betrothal gift to you!"​

Nancy sneered.

"No wonder he specifically told me to smash it. Your request to renounce your title is a stain on him."​

Indeed, a stain.

In my past life, as I pleaded for my children's lives in the Beast Garden, Leonard had spat that loving me was the biggest mistake of his life.​

Nancy dragged me out of bed.

"What are you waiting for? Leave!"​

My shoes were already destroyed.

I walked barefoot over the debris, the pain in my feet nothing compared to the ache in my heart. In mere moments, all traces of the life Leonard and I once shared in this room were gone.​

Outside, a torrential downpour awaited.

Nancy tossed a tattered umbrella at me.

Amy and I did our best to shield the twins, but by the time we reached the remote courtyard, their swaddling clothes were damp.​