My Mate Lied About My Death to Steal My Pack

The rain hammered down like the Moon Goddess herself was weeping.

I stood at the Silver Moon territory borders, water streaming down my face as I punched in my Alpha clearance code for the third time. The gate's scanner blinked red. Access denied.

My wolf, Aurora, snarled in my mind. *They revoked our codes.*

*I noticed,* I thought back, jaw clenched.

Three years. I'd been gone three years training with the Northern Territories' elite Gamma warriors, becoming something more than just the Alpha's daughter. I'd left believing Xavier would honor our bond, protect my father's legacy. The cold knot in my stomach told me I'd been a fool.

I pressed my nose to the gate's bars, inhaling deeply. The scent markers were wrong—stale, unwashed, reeking of negligence. Where there should have been crisp patrol rotations, I smelled only laziness and fear. The distress markers were weeks old, unanswered.

*What has he done to our pack?*

Aurora's rage matched my own, but I forced myself to breathe. Northern training had taught me patience, strategy. I melted into the treeline, my specialized tracker skills making me nearly invisible as I circled the perimeter. The sentries were a joke—two Delta warriors huddled under a makeshift shelter, passing a flask between them instead of watching the borders.

I slipped past them like smoke.

The pack house grounds made my heart sink. My father's carefully maintained gardens were overgrown, choked with weeds. The security lights flickered erratically. Everything screamed of a pack in decline, of leadership that didn't care.

But I wasn't here for the gardens.

I moved through the shadows toward the east wing, toward the Luna's quarters. My parents' sanctuary. The trellis my father had built for my mother's climbing roses was still there, though the roses had died. I scaled it silently, my fingers finding familiar handholds even in the dark.

The window to the Luna's quarters was unlocked. Of course it was. Xavier had always been arrogant about security.

I slipped inside and froze.

The room was… wrong. Everything was wrong. The elegant cream and silver décor my mother had chosen was gone, replaced by gaudy gold furniture and hot pink curtains that looked like they belonged in a cheap motel. The air reeked of perfume so strong it made my eyes water, mixed with the unmistakable musk of sex.

And there, on my mother's bed—on the sacred bed where generations of Silver Moon Lunas had slept—lay Xavier Reynolds and a young woman I didn't recognize.

She was wearing the ceremonial Luna robes.

The robes were sacred. They were only supposed to be worn during high rituals, during the most important pack ceremonies. My grandmother had been wrapped in those robes when she passed. My mother had worn them on her mating day.

This stranger was sleeping in them like they were pajamas.

Something cold and terrible settled in my chest. Not the hot rage I'd expected. Something far more dangerous.

Aurora's voice in my mind was pure ice. *He has defiled everything.*

*Yes,* I agreed silently. *He has.*

I walked to the bed, my footsteps silent on the plush carpet. Water dripped from my clothes, forming small puddles. I didn't care.

"Xavier."

My voice cut through the room like a blade.

He jerked awake, eyes wide. For one beautiful moment, I saw pure panic flash across his face. Then, so quickly I almost missed it, his expression shifted to arrogance.

His hand slammed down on something beside the bed. An alarm shrieked through the pack house.

The woman—girl, really, she couldn't be more than nineteen—scrambled upright, clutching the sacred robes around herself. Her eyes went wide when she saw me, but not with recognition. With calculation.

"What the hell are you doing in my quarters?" Xavier's voice boomed with Alpha command, the tone designed to make wolves submit.

I felt the pressure of it, but three years of training with Alphas far stronger than him had built my resistance. I didn't even flinch.

"Your quarters?" My voice was soft. Deadly. "These are the Luna's quarters. The quarters that belonged to my mother. My grandmother. Every Luna of the Silver Moon Pack for six generations."

"I don't know who you think you are—" Xavier started, but the girl cut him off.

"Oh my Goddess, Xavier, is this her? Is this the crazy ex you told me about?" She grabbed her phone from the nightstand, fingers flying across the screen. "I'm going live. Everyone needs to see this."

The door burst open. Pack warriors flooded in, led by Marcus Kane, our Beta. Marcus's eyes widened when he saw me, conflict flashing across his face.

Xavier stood, using his full height to loom over me. "This deranged woman broke into my home, into my Luna's private quarters. She's clearly jealous, unstable. Look at her—she broke in like some kind of rogue!"

The girl—his supposed Luna—held up her phone, livestreaming to what I could only assume was the pack's internal network. Tears streamed down her face, perfectly performed. "I'm so scared. She just appeared like some kind of stalker. Xavier told me she might try something like this, but I didn't believe him."

"Cynthia Montgomery doesn't live here anymore," Xavier announced, his Alpha tone reverberating through the room. "She abandoned this pack three years ago. She has no clearance, no authority, and no right to be here."

I looked at Marcus. Our Beta, who had sworn an oath to my father. Who had taught me to ride my first bike. Who was now standing there, silent, while Xavier rewrote history.

"Marcus," I said quietly. "You know who I am. You know what I am."

His jaw worked, but he said nothing.

Xavier smiled. It was the smile of a predator who thought he'd won.

He had no idea what I'd become in the Northern Territories.

And he was about to find out.