“Uncle, I’ve failed. I want to dissolve my bond with Alpha Cole. Can you help me contact your law advisor?”

There was a brief silence on the other end of the communication stone, followed by his light, amused laugh.

“You’ve finally come to your senses? Good. This time, your uncle will definitely help you.”

I once thought I was the happiest she-wolf in the entire territory.

Alpha Cole adored me beyond measure, giving me an unshakable sense of safety.

The golden account was mine to spend freely; the Mooncrest Villa, spirit-bound mounts—he gifted them without hesitation.

When my sister needed a heart-transference ritual, he didn’t even blink before donating ten million spirit crystals.

Back then, I truly believed I would never lose him.

Until that girl, Diana, appeared.

A young female from a poor border pack—simple, frugal to the point of absurdity.

Yet Alpha Cole found her “genuine and endearing,” even entrusting her with the family’s financial sigil.

On the day of my sister’s ritual, Diana secretly altered the spiritual heart pairing—

replacing the matched heart with a beast’s core.

The ritual failed, and my world collapsed with it.

She only blinked those wide, innocent eyes and said,

“Sister, a beast’s heart beats too. What’s the difference?”

I could barely breathe. And Alpha Cole—he defended her.

“Don’t blame Diana. She only wanted to save materials.”

That was the first time I truly understood how a man’s heart could turn into something so foreign.

I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream.

I simply completed my sister’s funeral rites, as if finishing a grotesque dream.

Love, trust, the sacred bond—shattered in that instant.

On the night of our third moon-anniversary, I put on the white ceremonial robe he once loved,

and prepared the scroll to dissolve our bond.

Only this time, I was no longer the mate who could be sacrificed at will.

I had one final gift prepared for him—

Divorce.

……

After the funeral, when I returned home, Alpha Cole was still calmly eating his dinner, as if nothing had happened—as if the death of one of our own pack members was utterly insignificant.

I stood there for a long moment, watching him. The warmth in my chest drained away little by little. Then, I reached into the cabinet, pulled out two documents, and walked over to him.

“Sign them.” My voice was steady.

Alpha Cole had always hated being interrupted while eating. He looked up, frowning slightly, his tone edged with impatience.

“What is it this time? Another contract? Must it be now?”

He reached for the documents, but before he could touch them, the communication stone on the table began to tremble and glow.

Instinctively, he covered the runes with his hand—but in that split second, I saw the name pulsing faintly across the surface: “Diana.”

The air seemed to freeze.

His expression flickered—just for an instant—and then he stood abruptly, striding toward the balcony.

The movement was too sudden. His sleeve brushed the silver tray, sending porcelain crashing to the floor.

The sharp crack of shattering echoed in the silent dining room. A sliver of white shard skittered across the floor and struck my hand, slicing my fingertip open.

Bright red blood dripped onto the marble tiles, seeping into the runes carved beneath his feet, blooming into a dark, crimson flower.

But he didn’t notice. He was on the balcony, speaking in a low voice, his brows furrowed, his tone detached and cold.

Fifteen minutes later, he ended the call and grabbed his coat.

“I have business tonight. I won’t be back.”

The words were crisp, almost like an order, spoken without emotion.

I called out softly, “You haven’t signed yet.”

He turned, annoyance flickering across his face, clearly irritated by the interruption.

“Does it have to be now?”

“Yes.” My answer was calm.

He said nothing more. Picking up the wolf clan’s crest seal, he pressed it hastily onto the papers.

“There. Happy now?”

I stared at the two sheets in my hands, blood still staining my fingers.

“Yes,” I whispered, barely audible.

He walked out without another glance, the sound of the door closing echoing through the empty Alpha’s estate.

I watched his retreating figure, a faint, bitter smile curling at my lips.

If he had paid even a little more attention, he would have realized those weren’t ordinary contracts at all—they were a dissolution of our mate bond and my resignation as deputy leader.

And my hand was still bleeding.

Alpha Cole had always loved Diana—the Omega with the pure royal bloodline and the soft, angelic smile.

She was my half-sister, the true-born heiress of the Winslet family.

