When I woke up, the she-wolf was gone.

Her scent was everywhere. A stain on my territory.

Her unfamiliar scent lingered on the sheets, so strong it made me gag.

Even worse was the white-gold earring left on the nightstand.

It had a delicate family crest carved into it, carrying her scent. Like a territory marker.

Like she was telling me: She belonged here more than I did.

Owen walked out of the bathroom, his hair still dripping.

He saw the earring and a playful smirk crossed his lips.

"Jealous?" He walked toward me, opening his arms for a hug.

I stepped back instinctively.

His smile vanished instantly.

He sneered. "Look at you. Cold. Lifeless. No wonder I have to fuck other she-wolves to feel something."

"What do you mean?" My voice was quiet.

"When was the last time you acted like a real female?" He stepped closer. "Besides the night of the Blood Moon Ritual, when have you ever initiated anything?"

Every word felt like a knife carving into my heart.

"I am your mate."

"Mate?" He laughed loudly. "A liar who forced me with dark magic deserves to be called a mate?"

I turned and walked away.

I didn't want to hear anymore.

But that afternoon, I had no choice but to follow him back to the Blackwood Pack estate for a family dinner.

Eleonora, Owen's mother, was the last person I wanted to see.

For eight years, she’d looked at me like I was something she'd scraped off her shoe.

But this time, she didn't even glance my way.

She was holding the hand of Loretta, the she-wolf from last night, chatting happily.

"Loretta, you made it." Owen's voice instantly softened.

Loretta.

Her name was Loretta.

"Of course." She stood up and hugged Owen, looking entirely natural and intimate. "This is my second home, after all."

What did that mean?

Eleonora patted Loretta's hand, her eyes full of approval:

"She was the mate we originally chose for you." Her tone dripped with superiority. "Pure Alpha bloodline. Powerful family backing."

"Too bad some little Omega got in the way." Loretta’s eyes raked over me, dripping with contempt.

I stood by the door, like a complete outsider.

"Easy, babe." Owen snaked an arm around Loretta's waist. "The past is the past. And I already have a mate. If you two get along, she can visit more often."

Babes.

That’s what he called her last night. In bed. Right in front of me.

"Dinner is served," a maid announced respectfully.

The table was filled with a lavish feast.

But it was all meat.

Roast venison, stewed rabbit, seared steaks.

The heavy scent of meat hit my nose hard.

"This looks amazing!" Loretta said excitedly. "I love venison!"

My stomach started churning.

Today was the day after the Winter Solstice.

According to the Moonbrook Pack’s tradition, we had to eat vegetarian for a day to calm our inner wolves.

It was a sacred ritual. It couldn't be broken.

"Madam Eleonora," I said carefully. "Could we get some vegetarian dishes? Today is..."

"Is what?" She cut me off, her Alpha aura instantly crashing down on me.

"The Moonbrook Pack tradition..."

"This is the Blackwood Pack!" She snapped. "Weak traditions mean nothing here!"

I struggled to breathe.

The Alpha pressure made it almost impossible to stand.

"Mom." Owen finally spoke up. "Let it go."

He stood up, picked up a piece of roasted asparagus with his fork, and placed it on my plate.

His movements were gentle, his voice softening.

"Eat this." He patted my shoulder. "It's fine."

Asparagus was vegetarian. I looked at him gratefully, a tiny sliver of warmth rising in my chest.

Maybe he still cared.

I carefully took a bite.

Loretta suddenly burst into a ringing laugh.

"Hahaha! She actually ate it!" She laughed so hard she leaned back. "Owen, you are so bad!"

What?

"What's that sauce on the asparagus, honey?" she asked loudly on purpose.

Owen smirked. "Rich venison gravy."

Ice flooded my veins.

The taste of meat juice exploded in my mouth. The thick, bloody smell shocked my nerves.

The guilt of breaking tradition made my inner wolf go crazy.

My stomach cramped violently.

"You lied," I whispered, my body trembling.

"You chose to eat it," Owen replied coldly. "I didn't say anything."

Nausea washed over me.

I covered my mouth and sprinted to the restroom. I fell to my knees by the toilet and threw up violently.

I heaved until only bitter bile burned my throat.

I fumbled for the mirror again, nearly dropping it.

Her face appeared on the surface, her eyes red and raw with tears.

She took me back to the clear stream of the Moonbrook Pack.

He was looking at me, his golden eyes shining like stars:

"Sienna, I did my homework. Your pack has a tradition of eating vegetarian the day after the Winter Solstice, right?"

"When we're together, I'll do it with you. We'll spend every Winter Solstice together."

"And now?" My voice was raw.

"This is so cruel," she sobbed. "So cruel..."

I looked at my exhausted reflection in the mirror.

My eyes were dry. I couldn't shed a single tear.

Cruel?

My wolf was so broken, all she knew was the numbness.

Owen disappeared for days again.

While staring at the dim mirror, I got an unexpected message. It was from Leo, my brother, asking to meet.

