Chapter 3

I had planned to head straight for a hotel, but when I swiped my card, I discovered every one of my accounts had already been frozen.

So that was it.

The Everhart family had quietly stripped me of all financial control over the past year.

In the werewolf registry system on the U.S. East Coast, every asset under my name had been transferred to Julian Everhart.

Only an Alpha had the authority to overwrite a mate’s property ownership.

To the outside world, I was Luna—Alpha’s partner, the symbol of the Pack.

But within the Pack itself, I was nothing more than an outsider—someone without noble blood, merely tolerated in the wolves’ inner circle.

Since leaving Everhart territory, I had been staying at Victor’s apartment.

The next day, I returned to Everhart Pack to collect my personal belongings.

The moment I stepped into the lobby, a cluster of wolves’ idle chatter cut across the air like blades.

“An Omega who only became Luna by clinging to the Alpha actually dares to ask for a divorce?”

“So what if the Alpha likes sleeping with a Plush Wolf Doll? That’s enough reason for divorce? What a joke!”

“I bet she’s already hooked up with the Alpha of the Ironfang Pack. After all, that face of hers is famous across the Northern territories.”

I stood there, feeling their eyes on me—thick with contempt and ridicule.

The way they looked at me was the same way one would look at a bitch. Who not only didn’t know her place, but had the audacity to cheat on her Alpha while still married.

Then, a deep voice broke through the murmurs from behind, carrying the force of Alpha command.

“Quiet.”

It was Julian—his presence locking the air into stillness.

He walked toward me, holding a limited-edition wristwatch—its face engraved with the silver moon crest, a symbol of the Alpha’s vow to his Luna.

I didn’t take it.

“I’m here for my talisman. Keep the watch for your plush toy.”

The smile on his face froze.

The other wolves in the conference room exploded almost instantly, fury erupting like a storm.

Their accusations of ingratitude crashed over me from every direction.

I didn’t respond.

I simply brushed past Julian and walked toward the elevator that led to the top-floor office.

Hanging on the wall there was a silver pendant etched with ancient wolf runes—the only keepsake my parents had left me.

Three years ago, Julian had claimed strange things were happening in this office.

Whispers in the middle of the night.

He said the place felt haunted.

So I had left my talisman there.

The moment the pendant was hung on the wall, every strange occurrence vanished.

Back then, he had thanked me with that rare, gentle smile of his.

But now—He didn’t deserve to keep it anymore.

When I pushed open the door, Harper was holding my child.

Strange. My son was never brought to the Alpha office—unless someone wanted an audience.

“Chloe, you’re back.” She smiled in a show of warmth. “Come look—I think the little wolf pup is looking more and more like you.”

“Move,” I said, frowning.

Her smile faltered slightly.

“He’s barely one year old.Are you really going to abandon your own son just to chase another man?”

“I said, move.”

She didn’t budge. Instead, her eyes sharpened as she looked at me.

“Chloe, have you really taken up with another man?” she demanded. “Is that why you’re abandoning your own son?”

Ignoring her, I stepped around her and reached for the pendant.

Harper suddenly let out a startled cry. She staggered backward as if shoved, then deliberately collapsed to the floor with the pup in her arms.

The child burst into loud tears.

At that exact moment, Julian entered with several Pack elders.

“What happened?” He bent to pick up the pup.

“I just wanted her to hold him,” Harper said, voice trembling, “but she shoved me. The pup almost hit the floor.”

Before she could finish, Julian’s palm struck my cheek, sharp and hard.

“How can you be so cruel!” he snapped.

“Don’t you care that you could have hurt him?”

My expression remained cold and unmoved.

“Hurt him?” I said flatly.“Stop using my son to chain me here.”

“You don’t get to wave him in front of me just to keep me from leaving.”

The words chilled the room.

Good. Let them hear it.

The crueler I sounded, the faster this marriage would die.