A deadly silver parasite infected my brain, causing my mind to regress to my fifteen-year-old self.

But my Fated Mate, Alpha Hunter, firmly believed my madness was just a pathetic act.

He brought his mistress, Ivy, into our home and allowed her to brainwash our five-year-old son against me.

When Ivy faked a shallow scratch on her neck, Hunter crushed my hand under his boot and threw me into a freezing dungeon lined with toxic silver dust.

He even handed our son a pair of scissors, watching coldly as the boy shredded my dead mother's dresses.

"Eat it, you ugly old witch!"

My own flesh and blood screamed those words at me while kicking a bowl of rotting meat at my bare feet.

To break my spirit completely, Hunter dragged me into a thunderstorm and forced me to look at the burned ruins of my slaughtered pack, ripping away my only safe memory.

I didn't understand why the Mate chosen by the Moon Goddess would torture me so ruthlessly, or why my own child treated me like a filthy Rogue.

It wasn't until I lay dying on a hospital bed, completely blind and coughing up black blood, that the mental dam broke and my twenty-five-year-old memories finally returned.

I didn’t know that the man who called me crazy would soon kneel before my corpse—and that I would smile, turn my back, and leave him drowning in hell.

Chapter 1

Chloe POV

The sharp sting of cheap, overpowering floral perfume masking something rotten dragged me from a dizzying headache.

I opened my eyes and found myself standing in a massive, modern living room filled with expensive leather furniture and crystal chandeliers.

I did not know how I got here.

I am Chloe, the proud daughter of the Silver Moon Pack's Alpha.

I am fifteen years old, carrying the rarest and most noble White Wolf bloodline in our history.

My Inner Wolf, a restive spirit I had always pictured as white as mountain snow, paced the confines of my mind, its hackles raised at the scent of the strangers before me.

A tall, broad-shouldered man stood there, radiating the oppressive, heavy scent of a powerful Alpha.

His eyes were dark and furious, staring at me as if I were a criminal.

A flicker of raw, inexplicable pain passed through his dark eyes, but it was quickly swallowed as a woman in a silk dress clung tighter to his arm, releasing a thick wave of that cloying, artificial scent.

She was the source of that revolting Rogue stench.

Rogues were feral things, their scent forever tainted by the grime of their betrayals.

A knot of revulsion tightened in my stomach, and I pinched my nose.

"Get this filthy Rogue out of my sight," I commanded, my chin raised high.

The man's jaw clenched so hard I could hear his teeth grinding.

"How dare you speak to Ivy like that, Chloe?" he growled, his voice vibrating with a dark, terrifying energy.

I did not care who he was.

No one disrespected a White Wolf.

I raised my hand and slapped him hard across his cheek.

The sharp sound echoed through the massive room.

The Beta butler standing in the corner gasped, his face a mask of waxy incomprehension.

"I said, kick them out!" I yelled at the butler, fully expecting my father's warriors to rush in and obey me.

Suddenly, a small blur rushed at my legs.

It was a little boy, maybe five years old.

He bared his tiny, undeveloped fangs and bit down on my calf with a surprising viciousness.

"Don't hurt my daddy and Auntie Ivy!" the pup screamed.

My Inner Wolf reacted on an impulse older than thought.

I released a wave of my White Wolf aura, pushing the feral little brat away from me.

He tumbled backward onto the thick carpet and immediately burst into loud, dramatic sobs.

She is a bad woman, Daddy!

The pup's voice, thin and sharp, echoed in my head through the Pack's telepathic Mind-Link.

The iris around the man's pupil spasmed, and a web of dark crimson filaments instantly swallowed the brown.

The air in the room grew thick, pressing down until my lungs struggled for purchase as he unleashed his full Alpha aura.

"You would harm your own flesh and blood just to drive Ivy away?" he roared, stepping toward me. "You gave birth to him, Chloe!"

I pulled a tissue from my pocket, wiped my fingers in disgust, and threw it right at his angry face.

"Are you insane?" I scoffed, crossing my arms.

"I am fifteen years old. I have not even met my Fated Mate yet. The Moon Goddess has not revealed him to me—I would know his scent the moment he walked into the room, and yours is nothing but a stranger's stench. "

"I have never smelled a mate's scent in my life," I continued, glaring at him. "Do not try to pin this feral stray pup on my noble bloodline."

The woman, Ivy, slowly picked herself up from the floor.

She tilted her head, deliberately exposing her fragile neck in a submissive Omega posture.

"I just came back for some files," Ivy sobbed, her voice trembling.

"You do not have to pretend to be crazy, Luna Chloe. I know you hate me."

I sneered at her pathetic display.