The message felt like a beam of light in the dark. I thought he was finally coming to pull me out of this hell.

But the reality was, Leo grabbed my hands, trembling.

"My company... they set me up again." He couldn't meet my eyes. "It's worse this time."

"How much?"

"Thirty million dollars."

I felt dizzy.

Thirty million.

"They said if I don't pay it back in a month, they'll kill me." Leo gripped my hands tight. "Sienna, you're my only hope."

"Beg me?" I stared at him in disbelief, my voice shaking with rage. "Leo, do you have any idea what I've been through for the past eight years? What that fifty million dollars turned me into? And now you have the nerve to come back and beg me?"

"I'm sorry, Sienna, I'm so sorry..." He sobbed, collapsing to his knees on the floor. "I know I failed you! But..."

He gestured desperately to his leg. Beneath the fabric of his pants, a vicious, gnarled old scar was visible.

My heart seized.

The memory hit me like a physical blow, snapping me back to a night of wind and driving snow more than a decade ago.

Our parents were dead. My brother and I were wandering the wilds, searching for our pack, lost during the migration.

That night, we ran into a rabid shadow hound, its eyes red with starvation.

A split second before it lunged for me, Leo—just as thin and weak as I was—threw himself in front of me.

Its jaws locked onto his calf. His blood stained the snow crimson, but he just clamped his hands over my head, shielding my eyes from the carnage while muttering over and over, "Don't be scared, Sienna. Big brother's here..."

That scar was the price he paid. He'd traded half his life to give me mine.

He was my only family. He had saved my life.

But he was also the one who shoved me into this bottomless pit of hell.

Hate and an unbreakable bond of love warred inside me, threatening to rip me in two.

I hated him. I hated him for destroying my life!

But I... I couldn't just let him die.

I closed my eyes. The metallic tang of blood filled my throat, as if I was back in that snowy night.

After a long, agonizing moment, I finally forced the words through my teeth.

"I don't have the money."

"But you have Owen." His eyes were full of desperation. "Please, just help me one last time."

I wanted to say something, but the words stuck in my throat.

That first fifty million had already nailed me to a cross of shame, tortured day and night for selling myself.

How was I supposed to ask Owen for more?

When I got back to the apartment, a wave of nausea hit me, and I passed out on the spot.

When I woke up, I felt a strange fluttering inside me.

I performed a small ritual... and felt it. A new life. Growing inside me.

A pure-blooded Alpha pup. Owen's pup.

Even knowing this would bring a much worse storm, I had no choice.

That night, Owen came back to the apartment.

He seemed to be in a good mood, humming a tune.

"I'm pregnant," I said bluntly.

His eyes instantly lit up.

"Really?" He walked toward me, reaching out to touch my stomach.

I took a step back.

"Thirty million dollars."

"What?"

I met his eyes. "This pup costs thirty million dollars. Give me the money, and I'll carry it to term."

Owen's face changed in a split second.

His golden wolf eyes glowed with a dangerous light.

"What did you just say?"

"My brother needs thirty million dollars," I repeated. "Your heir should be worth that price."

"Are you out of your fcking mind?" His voice was a low, beastly growl.

A terrifying wave of Alpha aura crashed down on me.

"You're using your own pup as a bargaining chip?" He roared. "Do you have a heart at all?"

"I'm just asking if it's a deal or not."

He totally snapped. He grabbed my shoulders and roughly shoved me against the wall.

"You want money? I'll give you money!"

His kiss was brutal and completely possessive.

I tried to push him away, but his Alpha strength was too much.

He tore my clothes off, his movements rough, like a punishment.

"This is what you want, right?" He sneered in my ear. "Trading your body for cash?"

The way he took me had no pleasure in it—only anger and revenge. Each thrust was him claiming ownership.

He slammed into me, each thrust a brutal punishment. He was trying to kill our pup before it even had a chance to live.

When he was done, he pulled a black card out of his suit pocket.

"Take it." He threw it coldly in my face. "Thirty million. Is that enough?"

Then he slammed the door and left.

I lay on the floor, gently touching my stomach.

Miraculously, the pup's presence was still there. Steady and strong.

Three days later, I found Owen.

"The baby is fine." I said calmly. "I'll give birth to him. I owe you for the thirty million."

He was pouring a drink.

When he heard me, his hand shook, and the glass shattered on the floor.

Glass shards hit my legs, drawing blood.

But he didn't even look at me. He just turned and walked away.

That night, I activated the mirror again.

"I refuse to spend the rest of my life like this..."

The girl in the mirror shook her head, her voice shattering.

"I don't want my pup born into a family with nothing but humiliation... I don't want it..."

Listening to her mutterings, I suddenly felt like maybe everything could still change.

Just days after the thirty million was transferred, my brother asked to meet again.

This time, he cried and slapped himself over and over.

"Sienna, I'm a piece of sht! I owe another ten million... I swear, this is the last time!"

I stared at him, my mind a complete void.

