Alpha Adrian Blackthorn had spent three years proving that Selene Rivers was everything.For a time,Selene believed she was his entire world.He cherished her in ways she thought would last forever.

But forever did not last long.

Hiding inside a closet at Alpha Adrian’s birthday party,Selene's fingers trembled as she tightened her hold on the pregnancy test and house keys meant to surprise Adrian.

Three years she had stood at his side,bound to him by the Moon Goddess’s decree,convinced loyalty and sacrifice could make her his true mate.Tonight,that fragile faith splintered.

“Adrian,will you not call for your Luna?”one warrior drawled.

“She’d only dampen the mood,”Adrian replied,his tone cool.

The pack erupted in laughter.Selene’s fingers tightened around the pendant,her nails biting into her skin.

“Cassandra has returned from the Northern Territories,”another voice said slyly.“What will she think when she learns you mated her younger sister instead?”

A sneer followed:“So which sister will you keep,Alpha?”

Selene’s chest seized.She prayed for denial,for some defense of her worth.Instead,Adrian’s voice cut like a blade.

“Selene is a stand-in.Weak.Desperate to please.If I ordered her to bare her throat to me,she would obey without hesitation.”

The cruelty struck deeper than any claw.Tears slid down her face as she muffled her sobs in her sleeve.

“When will you cast her aside?”another warrior pressed.

Adrian chuckled.“Do you not pity a stray wolf abandoned in the rain,begging for scraps?That’s Selene—naïve enough to believe she belongs.I’ll keep her dangling a while longer.”

Selene's legs buckled.The small test she had hidden tumbled from her grasp and clattered against the stone floor.A thin line marked across its surface confirmed the secret she had carried:she was pregnant with his pups.The sound drew silence;warriors shifted,then wandered off to investigate.

Selene pressed a hand to her belly,terror and resolve colliding in her chest.She slipped from the shadows,cast the keys into a rubbish urn,and fled into the cold night.

“Forgive me,little ones,”she whispered,voice shaking.

At the river’s edge,black water churned beneath the moonlight.She stepped forward,numb,whispering through her tears,“Your mother was a fool.My poor babies…”Death beckoned—until a sudden kick inside her womb stopped her breath.Selene fell to her knees on the gravel bank,sobbing as she realized she could not end the lives she carried.

Adrian never loved her.The woman he loved was her stepsister,the woman she hated most,the one who had destroyed her mother and her wolf pack.The cruelest part was that everyone around them knew,everyone except her.That was the moment she decided to erase every last trace of who she was.

Selene connected with her good friend Mara in the Wolf Pack office through a telepathic link:"Dear,I want to erase everything about me and leave Adrian completely."

"Selene,are you sure you want to delete your identity and sever your mate bond with Alpha Adrian?That means you’ll have no protection,no identity,no rank,not even as a rogue."

"Yes."Selene's fingers trembled."I want no trace left for him to cling to,not a damn fingerprint,not a hair,nothing!"

"Also,I need you to help me draw up an agreement to prove that I am severing my relationship with Alpha."

"Okay,I'll have everything you need done within a week."

——

When she finally staggered back to the cottage she had bought with her own toil,the windows glowed.Adrian was already home.

She wiped her cheeks and entered.Every creak of the door echoed like the ghosts of his lies,every shadow filled with memories of empty promises.

“Selene,why so late?”Adrian asked,his expression feigned with concern,the same mask he had worn when they first met.“It’s my birthday.I expected a surprise.And no meal awaits me.”His gaze slid over her,disdain stark in his icy eyes.

“How was the feast?Surely you’ve eaten enough,”she answered flatly.

He hesitated,then shrugged.“It was good.Odd thing,though—someone discarded the key to a new Alpha lodge.Imagine throwing away such a prize.”

Selene’s hands shook.She said nothing.

“Also,Cassandra has returned.She’s hosting a gathering tomorrow and invited you.”

Cassandra—the sister treasured by their parents,the golden child.Selene,left in an orphanage,had never been welcomed,never chosen.Even after the truth of their bloodlines surfaced,her family’s coldness never changed.

When Selene did not respond,Adrian’s sigh carried authority rather than care.“Cassandra has always tried to mend ties.She is kind.You will go,won’t you?”

His eyes bore into her,no trace of guilt—only command.

