On the day of my Mating Ceremony, I stood in my sacred white silk dress, waiting to be bound to my fated mate, Alpha Hunter.

But Hunter barged into the dressing room, violently ripped the dress from my body, and ordered me to give my Luna title to my best friend, Hazel.

"She's dying and wants to experience being a Luna before her mind is gone. Step aside," he commanded coldly.

He confessed he had been draining the pack's funds for her and even snapped my mother's pet pup's neck to hide his late-night affairs.

He forced me to stand at the altar as a lowly servant while they kissed, broadcasting the fake ceremony directly into my sick Grandmother's hospital room.

The horrific shock caused my Grandmother's heart monitor to flatline.

At the hospital, I discovered an even darker truth.

Years ago, Hazel had framed me for treason out of jealousy, causing me to be kidnapped and tortured by Rogues in a freezing lake of silver.

The silver poisoning left me permanently infertile.

And while I was dying in the ICU sending thousands of SOS calls, Hunter had blocked every single one to perform a secret Blood Oath with Hazel.

I lost my only family, my fertility, and my youth to a man who treated me like trash to protect a traitor.

I grabbed the wolf-tooth necklace from my neck and snapped the leather cord.

"I, Chloe, reject you, Hunter, as my mate."

The words left my lips like a blade. He didn't know yet that rejection was only the beginning.

This time, I wasn't just leaving. I was going to bury them both.

Chapter 1

Chloe POV:

The air backstage at the Nightshade Pack hall was hushed, thick with the heavy perfume of white roses.

I stood before a long mirror, clad in the Luna dress of pure, unadorned silk.

A Luna was the mother of the pack, the Alpha's fated partner, and the highest-ranking female in our society.

Today was my Mating Ceremony, the day my Alpha and I would have our union sanctified before the Moon Goddess.

I drew a slow breath, attempting to quell the frantic beating of a small bird's wings against my ribs.

I thought about my best friend, Hazel.

She was suffering from Inner Wolf Degeneration, a cruel disease where her wolf spirit was slowly extinguishing, leaving her mind a labyrinth of confusion and fractured memories.

I was a Healer, a wolf gifted with medical magic, and I had sworn to use my own blood to make potions for her for the rest of my life.

But yesterday, I had discovered something that chilled me to the bone.

Hazel had used the pack's supreme black card to buy a graveyard plot.

It was not a normal grave, but one paved with pure silver.

Silver was the ultimate weakness of our kind, burning our skin and poisoning our blood.

I thought Hazel had lost the last of her senses to the disease, wanting to destroy her own body.

I immediately told my fated mate, Alpha Hunter.

Hunter had looked away, his eyes shifting nervously.

He told me not to worry, and said we needed to move our Mating Ceremony to today because my Elder Grandmother's heart was failing.

I trusted him, my mate, the other half of my being.

The brass doorknob turned with a grating shriek, and the heavy oak door was thrown inward, striking the wall with a force that shook a fine dust from the ceiling lamp.

Hunter walked in, his expensive tailored suit fitting his broad shoulders perfectly.

His scent, which I had always known as a comforting pine forest, now carried an acrid, aggressive undertone that soured the air.

Before I could smile, he grabbed the neckline of my sacred white dress.

With a violent pull, he ripped the delicate fabric down the middle.

The cold air touched my bare skin like a needle, and a sharp gasp caught in my throat.

"Hunter! What are you doing?" I cried out, covering my chest.

He regarded me with eyes as cold and hard as river stones, wiped clean of any affection.

"Take it off, Chloe," he growled, his voice low and cruel.

"You aren't wearing this today. Hazel is."

The air in my lungs seemed to turn to lead.

"What?" I whispered, my brain refusing to assemble the meaning of his words.

"I'm the secret sponsor," Hunter confessed, his jaw clenching.

"I've been draining the pack's resources to keep Hazel alive. I bought her that silver grave because she's terrified of becoming a witless creature, a danger to herself."

He stepped closer, his tall frame casting a dark shadow over me.

"She wants to be a Luna before her mind is gone entirely. Step aside and let her have this ceremony."

My inner wolf whined in absolute misery.

"But I am your fated mate!" I shouted, tears welling in my eyes.

"And you killed my mother's Moon-pup! You said it ran away!"

Hunter's face twisted into a sneer.

"That damnable fox wouldn't stop howling every time I slipped out to see Hazel at night. It was an annoyance."

"So I snapped its neck and threw the body in the river. I let you believe it ran away."

A great, crushing pressure settled upon my ribs, squeezing the very breath from my body.

He had killed the last living memory of my mother just to hide his dirty affair.

"You didn't move the ceremony for my Grandmother's heart, did you?" I choked out, my voice trembling.

"You did it because Hazel's disease is worsening. She cannot wait."

"Exactly," he said, fixing his cuffs.

A hot, wild current of rage surged through my veins.

I raised my hand and slapped his handsome face with all my strength.

The sound echoed loudly in the room.

"I see now what you are," I hissed. "You do not deserve to leave a Mark on my neck."

From the doorway came a low, guttural snarl.

