When I returned home and began packing the last of my things, I didn’t expect to hear Maya’s voice at the door.

My gaze immediately darkened. Did Logan really give her the keys to our house?

My body was still weak from rejecting both of my fated mates. In contrast, she stood tall and radiant, looking down at me as if she had already won.

Her sharp high heels ground into a framed photo of me and my mother.

“She’s already dead, and you still have the energy to chase men?” Maya spat disdainfully.

I shot upright, my wolf howling inside my chest. No one knew the real cause of my mother’s death.

She had received a letter—just one letter—that caused such intense emotional distress it accelerated the spread of the wolfsbane in her system.

I hadn’t told anyone. Not a soul.

But now, my wolf was too weak to transform. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shift. I could only stand there, trembling with rage, pointing at the lowly Omega who stole my fated mate and drove my mother to death.

"How do you know that? Were you the one who sent the letter?" I growled.

Maya didn’t even flinch. She lazily examined her perfectly manicured nails and tilted her head with a smug smile.

"I only wanted our noble Luna to know the truth. I couldn’t bear to see her deceived by the daughter she once abandoned."

She sighed with a mock pity. “How was I supposed to know she’d be so useless and just drop dead like that? No wonder her Alpha mate didn’t want her. Honestly, her death might’ve been a blessing. When she was alive, she was nothing but a cowardly waste.”

My vision turned blood-red. My wolf was roaring in fury. I couldn’t hold back anymore—I lifted my hand to slap the smug look off her face.

But before I could even touch her, she suddenly staggered backward, a glint flashing in her eyes.

Then, in a shocking move, she pulled out a blade and slashed her own cheek—just as I was lunging forward.

Before I could speak, a powerful force knocked me to the ground.

The frame with my mother’s photo shattered beside me. A shard of glass sliced across my cheek.

Then I heard Logan’s panicked voice.

“Maya! Are you hurt?! Where are you bleeding?!”

She cupped her small face with delicate, blood-streaked hands, tears shimmering in her eyes like a wounded doll.

“Don’t blame Amalia, okay? She was just angry that I took Weston away from her. And I’m just an omega... if she wants to punish me, what can I do?”

Logan pulled her into his arms as if she were some priceless treasure. “Maya, don’t say that. No matter what you are, you’re the gift the Moon Goddess gave me.”

She sobbed—so perfectly it felt rehearsed.

“You’re still willing to protect me even though I’ve been scarred like this... you’re so good to me...”

“Amalia,” Logan snapped, turning to me with Alpha fury radiating off him. “Apologize to Maya. Now.”

I stared at him in disbelief. My voice trembled. “You... do you even know what she did to my mother?”

“She—”

“Logan, don’t fight with your fiancee because of me!” Maya cried again, interrupting me—and pouring gasoline on his rage.

“I don’t care what happened before. Right now, you owe Maya an apology!”

“I can’t believe what you’ve become,” he hissed. “You’re not worthy of being Luna!”

I looked at the man I had grown up with—felt nothing but disgust and betrayal. For the first time, he felt like a stranger.

I straightened my spine and bore the crushing weight of his Alpha dominance. Blood pooled in my mouth, but I didn’t care. I glared at Maya with all the hatred I’d been holding back.

“I will never apologize to her,” I said slowly. “And next time—I won’t go easy on her.”

Slap.

Logan’s hand struck my face so hard I was thrown across the room, crashing into the wall.

“I’ve spoiled you too much and turned into such a vicious person,” he roared. "Now, I’ll discipline you in place of your parents."

The next moment, he hoisted me into the air and slammed a brutal punch into my stomach.

Agony drowned my senses as darkness crept in.

As I lost consciousness, the last thing I saw was Logan's twisted, enraged face.

And in that final moment, I made a vow—one only an Alpha could make.

When I leave this place... I’ll make every last one of them pay.

A stabbing pain in my abdomen yanked me out of unconsciousness.

Instinctively, I reached beneath me, but my hand came back sticky with cold blood.

My child!

I bolted upright, only for agony to shoot through my entire body. It felt like every bone had been shattered.

Why hadn’t my wolf healed me?

I called out to her in my mind, but there was no response. I dragged myself off the bed and stumbled into the bathroom.

That’s when I saw it.

