Chapter 01

ADESSA.

I should have known better that nothing good lasts forever. Especially for someone like me—a lowly, orphaned Omega. 

The last year has been so perfect that I thought I had finally found my place in this world—right in the arms of my mate, Alpha Kael. 

Fated mates are a rarity, and for a wolfless Omega like me, the chances are, I would never find my fated mate. Without a mate destined for me, I thought I was bound to walk this earth alone. Because I was sure no one would take a chance on me.

But then I met Alpha Kael, and on that same day, he offered me a contract to be his Luna—to save his pride and his name from the betrayal of his fiancee, Desiree.

I had just turned eighteen and was legally allowed to marry while the Alpha was already twenty-seven years old. Everyone around him was pushing him to settle down. 

He had already proposed to Desiree, but it turned out she had been cheating on him for a long time.

He caught her in bed with another man when she said she was out on a girl’s night out. 

I found the Alpha, or, more appropriately, the Alpha found me by the river on the same day he discovered his fianceé’s infidelity. That day, I was trying to catch some fish in the stream. I left the orphanage a few months ago and was on my own. 

I was given a small cabin somewhere in the forest by my boss in the small cafeteria that I worked for. It was shabby, but it kept me warm at night so I wouldn’t be complaining, but then my salary wouldn’t be available until the next week, so I decided to find food in nature. I had already picked up some wild fruits and was hoping to catch a fish I could grill. 

What started as a task so I could eat ended up being an adventure. I found myself having fun while trying to pin down a cod.

Until I sensed someone was watching me. 

I found Alpha Kael standing at the river bank, smiling as he watched me make a fool of myself.

I should have been terrified as he was a stranger, but for some reason, I wasn’t. 

No words came between us, and I just found myself laughing. The next thing I knew, he was already down in the water, teaching me techniques on how to catch one. We did end up catching two fish that night, and I invited him to my home. 

I was comfortable in his presence and had no idea he was the Alpha of the territory, as I had never seen him or any photos of him. So when he finally told me he was Alpha Kael of the Ironcrest Pack, I was dumbfounded. 

But the surprise didn’t end there.

Kael asked me to be his Luna. I never imagined that someone like me could receive such an offer. Before I had the chance to decline or even hesitate, Kael assured me that if I helped him get his pride back from his fianceé’s betrayal, I would receive a mate and a pack in return. And that I would no longer have to hunt for something to eat. 

I didn’t know what came to me that night, but I said yes.

Maybe because I didn’t want to hunt for food anymore. Or maybe because I was smitten with the Alpha. 

The next thing I knew, he was already holding my hand and introducing me to his household as the future Luna of the Ironcrest. 

The marriage came a week later. I wore a white lace gown, and Kael was dashing in his black suit. No one would have thought that it was all a contract because the ceremony and the afterparty were so intimate that it even made me believe the Alpha had feelings for me. 

The marriage with Kael was something out of a fairy tale, and I thought I already found my happily ever after, but then there were things that were not bound to happen. 

I thought accepting his offer to be his Luna would mean I would get a mate and a pack. But the last part didn’t happen. His pack didn’t know about Desiree’s infidelity, and Kael wouldn’t tell them. So, in the end, I was seen as the other woman. The girl who took the Alpha away from his real chosen mate. 

Rumors spread out that I seduced him. That I was part witch and enchanted him. 

Kael didn’t do anything to suppress these rumors. He said it would die on its own. I guess it did, but only when the Alpha was around. Because I was sure they still talked about me. I would always be the homewrecker for them. 

As much as I wanted to tell everyone the one they wanted for a Luna was not who they thought she was, I couldn’t. I promised Kael that what he told me about Desiree would be a secret I would take to my grave. 

So I swallowed everything I heard and continued to play my role as the perfect Luna even if I felt I was not welcome. I used the animosity they gave me to better myself. I learned the ways of the pack and the role of a Luna. I assisted Kael with his work if he needed one and offered to handle small projects so he would not need to think about them and could focus on bigger projects as well as the security of the pack. 

I knew nothing when I came here, but in just a year, I learned everything about the pack and the things I needed to do so I could work perfectly in sync with the Alpha despite the lack of confidence in me from everyone who worked alongside him. 

It had been a year, and although most had not warmed up to me yet, they acted civilly in front of me. Eventually, I got used to it, and I started not to mind them because whatever attention the pack never gave me, I got tenfold from the Alpha. 

Kael kept true to his words that I would get a mate in the true sense of the word.

In the beginning, there were days he would miss Desiree, and he would be honest about it. He would let himself be vulnerable in my arms. I’d given him the shoulder he needed while he grieved and my body to satisfy his cravings. 

Alpha Kael was my first in everything. 

He was my first kiss. My first sexual experience. Upon knowing that, he made sure to be careful and take care of me. I had nothing to complain about.

He was the perfect Alpha. The perfect mate. 

Everyone else didn’t matter anymore because I have him. He was enough—more than enough.

I would not deny that I had fallen in love with him. Although I knew he didn’t feel the same way, I was happy. He had never abandoned or cheated on me. He was faithful in the whole year that we were together.

Everything was perfect between us—until Desiree returned to the territory and Kael was involved in a car accident.