Chapter 1

Zorya

The thick, unmistakable scent of sex hit me before the sight did.

I froze at the threshold of Darian’s office, fingers tightening around the doorframe. The air was heavy, saturated with pheromones and the faint spice of his cologne. I’d worn that scent on my skin once, believing it meant home. Now, it was burning like acid in my lungs.

The muffled moans came next. I could hear breathless gasps, a low growl I’d known for years, the creak of his desk straining beneath movement that shouldn’t have been happening. My pulse stopped, then raced so fast it blurred the edges of my vision.

I pushed the door open.

Darian was behind her, his hands gripping the edge of the desk, his body moving with a ferocity he’d never shown me in years of marriage. The woman’s head tilted back, blonde hair spilling down her back, and she moaned his name with a desperation that made bile rise in my throat.

“Darian…”

He stilled. Slowly, his head turned. Our eyes met. His were wild, dark, and unashamed.

“Zorya,” he said, flatly. There was no guilt or panic in his voice, just annoyance. As if I had interrupted a very important session for him.

The woman whom I recognized as Selene Arden smirked, pushing his hand off her hip as if I were nothing more than a servant who’d walked in uninvited. I remembered her: a pack liaison he’d claimed was just “helping with negotiations.”

“Guess the meeting ended early,” she purred, not even bothering to cover herself fully.

My heart split down the middle, silent and clean. No screaming, no chaos, just a hollow ache that swallowed everything. I’d spent years believing my love could thaw this cold man. That our bond, our vows before the Moon Goddess, meant something. I’d carried his child, fought for his respect, defended him to the council, to myself.

And here he was, claiming another woman right where we built our life.

“Get out,” he said finally, voice a low growl. “You shouldn’t be here.”

I let out a sharp laugh, though my voice sounded bitter, and cracked. “I live here, Darian.”

“Not anymore,” he replied, straightening his shirt, as if my heartbreak were just another mess to clean up. “You’ll get the divorce papers soon. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

Selene’s smug little smirk burned into my vision as I stumbled out. My chest felt caved in, the walls of the Alpha’s mansion pressing close, suffocating me with every step. Outside, the night air bit at my skin, but it was a relief compared to the suffocation of that room.

I walked until my feet bled. Until the sky turned from black to bruised purple. Until the ache in my chest stopped being a shock and started becoming an anger.

The divorce came fast. I wasn’t surprised.

He stood before the Pack Council, cool and collected, feeding them lies with the same ease he once whispered promises in my ear. I was “unstable,” “neglectful,” “unfit to be the pack’s Luna.” Every lie he spewed cut deeper.

The council didn’t even glance my way as they read the decree. My title was stripped. My rank dissolved. My life reduced to nothing more than a pitiful whisper in the hall of power I once called home.

And then came the custody hearing.

I wore the same necklace Liora had made for me. It was a small, silver necklace, shaped like a moon. It felt like armor, though my hands trembled around it. The courtroom was cold, the stone floors gleaming, the high council seated above us like gods ready to judge mortal sins.

Darian played his part perfectly. The remorseful husband, and devoted father. The very picture of the Alpha who “just wants what’s best for the child.”

“Liora will remain in Silver Claw under Alpha Veylor’s custody,” the Elder announced, his voice echoing through the chamber. “For stability and continuity.”

I felt the words like physical blows. “No please, she’s my daughter.”

“Enough,” Darian snapped. His tone was icy, and final.

My knees almost gave out as they brought her in. Liora, my beautiful five year old girl, ran straight toward me. I dropped to the floor, catching her in my arms, breathing her in. The scent of milk and sunshine, of the life I’d built around love that was never returned.

“Don’t go,” she whispered, tiny fingers clutching my dress.

Tears burned my throat. “I love you, moonlight. Don’t forget that, okay?”

She nodded, her little face buried in my neck. Then Darian’s hand landed on her shoulder.

“Liora,” he said softly. “It’s time to go home.”

Home?

She turned, hesitating, confusion written all over her face. Selene stood at the door, smiling sweetly, crouching down to Liora’s height.

“Come, sweetheart,” she said. “Daddy’s waiting.”

The world stopped.

Liora looked between us, her eyes darting from me to Selene. And then, to my horror, she ran. Straight into Selene’s arms.

“Mommy!” she chirped.

It felt like something shattered inside me, bone-deep.

Selene cast me a smug glance over the girl’s head, stroking her hair like she’d won some twisted prize. Darian stood behind them, his arm possessively around Selene’s waist, his expression unreadable.

A sound escaped me; half sob, half scream but the guards moved before I could take another step. Their hands closed around my arms, dragging me away from the only piece of my soul I had left.

The last thing I saw before the heavy doors slammed shut was my little girl, smiling up at another woman.

That night, I sat outside the pack gates, my world reduced to ashes. Everything I’d sacrificed, every humiliation I’d endured, every scar I’d earned, was for nothing. I had loved Darian like a fool loves fire, believing I could survive the burn.

But love had scorched me hollow.

The rain started to fall, washing the blood from my scraped palms as I stared at the looming walls that once felt like home. My wedding mark faded faintly on my wrist, a cruel reminder that the mate bond between us has been severed.

I pressed my nails into it until the skin broke and the mark faded into a dull bruise. My wolf stirred, restless and feral, a growl trembling in my chest.

‘What is the next step from here?’ She asked.

Somewhere beyond these borders, there was a city—Lunaris. I’d heard whispers about it: four Alpha packs ruling different parts of it, a place where power wasn’t inherited, it was earned.

If Darian wanted to destroy me, he should have killed me.

Because the woman he left kneeling in the dirt that night was gone. The one rising to her feet, bloodied, furious, and reborn was someone else entirely.

“I’ll come back for you, Liora,” I whispered to the night. “And when I do, your father will wish he’d never met me.”