Twenty-five years ago, on the night of the Moon Goddess Festival, two infants were born almost at the same moment in the same birthing chamber. In the chaos, our identities were accidentally switched.

The true royal descendant was me—but I was taken to a poor commoner household, while Diana grew up in the grandeur of the Winslet estate.

Five years later, my foster mother fell gravely ill, and the truth came to light. The Winslets brought me back, but they couldn’t bear to abandon the girl they had raised as their own.

“Eliza,” Josephine had whispered to me that day, “she may not carry royal blood, but she grew up in our arms. Now that her mother is gone, we’re all she has left.”

And so, they made a cruel decision—to keep the truth secret.

The world continued to believe that Diana Winslet was the only daughter of the noble house, while my true identity remained locked away between two families.

Alpha Cole and Diana had trained together since childhood, the pack’s golden pair. But just before their engagement, Diana met a noble from the French vampire territories and fled to Paris in pursuit of “true love.”

To preserve the honor of both houses, the Elders ordered me to take her place and marry in her stead.

Alpha Cole agreed without hesitation.

He needed a political bondmate, not a lover.

Our three years together were calm on the surface, an illusion of peace. Until a month ago, when Diana returned—and Alpha Cole tore off his mask completely.

To drive me away, he even leaked his intimate recordings with her, humiliating me before the entire council.

In those images, I could still hear his voice—cold as ice:

“She did nothing wrong. But I can’t just annul the bond. The Elders would never allow it. Destroying her reputation… is the only way.”

And then came Diana’s soft, poisonous whisper:

“Did you truly never love her?”

“She’s only a substitute,” he replied. “I married her just to shut those people up.”

In that instant, everything I had held onto—every patience, every endurance—crumbled.

I finally understood: sincerity could not buy love, and endurance could not buy respect.

That night I put three things into a box, sealed it, and locked it in the safe.

When everything was ready, I picked up the communication stone and dialed the number of the man I hadn’t contacted in three years.

“Help me take someone away.”

Diana went pale. She screamed in terror, clawing and crying, “What are you doing? Let me go! If Alpha Cole finds out about this, you’ll regret it!”

I was dressed in black, my face like frost, my eyes as sharp as blades of ice. I looked down at her convulsing on the floor. My voice was cold to the point of being nearly emotionless, but it carried an unyielding finality: “Break her from head to toe. Make her pay for this.”

The wolf-guards obeyed. Wooden clubs fell; her wails of agony and the sickening crack of bone echoed through the silent barn. Time stretched thin; pain and blood settled into the air like a stain.

Suddenly the door to the stables was kicked open. A tall figure filled the doorway, silhouette sharp in the backlight. Alpha Cole burst in, face iron-gray, barking, “Stop! What are you doing?”

The wolf-guards immediately stopped. He strode to the center, and his gaze landed first on Diana curled on the ground, barely conscious, wracked with pain—anger and pity fighting visibly in his chest. He grabbed my wrist so hard I thought my bones would snap.

“Eliza!” he shouted, his voice low, fury mingled with pleading. “I know NianNian’s death was a blow to you, but she didn’t do this on purpose! She’s been frugal since she was a child—seeing such a large sum she panicked and made a mistake. She didn’t mean harm! You should show her mercy!”

I laughed bitterly, as if mocked to the core. I looked at the man who had once vowed to protect me and, with tears and a hard smile, said, “You want me to show mercy? Alpha Cole, you actually tell me to ‘show mercy’?”

I wrenched my arm free and pointed at Diana on the floor; my voice ripped the air. “Since she came, our table has been full of leftover food; I have to calculate every bottle of cream I buy; she killed my brother! You want me to be merciful? Today there are only two paths—either she dies, or I do.”

Cole’s expression flickered with complexity; he opened his mouth to speak, but a weak, urgent moan came from the floor: “Alpha Cole… it hurts…”

That single calling arrowed straight into his chest, and in an instant his attention snapped back to Diana. His anger cooled into a stern, impatient calm. “Can’t you vent in some other way? Take her—lock her in the underground ice cell for a while. Let her cool down.”

I was furious. “Alpha Cole! How can you do this to me? I am your wife! You once said you would protect me for life!”

