"Take off the apron, Rebecca," I said.

Rebecca touched the floral fabric, her smile widening. "But I made dinner. Marcus loves my roast."

"It belonged to my mother," I replied, my voice completely flat.

Marcus stepped past me, dropping his keys on the console table. "Stop starting fights, Bella. It's just a piece of cloth."

"She killed them," I stated.

Kevin scoffed from the stairs. "You're still telling that lie?"

I tilted my head, studying my fifteen-year-old son. His jaw was set tight. He believed his own words.

"I guess we are," I murmured.

The smell of the roast beef drifted from the kitchen, mixing with Rebecca's heavy vanilla perfume. It made my stomach turn. It slammed me right back into the cold, damp stone of the Pack House basement five years ago.

I had been sitting in the dark cell below these very floorboards. I was ready to starve. My parents, the loyal Pack Betas, were dead. I thought my fated mate, Marcus, had locked me up for my own good. I thought my drunken rage had torn their throats out.

Then the heavy iron door above had cracked open. Voices drifted down the air vent.

"Are we really doing this?" Marcus asked, pacing the floorboards above me. "Lying to Bella? Her parents were loyal."

I crawled toward the vent, pressing my ear against the cold metal.

"Marcus, my health is fragile," Rebecca cried softly. "I didn't mean to run them off the road. I panicked. Would you really send me to prison?"

"They were her family, Rebecca."

"And I am your future," she pleaded. "Bella has Alpha blood. The rogues in the forbidden zone won't dare touch her. She'll be perfectly safe."

My hands shook. The truth hit me like a physical blow. I wasn't a murderer. She was.

"Open the door!" I screamed, slamming my fists into the basement bars.

The voices upstairs stopped. Footsteps hurried down the concrete steps. Marcus appeared, holding a ring of keys. Rebecca hid behind his broad shoulders.

"Let me out!" I snarled.

"Bella, calm down," Marcus ordered.

"You killed them!" I shoved my arm through the bars, trying to grab Rebecca's dress. "You murdered my parents!"

Marcus unlocked the door, shoving me backward. "You're having a mental break."

Fur ripped through my skin. My bones cracked. I didn't care about the silver chains binding my ankles. I summoned my wolf, baring my fangs at the woman who destroyed my life.

"I will tear you apart!" I roared.

I lunged.

"Stop her!" Marcus yelled.

Four guards flooded the basement, pinning my arms. I thrashed, snapping my jaws toward Rebecca's neck. She whimpered, clinging to Marcus.

"Mom?"

The small voice froze the blood in my veins.

I stopped fighting the guards. I turned my head.

Kevin stood at the bottom of the stairs. His nanny held his hand. He was ten years old.

"Kevin," I choked out, shifting back to my human form. "Tell them. Tell them I didn't do it."

The boy looked at me. His eyes were completely dry. No tears. No fear.

"I saw mom kill my grandparents with my own eyes," Kevin said clearly.

The basement fell dead silent.

"What?" I whispered.

Kevin pointed a small finger right at my chest. "She is my mom. I wouldn't lie."

"Kevin, who told you to say that?" I begged, dropping to my knees. The silver chains burned my skin. "Please!"

"Take her to the forbidden zone," Marcus commanded, turning his back on me.

"Bella?" Rebecca's voice snapped me back to the present.

I blinked. The grand foyer of the Pack House came into sharp focus.

Rebecca stood in front of me, waving a perfectly manicured hand in front of my face. "Did you hear me? I asked if you wanted to wash up before dinner."

I looked at her hand. Then I looked at Kevin, still standing on the stairs with his heavy textbook.

I laughed.

It started as a low chuckle in my chest and grew into a loud, echoing sound that bounced off the high ceiling.

Marcus grabbed my uninjured arm. "What is wrong with you?"

I pulled my arm free. I didn't scream. I didn't shift.

"Nothing," I smiled. I looked directly into Rebecca's eyes. "I'm perfectly fine. Your roast smells wonderful."

Rebecca stepped back, her smug expression faltering. She glanced at Marcus nervously.

"Go to your room, Kevin," Marcus ordered.

"I need to eat," the teenager argued.

"Now," Marcus barked.

Kevin rolled his eyes, turning around and trudging up the stairs. His bedroom door slammed shut a moment later.

"You're acting crazy," Marcus muttered, running a hand through his hair. "Go upstairs. The guest room at the end of the hall is yours."

"The guest room?" I asked.

"Rebecca and I share the master suite," he replied, lifting his chin. "Obviously."

"Obviously," I repeated.

