Chapter 2

Stumbling out of Twilight Pack territory, my legs buckled. I crashed to my knees on the cold earth, retching violently.

My claws tore instinctively at my own throat, desperate to purge the contamination.

I puked blood all over the floor and collapsed shakily on the side of the road.

When patrol warriors found me, collapsed and convulsing, the elder healer summoned to examine me let out a horrified howl, "Inform the Alpha! NOW! Her wolf is out of control now!"

As soon as the phone was connected, the healer spoke anxiously, "Alpha Terrence! Luna Lila... her wolf is insane now! Please come now! She needs the mate bond, your touch, your howl to..."

A sharp, breathy moan cut viciously through the connection.

The healer and his assistants looked at each other, embarrassed, and looked at my eyes with sympathy.

Terrence's furious snarl vibrated painfully in my skull, drowning out the healer, "Enough of your tricks, Lila! Rebecca showed you mercy after your vicious attack!"

"If you insist we are bound to... then by the cold light of this moon, so as you wish."

Rebecca's laugh, sharp and mocking, tangled with his dismissive growl, "Gently, my Alpha... don't excite our precious pup with your anger."

The healer wanted to say something else, but the phone had already been hung up.

I laughed. A raw, broken sound that scraped my throat raw until tears, hot and salty, mingled with the taste of bile and despair on my lips.

Five days passed without a whisper from Terrence.

But Rebecca found me on the Instagram.

I accepted her connection request, a numbness settling over me.

Her profile screamed triumph, that was a holotypic capturing Terrence kneeling reverently before her swollen belly, his lips pressed against the curve where his pup grew.

The caption burned, "True happiness blooms under the moon: loving you while you love me back."

Below it, Terrence's reply blazed like a brand: "Reciprocal commitment."

The image seared my eyes. I stared until my vision blurred, and my claws dug into my palms, drawing blood that smelled only of betrayal.

Lost in thought, a familiar pack doctor passed by, none other than Terrence's private doctor.

He was also the one who diagnosed Terrence's severe poisoned decay because of wolfsbane.

He recognized me with a quick flash of guilt in his eyes.

Before I could speak, he thrust a bag of gem coins into my palm.

"Luna Lila, it was me—I was the one obsessed with obeying Alpha Terrence's words. For years, I've struggled to eat or sleep, haunted by the guilt of not following the doctor's advice.

I regret it every single day.

Alpha Terrence wasn't suffering from any poison or decay at all. I don't know why he chose to lie—especially to you.

These are the coins he gave me to keep the truth hidden. I'm returning them now, and from this moment on, it's no longer my concern.

Please… don't come looking for me again. I can't tell you anything more."

He fled down the corridor like a rogue chased by Silver Fang hunters.

The truth hit with the force of a silver dagger between the ribs.

No wonder he didn't want any cure on his wolf, instead chose conservative treatment.

He wouldn't let me follow him every time he went for a retest.

It turned out that his wolf didn't suffer from wolfsbane at all.

To be able to be with Rebecca openly, even if it's cheating, he lied to me for four whole years!

A profound cold spread through my veins, freezing the last embers of hope.

Deep inside my chest, something vital cracked. A wave of soul-crushing despair washed over me, mirrored instantly in the silent, shattered keen that resonated through the hollow void within my wolf.

It turned out that it only took five years for a bond to break.

I called the pack's most senior elder, the keeper of our laws, "Elder Marcus. Draft the Severance Decree."

Later, when I returned to our den, I saw Rebecca lounging insolently in my silk robe on Terrence's lap.

Terrence didn't push her away; instead, he nipped possessively at her lower lip, then fixed me with a glare filled with cold irritation.

"Your petty tantrums gave Rebecca stress contractions. The pack doctor prescribed paternal closeness to soothe the pup."

"Allowing her to scent our bed... consider it the least you can do to atone for your jealousy."

I looked at the wolf I'd loved for five years. The strong jaw, the golden eyes that once held warmth for me alone.

But now, I felt he was so strange and almost unrecognizable.

My fingertips sank deep into my palm, shivering with pain.

"I get it." I smile bitterly.

I turned around and walked upstairs.

My scent had been meticulously scrubbed away and eradicated.

Rebecca's cloying jasmine perfume choked the air, a territorial claim as blatant as urine on a boundary stone.

Pink satin, the color I despised, the color of cheap fragility, but now draped our mating bed.

Worst of all, the ultimate desecration was our mating portrait above the hearthstone had been replaced. Now, it showed theirs.

Terrence cradled his young son, while Rebecca beamed beside him, and her belly proudly rounded with his pup.

His gaze wasn't on the artist but fixed adoringly on her.

I was so pale that I kept taking deep breaths to keep the tears from falling.

Terrence approached me from behind, and his nose nuzzled my neck.

"You've always been generous, my Luna," he murmured, "Your room's moonlight soothes Rebecca's pregnancy aches. You'll stay in the guestroom for now.

I swear to the Moon Goddess. This is only for the pup's sake. You remain my true mate.

Don't be jealous, okay?"