Chapter 1: The Night They Tried to Break Her

The music stopped.

A tense hush fell over the hall. Every wolf sensed the danger tearing through the room’s laughter and clinking sounds. Elena Monroe stopped at the entrance.

Then her image flashed across the giant screen.

The room vibrated with whispers and disbelief.

It was clear for everyone to see. Her body was exposed under harsh light. Another followed. Her nude photographs, displayed without mercy.

Laughter rose.

Elena’s hands dug into the folds of her dress. Her pulse raced, and her wolf whimpered, bruised by betrayal.

“It had to be Drake. There is no other explanation for this. He waited and made sure that I'm about to step in before doing this awful thing to me” Elena whispered slowly to herself.

“Oh, look,” a voice sneered from the crowd. “Isn’t that Elena Monroe? The one they call brilliant just because she topped the academy.”

Another voice followed, thick with malice.

“No one would have believed she could do something so shameless when no one was watching.”

“I heard she tricked her way into Drake’s bed,” someone else said. “With her background? How else did she even get into the academy?”

Laughter followed.

Slowly, Elena’s gaze locked on the man dominating the center of the hall.

Drake Hamilton.

Her mate.

Before the moment could shatter her entirely, a growl of anger exploded from the crowd.

“Enough.”

Marcus Paterson forced his way through, his shoulders cutting a path through the hall. Anger radiated from him as he moved toward the stage.

He slammed the switch down, cutting the screen in an instant.

The screen went dark.

Silence returned.

This time, it was heavy and suffocating.

Footsteps echoed sharply across the floor as Marcus turned around. His eyes burned as they locked onto Drake.

“Have you lost your mind?” Marcus demanded. “Drake, are you not afraid that one day your memory will return and you will regret every cruel thing you are doing to her?”

Drake stepped forward.

His face was too calm.

His eyes were cold and empty, like Elena meant nothing at all.

“If you still want to defend her, Marcus,” Drake said evenly, “then as my friend and brother, I have nothing left to say to you.”

He paused.

Then his voice hardened.

“Elena is a filthy ex-mate. Never speak her name in front of me again.”

The words struck Elena like a blade.

Something inside her shattered with a sudden, cruel force. A teasing smile slowly crossed her lips, even with her legs shaking. She advanced carefully, refusing to let her body betray her fear.

A mournful cry rose from her wolf.

Her mate no longer recognized her scent.

Drake Hamilton. The man who once knelt before her under the Blood Moon, and promised her forever.

He married her before the accident.

Then everything shattered.

Elena had spent two years trapped in a coma.

When she woke up, the world she knew was gone.

Drake no longer looked at her the same way.

He has gotten another woman by his side.

This made Elena’s place in the pack vanish overnight.

She tried. The Moon Goddess knew she had tried to remind Drake of their bond. She also tried to bring back his memories to save what remained of their love.

Then someone drugged her.

Her vision blurred which made her wander into the wrong room and find herself in his bed.

And now, this was her punishment.

Marcus growled as he grabbed Drake by the collar. The fabric stretched tight between them.

“Are you even thinking clearly?” Marcus shouted. “If not for your obsession with the mating bond, Elena would never have been in that car with you that day. You rushed to seal it before the Blood Moon.”

Marcus’s voice shook with fury. “Remember that she saved your life when that rogue attacked. She took the blow meant for you.”

He shoved Drake hard. “And this is how you repay her? By shaming her in front of the entire pack?”

Drake pushed him back with ease.

“She took a hit for me?” Drake said flatly. “Then we are even.”

His next words rang across the hall.

“She drugged me. Crawled into my bed like a desperate omega. And now she wants to act like the victim.”

Elena lifted her head and looked at him.

What she saw broke her.

There was no hesitation. No doubt. No trace of the man she once loved.

“If not for Cassandra,” Drake continued, “I would have exposed even more.”

The room erupted again.

“She should be ashamed of herself.”

“She should be grateful Drake even noticed her.”

“She comes from nothing.”

“Just an omega from Derrick Monroe’s filthy bloodline.”

Elena felt something stir deep inside her veins.

They thought she was weak. Broken. Easy to crush.

But they didn't know that she is not ordinary as they thought.

At least, Drake once belonged to her.

Someone laughed nearby. “Marcus, stop acting like the victim here. It is Drake Hamilton’s birthday. No need to ruin the celebration.”

“Yes,” another voice agreed. “Elena needs to move on. Cassandra is with Drake now.”

“She refused to agree to the divorce until his memory returns,” someone added. “What if it never does? Will she cling forever?”

Noah stepped forward, rubbing the back of his head. His voice carried quiet disdain.

“She never belonged among us. Drake forced his family to accept her. After the accident, he finally saw clearly. She was never on his level.”

Noah paused. Then he continued, “The difference is obvious.”

The world wavered before her, though her eyes were dry.

Something raw clawed its way inside her.

They wanted her to beg and crawl away in shame.

But she would not give them that satisfaction.

Elena stepped forward.

Each step silenced the whispers. And the hall grew quiet once more.

She stopped in front of Drake.

The man who now stood like a stone before her. She met his eyes.

And smiled.

“Drake,” she said with a calm tone.

“Let us end our mate bond.”