"You have zero high-ranking wolf aura," I mocked, stepping closer to her. "Get off my territory before I have you thrown to the borders."

Ivy let out a soft whimper and turned as if to run away.

The man grabbed her wrist, pulling her behind his massive back.

He released his heavy, storm-like scent, wrapping it around her to declare his protection.

He took a massive step forward and grabbed the collar of my shirt, lifting me slightly off my feet.

"The Silver Moon Pack is gone, Chloe," he sneered, his hot breath hitting my face.

"They were slaughtered ten years ago."

My chest tightened, and a hot thrumming started in my temples, the blood in my neck pulsing against the thin membrane of my skin.

"Liar!" I screamed, kicking at his legs.

"My Alpha father just taught me how to hunt yesterday!"

I shoved him away and ran toward the vintage telephone on the mahogany desk.

I needed to call my father's private line. I needed my Pack's warriors to come and rip this lying man to shreds.

Before my fingers could touch the dial, a large hand slammed down on the device.

He ripped the phone cord straight out of the wall.

"Your dead parents were useless, weak fools!" he barked, his red eyes flashing with cruelty.

A loud ringing sound filled my ears.

Nobody insulted my parents. Nobody insulted the Alpha and Luna of Silver Moon.

I swung my hand again, slapping him on the other side of his face with all the strength my fifteen-year-old body had.

The room went dead silent.

The man's breathing became heavy, a guttural sound from deep in his chest, like a beast about to rip into flesh.

"Guards!" he roared, using the Alpha's Command.

The sheer command in his voice drove the air from my lungs and sent a weakness through my knees.

Two massive Warriors rushed into the room, their heads bowed in submission.

"Throw her into the underground dungeon," he ordered, his voice dripping with venom.

"The one lined with silver dust. Leave her there for three days with no food."

A Warrior reached for my arms.

I grabbed a heavy silver candlestick from the desk and smashed it against the Warrior's head.

The silver candlestick felt like a brand against my palm, the metal hissing as it made contact with my skin, but I did not care.

"Don't touch me!" I screamed, fighting like a cornered animal.

More Warriors piled on top of me, pinning me to the floor.

Suddenly, a blinding pain exploded behind my eyes, as if a nest of hornets had been disturbed within my skull.

Warm liquid dripped from my nose, splashing onto the floor.

It was blood, but it was disturbingly dark.

"Stop the pathetic acting, Chloe," the man said coldly, staring down at my bleeding face.

"Take her down."

The Warriors dragged me away from the light, pulling me down the cold stone stairs into the suffocating, velvet black of the dungeon.

I opened my mouth to call out for my father, but only a weak, broken sob came out.

As the iron door slammed shut, sealing me in the silver-laced darkness, I pressed my burning palm against the cold stone and whispered a prayer to the Moon Goddess. I did not know then that she had already abandoned me—or that the man who had just thrown me into this tomb was the Mate she had chosen for me before I had drawn my first breath. And his wolf, buried beneath layers of rage and Ivy's cloying scent, was already howling in anguish—a howl he would not understand until it was far too late.

Chloe POV

The dungeon was a freezing, silent tomb.

The air was thick with the faint, suffocating scent of silver dust.

Every breath I took burned my throat, and my skin felt as if it were constantly being pricked by hot needles.

My Inner Wolf was curled up in the dark corners of my mind, whining, a low threnody of misery.

I had lost track of time. The agonizing headache came and went in waves, leaving me completely drained.

Suddenly, the heavy iron door creaked open.

A harsh beam of light cut through the darkness, blinding me for a second.

Ivy walked in, holding a metal tray.

The five-year-old pup, Leo, trailed behind her, holding onto her dress.

Ivy tossed a metal bowl onto the dirty floor.

The smell hit me instantly.

It was raw meat, but it was turning green and smelled of decay.

I leaned against the damp stone wall, my breathing ragged.

"Are you feeding me the leftover garbage of an Omega?" I asked, my voice hoarse but dripping with the pride of a White Wolf.

Ivy covered her mouth and let out a soft, mocking laugh.

"You really think you are still the mighty Luna?" she sneered, stepping closer.

"Your title is nothing but an empty joke now," she whispered.

Leo stepped forward and kicked the bowl of spoiled meat, spilling it near my bare feet.

He bared his tiny teeth and let out a weak, pup-like growl.

"Eat it, you ugly old witch!" he shouted, the words clearly not his own, but a lesson drilled into him by another.

I ignored the brat. My eyes were fixed on Ivy's neck.

Resting against her collarbone was a glowing Moonstone necklace.