"I'll bring a plate up to you," Rebecca offered, recovering her sweet tone. "You must be starving. The rogues don't leave much food in the forbidden zone, do they?"

"They leave plenty of bones," I said.

I walked past her, my bare feet silent on the hardwood floor. I didn't step on the rug.

I climbed the grand staircase, my hand trailing over the polished banister. The wound on my bicep throbbed, sending hot spikes of pain down to my fingertips.

I reached the second-floor landing and walked to the end of the hall. The guest room door was slightly open.

I pushed it wide.

The room was completely bare. No sheets on the mattress. No curtains on the windows. A thick layer of dust coated the dresser.

"Make yourself comfortable," Marcus called out from the bottom of the stairs.

I walked inside and shut the door behind me. The lock clicked into place.

I leaned against the wood, sliding down until I hit the floor. I pressed my hands over my face.

They thought I was broken. They thought five years in the caves had turned me into a submissive, mindless shell.

A sharp knock banged against the door.

"Mom," Kevin's voice came through the wood.

I dropped my hands. I didn't answer.

"I know you're sitting right there," he said.

"What do you want, Kevin?" I asked, keeping my voice steady.

"Leave," he demanded. "Pack whatever garbage you brought and get out of this house."

"I am your mother."

"Rebecca is my mother," Kevin shot back. "She raised me. You just ruined everything."

A strange calmness washed over me. The maternal instinct that used to bleed for him suddenly turned to ice.

"Did she tell you to say that?" I asked.

"I don't need anyone to tell me anything," he spat. "You're a murderer."

"You know what you saw that night, Kevin," I said softly.

Silence stretched through the hallway.

"I saw a monster," he finally whispered.

Footsteps retreated down the hall. A door slammed.

I pushed myself up from the floor and walked over to the bare window. The moon hung low over the Pack territory, casting long shadows across the lawn.

My parents were buried somewhere out there. In unmarked graves.

I touched my bleeding arm. The rogue's venom from two days ago still coursed through my veins, hot and sharp. I closed my eyes, feeling my wolf stir beneath the surface. She wasn't dead. She was just waiting.

A floorboard creaked outside my bedroom door.

Someone was standing in the hall.

I opened my eyes, staring at the brass doorknob.

It slowly began to turn.

The brass doorknob turned. A pack guard pushed the door open, his large frame filling the threshold.

"Alpha Marcus wants you in the master suite," he grunted.

"Why?" I asked.

"He didn't say. Move."

"My arm is bleeding. I need bandages."

"I said move."

I didn't argue. I stood up from the bare floorboards. I needed my mother's Moon Necklace. It was the only reason I hadn't burned this house down yet.

I walked past the guard and headed down the long, carpeted hallway. The master suite sat at the very end. The heavy oak door was cracked open.

"Fuck, Marcus, yes," Rebecca moaned loudly.

Her voice echoed into the hall. I pushed the door open.

They were on the massive four-poster bed. Rebecca's legs were wrapped tight around his waist, her bare breasts bouncing as Marcus thrust into her wet cunt.

"Shove your fucking cock deeper, Marcus," Rebecca begged, her nails digging into his sweaty back. "Fuck me again. Don't stop."

"You like that, Rebecca?" Marcus grunted, his hips snapping forward.

"Give me your knot, Marcus," she cried out. "Fill me up."

I stood in the doorway. My pulse didn't spike. My hands stayed perfectly still at my sides.

Marcus caught my scent. He froze. He pulled his dick out of her with a wet slap and turned his head. His chest heaved.

"You didn't knock," Marcus said.

"You left the door open," I replied.

He stared at me. He waited for the explosion. Five years ago, I would have shifted. I would have torn the silk sheets to shreds and painted the walls with their blood.

I just looked at a crack in the floorboards.

"Put some pants on," I said. "I want my mother's necklace."

Marcus frowned. His jaw hardened, then slowly relaxed as he grabbed a pair of gray sweatpants from the floor. He pulled them over his narrow hips.

"Is that all you have to say?" Marcus asked, stepping toward me.

"Yes."

He stopped three feet away. Disappointment flashed in his dark eyes. He wanted the crazy, jealous mate. He wanted me to scream so he could justify locking me away in the dark for half a decade.

"Look at her," Rebecca sneered.

She sat up and pulled a white sheet over her chest. "Standing there like a stray dog. You smell like mud and rot, Bella."

Marcus didn't defend me. He crossed his muscular arms, watching my face closely.

"Five years in the dark really ruined you," Rebecca continued.

"It did," I agreed.

Marcus flinched. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like you don't care," he snapped. "You walked in on me fucking another woman. You used to tear this house apart if I even looked at someone else."

