breaking point

Chapter 1: The Breaking Point

The smell hit me first.

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

The desk. Our desk. The one where we used to review pack finances together when we first got married.

Damien had her bent over it.

His hands gripped her hips, his body moving against hers with a violence he'd never shown me. Not even on our wedding night. Not even during the rare times he'd bothered to touch me at all. The woman's red hair spilled across the mahogany surface, her moans filling the room, and the pheromones—God, the pheromones were so strong I could taste them.

My handbag slipped from my fingers and hit the floor.

They didn't stop.

Damien's eyes met mine over her shoulder. Cold. Gray. Empty. He didn't even have the decency to look surprised. He just stared at me while he kept moving, kept thrusting, and I watched something in his expression 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, and I recognized her. Sera. The pack's new strategist. The one he'd hired three months ago. The one he said was "essential to our security."

She smiled at me. Actually smiled, her lips swollen and red.

"Luna," she said, her voice dripping with false respect. "We didn't hear you come in."

I couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe. My wolf was howling inside me, thrashing against my ribcage, but I just stood there like the pathetic thing I'd become.

Damien tucked himself back into his pants with the same cold efficiency he used for everything. "We'll discuss this later, Amara."

That was it. Five years of marriage. Five years of me breaking myself into smaller and smaller pieces to fit into his world. And all he had to say was "we'll discuss this later."

"How long?" The words scraped out of my throat.

"Does it matter?" He buttoned his shirt, not looking at me.

"How. Long."

Sera laughed, a light tinkling sound that made me want to rip her throat out. "Oh, sweetie. Since the day Damien hired me. He told me all about you—how you're not really cut out for being 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.

It was two years ago. A rival pack had ambushed us during a territorial meeting. I'd seen the shooter, seen the silver-laced bullet aimed at Damien's heart, and I'd moved without thinking. The impact had torn through my stomach, the silver poisoning spreading through my system so fast the pack doctor said I should have died.

I'd spent three months in bed. Three months of agony as my body tried to heal from a wound that should have been fatal. Three months where Damien visited me exactly twice, both times to discuss pack business, his eyes never once softening when he looked at the bandages covering my destroyed flesh.

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

I'd done that for him. Almost died for him. And this was what I got.

"Get out," Damien said to Sera, his tone bored.

She pouted but gathered her clothes, walking past me naked without a shred of shame. The door clicked shut behind her, and I was alone with my husband.

"I want you to understand something," Damien said, moving to pour himself a drink. "This marriage was arranged by our parents. I never wanted you. You were convenient—good bloodline, decent enough 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." My voice shook. "I almost died."

"And you've been holding that over my head ever since." He took a sip of whiskey. "You made a choice, Amara. I never asked you to."

"I'm your wife. Your mate—"

"You're not my mate." His gray eyes finally focused on me, and they were utterly devoid of feeling. "The Moon Goddess doesn't always get it right. I feel nothing when I look at you. No bond. No connection. Just... obligation."

I felt something break inside me. Some last fragile piece of hope I'd been clutching.

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

Something flickered across his face, but it was gone too fast to read. "Kai is fine."

"He's five years old, Damien. He needs his mother."

"He needs a strong Luna. Not whatever you've become." He set down his glass. "You've been a good babysitter, I'll give you that. But Sera is better suited to raise him properly."

The room tilted.

"Better suited—"

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

He walked past me like I was furniture. Like I hadn't just caught him fucking another woman. Like our five years together meant nothing.

I stood there in that room that reeked of sex and betrayal, and I felt my wolf go silent inside me. Not howling anymore. Not fighting. Just... silent.

I don't know how long I stayed there. Long enough for the sun to set. Long enough for my legs to go numb.

When I finally moved, it was toward Kai's room. I needed to see my baby. My little boy. The one good thing that had come from this nightmare of a marriage.

The pregnancy had almost killed me too. My body, still weakened from the silver poisoning, had barely been able to sustain the life growing inside me. I'd spent seven months on bed rest, unable to keep food down, my wolf too damaged to properly protect the pup. The doctor had wanted me to terminate, said I wouldn't survive the birth.

But I'd fought. I'd endured every moment of agony because I loved my baby. Because I thought maybe, just maybe, a child would help Damien see me as something more than an inconvenience.

Kai's door was open. I heard voices inside and froze.

"But I want Mommy to read me the story." That was Kai's voice. My sweet boy.

"I'm here now, darling." Sera. That woman was in my son's room. "Your mommy isn't feeling well. But I can read to you."

"Are you going to be my new mommy?" Kai asked, and my heart stopped. "Daddy said you might be."

"Would you like that?"

There was 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.

"You're such a smart boy," Sera cooed. "Much smarter than your mommy gives you credit for."

I backed away from the door before I could hear more. My hands were shaking so hard I had to clench them into fists.

The child I'd almost died to bring into this world. The baby I'd held through countless sleepless nights. The little boy I'd sacrificed everything for—my body, my health, my wolf's strength—had just told another woman she was prettier than me.

I found myself in our bedroom. Mine and Damien's. The bed we'd barely shared. I looked at myself in the full-length mirror and barely recognized the woman staring back.

Thick glasses because the silver poisoning had damaged my eyesight. Hair pulled back in a tight, practical bun because I never had energy for anything else. Loose, shapeless clothes to hide the scar tissue and the weight I'd gained from medications. Shoulders hunched from years of making myself smaller, less threatening, less noticeable.

When had I become this person? When had I let them turn me into this?

My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number.

"Amara Cross? We met at the tech conference you attended two years ago. Still interested in that position we discussed? Our offer stands. —Marcus Chen, TitanTech Industries."

The conference. I'd almost forgotten. Before Kai was born, I'd been good with computers. Really good. Good enough that I'd built a small security program that had caught the attention of some major players. But then the pregnancy had nearly killed me, and Damien had made it clear that a proper Luna didn't waste time on "hobbies."

So I'd let it die. Let that part of myself die.

I stared at that text message for a long time.

Then I heard Sera's laugh floating down the hallway, heard Kai giggle in response, and something inside me hardened.

I'd given everything. My body. My strength. My wolf. My love. My life.

And for what? To be replaced by a woman with red hair and no scars? To watch my own son prefer someone else because I'd sacrificed too much of myself to be pretty anymore?

No.

I looked at myself in that mirror again, and for the first time in years, I didn't see a weak Luna. I saw a woman who'd survived a silver bullet. Who'd endured a pregnancy that should have killed her. Who'd carved herself down to nothing trying to earn love from a man who had none to give.

I saw a survivor.

My phone was still in my hand. I opened the text again and typed a response.

"When can I start?"

The answer came back immediately.

"Monday. Welcome aboard, Ms. Cross."

I set the phone down and started packing.