It was carved with the ancient crescent wolf totem of the Silver Moon Pack.

My breath caught in my throat. That totem was unmistakable—every wolf born under the Silver Moon banner was marked with it at their awakening ceremony. I had traced those same crescent lines on my mother's necklace a thousand times as a child, pressing my small fingers into the grooves while she told me stories of our ancestors. It was the sacred gift my mother gave me for my fifteenth awakening ceremony.

Adrenaline, sharp and metallic, flooded my veins, giving me a sudden burst of strength.

I snapped the frayed ropes binding my wrists and lunged forward.

My White Wolf instincts took over as I tackled Ivy to the ground.

I grabbed the platinum chain and ripped it off her neck.

My sharp nails accidentally grazed her skin, leaving a shallow red scratch.

Ivy immediately threw herself backward against the wall and let out a deafening, theatrical scream.

"Help! She is trying to kill me!" Ivy shrieked.

Leo's eyes widened in panic, and he threw his head back, releasing a loud, panicked howl for help.

Within seconds, heavy footsteps thundered down the stone stairs.

The Alpha, Hunter, rushed into the dungeon like a dark storm.

He saw Ivy on the floor, a tiny drop of blood on her neck.

Without a word, he unleashed his terrifying Alpha aura.

The pressure in the room became so heavy my lungs refused to expand.

He stepped forward and slapped me across the face with brutal force.

My head snapped to the side, and I crashed onto the cold floor, right into the puddle of rotting meat.

A metallic taste filled my mouth as warm blood spilled over my lips.

Ivy crawled over to Hunter, burying her face in his chest.

She exuded a sickly-sweet odor of distress, a scent that felt like a sticky film in the air, deliberately concocted to trigger an Alpha's protective urges.

"I just wanted to bring her some food," Ivy cried softly.

"But she knocked it over and tried to choke me for my necklace. It calms my anxiety."

I spat the blood out of my mouth and clutched the Moonstone tightly in my fist.

"It is mine!" I yelled, my voice shaking with anger. "Look at the back! It has the Silver Moon totem! It was my mother's—I would know it anywhere! "

Hunter froze. He looked down at my hand, his brows pulling together in doubt. For a fleeting instant, his eyes flickered toward the totem, and I saw something shift in his expression—a crack in the granite, a whisper from his wolf that he could not quite hear.

Ivy's scent spiked with a sudden sour note of panic.

She quickly hid her scent and looked up at Hunter with wide, innocent eyes.

"If the Luna wants it so badly, she can have it," Ivy whispered, wiping a fake tear. "I just want peace in the Pack."

Ivy's cloying scent thickened, wrapping around Hunter like a silken noose, and the crack in his expression sealed shut. Hunter's eyes softened as he looked at Ivy, completely blinded by her manipulation.

He turned his gaze back to me, and his eyes were filled with disgust.

"You have no shame," he growled, stepping toward me.

Before I could move, he brought his heavy leather boot down on my hand.

He ground his heel into my fingers.

I saw a muscle jump in his jaw, a flicker of something that might have been retraction, but Ivy's scent thickened at once—a cloying, desperate sweetness—and the brief hesitation in his eyes hardened into something akin to granite.

I screamed as I felt the bones in my hand grinding against the stone floor.

He forcibly pried my bleeding fingers open and snatched the Moonstone away.

He turned around and gently fastened the necklace back around Ivy's neck.

Hunter looked down at me, the brown of his irises seeming to recede, consumed by an encroaching ring of hard, metallic gold.

"My biggest regret in this life is not seeing your true, vile nature before the Marking ceremony," he spat.

He scooped Ivy into his arms, treating her like a fragile piece of glass.

"Keep her starved," he ordered the guards at the door.

The heavy iron door slammed shut, plunging me back into the freezing darkness.

My crushed hand throbbed with a sickening rhythm.

Suddenly, a rattling cough seized my chest, and a viscous, metallic fluid forced its way past my teeth, splattering onto the stone. Where it landed, the damp floor seemed to curdle, the faint light from the corridor dissolving into a formless stain.

My vision blurred into dark shadows.

Father... Mother... please come save me, I cried out through a broken, empty Mind-Link, waiting for a response that never came.

In the suffocating darkness, I clutched my crushed hand to my chest and made a silent vow to the Moon Goddess. If I ever escaped this tomb, I would make every single one of them pay. I did not yet know that my vengeance would only come at the cost of my life—or that the Alpha who had just crushed my bones was already feeling the first, faint echo of my pain through a bond he had been taught to ignore.

Chloe POV

On the third day, my body finally gave out.

The silver dust in the air had poisoned my lungs, and my Inner Wolf was too weak to even whimper.

