LOGINLena's POVThe farmhouse was full of life.Music playing from the kitchen. Laughter echoing through the halls. The smell of food cooking and flowers blooming in the garden.Everything I had built. Everything I had fought for.Damien came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist."Happy?" he asked."Deliriously," I said.We were standing on the porch looking out at the property. The main house. The office building. The gardens we had planted together.My business had expanded across four counties now. I employed thirty people. I had flipped fifty properties. I had become one of the most successful businesswomen in the entire region.And Damien had found peace.He wasn't Alpha anymore. Wasn't trying to prove anything to anyone. He was just a man who worked with his hands, who spent time with his son, who loved his mate completely."Kelvin's asking about the bonding ceremony," Damien said."What did you tell him?" I asked."I told him the truth," Damien said. "That sometimes peo
Damien's POVThe council chamber was silent.Completely silent in the way that meant something momentous was about to happen. The entire pack leadership was assembled. My father sat at the head of the table looking impatient. The council members were shuffling papers. Victoria was there looking confident.Smug.Like she still believed she could win this.I walked in with Lena beside me.Not hiding. Not sneaking. Walking in together like we had every right to be there.The room went silent in a different way now. My father's face turned red immediately.Victoria stood up."What is this?" she demanded. "What is she doing here?""She's here because I asked her to be," I said. My voice was steady. Clear. "She's here because she's part of my decision.""Your decision?" my father said. His voice was dangerous. Controlled rage. "You don't have decisions to make anymore, boy. You're married. You have responsibilities.""I had a marriage built on lies," I said. "I had responsibilities to a wo
Lena's POVHe arrived at the cottage as the sun was setting, the last orange light cutting across the floorboards. Five days of silence had ended. He stepped inside, shoulders squared, and said the words without hesitation. "It's done. I filed the papers. I told Victoria it's over."I didn't need proof. The truth sat in his eyes. I pulled him to me and our mouths met, slow and certain. No more hiding. No more stolen minutes. His hands slid under my shirt, palms hot against my skin as he lifted the fabric away. I unbuttoned his, pushed it off, and ran my fingers over the hard lines of his chest, tracing every scar and ridge.He lifted me without effort and carried me to the bedroom. The mattress dipped as he laid me down, then stripped the rest of his clothes. His cock stood thick and heavy, the head already glistening. I sat up, wrapped my fingers around the shaft, and stroked once, slow and firm, watching his stomach tighten."Lie back," I told him. He obeyed. I climbed over him, kn
Lena's POVI hadn't slept in three days.I was sitting in my office at two in the morning staring at a blank computer screen and trying to figure out what the hell I was doing.Xena had stopped trying to talk sense into me.She had just accepted that I was going to destroy my own plan. That I was going to throw away three years of careful strategy for a man who had rejected me.And maybe she was right.Maybe I was being stupid.But every time I tried to convince myself to send him away, the bond would pulse. Every time I tried to focus on my business, I would think about his hands on my skin. Every time I tried to be rational, I would remember the way he looked at me like I was his entire world.I was losing.Or maybe I was winning.I didn't know anymore.My phone buzzed at 2:47 AM.A text from Damien "I have a plan. Meet me."I should have ignored it.Instead I got in my car and drove to the cottage.He was waiting on the porch.He looked different. Less broken. More focused. Like h
Damien's POVI was losing my mind.Every moment away from Lena felt like I was drowning. Every time I had to be with Victoria felt like a betrayal. Every second I spent pretending to be a functional Alpha was agony.Klein had noticed. My father had noticed. The entire pack was starting to notice that something was fundamentally broken in me.But I didn't care anymore.I had spent three years being hollow. Three years being dead inside. Three years following the path that was supposed to lead to success and power and legacy.And it had led to nothing.Now Lena was back. Now I had a chance to fix this. Now I could choose differently.But I was still married.Still trapped.Still unable to break free without destroying everything.I sat in the old cottage — the place Lena and I had started meeting — and wrote her a letter.I shouldn't have. Klein could find it. Victoria could find it. Anyone could find it.But I needed her to understand.I needed her to know that this wasn't just physica
Lena's POVI shouldn't have let him touch me.I was lying in the cottage bed watching him sleep and understanding that I had made a massive mistake.Three years of planning. Three years of building power. Three years of preparing to make him regret every choice he made.And I had thrown it all away for one night of sex.Damien was sleeping peacefully beside me. His face looked different when he was asleep. Younger. Less broken. Like the weight of the world wasn't pressing down on him.I hated him for that.I hated that he could sleep. That he could be at peace. That he could touch me and act like three years of nothing didn't matter.I got out of bed carefully.It was early morning. The sun was just starting to come up. I needed to get back to my office. Needed to create distance. Needed to remember why I had come back in the first place.Not to fall into bed with him.To make him pay.I dressed quickly and quietly.Damien stirred but didn't wake up. Even in sleep, the bond was pullin
Damien's Pov The wedding suit fit perfectly. I stood in front of the mirror and looked at a man I didn't recognize. Dark tailored jacket. Silver cufflinks. Hair styled the way Victoria preferred. Everything was in place. Everything was exact. Everything felt hollow. "You look good," Klein sa
Lena's PovI stared at myself in the mirror.My eyes were steady. not a trace of what had happened in that dining room showing on my face. That was the thing about being invisible for so long — you learned how to keep everything locked inside where nobody could see it.I had walked out of that room
Lena's Pov "Did you hear what happened before the ceremony last night?" I didn't look up from the pot I was scrubbing. The two women had come in from the cold store five minutes ago and hadn't stopped talking since. I didn't know their names. They didn't know mine. That was the thing about bei
Damien's Pov The celebration is still going strong behind me. I can hear it from the pack house corridor, the music, the cheering, three hundred wolves toasting their future Luna out on the ceremony ground. Victoria is probably still out there somewhere, glowing in the lantern light, accepting c







