Chapter 1

I’ve been with Domine for three years.

He claimed to be a Delta warrior from the neighboring Moonlight Pack.

I thought we were a match made in heaven.

Except in bed.

He always made me turn my back to him. He never let me make a sound. It felt like he was just carrying out a mission.

I wanted him to mark me—even just a small bite—but he always refused.

"Halen, you’re the Head Healer," he’d say. "I can’t mark you in private. I want to give you a formal Mating Ceremony so the entire pack can witness it."

I believed him.

But when I went to the house I bought with my own savings—our future home—carrying a strengthening potion I’d developed for him, I found him in our bed with another woman. Two bodies were tangled together. Domine was thrusting between her legs like a dog in heat.

"Domine… it’s too deep… ah! No… not there…" Ella’s voice was shaky.

"Can't take it? Well, you're going to take it anyway!" Domine bit her neck—a place he never touched on me—and gave another hard shove. "You owe me this. For three years, every time I touched her, I had to close my eyes and picture you just to get hard. She’s like a corpse."

"But… Domine… I’m not worthy…" Ella gasped, her hands clutching his muscular back. "The medicine Halen gave me… it killed my wolf… I’m useless… I don't deserve to be your Luna… I’ll only hold you back…"

Hearing my name, Domine paused for a second before becoming even more feral. "Don't mention that bitch!" Domine kissed away her tears tenderly.

The truth was, I saved Ella! She was the one who trespassed into the forbidden zone and ate poisonous fruit. I fought like hell just to keep her alive!

I was just about to rush in and explain the truth.

Someone stopped me, snapping a wolfsbane-infused suppressor onto my wrist.

"Let me go! Domine is being lied to!" I thrashed. "I'm the one who—"

The man kicked my hand away in disgust. "How dare you address our Alpha by his name."

Alpha? Domine?

"Domine Ashford is the great Alpha of our Moonlight Pack, and I am Lucas, his Gamma."

His words hit me like a sledgehammer.

"What Alpha?" I stared at him. "Domine is just a Delta warrior!"

"Wake up, Halen," Lucas sneered, dragging me away. "The Alpha has been posing as an ordinary Delta for three years just to get close to you and get revenge for Ella."

My mind went blank. Alpha? Revenge? Impossible.

Three years ago, I found a badly wounded Domine while on border patrol. He had silver burns, and his wounds were rotting. It took me three days to pull him back from the brink of death. The first thing he said when he woke up was, "You saved my life." A week later, he told me, "Halen, I want to be with you."

I thought it was fate. I thought the Moon Goddess had answered my prayers and given me a mate.

And now Someone was telling me it was all a calculated lie?

"No… that can't be…" I struggled, my nails digging into my palms. "He was so good to me… he said he’d give me a ceremony…"

"A ceremony?" Lucas laughed. "He was talking about his Mating Ceremony with Ella! The invitations went out three days ago. The whole Moonlight pack knows. But that has nothing to do with you!"

He dragged me to the basement, slammed me onto a surgical table, and chained my limbs with silver.

"What are you doing?!" I screamed.

"Executing the future Luna's orders." Lucas pulled out a large syringe with a cold smirk. "Ella lost her wolf because of your poison. She’s weak. You’re going to sustain her with your heart’s blood. This is the debt you owe."

"I didn't poison her!" I shook my head wildly. "Ella ate the forbidden fruit herself! I saved her!"

"Saved her?" Lucas scoffed. "Ella said you were jealous of her background and put wolfsbane in her medicine. She's about to become our Luna, and you must atone for what you've done. You’re finished, Halen."

The needle pierced my chest. Agony flared. I could feel my wolf howling, struggling, being drained away bit by bit.

"This is just the start," Lucas said, pulling the needle out. "You’ll be back every week to provide for Ella. Until you die."

He left. I forced my weak body up and stumbled back to the house. I reached the door just as I heard Ella crying inside.

"Domine… it’s all my fault… if I hadn't been so weak… if Halen hadn't poisoned me… you wouldn't have had to go through all this to get revenge…"

"It’s not your fault," Domine’s voice was gentle. "It’s hers. She was jealous and made you lose your wolf. I’ll never let her off the hook."

"But… look at me…" Ella sobbed. "I don’t even have a wolf anymore… I’m useless… You’re the Alpha heir… you need a strong Luna…"

"Don't say that." Domine cut her off firmly. "You are my fated mate. You saved my life. Even without a wolf, you are my only Luna."

The words shattered me. I collapsed by the door, shaking.

There is a card on the ground:

You are cordially invited to the Mating Ceremony of Domine Ashford and Ella Whitmore.

Time: Full Moon, seven days from now.

Location: Moonlight Pack Temple.

I looked up at the house—the home I bought with every cent I had. I thought this was our home. I thought he loved me.

It was all a lie. I stood up and tore the invitation to shreds. My chest was still bleeding, the silver poisoning my wolf, but my heart hurt far worse.

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