Chapter 1

Scarlett Vance

“Please don’t do this,” I screamed loudly, my desperate pleas echoing through the empty warehouse. Immense fear coursed through me, causing my body to tremble violently.

I stared up at my husband of two years—Luca Vance—Alpha heir of the Dark Eclipse Pack. He stood towering above me with a wide grin on his face.

“Let me go, Luca.” I thrashed hard against the silver chains used to bind me, but I gasped out painfully as they bit deeper into my skin. “This isn’t what you promised me, Luca.” Tears streamed down my cheeks.

He cupped his ears mockingly, as if my pleas were nothing but meaningless noise. Just as he parted his lips to speak, the heavy doors were pushed open.

I snapped my head to the side and saw her stepping in.

Zara, my best friend. She was still dressed in her stripping outfit—a red mesh dress that left nothing to the imagination and red ankle boots that hit the floor sharply as she approached us in slow, deliberate steps, like she owned the place. She stopped before me, her arms folded, her expression unreadable.

I heaved in relief. At least she was here, and Luca was her best friend too. She would help me talk some sense into him.

"Zara..." My voice trembled, the strong metallic taste of blood heavy on my tongue but my hopes momentarily numbed the pain, "He... Luca, he..." I choked on the words and finally whimpered, "Help me, Zara. Please.Thank goodness you're here Zara, Luca he's out of control... 

I turned my gaze to my father-in-law—Dominic Vance—Alpha King of the Dark Eclipse Pack, the President of the Eclipse Brotherhood Riders. He clutched his stomach tightly, blood dripping from his mouth and nose.

“I did as he instructed. He told me to seduce his father, to get close to him and gather all the pack and clubhouse information from him. He even asked me to poison him so he could become the next Alpha and President of the bikers. I’ve done everything he said, and the Alpha is about to die… but he captured me too. Why? We’re supposed to be celebrating our victory… If he becomes Alpha, then I’ll become his Luna…”

"His Luna?" She scoffed, smirk tugging the corner of her cherry red painted lips.

I nodded slowly. “He’s my husband. Am I not supposed to be his Luna once he becomes Alpha?”

Zara looked at Luca, and both of them burst into sharp, condescending laughter that sliced through my chest. When the laughter died down, Luca stepped closer to her and kissed her deeply, his hand sliding down to her ass and squeezing it roughly.

My eyes widened in disbelief and shock. My chest tightened painfully as I watched them.

“W—what is happening here?” I stuttered.

There was no response. They just kept kissing like they had been starved of each other for years.

When they finally pulled apart, Zara crouched down in front of me, a devilish smirk playing on her lips. She gripped my jaw and spat on my face, the slimy fluid dripping down my cheeks.

"You really do love to dream, right?" Her gaze shot daggers of disgust and disdain at me, making me question whether she was even the same person. "Luna? Goddess that's like putting a Gucci collar on a stray dog." She shoved my jaw away.

My expression crumpled in confusion, her words slicing through my chest.

"You still don't get it, do you?"

“Get what exactly?” I cried out. “Why are you both treating me like this?”

She stood and locked her arms with Luca.

“Get the fact that you’re nothing but a pawn,” Luca said coolly. “Oh… you really thought I was going to have anything to do with you after my father fucked you and made you his whore? He was even the first man to claim you, Scar.” That nickname that once made my heart race was now cutting straight through it.

“But you told me to do that! You literally begged me to do whatever it took to make him trust me—even if I had to sleep with him. You said if everything went well, you would try to love me back. You said we would start our marriage all over again on a clean slate. Was everything a lie?”

“Of course it was a lie,” he admitted, his eyes blazing.

“And that’s why I’m grateful you were stupid enough not to realize that a man who truly loves you would never tell you to sleep with his own father! But you were so head over heels for me that you failed to see you were nothing but a means to an end. I used you, Scar.”

With a devilish smirk, he turned to look at the King. “I used you to get rid of my powerful father so I could become Alpha—with my true mate as Luna by my side. You’ve always disgusted me, Scar. That’s why I never touched you throughout our entire marriage.”

