Chapter 1

I was Eleanor Silverclaw, daughter of Carlos Silverclaw, the most respected elder of the Darkmoon Pack.

The night Dad died from a heart attack, Andrew Rasmussen, my childhood friend and the pack's greatest warrior, stayed by my side.

That same night, he stood over my father’s fading body and swore to protect me for the rest of his life. He promised to take me as his mate, to shield me from every storm.

And I believed him.

Even after Ryan Hebert, my former fiancé and a Beta of the Darkmoon Pack, publicly rejected me and marked Daisy instead，humiliating me and denouncing my unborn child.I still took Andrew’s hand. I believed he was my last safe harbor.

I had been carrying Ryan’s pup.

On the day of our marking ceremony, he turned his back on me and marked Daisy, who was also with pup.

He declared, in front of the entire Pack, that the child in my womb wasn’t his.

That it was a bastard.

A pup of unknown blood.

Then he did something even crueler—

He accused my father of treason, claiming he had conspired with outsiders and betrayed the Darkmoon bloodline.

My father collapsed in front of the great hall.

And I—under a sea of judging eyes—lost my pup that same moment.

Dressed in white, soaked in blood, I knelt on the cold stone and begged Ryan to save us.

He looked at me with nothing but indifference, holding Daisy tightly in his arms like she was something sacred.

“Daisy can’t handle stress,” he said coldly. “Stay away from her.”

That was the moment my world shattered.

It was Andrew Rasmussen who pulled me from the wreckage.

He brought the best wolf healers for my father.

He sat by my side every night.

He buried my past with solemn silence and promised me a future.

After the funeral, I left it all behind and became Andrew’s mate.

For five years, he was nothing but tender.

He held me through nightmares, made me breakfast on our anniversary, stood beside me in the rain at my father’s grave.

I thought he was my redemption.

I thought he truly loved me.

Until tonight.

My hand paused on the handle of a private tavern booth. The door wasn’t fully shut.

And what I heard inside sliced through me like a blade.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Ryan’s voice sneered. “You, playing the loyal mate to Eleanor? Cooking breakfast, crying over her dead dad’s grave? All while hiding the fact that you and I planned that entire damn marking ceremony? That we let her lose her pup and her father just to keep Daisy safe?”

“If it weren’t for Daisy, I never would’ve covered for your ass,” he added. “I don’t even like Eleanor, but at least I never pretended.”

A sharp sound pierced the room—a blade unsheathed, steel glinting in the dim light.

Andrew’s voice dropped low, furious and cold.

“I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her,” he growled.

“I helped you back then because I wanted Daisy to be happy.”

“But if you ever hurt her, if she sheds even a single tear because of you,

I swear I’ll carve your heart out myself.”

Ryan let out a dark laugh. “Romantic, aren’t you?

Too bad Daisy’s already marked by me.

She never looked at you, Andrew. Never will.

So go back to Elinor. She’s all you’ve got left.

You killed her father—

when that old man rises as a ghost-wolf to take revenge, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Clang！

The sound of silver slamming into stone shattered the air. Sparks flew as Andrew’s blade struck the pillar behind Ryan.

I didn’t wait to hear more.

I ran downstairs and made my way to the bar.

I’d never drunk before in my life,

but I threw back a glass of fire-whiskey,

and the burn clawed down my throat and forced tears from my eyes.

But what stung more than the liquor

were those words, now seared into my bones:

Andrew… had been part of it all.

He was the one who held me in that hospital hallway, crying with me, whispering,

“No matter what you lose, I’ll be your whole world.”

But he helped destroy it.

That night, as my father lay dying, I remembered the look in his eyes as he stared at Andrew. It wasn’t gratitude.

It was accusation.

And I fool that I was took it as a blessing.

I took Andrew’s hand.

I became his mate.

I gave him five years of my life.

My marriage.

My home.

My lover’s touch.

It was all a lie, wrapped in guilt.

Because the one he loved… was never me.

It was always Daisy.

And I?

I was nothing but a penance,

a shelter built out of his remorse.

I set the empty glass down.

And just as I turned to leave, a familiar arm slid around my waist.

Andrew pressed his lips to my neck. His breath was warm and wine-sweet.

“You were gone so long,” he murmured. “I missed you… let’s go home, Eleanor… I love you. So much…”

He always said that when he was drunk.

And I used to believe him.

I used to think his slurred whispers were truth.

But now?

Now it was just another kind of cruelty.

I said nothing.

Gently, I guided him out to the car. He collapsed against me, head resting in my lap, peaceful like a child.

Then came the whisper.

Soft.

Shaky.

“Daisy…Daisy...

why didn’t you choose me…

why…”

That was the moment everything snapped into place.

The name he had whispered in his sleep for years.

It wasn’t mine.

It was never mine.