I stood by the river under the blood-red glow of the full moon, its light turning the water into a restless sheet of crimson. Behind me, the forest echoed with the haunting cries of wolves, mourning something only I could truly understand.

My limbs felt numb, but the pain inside was sharp, relentless. Tears blurred my vision, turning the crashing waves into streaks of chaos, a reflection of the storm within me.

Step by step, I waded deeper into the freezing current, the icy water biting into my legs like punishment. I had nothing left. No mate. No family. No pack that called me theirs. The bond I thought unbreakable had been shattered beyond repair.

“Mommy was a fool,” I whispered, clutching my belly. “My poor babies…”

I had walked into that river ready to let go, let go of everything, of the pain, the betrayal, the world, but then it happened. A flutter. A kick.

Small, soft, but fierce enough to stop me cold.

I gasped as if I had been struck by lightning, my hands flying to my swollen belly. My knees buckled, and I collapsed to the muddy shore, sobs ripping from my throat. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t end the lives growing inside me. Not when they were the only good left in my cursed world. Not even if they carried the blood of the monster, I once called my mate.

When I returned to our home, now his pack house, every light was on, glowing like the eyes of predators in the dark.

Aleron, Alpha of the Nightbane Pack, was back from his birthday celebration. Still trembling from the cold and grief, I wiped my tears and forced myself to stand tall before pushing open the door of the home I had bled for.

Every plank, every nail, was bought with years of sleepless nights and triple shifts. While I broke myself to build a home, Alpha Aleron Nightbane claimed he was too “sick” to fight for the pack or lift a claw for us.

The door creaked open, and the scent of him, spiced cologne, alcohol, and someone else's perfume, slapped me in the face. The space that once held warmth now stank of betrayal.

My heart twisted as memories flooded in, Alpha Aleron whispering that our bond was sacred, our love guided by the Moon Goddess, and our love meant everything to him. How easily lies could sound like vows in the hands of a skilled deceiver.

“Elara,” he said, his voice laced with fake concern as he turned toward me. His sapphire eyes held the same warmth he’d shown when we first met, when I was foolish enough to believe it was real. “Why are you so late?”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“It’s my birthday. I thought you’d at least prepare something. No dinner? No surprise?”

I said nothing, just stared at him, this man who had reduced me to nothing in my own home.

“How was the party with your friends?” I asked at last, my voice calm, detached. “I thought you’d already eaten.”

He blinked, caught off guard for just a second before flashing that wolfish grin.

“It was nice. Strange, though, someone tossed a brand-new house key into the trash. Can you believe that? A premium mansion. Worth over a million. But you wouldn’t know, of course.”

My hands trembled.

He was marking territory.

Giving away a new house.

To someone else.

“To Liezel,” I said quietly.

Alpha Aleron didn’t answer. He only followed me into the bedroom like he always did, acting as though nothing had changed, though everything had.

“She’s back,” he said casually. “She’s hosting a gathering tomorrow and wants you there.”

Liezel Duskthorn.

My parents’ adopted daughter. The perfect she-wolf they raised while I, their true blood, was cast aside at birth, lost in a hospital switch, and raised in an orphanage. When I was finally found, they welcomed me with silence, while Liezel remained the shining daughter in their eyes.

“She wants to fix things,” Alpha Aleron added. “She’s been nothing but kind to you. How can you still be so selfish?”

Selfish?

I stared at him, the man I had given my loyalty, my body, my future.

The man who treated me like a maid, never a mate. There was no guilt in his eyes. Only expectation. Control.

“You’ll come, right?”

His words weren’t a question. They were an order.

“Yes,” I whispered, and his smile returned like a predator satisfied with its prey.

He bent down to kiss me, but I turned my face, letting his lips brush my cheek.

“I’m tired.”

His expression faltered for a moment, but he said nothing more.

We lay in silence, my back to his chest. His arm wrapped around me like a chain.

“You need to learn, Elara,” he murmured, brushing his lips against my hair. “Everyone’s trying for you, and you’re still throwing tantrums.”

I clenched my jaw, biting back the sob that threatened to escape. I refused to give him the satisfaction of hearing me break again.

He didn’t know it yet, but the she-wolf inside me, long dormant, long chained, had finally stirred.

And it was enough for me to know she was still there.

The very next day, Alpha Aleron arrived at my side with his arm locked firmly around my waist, leading me through the wrought-iron gates of my parents’ mansion.

The estate, draped in silver banners and glowing lanterns, pulsed with pack energy as dozens of wolves gathered to welcome Liezel Duskthorn, the shining star, the Alpha’s favorite.

The moment we crossed the threshold, a familiar sickening scent hit me. A blend of dominance, perfume, and cruelty wrapped in polite smiles. Alpha Aleron’s friends, the same wolves who mocked me in hushed whispers and sidelong glances, nodded toward us as if they hadn’t laughed at me just weeks ago.

My body went rigid the moment Alpha Aleron leaned in and pressed a kiss to my temple.

“You must get along with everyone today, Elara,” he murmured against my skin, his voice deceptively soft.

“Don’t embarrass me.”

Then came her scent, honeysuckle laced with something darker.

