Chapter 1

“Have you learned your mistake, Elara?”

My husband—Jonathan, Alpha of Blackwood—leveled a frigid threat at me. “Will you dare harm Isabella again?”

At this moment, my eighteen-year-old brother, Alex, had been knocked unconscious and hung over the most treacherous cliff in Blackwood Territory. Jonathan threatened to throw him off because his first love, Isabella, accused me of ramming her with my car.

I lunged forward like a madwoman, but the guards pinned me back.

“I didn’t hit her!” I struggled through tears. “Jonathan, let my brother go! He’s only eighteen—he has just been admitted to the Wolfs Bane Academy!”

My five-year-old pup, Leo, crossed his arms. His frosty little face mirrored his father’s. “The evidence is conclusive. And you’re still lying.”

Four-year-old Finn nodded his head, his voice carrying that naïve, cub-like cruelty. “Mom, if you were scared Uncle Alex would die, you shouldn’t have hurt Aunt Isabella. She’s our precious treasure.”

My heart clenched.

Isabella is your treasure. What about me? I’m your mother—Blackwood’s Luna. Who am I supposed to be?

I looked to Jonathan, hoping he’d remember the bond between us and let Alex go.

But my Alpha stared back with only indifference, as if I were a stranger trespassing on Blackwood Pack land.

I laughed then—bitterly—and the tears came with it.

So after all these years, his heart still belonged only to Isabella.

Memories clawed through my chest.

Jonathan, Isabella, and I grew up together in Blackwood Territory.

I loved Jonathan, but his eyes held only Isabella. I had to bury my feelings; even helped him pursue her.

On the eve of his confession, the plane Isabella took vanished over the ocean. No remains were ever found.

After that, Jonathan broke down. His wolf raged in grief. It was me who stayed by his side, taking care of him when he was drunk and unconscious, and comforting him when he lost control due to mania

One night, reeking of alcohol, he grabbed my wrist, whispered “Isabella,” and marked me.

I could have pushed him away. But I loved him too much—enough to be a stand-in, a shadow.

In the morning, he stared at the temporary mark at the back of my neck for a long time. Finally, he sighed. “I’ll take responsibility. Let’s formalize the bond.”

We married, and I became Blackwood’s Luna.

I fought to learn how to be a good Mate. When politics consumed him, I handled Pack relations; when he parleyed with other Alphas, I stood at his side. Slowly, his eyes seemed to soften. He remembered my favorite foods. When I was exhausted, he let me rest in his fur.

Later, we had Leo and Finn.

Those five years were the closest I ever came to happiness. I thought I’d finally entered his world.

Until—

Isabella “rise from the dead” and returned to Blackwood.

In that instant, I saw a blaze light up in Jonathan’s eyes—bright enough to devour me whole.

Worse, Leo and Finn—my own pups—rushed to her side.

“Aunt Isabella tells better stories than Mom!”

“Aunt Isabella hunts and plays with us. Mom just makes us practice skills.”

“Father, can Aunt Isabella be our Luna?”

Every time, Jonathan merely glanced at me, mussed their hair, and said, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

He never denied it.

I became an outsider watching the five years I’d stolen crumble to dust the moment Isabella returned.

And now, they were using an ancient, brutal Pack law to force me to admit to a crime I didn’t commit.

“It wasn’t me!” I tore free from the memory, my voice shaking. “Jonathan—let him go!”

His eyes were winter-cold. “If you’re so stubborn, then feel what it feels like to lose love forever.”

He raised his hand. The sentries slashed the rope.

“No—!”

I watched Alex drop, swallowed by the fog beneath the cliff.

I lunged forward, wild with terror, but the guards crushed me down. My scream tore me apart. “Jonathan! You killed him! You killed him!”

Agony clenched my throat; I coughed a mouthful of blood.

Leo glanced over, impatient. “Enough, Mother. It was just a dummy. Why are you being so dramatic?”

Finn huffed. “Yeah. We only wanted to scare you. That’s what you get for hurting Aunt Isabella first.”