I shook my head vigorously. No… no… this couldn’t be real.

Tears streamed down my face, burning hot against my cheeks.

“Thank the Goddess… you were the perfect tool. The reason I married you in the first place was because I knew my father loved you while you love me. He was so obsessed with his personal whiskey girl that he even pleasured himself to memories of her. He loved you, sweet Scar. He loved your pretty little ass."

I slowly turned my head toward the King. His breathing had grown shallow. It looked like he would take his last breath any second.

The Alpha King loves me?

How could that be?

I was an orphan in the pack, and I had worked in the clubhouse as the Alpha’s whiskey girl for three years.

So… he truly loved me all along?

That explained everything.

The way he stared at me so intensely, like I was the only thing that had ever truly made sense to him.

The way he often called my name—Scarlett—like he had claimed me long before I was even born.

The way it was so easy for me to wrap him around my fingers, to the point that he even said he would make sure his son rejected me so he could marry me instead.

The way he trusted me enough to hand me every important document concerning the pack and the bikers… and the foolish me handed everything over to Luca.

The way he worshipped every part of my body. The way he made love to me like he could never get enough.

So… he had loved me all this time, and I never knew. I thought he only desired my body. Even when my heart began stirring for him, I forced myself to stay focused on the mission.

I had poisoned his whiskey earlier at the clubhouse. Then when Luca captured me—threatening to kill me after discovering our relationship—the Alpha rushed down here within minutes.

Luca’s menacing laughter echoed through the warehouse. “He loved you, Scar. He always did.”

At the crushing realization of my stupidity, coils of pain wrapped tightly around my chest, and I let out a guttural growl that echoed through the room.

I began crawling backward toward him. “Alpha!” I called out desperately, aching to touch him even though I couldn’t. “Alpha… I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I was stupid. I never knew you loved me…”

The Alpha lifted his eyes and gave me a faint smile. Painful, yet reassuring.

I turned back to Luca and Zara, my chest rising and falling with barely restrained fury. “Don’t ever think you’ve won. I’ll make sure everyone knows how you used me to bring your father down.”

I knew I would be executed, but I didn’t care. I would avenge the man who loved me, no matter what.

“Oh? And how would you do that?” Luca sneered, his voice dripping with mockery. “When you won’t be leaving here alive.”

Zara stuck out her tongue like she just gagged on a mouthful of meal gone bad. "Yes Scarlett.." Zara chipped... "Enjoy a fun ride in hell, bestie. While I bath in champagne and eat lobsters while juggling Luna duties with vacations."

Before I could fully process her words, Luca walked to the far end of the room and grabbed a gallon container. The lid was already off, and the sharp smell of gasoline hit my nostrils instantly.

“What are you doing?” I asked, though I already knew.

He paused and looked me dead in the eye. “Burning you alive, wifey, so you won’t be a problem later.”

Then he began pouring the gasoline along the warehouse walls. He splashed it over the Alpha. Over me.

“No… you can’t do this, Luca.” I struggled against the chains. “Not after everything.”

He pulled a lighter from his leather pants and flicked it on. “Of course I can.”

With that, he tossed it behind us, and flames erupted instantly.

“Nooooooooo!” I screamed as the heat seared against my skin. “Luca! Zara!”

Through the agony, I saw them walking out of the warehouse, hand in hand.

The fire spread rapidly, catching my feet first. My body weakened, and I collapsed against the Alpha’s thighs. He looked down at me.

“If there is a next life… don’t choose him, Scarlett,” he choked out, blood dripping onto my face as he took his final breath.

“Alpha…” I gasped painfully as the flames consumed my skin.

A next life…

I wish… I wish the Goddess would grant me one.

If she did, I promise I wouldn’t be foolish again. I wouldn’t trust so blindly. I would make better choices.

The last thing I heard before darkness swallowed me was a deafening explosion.

If I am given another life…

I will burn them first.