Chapter 1

I was still gasping for breath when I heard the shower running in the bathroom. My hand shook as I unlocked my phone and dialed my father’s number.

“I’ll marry William,” I whispered, my voice steady despite the storm in my chest. “The dying Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack. But I have one condition.”

On the other end, my father’s voice shot up in excitement. “Name it! Anything, Ann. As long as you agree, I’ll promise you anything.”

The Bloodmoon Curse had doomed William—without completing his destined Bonding before the next blood moon, he wouldn’t just die, his entire pack’s bloodline would weaken. The catch? The Bonding had to be with an Alpha’s daughter. And if she wasn’t strong enough… the female could die instead.

“I’ll tell you when I get back,” I said quietly, my chest tight and cold.

As I hung up, my gaze flicked to Richard’s laptop on the desk. The screen glowed, a notification flashing across it.

[Richard, I hear thunder. I’m scared…] —Lynn

My heart was clenched.

Inside me, Lily, my wolf, growled low. “Fake. It reeks of pretense.”

I forced her anger down, swallowing my own.

The bathroom door opened. Richard stepped out, a towel slung low on his hips. His Alpha aura pressed into the room, heavy and suffocating.

“Something came up with the pack. I need to leave.” His voice was flat, indifferent.

I didn’t turn to face him. My eyes lingered on the rain-streaked window, the trees outside bending in the storm. “Is it a pack matter… or the one you really love?”

His brow furrowed. “What?”

“Nothing,” I murmured, rubbing my temple.

He walked closer, fingers brushing over my swollen lips as if nothing between us was broken. “Be good, Ann. Be submissive. Don’t cause trouble.”

Then he left.

The door clicked shut.

I was exhaled, shaky and uneven. But the moment he was gone, I grabbed my phone and ordered an Uber. I couldn’t stop myself.

Half an hour later, I sat in the back seat as the car rolled to a stop outside a hotel. Through the curtain of rain, I saw her.

Lynn.

She rushed out into the downpour, her dress clinging to her curves. Richard was already there, waiting. He shrugged off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders, lifting her as if she were something fragile, precious.

“It’s freezing. Why would you come out without a cloak?” His voice was soft, tender, the kind of tone he’d never once used with me.

My nails bit into my palms.

Lily’s voice cut through me, sharp and merciless. “Do you see now? We’ve never been the one he protects.”

The sight pierced me, pulling me back to the beginning—the day I first met Richard.

Back then, I was forced into training with the Moonstone Pack.

He sat in his glass-walled office, cold and untouchable. His Alpha aura pressed down on me until I could barely breathe.

On the first day, I spilled coffee on him.

“I’ll bill your father,” he said coolly.

On the second, I deleted meeting files, hoping to throw him off.

He recited every word of them flawlessly in front of his executives.

On the third, I tried to drug him—just to see an Alpha stripped of his control.

Instead, that night, under the full moon, his wolf snapped free. And I… I became his cure.

I was sore, furious, and humiliated.

But he pinned me against the window, his voice low, dangerous, breaking into my soul.

“Ann. Be good. Be submissive.”

And God help me… I broke.

I gave in to him. I gave him everything.

On his birthday, I covered the villa in roses and candles. I even bought a ring. I—his Luna in everything but name—was going to propose.

But I waited all night. The candles burned out, the roses wilted, and he never came home.

At 3 a.m., my phone buzzed.

#Alpha Richard at LAX with his White Moon

The photo showed him tenderly guiding Lynn into a car, his eyes soft, glowing with a love he had never once spared me.

The comments flooded in:

“The Alpha and his fated Luna! Finally!”

“They’re high school sweethearts!”

“He only ever smiles for Lynn.”

My phone slipped from my hand.

Lily’s laugh was bitter, icy. “See the truth. You’re just a replacement.”

I staggered into his study, tears burning my vision. A photo lay tucked under his laptop. I flipped it over.

Her. Always her.

My throat closed. I laughed, a jagged, broken sound that scraped like an injured wolf’s howl.

By morning, when Richard came back, he only glanced at the trashed study before turning to the butler.

“Clean this up.”

He didn’t even look at me.

I watched the butler sweep my ring box—my proposal—into a trash bag. He never even knew what was inside. He never knew I’d been ready to give him the rest of my life.

And at that moment, I knew. I would never love him again.

---

“Ann, where to?” The driver’s voice snapped me back to the present.

“Home,” I said coldly. “Back to the Silver Fang Pack.”

When I walked into the main hall, my father, Alpha David, was already there. His eyes lit up. “Ann, have you really agreed to marry into the Bloodmoon Pack?”

On the staircase, Julie—my stepmother—smiled knowingly. Her daughter, Lynn, from her first marriage, stood beside her.

“Yes,” I said, my voice hollow.

The moment the door closed behind me, the weight hit. I crumbled onto the floor, burying my face in my knees.

Lily growled, soft and pained. “Don’t cry, Ann. A she-wolf should never cry over garbage.”

But her trembling tail betrayed her. She hurt just as much as I did.

The next morning, laughter echoed downstairs. A woman’s laughter.

I yanked my door open. “What’s going on?”

The butler hesitated. “She’s moved in.”

And then I saw her.

Lynn.

Blonde hair. Blue eyes. That same mole under her eye as in the photo. Smiling sweetly, like a wolf pretending to be harmless.

My blood froze.

Lily roared inside me, barring her fangs. I fought to hold her back, but my own fury trembled just as violently.