"I was younger then."

"You are my mate, Bella. Act like it."

"I am your prisoner," I corrected him, my voice completely flat. "I want the Moon Necklace."

Rebecca slid off the mattress. She slipped into a silk robe and tied it around her waist. She walked over to her vanity mirror and picked up a small velvet box.

"You have no rights here," Rebecca said, snapping the box open. "You are nothing."

"I know."

"You look like a corpse," she insulted, pulling the silver chain from the velvet.

"I feel like one."

Rebecca frowned. My lack of fight annoyed her. She dangled the silver chain from her index finger. A teardrop moonstone caught the bedroom light.

My chest tightened. I shoved the emotion down.

"You want this?" Rebecca asked.

"Give it to me."

"Why should I?" Rebecca teased. "It's pretty. Maybe I'll wear it to the upcoming Pack Gala."

"It's a Beta's necklace," I said. "You're the Luna now. It's beneath you."

Rebecca's eyes narrowed. "Are you mocking me?"

"I'm stating a fact."

"You always thought you were smarter than me," Rebecca hissed. "Even when we were kids. You always thought you were better."

"I don't think that anymore."

"Prove it."

"How?"

"Admit it," Rebecca smiled, stepping closer. "Say it out loud."

"Say what?"

"Say that I am the only Luna of the Red Moon Pack," she demanded. "Say that you are nothing but a rogue piece of trash."

Marcus shifted his weight. "Rebecca, just give her the necklace."

"No," Rebecca insisted, her eyes locked on mine. "I want to hear her say it. I want her to know her place."

I stared at the moonstone. Five years in the forbidden zone had taught me a lot of things. I learned how to eat raw rats to survive the winters. I learned how to sleep in freezing mud without shivering. I learned that pride and dignity were useless concepts that got you killed.

I didn't fear humiliation anymore. I felt nothing at all.

"You are the only Luna of the Red Moon Pack," I said clearly. "I am a rogue piece of trash."

Rebecca blinked. Her smug smile vanished, her lips pressing into a thin line. She didn't expect me to cave so easily.

"Say it again," she demanded, her voice rising.

"You are the only Luna. I am trash. Now hand over the necklace."

Marcus stepped forward, his expression dark. "Stop this, Bella. You're being pathetic."

"I'm following orders," I said, extending my open palm toward Rebecca. "The necklace."

Rebecca scowled. She hated that she couldn't break me. She raised her hand to drop the silver chain into my palm.

"Don't give it to her!" a voice yelled.

Kevin stomped into the room from the hallway. He pushed past me, his shoulder slamming hard into my injured bicep. Pain flared up my arm, but I kept my teeth clamped shut.

Before Rebecca could drop the jewelry, Kevin snatched the silver chain from her fingers.

"Kevin, what are you doing?" Marcus asked.

"She doesn't deserve this," Kevin spat, glaring at me with absolute hatred.

"It belonged to my mother," I said softly.

"Your mother was a traitor," Kevin yelled. "And you are a murderer!"

He raised his fist and hurled the necklace onto the hardwood floor.

Then he lifted his heavy shoe and stomped down.

"Crack."

The silver shattered. The moonstone exploded into a dozen jagged pieces.

I stared at the broken shards on the floor.

"Clean it up," Kevin ordered.

A sharp piece of moonstone reflected the bedroom light.

Deep inside my chest, my wolf scratched against my ribs.

Kevin ground his heavy sneaker into the floorboards. The silver links snapped. The moonstone cracked into a dozen jagged fragments.

I stared at the ruined heirloom. The only piece of my mother I had left.

"Kevin," I whispered.

He stepped back, his chest heaving. "Don't say my name."

My right bicep throbbed violently. When he had barged into the room and snatched the chain from Rebecca's fingers seconds ago, his shoulder had slammed directly into my fresh rogue bite. Hot blood seeped through my ruined shirt. A red drop slid down my elbow and splashed onto the hardwood, landing right next to a broken shard of moonstone.

"You're bleeding on the floor," Rebecca pointed out, her tone disgusted. She tightened the silk robe around her waist.

I ignored her. I kept my eyes on my son. I looked at the hand that had just ruined my mother's necklace. In my mind, it still belonged to the eight-year-old boy who used to hold my fingers. But the tall teenager standing in front of me held zero warmth.

"That was your grandmother's," I said, my voice barely audible.

"A woman who stayed in the forbidden zone doesn't deserve to be my mom!" Kevin yelled, kicking a piece of the shattered stone toward my bare toes. "Nor does she deserve grandma's necklace!"

I flinched. The words hit harder than the physical blow to my arm.

