Chapter 2

Suppressing the sheer helplessness in my chest, I decided I didn’t want to waste my time bickering with them here. It was completely pointless.

I looked at Eric, my voice entirely calm as I spoke. “Weren’t you all here to pick me up? Let’s go.”

The harbor fell dead silent for a second. The wolves traded bewildered glances before suddenly bursting into uproarious laughter.

Lily sneered, her voice dropping to a freezing edge. “Pick you up? Who do you think you are?!”

She pointed aggressively at the banner hanging above their heads. “Look closely. We are waiting for the Luna of the Crescent Moon Pack. Do you even have any idea who that is?”

Of course I knew.

“She is the Luna of the Crescent Moon Pack!” one of the warriors chimed in boastfully.

“Alpha Jason is completely ruthless and decisive in territory wars, but he is fiercely loyal and deeply devoted to his mate. Word has it that to save his Luna back then, he took on an entire enemy pack all by himself.”

“Every pack out there knows that if you want to get on Jason’s good side, you’re better off pleasing his Luna.”

Listening to them babble back and forth, I couldn’t help but let a small smile slip across my lips.

We had been mated for three years now. While Jason’s territory continued to expand rapidly, his reputation for utterly spoiling his mate had clearly grown more and more exaggerated with each passing rumor.

Lily, who had always desperately wanted to keep me beneath her heel, refused to miss any opportunity to flaunt her perceived superiority in front of me.

“To win his Luna’s heart, Jason once bid an astronomical amount at a high-end auction to buy her a necklace encrusted with a flawless moonstone. It is worth an absolute fortune.”

Her voice filled with venomous envy. “That Luna is the envy of every wolf alive.”

She paused abruptly, her eyes locking onto my neck. Suddenly, she pointed a finger at me and shrieked, “That’s the necklace!”

The entire area instantly fell silent. Every single wolf’s eyes pinned strictly to my neck.

Eric lunged a step forward. Without warning, he roughly yanked the necklace straight off my neck. He inspected it for a brief moment before spitting out a mocking laugh.

“This is a pretty realistic counterfeit! What kind of worthless rogue wolf made this for you out of glass? It’s cheap garbage.”

My expression turned icy. Just as I reached out to snatch it back, Lily snatched it from Eric’s hand and began playing with it, twirling it idly between her fingers.

“It really is much more exquisite than the replica I bought, though I would never actually wear a fake out in public to make a fool of myself.

“Selena, this fake actually feels quite nice. Or are you trying to tell us that you are that legendary Luna?”

The moment the words left her mouth, the surrounding wolves roared with laughter.

To them, the mere suggestion was a complete joke.

Jason was a True Alpha of the highest order, whereas three years ago, I was just an ordinary Beta left to drown and die in the ocean.

Connecting the two was completely impossible in their minds.

Lily swung the necklace back and forth in her hand. “Selena, why don’t you let me have this? I’ll pay you double what it’s worth.”

Terrified that she might drop and shatter the moonstone my mate had gifted me, I commanded in a frigid tone, “Give it back to me. Jason gave me that…”

Before I could even finish my sentence, Eric swung his hand and struck me across the face, his expression twisted in pure rage.

“Shut up!”