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.

Alpha Aleron Nightbane’s hand was still suspended midair when he caught sight of my shattered gaze, my irises once warm, now fractured with disbelief and silent agony. A ragged sob tore from my throat, and the metallic tang of blood pooled at the corner of my mouth, trailing down my chin like a crimson omen.

“A-Are you alright, Elara—?” His voice faltered, suddenly unsure, as he reached out to touch me.

But I flinched as though scorched, scrambling to my feet with trembling limbs, clutching my womb instinctively as if to shield the lives inside me from the monster he had become. His touch, once a balm, now felt like acid branding my skin.

“Luna Elara, my sister, please forgive me… I-it’s all my fault. Alpha Aleron, quick. Apologize to Elara,” Liezel cooed sweetly, her tone dripping with false concern. But Aleron froze, paralyzed by the way I looked at him, like he was no longer the man I once loved, but a stranger… No, something worse. A predator who had betrayed his mate.

“Elara, listen to me,” Aleron said at last, his voice cold and clipped. “Apologize to Liezel, and we’ll forget this ever happened. We can go back to how things were.”

A searing wave of humiliation struck me. My tears blurred my vision, but through them, I still saw the wolf who once vowed to protect me now offer a treaty, one that required I bow to my betrayer.

Liezel covered her mouth in fake horror, her sobs shallow and theatrical. “Oh Goddess, I never meant to drive a wedge between you two. I… I can't believe I’ve harmed my own sister.”

Then, putting on the mask of a misunderstood saint, she stood and hurried from the room with a trembling wobble, as though she were the one who had been abused. Alpha Aleron hesitated, glancing at me, then turned to follow her.

“Elara, go home,” he growled over his shoulder. “Apply something to your face. You’ve already embarrassed me enough tonight. Don’t expect me to come back.”

And just like that, the mate who once swore to stand beside me, through every full moon and blood rite, walked away without a second glance. Three years of loyalty, of sacrifice, of raw devotion were cast aside like ash from a burnt offering.

I stepped out of the grand mansion that once served as our den, my sanctuary, my prison. My heart pounded with a new kind of agony, not from Alpha Aleron Nightbane’s slap, but from the weight of betrayal that now crushed the wolf within me. My knees threatened to buckle, the pain radiating up my legs from the gash I’d received earlier, but I remembered I had left my phone inside. I needed it. I needed one last tether to this cursed place before I vanished forever.

Dragging myself back in, I limped toward Liezel’s door, only to freeze as muffled moans filtered through the wooden frame, low, guttural, unmistakably wild. My heart stopped.

“No…” I whispered.

But the truth greeted me like a dagger as I gently nudged the door open just a crack.

There, tangled in our old silken sheets, were two bodies, half-shifted, the scent of heat and lust heavy in the air. Alpha Aleron’s shirt was discarded, his skin flushed as he pressed against Liezel’s bare throat, where her pulse danced like prey beneath his lips.

“Oh, Alpha,” she purred between moans. “You should take off your wedding ring already…”

“No,” he murmured against her skin, his fangs flashing with hunger. “Doing the forbidden just makes it hotter. Elara could never match your fire.”

The words struck harder than any blow. My knees gave out, and I fell against the wall, my hands shaking as the bile rose to my throat. My chest heaved, and for a moment, I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to scream, to shift, to rip everything apart, but I was frozen.

This was the same man I had saved with my own blood. When he was near death, I begged the Elders for the right to donate my essence. I underwent the sacred blood-bonding ritual, offering my life essence to him, not just once, but month after month, until I was too weak to even shift during the full moon.

I worked myself to the bone, often going without sleep, food, or shelter, all to provide for the pack and for him. And this was how he repaid me, by claiming my fake sister during the blood moon, no less.

My trembling fingers clawed at the ring on my hand, the one engraved with Alpha Aleron’s initials. It now felt like a collar choking my very soul. I scratched until blood spilled, until the silver band slid off with a sickening click and fell to the floor.

“I will not be your Luna,” I whispered to the shadows. “Not anymore.”

I left the ring on the table near the hallway flowers, our sacred table, where the pack once laid offerings, and ran. My heels echoed like war drums on the floor, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. My unborn twins, my only tether to hope, deserved more than this rotting love.

I could never love this Alpha again.

Tonight, I’ll ease his burden the only way I know how. By vanishing so far, not even his wolf’s nose will find me. Our bond, once sacred under the moon’s gaze, shattered like glass in a house of mirrors. I slipped the silver-bound mating ring onto the flower-strewn table outside our home and turned away, the echo of my footsteps ringing against the hardwood floor.

This mating was broken. Just like my heart.

My heart slammed against my ribs, each beat as violently as the taxi sped through the winding trail leading back to the place I once called home, the pack house where I had poured every ounce of love, devotion, and loyalty into building a life with my mate, Alpha Aleron Nightbane.