My hair, once long and soft—hair that Logan used to stroke and compare to silk was gone. It was shaved off by his own hand!

Tears burned in my eyes as they rolled down my battered face. I touched my cheek and felt crusted blood, swollen welts, and deep scars. My face was grotesquely swollen. With my mottled scalp and mangled appearance, I looked like a witch dragged up from hell.

So this was what Logan meant by loving and protecting me?

And our child... just because I refused to apologize to the woman who murdered my mother, he punched me—over and over—without mercy.

I curled up in a corner, shivering, calling again and again for my wolf. My wounds were too severe. Without her, I might die here.

On the 999th call, she appeared—bloody and broken, but alive.

Once I had enough strength to move, I clutched my fractured ribs and dug through the trash for my belongings. Then I left.

Tomorrow was my mother’s funeral. I had to send her off one final time.

She was the Luna of our pack. Her funeral should have been a grand ceremony in the plaza. But across from her quiet memorial was Maya’s lavish wedding.

Weston, the strongest Alpha of this generation, was marrying her. Guests from far and wide had come to the wedding.

Meanwhile, my mother’s funeral was nearly deserted. Not even Damian—my so-called father—or Logan, who my mother had loved like a son for eighteen years, showed up.

Instead, I saw Maya.

She was radiant in an eighty million dollar wedding dress, a fifty-million-dollar ruby necklace glittering at her throat. Her eyes glinted with triumph as she approached me.

“Amalia,” she said sweetly, “I know Weston was once your fated mate, and I get that you probably look down on me because I’m just an omega. But... this is my wedding. Why would you show up in mourning clothes?”

Her voice was shrill and piercing. People nearby turned to look, their whispers quick and cruel.

“God, she’s disgusting. Didn’t Weston already reject her? Why is she still hanging around?”

“Look at her face—how hideous!”

“I heard her mother was a discarded Luna. Maybe the Moon Goddess cursed her bloodline.”

“Or maybe it’s not a curse—it’s karma.”

I could endure their insults to me—but not when they desecrated my mother’s funeral.

“Maya, don’t flatter yourself. You’re nothing. I—”

“Oh no, Amalia, how can you wear a hat in this heat? Aren’t you hot?” she squealed, and with a dramatic gasp, she yanked off my hat.

Gasps echoed around me.

My mottled scalp was exposed. The stares shifted—from shock to mockery. Their eyes were blades, slicing what was left of my pride.

“Give it back!” I shouted, trembling with rage.

“Please don’t be like this... you’re scaring me,” Maya whimpered, retreating into the crowd like some helpless victim. But her eyes gleamed with open provocation.

I knew she was doing it on purpose.

But my wolf—wounded and weary—still refused to emerge. My body was slow and weak. I couldn’t even stop a frail omega from humiliating me.

“Amalia,” Maya continued, loud enough for everyone to hear, “I know you still can’t let go of Weston, but you’re about to marry Logan and become his Luna. Acting like this... how do you expect him to face everyone?”

I shoved through the crowd, trying to grab my hat back—not just for my dignity, but because this was my mother’s funeral.

Just as my fingers grazed the fabric, a massive force slammed into me.

A giant gray wolf’s paw smashed into my chest. I flew backward, coughing up blood, my newly healed ribs snapping again.

It was Weston.

Clutching my chest, I staggered upright and stared at Maya.

“Give me back my hat!”

“Amalia, what are you doing again?” Logan’s voice rang out. His eyes flickered when he saw my black mourning dress and wounded scalp.

“Go home, Amalia,” he said coldly. “Don’t ruin Maya’s big day.”

I took the hat and forced myself to my feet. “My mother is dead. Everything between us is over. I formally reject you as my mate.”

The pain of severing a mate's bond tore through me. I spat blood.

“Amalia, you—” Logan tried to speak.

I raised my hand and cut him off. “Accept my rejection. I never want to see you again.”

Holding myself together by thread, I returned to the funeral.

But it was chaos. My mother’s funeral had been completely desecrated. And when Damian finally arrived and saw my ruined appearance, his fury exploded—he slapped me, twice.

“You’ve brought shame to our entire family!”

He didn’t care about her. Or me.

I laughed.

But just as darkness started to pull me under again, I caught a familiar scent on Damian—gardenias.

I jolted, my eyes flying open.

Why was it her again?