Two Warriors dragged me out of the dungeon by my arms.

My bare feet dragged against the stone steps, entirely numb.

They threw me like a broken doll onto the polished marble floor of the Pack's main hall.

The bright chandelier lights burned my sensitive eyes.

Hunter sat on the Alpha's throne at the head of the room, looking down at me like a god judging a sinner.

"Are you ready to submit and apologize to Ivy?" his deep voice echoed through the silent hall.

I slowly pushed myself up on my trembling, bruised arms.

I lifted my head and stared straight into his dark eyes.

"A noble White Wolf never bows to a filthy Rogue," I said, my voice barely a whisper, but steady.

Hunter's face became a mask of cold fury.

He hurled the crystal whiskey glass in his hand straight at me.

It shattered against the floor right next to my face.

A sharp piece of flying crystal sliced across my cheek.

Warm blood trickled down my skin, dropping onto the pristine marble.

"Ivy's wound got infected because of your dirty claws," he snarled, standing up from his throne.

"You will get on your knees and beg for her forgiveness."

I let out a dry, bitter laugh.

"I hope she rots in hell," I spat.

Hunter crossed the room in three massive strides.

He grabbed a handful of my tangled hair and yanked my head back, forcing me to look up at him.

His oppressive Alpha scent of pine and dark storms tried to crush my will.

"One day," I gasped, staring into his furious eyes, "the ghosts of the Silver Moon Warriors will tear you to pieces."

Ivy was sitting on a plush sofa nearby, releasing a heavy scent of sorrow to manipulate the room.

"Alpha," she sighed softly. "She is even using her own destroyed Pack as an excuse to act crazy. It is so disrespectful to the dead."

Her words worked perfectly.

Hunter's jaw tightened, his expression settling into the hard certainty of a man who believed he was witnessing a calculated, malicious performance.

He let go of my hair and stood up tall.

"Bring them," he ordered his Warriors.

A group of guards walked in, carrying piles of old, delicate dresses.

My heart stopped.

I recognized the soft fabrics and the faint, comforting scent of jasmine and rain.

They were my mother's dresses. The only things I had left of her scent. The only proof that she had once existed—that she had once held me in her arms, that she had once brushed my hair and whispered that I carried the most noble bloodline in our history.

Hunter turned to the five-year-old pup, Leo.

He handed the boy a pair of heavy, silver-plated scissors.

"Go ahead, Leo," Hunter said coldly.

Leo giggled excitedly. He grabbed the scissors and ran over to the pile of dresses.

He started snipping and tearing at the beautiful fabrics, ripping my mother's memory into shreds.

"No!" I screamed, my voice tearing my throat.

I dragged my weak body across the floor, desperately reaching out to stop him.

"Stop it! Don't touch her things!"

Leo turned and kicked my injured hand with his hard little shoe.

"I am destroying the bad woman's things!" he cheered, cutting a beautiful blue silk gown in half.

Hunter stood there, watching me with cold, dead eyes.

"She's your mother, Leo. If she won't act like a Luna, show her what happens to liars," Hunter commanded, his voice stretched taut over a current of something desperate, as if the words were meant more for himself than for the boy.

I looked at the shredded fabric covering the floor.

My Inner Wolf let out a devastating, mournful cry that shook my very soul.

My chest hurt so much I felt like I was suffocating.

I looked up at Hunter, tears finally spilling over my eyelashes.

"I will never submit to you," I whispered, my voice filled with a loathing so profound it felt like ground glass in my throat. "I will make you pay for this."

Hunter's face darkened completely.

"Throw her out to the territory borders," he ordered the Warriors. "Let the thunderstorm wash away her madness."

The Warriors grabbed me by my arms and dragged me toward the massive oak doors.

They threw me out into the freezing, torrential rain.

I hit the muddy ground hard.

Thunder crashed above me, shaking the earth.

The silver poison in my brain reacted to the cold, sending violent spasms of pain through my skull.

I had to get away. I had to go home.

I forced myself to stand up, my bare feet sinking into the freezing mud.

I stumbled toward the dark, endless forest, desperately trying to remember the path back to my parents' territory.

Behind me, the mansion loomed against the storm-lit sky—a fortress of warmth and light that had once been my home. But as I dragged my broken body into the darkness of the trees, I understood with cold clarity that I would rather die in the wilderness, alone and unmourned, than spend one more night under the roof of the man who had destroyed everything I loved. I did not know that before the night was over, he would destroy the last thing I had left—the memory of home itself. Nor did I know that his wolf was howling in his chest, clawing at the walls he had built around his heart, sensing that its Mate was slipping away.