My strength fled; I collapsed on the frozen ground, heartbeat stuttering.

Jonathan strode closer, looming above me like an Alpha judging a delinquent packmate. “Remember this feeling. Isabella’s return is a blessing from the Moon Goddess. I will not allow you to drive her out again.”

He paused, as if to show me a mercy. “I know you are unease. I am your Mate; I will fulfill my responsibilities. I won’t dissolve our bond. So, stop trying to expel Isabella.”

He didn’t know I’d already contacted the Pack’s attorney to begin dissolving our mating bond.

This Alpha whose heart would always tilt toward Isabella, these pups who held no respect for me—I wanted neither.

I opened my mouth to speak when his phone rang.

“Isabella?” He answered, voice turning tender with a care I’d never been given. “Still hurting? I’ll come right now.”

He hung up and left with Leo and Finn without another glance.

I knelt alone in the dust.

The wind at the cliff’s edge cut like knives. I crawled to the precipice and stared into the rolling fog. A chill of dread slid down my spine.

My phone lit up.

A message from Isabella: “Is your brother okay? I think I forgot to tell them to swap your brother for the dummy.”

The blood in my veins flipped to ice.

The one who fell wasn’t a dummy. It was Alex.

I stumbled along the switchbacks, slipping again and again on the jagged rock, skin tearing across my arms and knees. I don’t know how long it took, only that I crawled, fell, and bled my way to the bottom.

Among broken stone and dead branches, I found him.

Alex lay twisted like a shattered doll, a dark halo of blood spreading beneath him. A breath—just one—still moved his chest. His eyes fought to widen when he saw me. His lips opened, yet no sound emerging.

“Alex… Alex! Hold on. I’m here. I’ll get you out—I’ll take you home…” My tears spattered his cold cheeks as I pressed my hands to his wounds that wouldn’t stop bleeding.

I tore off the fabric to stop the bleeding for him, then hauled him onto my back, staggering, crawling, searching for a way out. I didn’t know the direction. I only knew I needed a doctor.

Finally, a road. I flagged down a car, begging incoherently, “Hospital… please… hurry…”

In the hospital corridor, I carried Alex into the ER, but the nurse balked. “Mrs. Blackwood, Alpha Jonathan has ordered all medical staff to prioritize Miss Isabella. No one is available to operate on your brother right now…”

Shaking, I called Jonathan.

“Jonathan, please—rescind the order! Save Alex! He’s the one who went off that cliff! He’s dying!”

On the other end, a flicker of confusion—then his voice hardened. “Elara, that was a dummy. Do you have persecutory delusion?”

In the background, Leo and Finn complained.

“Mother’s doing this again.”

“Dad, ignore her. Aunt Isabella is waiting.”

He hung up.

I knelt on the cold floor, pleading with every passerby. They recoiled in fear.

By the time a doctor finally agreed to “take a quick look,” Alex’s body had already gone still.

“Alex… Alex!”

I clutched my brother’s cooling body as my hoarse sobs echoed down the empty hall.

He was gone.

Killed by the command of the man I loved, by Isabella’s machinations, and by the indifference of my own pups.

…

Three days later, at the cemetery.

I stood before my brother’s tombstone, my face bloodless.

I’d moved like a ghost through the funeral arrangements.

Jonathan and the pups never came.

On Isabella’s social media, the latest post showed Jonathan feeding her soup, captioned: “He insists on taking care of me himself. What am I going to do with him ?”

Underneath, Leo and Finn replied:

[Aunt Isabella, get well soon! Take us hunting!]

[We love you most!]

I turned off my phone. The last ember in my eyes went cold, leaving ash.

I walked out of the cemetery and did only two things.

First, I called my lawyer and formally filed to dissolve the mating bond.

Second, I walked into the headquarters of the Silver Order Hunters Organization—and told the receptionist, “Hello. I’m Elara Blackwood. I accuse Isabella Reed of murder. I’m prepared to give everything I know, charging my entire Pack.”