What was once a sanctuary now reeked of betrayal and blood. The sacred stones of the house felt cold underfoot, echoing like tombs. Memories that once sang of passion and unity were now shadows, twisted and venomous.

“Stop it!” I cried out, slamming the heavy oak door behind me. “Please, stop it!”

I clutched my ears, trying to drown out the haunting echoes of her voice, Liezel’s moans still embedded in the walls, in the floorboards, in the very air I breathed. I stumbled into the bathroom, dazed, my vision spinning as my legs gave out beneath me.

Falling to my knees, I retched into the carved stone basin, but nothing came out. My stomach was hollow, aching from both heartbreak and hunger. I hadn’t eaten since yesterday, too frightened to provoke Alpha Aleron’s wrath by being late to his precious party, Liezel’s party. The woman he paraded like a Luna before the entire pack while I stood in the shadows, the invisible wife.

The scent of betrayal burned my nostrils, more acrid than wolfsbane. But then came a flutter. A soft, delicate kick in my womb, one life, then another. The twins. His heirs.

Fury gave way to clarity. I wiped my tears with trembling hands and made my way to the hearth, grabbing anything I could eat just to stay on my feet for them, for my unborn pups who hadn’t yet seen the cruel world of Alphas and hierarchy.

With shaking fingers, I unlocked my phone and dialed the only person I could still trust.

“Draft the divorce papers,” I whispered hoarsely, my voice cracking under the weight of what I’d just done.

There was no hesitation on the other end. “I’ll send them by dawn,” came the steady voice of Alira, pack omega and a formidable she-wolf turned lawyer, my best friend since our childhood days in the Southern Claws. She knew the pain behind my silence better than anyone else.

By the time the sun bathed the pack house in a muted silver light, the divorce papers were delivered, neatly bound and sealed with the crimson wax of the Blood Crescent Court.

It was past noon when the front door creaked open. Alpha Aleron Nightbane entered with a bouquet of white moonlilies in hand, their petals glowing faintly in the light, a peace offering from a mate who thought his crimes could be masked with charm.

I sat alone at the table, calmly eating the stew I had prepared, one of his favorites. Elk meat braised in winter root herbs. He had always demanded meals cooked by my hand, even when my fever burned hotter than a flame. He said my food soothed his wolf. I had endured every ache, every belittlement, just to please him.

He placed the bouquet in front of me, waiting for my reaction. But I simply moved them aside without a word. Silence cracked between us.

“You humiliated me last night, Elara,” he said, his voice sharp, trying to reclaim the dominance of an Alpha. “You ruined the mood, embarrassed me in front of my Beta and council. You owe Liezel and the others an apology—”

I raised my gaze slowly, meeting his stormy eyes with a dead calmness that unnerved him.

“I apologize,” I murmured, my voice laced with ice. “I forgot my place.”

He flinched. Not at the words, but at the void in my voice, the abyss where my love used to be.

I stood, the screech of the chair echoing like a battle cry in the stillness. Limping from an injury he conveniently forgot, I fetched a plate and began laying out the dishes for him. Dishes I’d once made with love, now served like an offering at a funeral.

He hesitated before sitting, shame flickering across his features as he watched me, finally noticing the pain he had caused, the limp, the hollow eyes, the silence that screamed.

“Elara… I was drunk last night,” he tried, his voice softening. “Is your wound healing? You shouldn’t take things so personally. I mean… once you apologize to Liezel, we’ll go back to how things were.”

Back to how things were? Back to being his shadow? His servant? His unloved Luna in title only?

“I know you were raised in the countryside,” he added, condescending as ever. “It’s not your fault you never learned the proper etiquette. I’ve always just wanted what’s best for you.”

I smiled then, but it wasn’t warmth. It was war.

He froze.

“This is all a mistake,” he hissed.

“No, Alpha. The mistake was thinking I was yours to humiliate.”

I longed to cry out, to howl, to scream until the skies split open, but what good would it do in a pack where no one truly listened? Where even my own mate saw me as nothing more than a burden to tame? The lump in my throat was unbearable, a raw ache that clawed at my chest, but I swallowed it down like I always did.

So instead, I smiled.

A hollow, twisted thing stretched across my face, so painfully forced it made my skin itch, like I was wearing someone else’s expression. The mask of a Luna who knew her place. The smile of a mate who pretended not to bleed every time she was pushed aside for another.

Silence was the only armor I had left in this brutal world of wolves and shadows.

My mate coaxed me without an ounce of shame. For years, I endured his biting words, thinking they were just reminders to be better, stronger, more worthy of him as Luna. I believed I had to excel in every way to earn his approval. But now the truth clawed through lies.

Liezel had always held his heart. I was merely a shadow beside her… a placeholder he tolerated but never truly loved.

Then again…

"Say sorry to Liezel, and only then will things go back to how they were."