"I survived the forbidden zone," I replied, forcing myself to stand tall. "I survived it for you. Every day in the dark, I thought about coming back to you."

Kevin scoffed. He turned his back to me, facing the woman who had destroyed my life. "Mom, tell that woman to clean up this garbage."

The air in the room vanished.

"Mom."

"That woman."

My lungs refused to expand. I looked at Marcus. Surely the Alpha, the man who knew I birthed this boy, would correct him.

Marcus just crossed his arms. He didn't say a word.

"I will, sweetie," Rebecca cooed. She stepped forward, her perfectly manicured fingers brushing through Kevin's dark hair. "Don't let her upset you. You know she isn't right in the head."

"I want that woman out of our house," Kevin demanded, leaning into Rebecca's touch. "She smells like dirt. She's ruining everything."

"We'll handle it," Marcus finally spoke up. He placed a heavy hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Go downstairs. Dinner is ready."

"Make her pick up the pieces first," Kevin insisted.

"She will," Marcus promised.

I stared at the three of them. Marcus, my fated mate. Rebecca, my former best friend. Kevin, my own flesh and blood. They stood in a tight circle, united against the outsider. Me.

"You know the truth, Kevin," I said, my voice trembling.

Kevin stiffened. He glared at me over his shoulder. "What truth?"

"You know I didn't kill them," I pushed on, ignoring Marcus's warning growl. "Why did you lie to the guards? Who told you to say those words?"

"Nobody told me anything!" Kevin shouted, his face turning red. "I saw you! You had the bloody artifact in your hands!"

"I was framed!" I screamed.

"You're a monster!" Kevin yelled back.

My knees gave out.

I hit the floor. The stoic shell I had carefully built over five years of freezing mud and raw survival shattered into a million pieces, just like the necklace.

A pathetic, broken sob tore from my throat. I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Oh, great," Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Now she's crying. What a victim."

I curled inward, clutching my bleeding arm to my chest. Tears spilled over my lower lashes, burning my dirty cheeks. The betrayal from Marcus hurt. The framing by Rebecca stung. But this? My own son erasing me from his life? It destroyed me completely.

"Bella, stop crying," Marcus ordered. His voice held zero pity.

"He called her Mom," I choked out, gasping for air.

"Because she raised him," Marcus snapped. "You were gone."

"You locked me away!" I screamed, my voice cracking.

"Because you are a danger to this pack," Marcus stated coldly. "Look at you on the floor. You're unstable."

"Are you really going to let her stay here?" Kevin asked, disgusted by my tears.

"Just until the Gala," Marcus replied. "Then we'll figure out what to do with her."

"She's pathetic," Rebecca scoffed. She leaned against Marcus, slipping her arm around his waist. "Let's just leave her here, Marcus. The roast will get cold."

"Yeah, let's go," Kevin agreed, not looking at me again.

"Clean up the mess before you go to your room, Bella," Marcus commanded.

The three of them turned around. Marcus kept his arm around Rebecca. Rebecca held Kevin's hand.

They walked out of the master suite.

I stayed on the floor, watching their retreating backs. They moved in perfect synchronization. A real family of three.

Their laughter drifted up from the grand staircase. The clinking of plates echoed from the dining room below.

I was entirely alone.

I pressed my forehead against the cold floorboards. My tears soaked into the wood. I reached out with a trembling hand and brushed my fingers against a broken shard of moonstone.

The sharp edge cut my index finger. I didn't care. I squeezed the fragment in my palm, letting the sharp pain ground me.

I closed my eyes.

I pushed past the blinding grief blocking my mind. I reached deep into my consciousness, searching for an energy signature I hadn't touched in five years.

Before the forbidden zone, before the betrayal, there was another Alpha. A man who warned me about Marcus. A man who offered me a place in his pack if I ever needed an escape.

"Alpha Arthur," I pushed the thought out, targeting the Blue Moon Pack's frequency.

Silence answered me.

I tried again, pouring the last ounce of my strength into the mental link. "Arthur. Are you there?"

A deep hum vibrated at the base of my skull. It wasn't a voice yet, just a connection establishing itself across the miles of territory.

"Does your previous offer to go to your Blue Moon Pack still count?" I sent the message, my mental voice shaking but resolute. "I've decided to leave."

The hum in my mind sharpened. A heavy, masculine presence flooded my senses, wrapping around my bruised consciousness like a warm blanket.

"Bella?" Arthur's deep voice echoed in my head, thick with disbelief. "Is that really you?"

"It's me," I replied.

"Stay exactly where you are," Arthur commanded, his tone shifting into pure, lethal authority. "I'm coming to get you."