Chapter 1

I was Alpha Adrian's secret for eight years.

It wasn't until I walked in on him kissing his first love that I learned the mating mark he gave me was a fake.

I touched the back of my neck in disbelief.

"Eight years! You lied to me for eight whole years?!"

Everyone’s eyes were on me, but I could only see Adrian's expressionless face.

The face I had kissed countless times, the one I thought I would spend my life with.

"What is this, then?" I ripped my collar open, revealing the delicate, crescent-shaped bite mark. "What the hell is this?"

"Don't cause a scene, Elena," Adrian's voice was terrifyingly calm.

Causing a scene?

A disbelieving gasp escaped me, and I staggered back.

For eight years, I had suppressed my own Royal Alpha blood, turned down a career I dreamed of, and cut myself off from my friends, all because he kept insisting, "The time isn't right."

"I'm causing a scene?" My voice trembled. "You're the one who made a fool of me!"

I walked toward him, needing an explanation, needing him to say this was all a misunderstanding.

But Adrian pushed me away, his touch cold and dismissive.

Like he was shoving away a stranger, a nuisance.

"That's enough. It's time for you to go."

That push was crueler than any words.

The whispers around us erupted into a storm of murmurs.

"Poor woman. Used as a replacement and didn't even know it."

"Did she really think the Blackwood pack would want an outsider as their Luna?"

"Look at the kid. He's not a pureblood. Just a mutt."

Every word was a knife, twisting in my heart.

"Adrian, please tell me this isn't real," my voice broke into a sob. "We have Gale. We're a family!"

"A family?" Sophia suddenly spoke, her voice sickeningly sweet. She glided in front of me, a victor's smile on her face. "My dear Elena, haven't you figured it out yet?"

She stroked the true mark on her own neck, the one that glowed with silver light.

"That little trinket on your neck," she said, pointing at me with a perfectly manicured nail, "cost Adrian a hundred thousand dollars. He bought it from some decrepit Blood-Sorceress."

"It was forged in a full-moon ritual using Adrian's own blood. It doesn't just mimic a mark's scent; its true purpose was to cloud your senses and dull your instincts, trapping you in an illusion of love."

One hundred thousand dollars.

He spent a hundred thousand dollars to weave the perfect lie.

"You've lived in that lie for eight years," Sophia's smile widened. "The pack's entire inner circle knew the truth. You were the only fool kept in the dark."

She lifted her chin smugly. "See the difference? A real mark pulses with the heartbeat, glows softly when a mate is near. And yours? It's nothing more than a scar left by dead magic."

My legs started to give out.

"No... that's impossible..."

"Mommy?" Gale's timid voice cut through the noise. He was clutching his medal, his small face pale. "Is what Dad said... true? Is the mark a fake?"

He walked cautiously toward Adrian, looking up at the Alpha he had called 'Dad' for eight years.

"Dad, tell me it's not true." Gale’s eyes were filled with hope, the pure, innocent trust a child has for his father.

Adrian looked down at him, his eyes empty of any warmth.

"Let go." He roughly shook off the small hand clutching his trousers.

Gale stumbled backward, his small body slamming hard into a cold stone pillar.

"Ah!" The boy cried out in pain.

The medal clattered to the ground.

That medal was the proof of how amazing he was—proof he’d earned by training for three months, even competing with an injured arm, all so his 'dad' would see him shine.

Sophia sauntered over in her high heels.

She glanced down at the gold medal on the floor, and then, with a deliberate, cruel slowness, she brought her heel down and stomped on it.

A sharp crack echoed as the medal split in two.

"Little mutt," she sneered, "you will never be worthy of the Blackwood pack."

She ground the shattered medal under her heel, her eyes gleaming with malice. "Just like your mother. Both of you, shameless fakes."

"No!" Gale cried, scrambling for it. "That's mine!"

Seeing my son humiliated like this, something inside me snapped.

I lunged forward to protect him.

But before I could reach him, a cold hand clamped down on my shoulder.