Liezel Duskthorn

She descended the grand staircase like a goddess in heat, her crimson dress hugging every curve, deliberately chosen to remind the pack of her desirability.

And to humiliate me.

She looked like the Alpha female she always wanted to become. I stood there, wrapped in a plain forest-green dress, chosen for modesty and tradition.

“Sister! Elara!” she sang sweetly, taking my hands in hers. Her skin was cold.

Her eyes flicked to Alpha Aleron, my mate, before trailing back to me, her eyes filled with false warmth.

“Do you hate me, Elara? You’ve never called. You disappeared after all the love we gave you.”

I opened my mouth, but no words came.

“I’m sorry if I stole all of Mom and Dad’s love,” she continued, her lashes fluttering as if she were fragile prey.

“But love can’t be forced, can it? Mom’s heart is failing, and yet you’ve never visited her. How am I supposed to fix our broken bond if you keep running away?”

Her words were like poisoned honey, each sentence laced with venom designed to pierce deep. And she wasn’t even done.

“Elara doesn’t understand relationships,” Alpha Aleron interrupted smoothly, wrapping an arm around me like a leash.

“When I have time, I’ll take her to the estate so she can apologize properly.”

I stared at him in disbelief. He knew everything, how my birth family ignored me, how they locked me in a cellar when I first shifted late, how they treated me like a stray mutt while worshipping Liezel like a queen. Yet he still spoke as though I were the disgrace.

My heart sank.

I excused myself, teeth clenched, desperate for air. I barely reached the hallway before I heard the click of heels and the clink of glass.

“Well, if it isn’t my poor, pathetic sister,” Liezel’s voice cooed behind me.

I turned slowly as she strutted forward, swirling a glass of blood-red wine. Her eyes roamed over me from head to toe, settling on my modest dress with a smirk.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you raided your grandmother’s grave. That musty little thing looks ancient.”

My fists clenched at the mention of my grandmother, the only true family I ever had.

The grandmother who took me in, who cared for me when they tore me from the orphanage and brought me back to their so-called home.

But as I expected, Liezel didn’t stop.

“Tell me, how’s the old woman doing? Still rotting away in that rundown hospital bed? Must be heartbreaking. All that effort to raise you, only for you to abandon your real family.”

“Shut up!” I snapped, my voice cracking as I trembled.

I had worked myself to exhaustion, day after day in greasy kitchens and dangerous night shifts in pack-owned bars, just to afford her medication. No one knew those details.

Except Alpha Aleron Nightbane.

And now Liezel did too.

She leaned in, her lips curled into a cruel smile. “You told him everything, didn’t you? Your loyal little secrets. And he gave them to me like bedtime stories.”

She circled me like a predator, her scent growing sharper, more aggressive, dominant.

“My poor sister,” she mocked. “Your mate handed me the weapons to destroy you.”

I froze.

Nothing could’ve prepared me for what she said next.

“Why didn’t you die, Elara? You were supposed to stay lost. You were supposed to be forgotten. You took my place.”

“Stop it, Liezel,” I snarled, my voice lower now, vibrating with something beneath the surface. “You already have everything. Just leave me alone.”

She laughed, long, loud, and vicious.

“Everything?” she hissed.

“You think I have everything?”

Her eyes blazed, and for a moment, I saw the wolf in her—dark and hungry.

“You took Alpha Aleron. My Alpha Aleron Nightbane. We were always meant to be. You? You’re just the bedwarmer he settled for when I left. A pretty little mutt in heat.”

My heart pounded, the blood rushing in my ears. The hallway suddenly felt too small.

“I’ll have him back,” she whispered.

She raised her hand and let the wine glass fall. It shattered at my feet, crimson splattering like blood across the floor.

“Tonight, he’s coming to me. He’ll mark me again. Kiss me like he used to. Make love to me as only an Alpha can.”

My body went cold.

“What…?”

She leaned in, her breath hot against my ear. “You didn’t know? On your wedding anniversaries, when he was always away on ‘pack missions, ’ he was in our old honeymoon suite.”

My breath hitched.

“He told you that pink satin dress was a special gift, didn’t he? Sweet Alpha.” Her lips twisted.

“I wore it first. He ripped it off me, took me on every surface, then wrapped it up and gave it to you.”

A wave of nausea crashed over me.

“He said you were too boring. Too fragile. A little virgin wolf who couldn’t handle the real heat of an Alpha. That’s why he kept coming back to me. I gave him what you never could.”

My vision blurred, not from tears, but from rage. Raw, ancient fury surged beneath my skin like fire crawling through my bones. My wolf stirred, claws scratching the inside of my soul, demanding release.

The memory of that dress, how he held me gently as I cooked, how he kissed me and whispered, “You’re my one true love,” was now a twisted, cruel joke.

And still… Liezel wasn’t finished.

“Last night?” she whispered, her voice sweet, too sweet it choked me. “He said I taste better than you.”

That was it.

The wolf inside me roared.

Heat surged through my veins, drowning out reason. My vision tunneled, every sound muffled except the deafening pound of my heartbeat. The wolf inside me clawed for release, demanding blood, demanding retribution.