All the strength drained from my body. I had no more excuses to beg Owen. I had nothing left to trade.

So, in my despair, I simply waited for him to come home. And when he walked through the door, I knelt before him.

"Give me another ten million, and I'll do anything you want!"

Owen kicked me away and suddenly laughed.

"An Omega's submission. You think that's still worth ten million?"

I knew Owen wouldn't help me again.

But the next night, Leo sent me a video.

In the clip, he was pinned to the ground and beaten by three massive werewolves.

Fists smashed into his face, blood splattering the camera.

"Sienna... save me..." His voice was a faint, desperate rasp.

I immediately tried the mind link to reach Owen, but I was blocked.

Desperate, I dialed his number.

"Sorry, the number you have reached is unavailable..."

Once. Twice. Ten times.

"Owen, please!" I cried into the voicemail. "My brother is going to be beaten to death!"

"I'll do anything! I'll die if you want! Just please save him!"

No response.

I tracked his location—a werewolf club.

When I rushed over, I saw him and Loretta drinking in a VIP booth.

She was sitting on his lap, raising glasses to celebrate something.

I slammed my fists on the glass, a caged animal. "Owen! My brother is dying!"

But the guards grabbed me and dragged me out of the club.

I knelt outside the club all night, until dawn.

Until Leo sent me an address, saying he was at the hospital.

When I got there, he was lying on the bed, covered in wounds, barely breathing.

His left leg was obviously snapped, and his face was swollen beyond recognition from wolfsbane.

"Sienna..." He grabbed my hand. "I... I know now..."

"What?"

"My company..." He coughed up blood. "Eleonora... she set it all up..."

My blood froze.

"What do you mean?"

"The fifty million eight years ago... that was her trap too..." He used his last bit of strength. "She even hinted... that I should make you... use the Blood Moon Ritual..."

My world collapsed.

Eight years of humiliation. Eight years of agony. It was all a setup.

"Why?" I asked, trembling.

"She said... that way you'd be tied down... and never be able to leave Owen..."

I slumped onto the floor.

Those cold stares from Owen at night. The accusations that I "tricked" him. The punishments of "this is your price."

All of it was built on a lie.

"Doctor!" I ran out to find a healer. "Save him!"

The pack healer checked him and shook his head:

"His wolf core is shattered. He's dying. He needs a healer, now."

"Then do the ritual!"

"But we don't have time right now."

What did that mean?

Just then, a familiar voice rang out: "Careful, darling."

Owen walked into the medical center with Loretta in his arms.

She was wearing a gown, a bandage wrapped around one ankle.

"I accidentally twisted it dancing last night," she said sweetly.

Bullsht. With her healing abilities, there was no way a sprain wouldn't have healed by now!

Eight years of hatred exploded instantly. I lost my mind, charged at Owen, grabbed his collar, and screamed hysterically.

"Did you guys set up my brother?"

Owen looked stunned for a second, then stared at me coldly:

"What are you talking about?"

"Eleonora orchestrated everything!" I shook him violently. "Did you know?!"

He shoved me off: "I have no idea what crazy sht you're talking about."

"Healer!" He used his Alpha command. "Treat Loretta first."

"No!" I grabbed the healer's sleeve. "My brother is dying!"

"As for that man..." Owen pointed at the hospital room, his golden eyes devoid of emotion. "Banish him," Owen ordered.

"What?" I couldn't believe it.

"Since he can't pay back what he owes our pack, strip him of his wolf," he said coldly. "Turn him into a complete cripple."

"No!" I dropped to my knees and hugged his leg. "Don't do this!"

But two pack enforcers had already entered the room.

Leo's screams tore through the night. The agony of having a wolf forcibly ripped out is a thousand times worse than death.

I watched helplessly as my brother convulsed in pain, the light fading from his eyes.

In the end, he went from a werewolf to a broken shell, and stopped breathing.

"No——!!!"

The shock of it—the ultimate betrayal—it snapped the mate bond. The agony was absolute. It tore me in two.

I felt the life inside me give way. A warm gush of fluid slicked down my legs.

Blood. Our pup was gone.

With my last ounce of strength, as the darkness closed in, I let a drop of my blood fall onto the mirror.

The mirror flared to life, revealing her face from eight years ago—so innocent, yet so terrified.

"Reject the mark..." I rasped, my voice a dying, desperate plea. "We can... have a second chance..."

Through the mirror, tears streamed down her face as she nodded.

"I promise."

And then, endless darkness.

---

Owen's POV

After getting Loretta's ankle checked, I went back to the empty penthouse.

The pup was gone. Good. We could have another. A pure one, untainted by deals and lies. Her brother got what he deserved. Now he'd never come between us again.

But the moment I stepped inside, something felt off. Why was it so quiet?

"John!" I called out to the butler. "Tell Sienna to make me some coffee."

John looked at me, totally confused:

"Sienna? Who's Sienna?"

"My Luna." I frowned. "My mate."

John's brow furrowed. "Alpha, you've never had a Luna. You don't have a mate."