Chapter One - The Luna Illusion

POV: Freya

The glass shattered against the polished marble floor, splashing champagne all over the hem of my midnight-blue dress. But I didn't feel the cold liquid. I didn't even hear the crowd's gasps around me 

My entire universe had just violently tilted on its axis.

On the grand stage across the ballroom, Silas Ravenscroft stood in the spotlight, his hand slipped seamlessly into another woman's. Banners bearing the Ravenscroft crest unrolled from the ceiling as the announcer’s voice boomed through the speakers: “...proud to announce the formal bonding and upcoming marriage of our future Alpha heir, Silas Ravenscroft, to Catherine Soren!”

The Catherine in question looked like a true Luna; wealthy, high-born, and wearing a diamond-encrusted gown that practically screamed money. Silas smiled, then leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

The room began to spin. Wasn't this supposed to be our engagement party? That's what he'd told me when he handed me the dress box this morning. “Wear this tonight, Frey,” he’d whispered, kissing my forehead. “It’s time we make things official.”

For four years, I had been his hidden secret, a lower-status wolf with a weak healing bloodline, enduring the whispers and the shadows because I loved him. Because he was paying the medical bills keeping my sick mother alive. I had walked into this ballroom tonight with my heart pounding, genuinely believing he was finally going to claim me in front of the world.

Instead, he had invited me to watch him publicly claim someone else. He had brought me here to witness my own execution.

The humiliation choked me, hot and suffocating. Before anyone could notice the rejected girl standing frozen by the shattered glass, I turned on my heel and marched straight toward the backstage corridor. The sheer cruelty of it fueled my steps, burning away the paralyzing shock until only fury remained.

I threw open the door of the private VIP dressing room just as Silas walked in alone from the stage, loosening his bow tie.

He froze when he saw me. A flash of guilt crossed his handsome features, but it vanished instantly, replaced by a terrifyingly calm mask.

"Freya, you shouldn't be back here right now. The media is outside."

"Why did you invite me, Silas?" I asked, my voice terrifyingly calm as I stepped closer. "You told me tonight was our engagement. You told me we were making things official. Why the hell am I here?"

Silas sighed, a sound that made my skin crawl. "Because I wanted you here to see that it’s just business, Frey. Be reasonable. Catherine brings the Soren bloodline and three major corporate shipping territories with her. The elders demanded a political match. I am the future Alpha of this pack; I cannot stand beside a lower-status wolf with a weak lineage. You don't possess the status to be a public Luna."

The cold, casual dismissal of my entire existence felt like a knife twisting straight into my gut. He had invited me so I would accept my defeat quietly.

"So what was I?" I choked out, the agony finally cracking through my mask. "A four-year placeholder? A charity case?"

"Don't be dramatic," Silas said, stepping directly into my space. He reached out, his large hands gripping my shoulders. "Nothing has to change between us, Frey. I’ve already taken care of it. I bought a penthouse apartment downtown under a shell company. I’ll move you in there next week."

I stared at him, completely horrified, my stomach violently turning. "What?"

"I’ll keep paying your mother’s medical bills at the clinic," he continued smoothly, a smug, entitled smile touching his lips. "I'll keep you comfortable. I’ll visit you every week. Catherine understands how these things work; she won't cause trouble as long as we keep it private. All you have to do is accept it. Stay available for me, and you'll never have to worry about money again."

He genuinely thought he was doing me a favor. He genuinely believed that my poverty and my mother's illness made me desperate enough to willingly become his hidden, dirty little secret. He wanted to own me in the dark while playing the perfect king in the light.

The last shred of love I had for Silas Ravenscroft died in that exact second. What replaced it was a cold, venomous hate.

"You disgusting piece of shit."

Before he could react, I spat directly into his handsome, arrogant face.

He recoiled, his eyes flashing a dangerous amber as his inner wolf roared at insult. But I didn't give him the chance to use his Alpha aura on me. I ripped myself out of his grip, stripped the silver promise ring he had given me years ago off my finger, and threw it hard against his chest.

"We are done," I spat. "Never touch me again."

I turned and bolted out of the room, slamming the door behind me. I ran down the service hallway, my vision blurred by tears of absolute shame. I felt filthy and completely worthless.

As I passed the service bar near the back exit, my hand shot out and grabbed an unopened bottle of expensive whiskey from a counter. The bartender screamed behind me but I completely ignored it. Breaking the seal with my teeth, I spat the cap onto the floor, and tilted the bottle back. The burning liquid seared my throat, but I welcomed the pain. I needed it to drown out the suffocating reality of what just happened.

Here I was thinking I'd finally be something. After years of waiting, I thought he was finally claiming me.

But who was I kidding? I was just a low born wolf, whereas he was the heir of the Ravenscroft family.

It wasn't his fault really. I'd just been blinded by my own delusions.

By the time I pushed through the heavy glass double doors of the venue's grand main entrance, the bottle was half empty. The night air was freezing, a downpour of rain slamming against concrete floors, mirroring the storm tearing through my chest.

I was entirely alone. There was no one to stop me, no one to pull me back into sanity as the alcohol and the grief completely took the wheel. I stumbled over the high hem of my dress, my breath coming in ragged, drunken gasps. But I won't lie to myself. I hated Silas. If you knew he couldn't be with me, why give me hope in the first place? I wanted to erase his touch from my skin, to destroy the girl who had spent four years begging for crumbs of his affection.

Blinded by tears and the heavy haze of the whiskey, I took a reckless step forward and violently collided with a solid, unyielding wall of a man who was just walking toward the entrance.

The impact knocked the breath from my lungs. The whiskey bottle slipped from my hand, shattering on the wet pavement. I stumbled backward, but a pair of massive, iron-like hands shot out, catching me firmly by the waist and stabilizing me before I could fall into the rain.

I blinked through my wet lashes, looking up.

The man towering over me was massive, his broad shoulders completely blocking out the glaring light of the venue behind him. He was dressed entirely in a tailored black overcoat that smelled of rain, expensive cedarwood, and a dark, suffocatingly potent alpha scent that made my inner wolf instantly freeze in submission.

He had a sharp symmetrical jawline, midnight-dark hair slicked back by the rain, and eyes like silver; cold, piercing, and completely devoid of warmth. 

I didn't know who he was but in my current drunken, shattered state, I didn't care. All I knew was that he wasn't Silas, and he possessed a primal power that could make me forget everything.

Furious, broken, and completely reckless, I reached up and grabbed his collar pulling myself up on my tippy toes. I looked directly into those freezing silver eyes.

"Take me away from here," I begged, my fingers tightening on his coat. "Please. Just fuck me for tonight.”