Hazel rushed in, her body half-shifted, thick fur sprouting on her arms and sharp claws extending from her fingers.

Her mind was clouded-the Degeneration caused violent swings between lucidity and confusion-but her instinct to protect me was still there. For a moment, her eyes cleared, and I saw something I didn't want to recognize: calculation.

She lunged at Hunter, her muddy claws scratching his expensive suit.

I remembered when we were young, Hazel had fought off a group of violent, packless wolves called Rogues to save my life.

She was a warrior back then.

Hunter, who had severe germaphobia and hated dirt, did something that made the warmth drain from my body.

He did not push her away.

Instead, the proud Alpha did not flinch from it; the expensive weave of his tailored trousers sank directly into the mire, the sludge instantly seeping through the pressed creases of the fabric.

He took off his custom silk shirt and gently wiped the dark mud from Hazel's wild claws.

"It's okay, Hazel. I am not hurting her," he cooed, his voice laden with a tenderness that turned my stomach.

I stared at them, my vision blurring with tears.

Years ago, during our pack hunting trials, I had been severely injured and bleeding.

Hunter had refused to let me into his car because he said my blood smelled disgusting and would ruin his leather seats.

Now, he was kneeling in the dirt for her.

The betrayal was a foul, ashen taste on my tongue, and I knew my life in this pack was over. But they had no idea what I was about to become.

Chloe POV:

Hazel blinked, her glowing yellow eyes looking confused.

Her inner wolf was fighting against her fading human mind.

"Your Alpha?" Hazel mumbled, looking at Hunter. "But... why is Chloe wearing the Luna dress?"

Hunter stood up smoothly, his body releasing a thick wave of calming pheromones.

The scent was meant to soothe, but it made my stomach turn.

"She's just a low-level Omega I hired for the dress fittings, Hazel," Hunter lied smoothly, stroking her hair.

"Go to the next room. The makeup artists are waiting for you."

Hazel's mouth pulled into a childish, vacant smile that did not reach her eyes, and she wandered out of the room.

Once the door clicked shut, Hunter turned back to me.

His eyes flashed with the glowing gold of an Alpha.

"Take off the rest of that dress, Chloe," he ordered.

He was using the Alpha's Command.

It was an absolute power that forced lower-ranking wolves to obey.

An invisible, heavy pressure forced my knees to bend, and my hands moved against my will.

I pulled the torn white fabric off my shoulders, feeling stripped of my dignity.

"Look at you," Hunter mocked, looking down at me. "You're nothing but a cellar-dwelling apothecary. You cannot even afford your own wolf-bane suppressants."

His words felt like heavy stones smashing into my ribs.

I was a genius Healer, a rare talent.

I had a chance to go to the prestigious Werewolf Council for advanced studies.

But Hunter had used our mate bond to manipulate me.

He exaggerated Hazel's illness, making me feel guilty, so I stayed behind to brew potions for her in a dark basement.

He had bound my ambitions to this small room, and now he mocked me for my cage.

Hunter turned and walked out to prepare for his fake ceremony.

I stood alone in my underwear, shivering in the cold room.

My phone buzzed on the dressing table.

It was an encrypted email from Silas, the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack in another country.

Silas was a powerful, stable leader, completely different from Hunter.

The email read: The Chief Healer position is still open for you in Country D. Are you ready?

Silas and I had never met in person, but three years ago, my grandmother had saved his sister's life with a rare antidote. He had been watching over me from afar ever since-and he had never trusted Hunter.

Without hesitating for a single second, I typed my reply.

I accept. But I need to bring my Grandmother.

I hit send, feeling a tiny spark of warmth in my chest.

I quickly changed into my plain, everyday clothes-a gray sweater and jeans.

I walked out of the backstage area and slipped into the shadows of the grand ceremonial hall.

Above the altar, a massive magical crystal projector was displaying memories.

The Mind-Link Projection network was a magic system that broadcasted images to everyone in the pack.

But the images on the screen were wrong.

Instead of my memories with Hunter, the screen showed Hunter and Hazel kissing under the full moon.

A sick, frantic pounding began in my chest at the public spectacle of their affair.

A hand, strong as an iron clamp, seized my arm from behind.

"Did you think you could hide from me?" Hunter whispered in my ear.

He had found me using The Scent, the unique smell that tied fated mates together.

"I command you to stand at the altar as Hazel's best friend and witness this ceremony," he ordered.

I yanked my arm away. "Who is this charade truly for, Hunter? Her illness, or your own diseased ego?"

Hunter twisted the bone ring on his finger, a dark, wicked smile spreading across his lips.

"You'll do it, Chloe. Because this broadcast is wired into the medical Mind-Link."

A deathly chill crept up my spine.

"My Grandmother is in heart surgery right now," I warned him, my voice shaking.

"Exactly," Hunter sneered. "The live feed is playing directly into her recovery room. If you make a scene, or if you fail to smile, your fragile Grandmother will be forced to watch your humiliation in real-time."

He was using my only living family member as a hostage.

Hot, humiliating tears spilled over my eyelashes.

