When I turned eighteen, everything shifted. My father, consumed by ambition for power and territory, began to disregard my mother, who had once been just an ordinary she-wolf before becoming Luna. He sought out the daughter of a powerful Alpha from another pack, lured by the promise of dominance and prestige. Without hesitation, he cast my mother aside, rejecting her as his mate, and instead bonded with this other woman, ultimately claiming the position of Alpha in the Phantom Moon Pack.

That was the kind of man he was—selfish beyond measure.

Without looking back, he abandoned us. "You and Adeline should come with me," he had said, his voice void of affection or concern. "There’s nothing for you here."

But I couldn’t leave my mother behind. "I’m staying with Mom," I had responded with unwavering resolve. "She needs me."

Adeline, however, was different. She craved the status, the influence, the life that came with our father’s new rank. Without hesitation, she chose to follow him, leaving me and our mother behind without so much as a second thought.

I watched her leave that day, standing at the very edge of our pack’s borders. "Adeline," I had called out, my voice raw with desperation. "Don’t go."

She had turned back only once, her gaze distant and devoid of warmth. "This is our opportunity, Anastasia," she had said, her tone eerily detached. "I’m not wasting it."

In the years that followed, I became the target of Ronan’s resentment. He blamed me for everything—for keeping him from following Adeline, for trapping him in the Obsidian Howl Pack, for holding him back from the future he thought he deserved. And when I became his mate, his hatred for me only deepened.

As a child, I had always admired Ronan, trailing after him like his shadow. I adored him. He was my world. So when I turned eighteen and discovered that he was my mate, I was overjoyed. I thought it was fate—that we were meant to be together.

But Ronan didn’t see it that way. The moment I told him we were mates, his reaction crushed me.

"No," he had said, his voice cold and final. "This isn’t right. I was supposed to be with Adeline."

His words shattered me. "Ronan, please," I had begged, tears streaking down my face. "We’re fated to be together. You can’t just leave me."

But he had been ready to walk away, prepared to abandon me, to follow Adeline and pledge himself to the Phantom Moon Pack.

Then, my mother fell ill. And on her deathbed, she made Ronan swear an oath—to stay by my side, to protect me as his fated mate. Out of obligation to the woman who had raised him, he agreed. But in his heart, I knew he resented her for binding him to me, for forcing him to remain where he didn’t want to be.

And after my father’s departure, leadership of the pack fell to me. Even then, I knew how much Ronan craved power, so I willingly handed him the title of Alpha, content to serve as Luna in the background. Yet, despite our bond, despite everything, he never once announced me as his Luna.

One day, I confronted him. "Ronan," I had asked, my voice steady despite the storm raging inside me. "Why haven’t you acknowledged me as your Luna?"

His response was a dagger straight to my heart.

"Your mother forced me to mate with you. And now you expect me to make you Luna too? Keep dreaming, Anastasia. That title will always belong to your sister."

His words wounded me deeper than any physical attack ever could. At that moment, I knew—I was nothing to him. I had no place in his heart. That space had always been reserved for Adeline.

But I had one last plea, one final desperate wish: Kieran’s trip to the ocean. I was ready to set Ronan free, to finally let him go. But even then, he refused to grant me that one moment of peace.

He could never love me—I had come to accept that. But how could he be so cruel to Kieran? How could he turn his back on his own son?

I fixed my gaze on Ronan, my emotions a storm of disappointment and fury. The man who had once seemed as flawless as a masterpiece now only filled me with revulsion. Those eyes—once a source of comfort, once softened by affection—were now nothing but cold and unyielding. I had always found warmth in them, but now, they served only as a cruel reminder of the distance between us.

Before I could speak, Adeline’s voice sliced through the tension. “Alpha, my foot hurts, and so does my face. Can you check if it’s swollen? I’m worried it might ruin my appearance for tomorrow’s Alpha gathering.”

Ronan’s attention shifted instantly, his concern for her unmistakable. He cradled her in his arms with the kind of tenderness that once belonged to me. Adeline took full advantage of it, leaning into him like a delicate porcelain doll. My slap had left a red imprint on her pale cheek, and her eyes brimmed with artificial tears.

Watching him wipe them away so gently was a cruel reminder of what we had lost. I could still recall the younger version of him—the boy who had been kind to me, who had helped me up when I fell, who had wiped away my tears with the same gentleness he now reserved for Adeline. The realization that those moments were nothing but distant memories now, replaced by this twisted spectacle, was almost unbearable.

“Anastasia,” Ronan’s voice rang out, devoid of the warmth it once held. “Apologize to your sister.”

Lifting my chin, I straightened my posture, my resolve unshaken. “No.” My voice was firm, defiant. The sheer audacity of my refusal seemed to catch him off guard. For a brief moment, he looked as if he couldn’t quite recognize me—as if the girl who had once loved him so openly was a stranger now.

The irony didn’t escape me. When I had loved him, I had always been so careful—so measured in my actions, so desperate for his approval. I had offered him my heart, hoping that if I gave enough of myself, he would finally see me. But no matter what I did, it was never enough. I could never compare to Adeline in his eyes.

Ronan’s momentary surprise hardened into determination. He leaned back on the couch, Adeline nestled in his arms, his gaze locking onto me with unsettling ease. “Anastasia, don’t test my patience,” he warned.

His wolf guards, who had been silent observers until now, stepped forward. Without a word, they moved to block my path, their presence a clear command. They ushered me back in front of Ronan and Adeline, their movements sharp and authoritative.