“I will,”she whispered.

His smile snapped back into place,as though the cruelty of the evening had never happened.He leaned down to kiss her lips,but she turned,offering her cheek instead.

“I’m tired.”

Surprise flickered across his features before he masked it with calm.“Rest,then.”

He pulled her into his arms,her back stiff against his chest.“You still have much to learn.Everyone tries for you,yet you sulk.”He kissed her hair as if sealing his authority,his breathing soon steady in sleep.

Selene lay stiff in his embrace,lips pressed shut to cage her grief.Inside her,the two small heartbeats pulsed steady and sure,the only truth she had left in a world built on lies.

Seven days,only seven days of patient waiting,she would leave here forever,escape from this relationship full of deception and lies.

The next day,Alpha Adrian Blackthorn walked into the Rivers family’s pack mansion with his arm locked around Selene Rivers’waist.Her body stiffened when she caught sight of familiar faces among his warriors,the same ones who had mocked her before,and yet Adrian kissed her as if nothing were amiss.

“You must get along with everyone,Selene.Don’t disappoint me,”Adrian warned,pressing a kiss to her forehead just as Cassandra Rivers approached.

“Sister!”

Cassandra stood radiant in a scarlet dress,looking like a fae-born beauty beside Selene’s plain form.She clasped Selene’s hands,though her eyes drifted often toward Adrian,following his every move.

“Do you hate me,Selene?We are sisters,but you never once called me after leaving home all these years,”Cassandra said,her voice trembling with practiced tears.

“I’m sorry for monopolizing our parents’love and care,but you must understand,affection cannot be forced.”Her gaze lingered on Adrian as she added,“Mother is gravely ill with heart trouble,but you never visited her.How can I mend your ties if you make no effort,sister?”

Selene’s lips parted,but no words came.

“Selene doesn’t yet know how to handle relationships properly,”Adrian interjected smoothly.“When I have time,I’ll take her to meet your parents and make her apologize.”

Though he knew the neglect Selene had endured,he spoke as if ashamed of her,and her heart sank with anguish.

Needing escape,she slipped away toward the corridor.

“Well,if it isn’t my poor sister,”Cassandra’s mocking voice rang out behind her.

Her heels clicked sharply against the marble as she approached,swirling a glass of red wine,her eyes scanning Selene’s dress with disdain.

“If I didn’t know better,I’d think that was your grandmother’s gown.”

Selene’s fists clenched.Her grandmother—the kind elder who had raised her before her true bloodline was revealed—was her one source of warmth.

“And how does it feel to work as a petty tavern maid after storming away from home?”Cassandra sneered.“Your old granny is in the infirmary,isn’t she?She spent everything raising an ingrate who abandoned her real family.”

“Shut up!”Selene’s voice shook,horrified.

The sacrifices she had endured—working through nights,starving herself,tending her grandmother—all secrets she had confided only to Adrian.Yet he had betrayed her,giving Cassandra the very weapons to wound her.

Her father’s disappointment,her mother’s coldness,her brothers’abuse—none compared to the agony of this moment.

“You unlucky wench,why didn’t you die years ago?Why come back to take my place?”Cassandra hissed.

“Stop it!You already have everything.Leave me alone!”Selene cried.

“Everything?You stole Adrian and dare say I have all I want?”Cassandra laughed cruelly.“Adrian and I were always meant to be.You’re nothing but a bed-warmer,the kind he could have bought with coin.I will have my mate back soon.”

“Cassandra!”Selene’s eyes brimmed with tears as she tried to withstand her sister’s venom.

“Tonight he comes to me,”Cassandra declared,shattering her glass so wine and shards scattered across the floor.“Tonight he will embrace me,kiss me,and claim me as always.”

Selene’s heart lurched.

“What,surprised?”Cassandra smirked.“Adrian always disappears on your mating anniversaries,doesn’t he?Did you truly think he was away on business?”

Selene’s stomach dropped in horror.

“All those trips were spent in your honeymoon lodge in Paris,”Cassandra whispered.“Only,the wolf in his bed wasn’t you.It was me.”

She leaned close,smiling in satisfaction.“That satin dress he gave you last year?He dressed me in it first,and enjoyed me all night,before wrapping it for you.”

Bile burned Selene’s throat.She staggered,barely standing as Cassandra continued,voice dripping with cruelty.

