Chapter 1

I was stripped of my gown at my own mating ceremony. I watched my mate bond with another she-wolf. Three years later, we met again.

The chaos of the arrivals hall hit me first, and then I saw them. Standing apart from the bustling crowd was a group of pack wolves holding a sign: “Welcome, Chairman’s Mate.” And then I saw him. Silas.

He was even more handsome than I remembered.

Sharp, defined muscles. A hard jawline. His Alpha aura was so strong the crowd instinctively parted around him, a bubble of tense silence in the noisy hall.

Even after three years, the sight of him sent a spike of pain through my chest.

It wasn’t me. It was my wolf, howling for the mate bond he had ripped away.

But the pain vanished as soon as I saw the smug look on his face. And the sickeningly sweet Jenna in his arms. It was replaced by a wave of pure disgust.

Before I could say a word, Jenna pinched her nose. She took a theatrical step back.

"Gods! What is that smell?" she shrieked. "The stench of a rogue! An unmarked Omega!"

A few pack members around them started laughing.

"Is she homeless? What’s she doing here?"

"Look at her shabby clothes. She probably begs for money outside."

"Where the hell is security? How did they let this trash in?"

My hand flew to my stomach.

Zane’s rare potions masked my pregnancy, hiding my pup’s scent to keep us safe.

I never imagined my faint scent would become their proof that I was a ‘tainted’ Omega.

Silas studied my face. His eyes narrowed. "Wait... you look familiar."

"Of course she looks familiar!" Jenna shrieked, her finger jabbing in my direction. "It's Caliana! That runaway bitch!"

A hush fell over our corner of the hall.

Every nearby eye was on me, staring as if I were a monster.

Silas's handsome face twisted into an ugly sneer.

"Caliana..." he said my name coldly. "You actually have the nerve to come back?"

I didn't answer.

The memory of that night burned behind my eyes.

Me, in my custom Luna gown, my heart overflowing with joy. And him, tearing it from my body for her. For Jenna.

"Look at you now!" Jenna pointed at me, her voice dripping with malice. "Hair like straw, clothes fit for a beggar! You deserved to be abandoned!"

"She must have heard about Silas's status now and regrets it," one of the wolves added. "She wants him back."

"Pathetic. Still looks this miserable after three years."

"Probably couldn't make it on her own."

Silas walked closer, his arm still around Jenna. He tried to use his Alpha dominance to make me submit.

But he had no idea. The mark I carried now was from an Alpha a thousand times more powerful than him—Zane.

His dominance felt like a gentle breeze.

Silas’s eyes raked over me. The love from three years ago was gone. Replaced by disgust. He looked at me like I was a piece of trash on the sidewalk.

His voice was a weapon, laced with pity and impatience.

"Your little tantrum should be over by now. Come back. Jenna needs a healer for her pet dog. Your skills should be just enough for that."

A pet healer.

A lowly, humiliating position.

Jenna covered her mouth, trying to hide a smirk. "A healer? I don't think she's even worthy of that. Look at her. She isn't even fit to be my servant."

"Yeah, she's too dirty to even feed the pets."

"Who would let her touch their pet looking like that?"

I listened to their insults in silence.

I felt no anger. No sadness. Just a faint disgust.

"Why aren't you talking?" Silas mistook my silence for submission. "Still jealous of Jenna?"

He reached out to touch my face, just like he used to. "Stop the attitude. I have a spare room in my territory. I can take you in. But you have to behave. Know your place."

I stepped back.

"Don't touch me."

Silas's face went rigid with anger.

"Caliana, I've given you a chance. Don't be ungrateful."

He grabbed my wrist, his nails digging into my skin.

I looked at this man.

He was once the most important person in my life.

I once thought I knew this man. I thought he was kind. I thought he was gentle. Looking at his arrogant face now, I realized I never knew him at all. The man I loved was a fantasy.

"I don't understand where you get this confidence," he said coldly. "You think running away for three years changed anything?"

I gently pulled my hand free.

"Let go of me."

"What gives you the right to be so arrogant?" Jenna shrieked. "Don't think you're still the beloved future Luna from three years ago! You're a nobody now!"

Silas looked at me with a strange expression, as if searching for a crack in my composure.

Then he glanced at me with contempt and said to the wolves around him:

"What does she have to be upset about? She ran off over a small thing. Now she can't survive on her own and comes crawling back. She deserves to suffer a little."

A small thing.

He actually called it a small thing.

Publicly humiliating me at our mating ceremony. Stripping my gown off for another woman. Abandoning me. Destroying seven years of love. To him, it was just a small thing.

My heart still ached, just for a second.

I finally saw the truth.

The Silas I had fallen for was long dead.

He wasn't the wounded boy who would still shield me from harm.

He wasn't the young Alpha with nothing to his name, who swore to the moon he would give me everything.

And he was no longer the successful man who would still clumsily make me breakfast.

Thank the Goddess, I had moved on.

Better yet, I was now carrying the pup of a far greater Alpha. Our second child.