Chapter 1

（Isabella‘s pov）

“I, Isabella Costa, reject you…” I can’t even finish the sentence to my reflection in the mirror. I’m his fated mate. I’ve given him everything he wanted, including painful IVF treatments so he can have an alpha-born heir, but all he wants is his childhood girlfriend, Layla.

Soft black curls cascade over my bare shoulders as I mindlessly brush them out. I look down at the clumps of hair in my brush. A hundred hormone injections ago, I had healthy locks.

Before enduring all the pain and complications that come with IVF, I liked my body.

Ovarian swelling sucks, but ascites…is a nightmare. I thought I knew what pain was. I didn’t.

I can’t tell if this trouble breathing is a panic attack or just more side effects from trying to appease my mate, by giving him a baby.

I’m not even the one who should hate my body, but here we are. He has the low sperm…and then there’s Layla…

All I ever wanted was a bond like my parents had. They were fated mates with devotion like the stuff in fairytales. But my mate? To him, I’m just a placeholder…for her.

I’m nothing more than a surrogate, so he can make that homewrecker slut a Luna and still have an Alpha-born heir.

I slip into my floor length black dress with a coreset style strapless bodice and slits on both sides that stop at my hips. I let my hair stay down; it stops at my waist.

I look up at my reflection in the full-length mirror one more time. He’ll see just what he’s lost.

I shake my head and stride up to him with all the fake confidence I can muster, swaying my hips in rhythm with my own heart. Don’t let him see you cry. He doesn’t deserve the satisfaction.

“Let’s get divorced, Alpha Jesse,” I say with a plastered saccharin smile as I toss the papers on the table.

His jaw clenches as he spares a quick glance at the pile of legal documents spilling out of the folder with tabs and highlights throughout, marking where he should sign and initial, below the lines I already signed.

Jessie pushes them back dismissively with the tips of his fingers. He looks up at me with the raise of one eyebrow. My pulse quickens under his gaze, despite all he has put me through. IVF hurt. The side effects have been excruciating.

My eyes meet his stare. All I can do is think. I did all this for him, MY mate. He’s MINE, not Layla’s. But he still gives his body to her, and she gets his whole heart. What do I get? Loneliness, pain, and heartbreak. Suddenly, nausea takes me over. I have no choice but to make this divorce happen; he’s giving me no choice.

“Our guests are on the other side of that wall,” he says gesturing across the lounge sitting back in his plush leather armchair.

“You pick now at the celebration of our wedding anniversary as your moment to ask me –your husband, fated mate, co-Alpha of our pack for a divorce?”

“You want this, Isabella, just because of those rumors you overheard,” Jesse says incredulously.

“You mean the facts I heard just this morning, from your Beta on the phone saying that your lover is getting a divorce?”

He growls low. His face contorts into a snarl. “Her name is Layla, and she was my first love, Isabella. Watch your tone.”

“Oh, I know all about her. She comes first.” I lean over him to gather the paperwork and clutch it to my chest.

No tears. Don’t let him shake you. I’m not even sure if that thought was my human self or my wolf, but I could feel her pacing and growling in my mind. My chest tightens.

“I’ve had nothing but complications and pain going through IVF, because you didn’t want to put Layla through it. While I was in the hospital, Jesse, with OHSS, you chose to be at her side. I know the truth you son of a bitch! I know your plan is to divorce me, after I have your baby!”

“These were all your choices, love. It isn’t my fault, and it certainly isn’t Layla’s.”

I throw the papers in his face, “Sign them. We’re done.” I spin on my heels and stomp out of the room, letting the door slam behind me.

As I enter the main hall, the collective whispers fill my ears, and suddenly I feel all the eyes in the room. I’m surrounded by other high-ranking Alphas who came to celebrate with us. I can’t show any weakness.

I stand tall with my head held high and draw on my wolf’s strength. We speak in unison as one Alpha voice, forcing a certain level of submission to us as they listen to our words. “I regret to inform you all that the party has been cancelled.”

After a heartbeat, the guests begin leaving. I grab a drink from a passing server’s tray and down it in one big gulp as if it were confidence in a long-stem glass of red wine.

I head down a secluded corridor and let the wall hold me up as I slide down to the ground. How could one drink make me drunk? Everything starts to look fuzzy.

All my brokenhearted tears find their way out.

There was a time when I’d have avoided even the smallest taste of alcohol for the sake of getting pregnant and giving my mate the healthy baby he so desperately wanted.

My father was the Alpha before me. After my parents died, I found Jesse. I thought he was mine like dad was mom’s.

Jesse made a name for himself as a promising young Alpha.

The Moon Goddess chose us, fated us…just like my parents. So, I married him. We merged our packs.

Our union and pack strength has earned him a reputation as a powerful Alpha. He doesn’t even really want a baby…what he wants is, an heir.

Pain and exhaustion weigh my body down. Muscles spasm in my neck and shoulders. There’s ringing in my ears.

This marriage is a mess. We will divide the pack and our territory. Even if splitting means I’ll never know the love of a mate again; I don’t have a choice.

My face goes flush. A surge of heat extends from my head down to my feet and settles in my stomach.

There, there was something in my drink. I panic and bolt. I must get out of the open.

I stumble and almost fall. The sound of heavy boots follows my movements. I quicken my pace to distance myself from my pursuer…but it’s to no avail.

My senses pick up his pulse. It’s fast.

This is bad. He’s on a mission and not one of my pack members.

I rush inside a random room and glance over my shoulder as I slam the door behind me. I face forward just in time to crash into the granite back of a stranger.

He turns around and pushes me away, his tawny sleeveless bicep flexing with the motion. “Get out,” he growls.

The only light in the room are moonbeams from a window that cast shadows over his face. Whatever drug is in my system seems to take control. Instead of retreating, I grab his arm, pull him close, and crush my lips onto his.

His eyes widen and his hands wrap around my waist. A jolt of electricity surges through my core.

My stomach turns a somersault at the contact. I’ve never felt desire like this. Maybe it’s the drugs from that drink, but for a moment, I swear his want matches mine or perhaps it’s his wolf’s yearning I feel?

I jump at the sound of a camera shutter from the door, aimed at us by the owner of the boots that chased me in here.