breaking point

Chapter 1: The Breaking Point

The smell hit me first.

I stood frozen in the doorway of my husband's office, that thick, musky, undeniably sexual scent slamming into me like a physical blow. My wolf whimpered, already knowing what my brain refused to process.

Damien had her bent over our desk. The one where we used to review pack finances together when we first got married.

His hands gripped her hips, his body moving against hers with a violence he'd never shown me. Not even on our wedding night. The woman's red hair spilled across the mahogany, her moans filling the room, pheromones so strong I could taste them.

My handbag hit the floor.

They didn't stop.

Damien's eyes met mine over her shoulder. Cold. Gray. Empty. He didn't even look surprised—just kept moving, kept thrusting, and I saw something that made my stomach turn. Satisfaction. Like he'd wanted me to see this.

"Damien." My voice came out strangled.

He pulled out slowly, deliberately. The woman turned. Sera. The pack's new strategist he'd hired three months ago. The one he said was "essential to our security."

She smiled at me. "Luna. We didn't hear you come in."

I couldn't breathe. My wolf howled inside me, but I just stood there like the pathetic thing I'd become.

Damien tucked himself back in with cold efficiency. "We'll discuss this later, Amara."

Five years of marriage. And that's all he had to say.

"How long?" The words scraped out.

"Does it matter?" He buttoned his shirt without looking at me.

Sera laughed. "Since the day Damien hired me. He told me all about you—how you're not cut out to be a Luna. How you can't even shift properly because you're so weak."

The silver scar on my abdomen burned. The one I got taking a bullet meant for him two years ago. I'd seen the shooter, seen the silver-laced bullet aimed at Damien's heart, and moved without thinking. The impact tore through my stomach, the poisoning spreading so fast the pack doctor said I should have died.

Three months in bed. Three months of agony. Three months where Damien visited twice, both times to discuss pack business, his eyes never softening when he looked at my bandages.

The scar never fully healed. Silver poisoning never really left a wolf's system. It weakened me permanently, made my shifts painful and incomplete. My wolf could barely emerge anymore.

I'd almost died for him. And this was what I got.

"Get out," Damien told Sera.

She gathered her clothes and walked past me naked, shameless. The door clicked shut.

"This marriage was arranged," Damien said, pouring himself a drink. "I never wanted you. Decent bloodline, decent appearance before you let yourself go. But you've always been inadequate as a Luna."

Each word was a knife.

"I took a bullet for you. I almost died."

"And you've been holding that over my head ever since. You made a choice. I never asked you to."

"I'm your wife—"

"You're not my mate. The Moon Goddess doesn't always get it right. I feel nothing when I look at you. Just obligation."

Something broke inside me.

"What about Kai?" I whispered. "Our son?"

"Kai is fine. He needs a strong Luna. Not whatever you've become. Sera is better suited to raise him properly."

"Better suited—"

"She's already been spending time with him. He likes her." Damien straightened his cuffs. "This conversation is over."

He walked past me like I was furniture.

I finally moved toward Kai's room. I needed my baby. My little boy. The one good thing from this nightmare marriage.

His door was open. I heard voices and froze.

"But I want Mommy to read me the story." Kai's voice.

"I'm here now, darling." Sera. "Your mommy isn't feeling well."

"Are you going to be my new mommy? Daddy said you might be."

"Would you like that?"

A pause. Then: "I guess. You're prettier than Mommy. And you smell nice. Mommy always smells like medicine."

The silver poisoning. The damage from saving his father's life. That's what my five-year-old son smelled on me.