His face went as cold as stone; his voice was ice. “If you dare not believe me, then I’ll show you who holds power in this pack. Diana has my backing now—if you touch her, you’ll bear the consequences.”

The wolf-guards moved forward to seize me.

At that moment, Diana, weak and clenching her teeth, put on a feigned look of concern and said, “Alpha Cole, the ice cell is cold and wastes fire. Maybe don’t use it this time?”

He looked at her pale face and immediately softened, his tone indulgent. “Alright. Do as you say—how should we deal with her?”

She smiled faintly, and spat out the cruelest words: “Today I found an old sled in the junk pile that still runs. Tie her to the back and drag her around in front of everyone. Let her feel what it’s like for bones to break like mine.”

I completely broke, screaming at the top of my lungs, “Alpha Cole! You are unforgivable! I am Eliza—the girl you’ve known since childhood! How can you do this?”

He only gave a cold order: “Do as she says.”

I was dragged out of the barn roughly, my wrists bound, tied to the rusted hook at the back of an old sled.

The engine roared to life. In the darkness, the sled began to move.

The rough stone ground tore at my clothes and skin; dust and blood mixed together, leaving streaks of red across the path my body traced.

I screamed his name again and again, my voice swallowed by the night wind.

“Alpha Cole! Look at me! Do you even remember who I am?”

But he—he was already holding Diana in his arms, tending to her wounds, wiping the blood from her skin.

Every ounce of tenderness he once gave me now belonged to her.

Eliza was dragged behind, her cries unanswered, unseen.

Pain and humiliation intertwined like a thousand needles piercing my nerves. My mind shattered, collapsing into endless darkness.

When I opened my eyes again, the harsh light inside the healer’s tent stabbed into my vision.

Alpha Cole stood by my bedside, his expression cold, restrained.

The first words from his lips were not concern, but a weary sigh.

“Eliza, I didn’t want to drag you like that. But could you please stop causing trouble for NianNian?”

My fingers trembled beneath the furs.

That chase—the one that nearly killed me—he had ordered it himself?

All because… he feared I might go after that woman?

I stared at him—the man who once swore to love me above all others—and now, he was a stranger.

My voice trembled so violently I could barely speak. “What is your relationship with her, exactly?”

Alpha Cole pinched the bridge of his nose, as though struggling for composure. Finally, he spoke the words that shattered what remained of my heart.

“I wasn’t going to tell you. But since you already know… I fell for her at first sight. I like her. I really like her. I like her very much.”

That word—“like”—he said it three times.

Each time like a silver blade, cutting into the flesh of my chest.

Even when he once swore his vows beneath the moonlight, he had never sounded so fervent.

I could hardly breathe; tears blurred my vision. “And what about me? What do the twenty years between us mean to you?”

He fell silent for a moment, then spoke in a calm voice colder than the northern winds.

“Eliza, you’re too strong. Too distant. You’re like the Moon Goddess herself—beautiful, unreachable. I thought I loved you, but it was only a desire to conquer. When I met NianNian, I finally understood what true affection feels like.”

He paused, as if reciting a decree before the council.

“This is my fault. If you promise not to hurt her, you may remain my mate in name. You will still have your rank, your honor, everything you deserve.”

Then he turned and left the healer’s tent without a backward glance.

In that moment, I felt as though my entire life had been sentenced to death—with nothing more than a casual decree.

I once thought it might all be a dream.

But dreams never hurt this much.

Soon after, Alpha Cole’s affection for NianNian became the hottest gossip in the pack council.

Moonstone jewelry, a crimson war chariot, a cliffside villa—he lavished her with treasures beyond even what he once bestowed upon me.

To make her feel “worthy of him,” he brought her openly into the pack territory, handing her the keys to both the treasury and the land.

From that day on, our home was rewritten.

Warmth turned into frugality and suspicion; laughter gave way to silence and cold restraint.

Until tragedy struck—my beloved younger brother paid the ultimate price for this foolish triangle.

In that moment, I finally understood—

the collapse of love does not begin with arguments.

It begins the moment an Alpha allows his heart to belong to someone else.