Chapter 1

“Elara!"

Hearing Kael's voice echo through the stone corridor, my whole body stiffened.

I raised my eyes and only then realized I was standing outside the Moon Temple.

The night before Blood Moon. I was back.

Another raw growl tore through the corridor outside my door, pulling me completely out of my daze.

I recognized that sound very well.

In my previous life, hearing the Alpha in this state, I had rushed to him without a second thought.

The moment he pinned me against the temple, I had melted into his heat and allowed him to claim me right there.

This time, I would not be his fool.

I pushed open my door and walked down the corridor. The moment I stepped into the Moon Temple, the sharp scent of Silver Fern burned my throat.

He was slumped against the altar, his body shaking, his eyes red and unfocused.

"Elara." He reached out a hand toward me.

The familiar burning in my chest urged me to step forward, but I forced my feet to stay rooted. Before the heat could overwhelm my senses, I clutched my collar shut with one hand and gripped the edge of the door with the other.

"I will bring my sister to you," I said flatly, and pulled the door shut between us.

I leaned back against the solid wood and ignored the furious roar that followed. Only when the lock clicked into place did I finally exhale.

Just then, I turned my head and saw my sister descending the temple steps, her moonstone bonding gown trailing silently behind her.

I stepped forward and intercepted her path before she could reach the bottom stair. "He is waiting for you inside. Go to him."

Serena's eyes flicked to my collar, then to my neck. When she found no mark and no scent of him on my skin, the tension in her shoulders eased.

A slow smile touched her lips.

She reached past me and wrapped her fingers around the heavy door handle.

"Don't worry. I will take good care of your Alpha."

The door swung open. The thick scent of Silver Fern poured into the corridor, and Serena stepped inside without hesitation.

Almost immediately, a breathy moan echoed from the other side of the wood.

"Alpha...take all of me." Serena's voice drifted through the door, thick with satisfaction.

Hearing her sounds of pleasure, a bitter chill spread through my chest.

In my past life, three days after that night, the patrol had dragged Serena's body from the Silver Lake. She had been carrying the Alpha's first heir when she drowned.

The pack had been on the verge of collapse without an heir or a Luna. To maintain stability, the elders had pressured him into marrying me instead.

On our wedding night, he had gripped my chin and sneered, "Are you satisfied now?"

For thirty years after that, he never marked me. He never shared our bed again. He never gave me the Luna's power or a single ounce of his respect.

Every full moon, he would disappear into the woods alone, mourning her. Every anniversary of her death, he would sit at her grave until dawn, ignoring my existence entirely.

When I bore him a daughter years later, he took one look at the child and walked out of the room. He did not return for three months.

I had spent decades trying to earn a love that had died with my sister in that lake. I had cooked his meals, managed his household, and healed his wounds, all while he looked through me as if I were a ghost haunting his life.

And on my deathbed, as my breath rattled in my chest and my body withered away, he leaned down. I thought he was finally going to say the words I had waited thirty years to hear. An apology.

Instead, he whispered, word by word, "I wish I had never met you."

It was only then that I realized he had never stopped loving Serena. So this time, I let her have him.

I turned away from the temple doors and walked back to my chambers.

The moment I sat on the edge of my bed, my phone buzzed on the nightstand.

"Miss Elara? I’m Beta Kane, from the Blackwood Territory. I am calling regarding your application for the Head Cook position."

"The position requires you to relocate immediately. The work is demanding, you would be away from your home pack permanently, and you will have to give up your rank as Shadow Luna. Are you still interested?"

I looked out the window at the Moon Temple, where the scent of Silver Fern was finally fading.

"I am interested. I will report in seven days."