Chapter 1

Before my mating ceremony, I found out my Alpha Damon had thirty Luna candidates. He spent a month with each one, scoring them. Only the highest scorer would become his Luna.

And me? His Head Beta, his lover of six years, the woman who gave him everything?

I lost to a soft, submissive Omega.

The door to my office slammed open.

“Elysia!” A sharp voice cut through the silence.

I looked up. The Omega, Lydia, strutted in on her high heels.

Her cloying perfume was mixed with another scent I knew all too well.

Damon’s. The smell of sex.

“You didn’t knock,” I said coldly.

She ignored me, walking straight to my desk and slamming a small box down.

“The Alpha asked me to bring this to you.” Her voice was poisonously sweet, dripping with smug satisfaction. “He said you’ve been working so hard lately.”

I stared at the box, not moving.

“Aren’t you going to open it?” Lydia leaned forward, letting her scent—a mix of her and Damon—wash over me. “It’s a very pretty necklace. Of course, not as expensive as the diamond one he gave me last night.”

My fingers drummed on the desk.

“Last night?” I kept my voice neutral, but the word was a razor blade on my tongue.

“That’s right.” Her smile widened. “We spent another wonderful night together. Elysia, he said he wanted to fuck me to death.”

Her words were a blade, carving vile images into my mind. I wanted to scream, to claw the pictures from my head.

But I couldn’t.

Damon and I met at the shifter academy.

His Alpha presence was still raw then, untamed. During a training session, I suddenly felt it—the bond between us.

Fated Mates.

As I watched him, as I grew closer to him, we fell in love.

I followed him back to his pack, helped him secure his Alpha title, and became his Head Beta.

For six whole years, we shared his bed countless times.

Everyone assumed I was the pack’s Luna, that we just needed the official ceremony.

I thought so, too.

But for six years, every time I asked about the ceremony, he put me off. The time wasn't right, he’d say.

He would pull me into his arms, his lips finding mine, his whispers a soothing balm.

“I’m not the strongest Alpha yet,” he’d murmur. “I can’t risk losing you. But the day our pack is in the top three, I will give you the grandest ceremony this continent has ever seen. I’ll tell everyone you are my one and only Luna.”

I believed him.

So I worked even harder, expanding our pack’s territory and businesses.

Until the news of the ceremony finally came.

Until I overheard Damon’s words and learned I was just one of his thirty candidates.

And my score… I had lost to this preening bitch in front of me. This Omega, Lydia.

I stood up and walked to the weapons rack on the other side of the room.

It was filled with training daggers and gear.

“You’re right,” I said, picking up a sharpening stone and testing its weight. “You and Damon are a perfect match.”

Lydia thought I was admitting defeat. She lifted her chin smugly.

“I need to get into the war room. Damon wants me to start learning the Luna’s duties.”

“Here.” I tossed the sharpening stone to her.

She caught it instinctively, then stared at it, confused.

“What’s this?”

“A training stone. For pups to sharpen their claws,” I said, sitting back down. My voice was terrifyingly calm. “Since you like my Alpha so much, you can have him. And the stone. Being an Alpha’s mate isn’t for the weak.”

Lydia's face twisted with rage.

“How dare you insult me?”

“Insult you?” I looked up at her. “I’m just being generous. Giving something I no longer want to someone desperate enough to take it.”

Her hand started to shake, clutching the stone.

“You arrogant bitch! Who do you think you are? You’re just a has-been Beta about to be thrown away!”

“A has-been?” I sneered. “Then why are you here, trying so hard to get a reaction out of me?”

“Because I want you to know you’ve lost!” she shrieked. “Damon said you’re too controlling to be a Luna! He needs a gentle, submissive mate like me!”

The wolf inside me stirred.

My Beta dominance slammed into her, a physical force pressing down on the clueless Omega.

Lydia’s face went pale, and her body began to tremble. But her rage made her reckless.

“Go to hell!” She hurled the stone at me.

I dodged it easily. It shattered against the wall behind me.

In the next second, I was in front of her.

The crack of my palm against her cheek shattered the silence.

Lydia clutched her face, staring at me in disbelief.

“You—you hit me?”

“That’s your punishment for disrespecting the Head Beta,” I said, my voice like ice. “Next time, knock.”

Hate burned in her eyes. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

“You just wait!” She backed away, her glare venomous. “The Alpha will make you pay for this!”