“That night he was a beast in heat.He said you were too prudish,too plain,never enough for him.I gave him what you couldn’t.I gave him everything.”

The memory of that cherished dress twisted into a nightmare.Adrian had made love to her in the very same gown he had first used on Cassandra.The words he once whispered—“You are my one true love”—reverberated like mockery in her mind.

“I have had your mate wrapped around my fingers,Selene.All those nights you waited while he hunted and roamed—Adrian spent them with me.If not for the wards he kept tight around the lodge,I would already be carrying his child,unlike you,who is most likely barren.”

“What did you say?”Selene whispered,tears streaming down her face.

“You can never give him an heir,can you,Selene?”Cassandra closed on her without an ounce of guilt.“Adrian is tired of your useless,barren body.Unlike a countryside-born she-wolf like you,he is Alpha-born and raised among luxury.How can he not want an heir?”

Cassandra forced a smile and took Selene’s hand as if comforting her.“Do not worry,sister.When I carry Adrian’s pups,you will be the first to know.”

“Cassandra!”Selene screamed through tears;each word was a dagger.

“You are shameless!Even after ruining my life,are you still not satisfied?”Selene swatted Cassandra’s hand;Cassandra fell and cried out in pain.

“Selene!”Before Selene could make sense of what had happened,heavy footsteps pounded as Adrian stormed in.

“What the hell is going on?”His glare sliced through the room;contempt and disgust warped his features and froze Selene in place.

“I—it's all right,Adrian.Selene was angry—please do not be mad at her.I am fine.”Cassandra cried,eyes filling with tears,forcing Adrian’s jaw to clench.

“I’m asking you,Selene!Why did you harm Cassandra?”Adrian demanded.

“I didn’t...I never pushed her,”Selene whispered,trembling as the room’s occupants stared at her with cold evaluation.Adrian’s friends had already gathered,recording on their devices.

Adrian scooped Cassandra up protectively as if shielding her from Selene.The sight sent a wrenching pain through Selene’s chest.

“Let’s go,”Cassandra sobbed,voice cracking.“Selene has always been stubborn.We shouldn’t make a scene.”She tried to steer the moment away.

Adrian noticed people filming,and fury boiled over.“Selene,come with me now!”

Rather than carry Cassandra to her lavish chamber,Adrian walked to the old storage room—the small place Selene had once slept through freezing winters—and unlocked it.Where Selene had once kept her few things,it was now evidently used for Cassandra’s overflow possessions.

“Sister,the first-aid pack is at the back;fetch it for me,please,”Cassandra said,playing the injured sister.

“Why are you so considerate to her?She ruined your celebration.I shouldn’t have brought her,”Selene sobbed as Adrian’s back tightened and he strode ahead without so much as a backward glance.

Even knowing what Adrian had done,Selene’s body obeyed out of habit,as if on strings.In Cassandra’s opulent room,Cassandra lay against Adrian’s chest,crying in a pitiful,practiced way.

Adrian separated from her and turned his anger on Selene,grabbing her hand in a bruising grip.“Selene,massage Cassandra’s feet now!This is your fault.Do you know how much you hurt your sister?”

Cassandra watched with a small,satisfied smirk.

“I will not do it.”Selene’s heart felt trampled;death seemed preferable.

“What did you say?”

“I will not do it!”Her second refusal snapped like old bone.Enraged,Adrian shoved her down to Cassandra’s feet.Selene clutched her belly as her knee hit the floor,horrified by Adrian’s cruelty.

“Do you even know how to behave?How dare you accuse Cassandra of taking what is hers when you cannot do anything right!Even with everything,you would still be unloved.”

“Adrian!”Selene screamed,tears streaking her face as he showed no remorse.If not for the bed supporting her,she would have collapsed;fear for the pups inside her filled her with cold dread.

Cassandra began to speak,feigning concern.“Selene is my sister.Please get up—Adrian was too angry for a moment.Don’t misunderstand her.”

“Shut up!”Selene burst out,louder than she intended.“Just stop the fake crying!”

Adrian’s palm cracked across her cheek;the sound echoed through the silent room.The sting burned,but the betrayal in that strike sliced deeper than any pain.Selene touched the hot spot on her face,feeling the truth of what she had married.