I looked at the man the Moon Goddess had chosen for me and saw only a thing of rot and ambition.

"I'll play your game," I whispered, my voice a hollow rasp. "But I swear to the Moon, when this is over, I will carve our bond from my very flesh."

Hunter laughed arrogantly and dragged me toward the bright lights of the altar.

I let him. Because every second he humiliated me was another second I memorized the faces of everyone who would kneel when I returned.

Chloe POV:

I stood beside the altar, forcing my facial muscles into a stiff, painful smile.

Hazel stood opposite me, looking beautiful in the repaired white dress.

But her inner wolf was restless, whining softly and pulling away every time Hunter tried to hold her hand.

Hunter shot me a cold, warning glare.

I leaned in and whispered to Hazel, my voice dry. "It's fine, Hazel. Hunter is merely on edge from the moon phases. He has forgotten his manners."

Hazel's eyes cleared for a brief second, and a dark, victorious gleam flashed in her pupils.

She knew exactly what she was doing.

The crystal projection above us shifted to a new set of memories.

It showed Hunter, the proud and arrogant Alpha, doing things he considered beneath him.

He was walking through dirty human markets, eating leftover food, and even bowing his knees in front of a Moon Goddess statue to pray for Hazel.

He had broken all his own rules for her.

The crystal overhead gave a hiss, like an overcharged wire, and the clear edges of the projection began to fray, the image tearing itself into a thousand glaring white fragments.

The romantic music stopped, replaced by the steady, terrifying beep of a heart monitor.

The screen changed.

It showed the inside of the Pack's exclusive hospital.

My Elder Grandmother's pale, wrinkled face filled the massive screen.

She was awake, staring at the live feed of the altar.

Her eyes widened in absolute horror as she saw Hunter holding Hazel's hands, with me standing to the side like a servant.

"No..." Grandmother gasped through the screen.

She clutched her chest, her face twisting in agony.

The heart monitor flatlined into a long, endless scream.

Beep-

The connection to her mind vanished, and the screen went black.

"Grandma!" I screamed, the sound tearing my throat apart.

I ran toward the control panel, but the technicians had already cut the power.

Panic consumed me.

I turned and sprinted out of the grand hall.

As I ran, my body began to shift.

My bones cracked and reshaped, thick white fur bursting from my skin as I entered my half-wolf form.

I reached the heavy wooden doors, but a massive figure blocked my path.

Hunter stood there, his muscles bulging, his Alpha aura pressing down on me like a mountain.

"You aren't leaving until we finish the final toast," he demanded, grabbing my shoulders with bruising force.

Deep inside me, something ancient and powerful snapped.

My eyes, usually a soft brown, suddenly ignited with a brilliant, glowing white light.

It was the hidden bloodline of the White Wolf, the rarest and most powerful descendants of the Moon Goddess.

A low, vibrating growl ripped from my chest, carrying a threat of absolute destruction.

Hunter's hands flinched.

His inner wolf whimpered, sensing a predator far greater than an Alpha.

He let go of me, stepping back, but his pride made him yell, "You'll regret this, Chloe!"

I didn't look back. I ran on all fours through the dark streets until I reached the hospital.

The Healer nurses were gathered outside the emergency room, their faces grim. "She is critical, Chloe," one of them whispered, handing me a clipboard. "We need your signature."

My hand trembled so violently I could barely form the letters as I signed the Do Not Resuscitate form, a document that felt as heavy as a tombstone.

I slid down the wall to the cold floor, the warmth draining from my fingertips until my hands felt like blocks of ice.

As I waited, a commotion erupted down the hallway. A patient, half-mad with his own wolf's degeneration, was screaming at the staff. "The letters! She faked the letters! A traitor in our midst!" His ravings were nonsensical, but the words struck Hazel, who had followed me, like a physical blow.

Footsteps echoed in the hallway. Hunter and Hazel walked in, their fingers locked together. They had changed into matching dark red celebration outfits.

I turned my head away, shuttering my senses, feeling nothing but a vast, hollow space inside me.

"The letters..." Hazel began to babble, her eyes wide with a terror that had nothing to do with the madman. "The recommendation... I didn't want you to leave me, Chloe! I did not mean for them to catch you!"

The words struck me like lightning.

She stumbled backward, her face turning pale as snow.

"No... no!" Hazel babbled, her mind fracturing under the stress. "I didn't mean to! I just... I intercepted the recommendation letter! I changed it! I didn't want Chloe to pass the Healer exam and leave me!"

The hallway's fluorescent lights seemed to flare to an unbearable brightness, and the sound of the distant monitors became a single, piercing whine in my ears.

My ears rang loudly.

Years ago, a fake report letter had accused me of treason.

Because of that letter, I was banished to the borders, where I was kidnapped by bloodthirsty Rogues.

"You ruined me because you were afraid of being alone?" I whispered, staring at the woman I had called my sister.

Hunter stepped in front of Hazel, shielding her.

I didn't answer him. My fingers brushed the wolf-tooth necklace at my throat-the last thread of our bond.

Tonight, I would snap it. And before dawn, he would understand what loss truly meant.