She spoke again.

"I’ve had your mate wrapped around my fingers, Elara," she said, her voice sweetly venomous. "All those nights you waited under the full moon, clinging to your bond mark like a fool, your Alpha Aleron spent buried in me. And if it weren’t for the wolfsbane-laced protection he used so carefully, I’d already be carrying his pup. Unlike you, who probably never will."

Her words struck like claws to my chest. “What… what did you say?” I whispered, my voice barely more than a breath, my throat tight, my eyes swimming with tears that refused to fall just yet.

She stepped closer, her scent thick with roses and deceit, not even bothering to hide her triumph. “You’ll never bear a child, will you, Elara? Your womb’s as barren as your mating bond is cold. Alpha Aleron is done pretending; he’s a high-ranking Alpha-blooded heir, born into legacy and luxury. Why would he settle for a weak, unmated omega like you?”

My fists clenched. My wolf stirred, snarling low in the back of my mind, sensing the threat, begging to rise.

Liezel took my hand then, mockingly gentle, like a sister consoling her sibling. “But don’t worry, dearest. When I do get pregnant with his pup, you’ll be the first to know. I’ll even name the child something pretty, just for you.”

“Liezel!” I screamed, the pain exploding in my chest. Her every word had driven a silver dagger deeper into my heart. “You’re shameless! You’ve ruined my life, my bond, and now you want to wear my skin like a cloak?”

I swatted her arm away on instinct, but her gasp rang out louder than thunder. She collapsed with a pitiful cry that echoed through the halls.

“Elara!” came Alpha Aleron Nightbane’s furious roar as heavy footsteps pounded down the corridor.

He burst into the room, eyes wild, his wolf just beneath the surface, fangs nearly bare, but not for me. Never for me.

He didn’t ask what had happened. He didn’t care.

“What the hell are you doing?!” His glare was blistering. “How dare you lay a hand on Liezel?”

“I-I didn’t…” I stammered, trembling, the air thick with betrayal. “I never pushed her…”

Liezel whimpered as Alpha Aleron’s arms went around her, shielding her like a mate should protect his own. But I was the one he was bonded to, or so, I had thought.

"Elara was just upset," she said, soft and broken, resting her head on his chest like it was hers to claim. “Don’t blame her… It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have said anything about the pup…”

More footsteps arrived. Pack members. Friends. Witnesses. Their gazes were daggers, their disgust potent enough to make my wolf recoil inside me.

“Follow me. Now,” Alpha Aleron snapped, his tone wrapping around me like a noose.

But he didn’t take Liezel to her private suite with silk sheets and moonstone chandeliers. No… He led us down to what had once been my room. A cold, forgotten storage closet that still smelled of mold and winters spent curled up on a threadbare blanket, even when frost bit at the windows. It had become Liezel’s junk room now.

“There’s a first aid kit in the back,” she said sweetly, her voice carrying that cruel undertone. “Would you get it for me, sister?”

“She’s lucky I let her come at all,” Aleron muttered as he brushed past me, not once glancing back.

Still, my legs moved, numb and obedient, trailing him like a broken omega trained to heel. I entered Liezel’s lavish room a moment later. She lay against Aleron’s chest, purring softly, crying falsely.

Alpha Aleron stood abruptly, his eyes flaring with rage. His fingers clamped around my wrist.

“Elara, massage Liezel’s feet. Now. You embarrassed her. Do you even realize how much you’ve hurt her?”

My heart twisted. My mate, my bonded, the wolf who swore to protect me, swore to stand by me at all costs, was defending another woman, one who wore my life like a stolen pelt.

“I won’t,” I said, my voice trembling but firm.

“What did you just say?”

“I. Will. Not.” I stared him down, even as my wolf howled within me.

In a flash, he shoved me down. My knees crashed against the floor, and I gasped, cradling my belly on instinct.

The pups. Goddess, protect them. I dared not shift, not when I was carrying life.

He didn’t stop.

“You useless excuse of a she-wolf,” Alpha Aleron spat. “You dare accuse Liezel of stealing anything? You had everything, and you still couldn’t be loved. You’re nothing but a dead bond.”

“Alpha Aleron!” I screamed, my voice a broken wind.

He didn’t hear me. Or didn’t care.

Liezel, ever the actress, began again with her trembling voice. “She’s the real Luna, not me. I’m just the adopted one. She’s the heir. And yet... I took everything from her. It’s my fault. My fault…”

“No,” Aleron snarled. “It’s hers. She deserves it all.”

The world spun. My soul cracked. And still, Liezel turned to me with glistening eyes.

“Luna Elara, please don’t hate me…”

“Shut up!” The words ripped from my throat like a feral growl. “Shut up with your lies!”

The crack of Alpha Aleron’s palm across my face echoed like a gunshot through the stillness of the room. My head snapped to the side, the sting sharp, but it was the betrayal behind that strike that cut deeper than claws ever could.

My wolf whimpered inside me, recoiling. I pressed trembling fingers to my cheek, still burning from the imprint of his hand, the scent of his rage heavy in the air.

The bond between us rippled, wounded. And for the first time, I felt it began to snap.