Ronan remained at ease, his posture deceptively relaxed. But the air around him was suffocating, charged with unspoken threats. Crossing one leg over the other, he regarded me with an unnerving calm. “Apologize,” he repeated, his voice carrying the weight of an order.

Adeline, ever the performer, flashed me a smirk before turning to Ronan with feigned sweetness. “It’s okay, Alpha. Anastasia didn’t mean it.”

Ronan’s gaze softened, filled with what could only be pity and affection. “Adeline, you’re too kind. You treat her like a sister, but she’s never seen you that way.”

Then, his attention snapped back to me, and any trace of gentleness disappeared. His expression turned to ice, his words sharp as a blade. “Anyone who harms Adeline will pay the price—double.”

A memory surfaced in my mind—one from years ago when I had been cornered by young wolves from a rival pack. Ronan had appeared like a guardian angel, fighting them off with unwavering determination. Back then, he had stood by my side, my protector. But now, the same man who had once shielded me was standing against me, his loyalty placed elsewhere.

The realization hit like a punch to the gut. The man who had once meant everything to me was now determined to break me. His expression was merciless, his resolve absolute.

With a silent command, he signaled the guards. They stepped forward, grabbing me roughly, forcing me onto my knees before him and Adeline. My wolf howled within me, her fury and anguish mirroring my own. I felt her fighting to break free, but I held her back, unwilling to lose control.

One of the guards raised his hand, ready to strike me. Just before the blow could land, Adeline’s voice cut through the tension, dripping with artificial concern. “Alpha, she’s still my sister. Men can be too harsh—I wouldn’t want them to hurt her.”

Ronan turned to her, his expression betraying the slightest hint of approval.

“If she truly needs to be punished,” Adeline continued, her voice sickly sweet, “then let me do it myself.”

Ronan made no attempt to intervene. A cruel smirk played on Adeline’s lips as she lifted her hand and struck me twice, her nails slicing into my cheek and leaving behind searing pain and thin rivulets of blood. Turning to Ronan, she feigned distress, her voice laced with insincere concern. “Alpha, what should we do? I’ve harmed Anastasia.”

Ronan merely scoffed, unimpressed by her act. “She brought this upon herself, Adeline. You’re too softhearted, worrying about her when she was the one who hurt you first.”

The guards loosened their grip, and I crumpled to the floor, my body aching from both the blows and the impact. As I lifted my gaze to meet Ronan’s, fury burned in my eyes. His next words, however, sent a fresh wave of outrage crashing over me.

“Anastasia, you owe Adeline an apology,” he declared, his voice sharp and unyielding.

Owe her? The very thought was absurd. She was the one who had spread vicious lies about my son, Kieran. The injustice of it all churned inside me, boiling over in a fury I could no longer suppress. My voice dripped with venom as I scoffed. “In your dreams! I despise you!”

For the first time, I met Ronan’s gaze without an ounce of the affection that had once resided there. What had once been admiration had now solidified into pure, unwavering hatred.

A flicker of something unreadable passed through his expression—annoyance, perhaps, but tinged with an unfamiliar softness. “Anastasia,” he began, his tone shifting, “just listen to me, and you can have anything you desire. I can be there for your son. I can even make you my Luna.”

His words felt like a cruel mockery of the past. I had once dreamed of standing at his side, of holding the title of Luna with pride. But the reality had been starkly different—while I had hidden in the shadows, he had paraded Adeline before the world as his true mate, his unwavering companion in the presence of other Alphas and their packs. I had been nothing more than a secret, a forgotten whisper in his life. And now, when I no longer wished for what he dangled before me, he wielded it as a means to bend me to his will.

The sting of Adeline’s slap still burned, but I refused to let it show. Instead, I met Ronan’s gaze head-on, my voice steady and resolute. “There’s no need, Alpha. We’re finished.”

Shock flickered in his eyes, as if my rejection was something beyond comprehension.

A slow, derisive smirk curled on his lips. “What’s this? No longer running to me, pretending you need me just so I can entertain your son?”

His words dripped with malice, but before I could respond, Adeline spoke, her voice thick with mock sympathy. “Anastasia, stop trying to deceive Alpha Ronan. If Kieran were truly dying, why would you be here alone?”

That was the final straw. My patience snapped like a brittle thread. “Shut up! You have no right to say his name!”

Adeline’s expression wavered into one of feigned hurt, but the glint of satisfaction in her eyes remained. “Okay, I won’t bring him up anymore,” she murmured, her tone laced with false innocence. “Please, don’t be mad at me, Anastasia.”

Her crocodile tears didn’t fool me. But Ronan, clearly provoked by my reaction, let out a cold, humorless chuckle. He moved with deliberate slowness, reaching into his pocket and retrieving his phone as if savoring the moment, as if preparing to strike a fatal blow.

With a smirk, he dialed a number and placed the call on speaker. His voice carried a chilling command. “Beta Magnus, find out everything about Anastasia’s son, especially his exact location. If he’s receiving treatment in the pack’s infirmary, cease it immediately.”

The air thickened with tension, heavy with the weight of his threat. His gaze never wavered from mine, watching me like a predator savoring the torment of its prey. He expected me to break. To crumble.

Instead, I held his gaze, my lips curving into a grim, defiant smile.

Then, Beta Magnus’s voice crackled through the speaker, delivering a blow that neither of us had anticipated.

[Alpha Ronan, Kieran is gone. He passed away the day after you vanished..]