Chapter 1

My mate's first love, Bella, begged for my help with her gravely injured mother. I rushed over, only to find her sobbing over the body, insisting it was all my fault.

“It’s all your fault! ” Bella snarled.

Her words were poison darts, each one finding its mark.

I did come too late.

Maybe if I had been faster…

The self-doubt was a suffocating fog.

I was so immersed in guilt that I completely failed to notice the shrewd calculation in Bella's eyes.

But soon, a knot of unease tightened in my stomach.

Bella's sobs were gut-wrenching, but her face was dry.

It was a performance.

More importantly, her mother's body was already stiff, with the tell-tale purple mottling of death.

Based on the temperature and humidity in the woods, she'd been dead for at least two hours.

Bella had only called for my help half an hour ago.

"You let her die on purpose!" Bella shrieked, her finger trembling as she pointed at me, full of accusation.

But her gaze wasn't on me.

It was fixed on the shadows over my shoulder.

And that's when I saw him.

Ethan. My mate. My Alpha.

He stood among the trees, his face as dark as a thundercloud.

He'd been here for a while.

He'd heard everything.

My world tilted on its axis.

"Ethan," I whispered, taking a step toward him. "There's been a misunderstanding. I can explain."

But it wasn't just disappointment in his eyes. It was disgust.

It hit me like a physical blow, stealing the air from my lungs.

"Explain?" His voice was a low, brutal growl that seemed to vibrate through the ground. "Explain what? How you, as Luna, stood by and watched a pack member die?"

There it was again.

That familiar accusation.

Last month, a pack warrior was seriously injured during training.

I was there in an instant but was publicly scolded for being "reckless" because I hadn't brought one specific herb.

Yet when Bella so much as sprained her ankle in the garden, he dropped a meeting with the entire pack council to carry her to the infirmary himself.

As if that was the real emergency.

In his eyes, my diligence was "poor judgment," while Bella's every melodrama was a sign of a "fragility" that required his protection.

Three years together, and this is all our bond was worth to him.

I thought our mate bond could overcome anything.

But I see now it could never compete with his first love.

My composure started to crumble, but I forced myself to meet his gaze.

"I know, but it was an emergency. I needed to grab my medical bag—"

"You should have come here first!" he cut me off. The weight of his Alpha Command filled theair, a crushing pressure that made it hard to breathe. "What good are supplies if the person is already dead? Is this your judgment as Luna?"

Bella's wails grew louder.

Her words were poisoned barbs, each one finding its mark.

"Ethan, my mother was so kind. As she was dying in my arms, she told me not to blame Sophia for being late, that she shouldn't have bothered her at a time like this…"

Ethan's eyes bored into me.

I couldn't see the man I once loved.

That love had curdled into cold contempt.

"Sophia," he said, each word a hammer blow to my soul.

"You make me question if you were ever fit to be our Luna. Perhaps you need a chance to prove it."

My blood ran cold. "What… what are you going to do?"

"The Moonlight Trial."

A collective gasp rippled through the pack members who had gathered around us.

The Moonlight Trial was a death sentence.

It was an ancient, brutal ritual for the strongest warriors, not for the Luna. Not for me.

"Ethan, that's… that's too dangerous," I said, my voice low.

"Is it?" His voice was devoid of warmth, final and cold. "If you can't pass a simple trial, how can you protect this pack? Or, you could get on your knees, apologize to Bella right now, and give up your title as Luna."

My heart shattered.

His words echoed in the sudden silence.

He called it a "simple trial."

My mate, the man who was supposed to be my other half, was sending me to my death.

The flashes of cell phones lit up the cold faces around us.

The news was already spreading.

"I will livestream this trial to all packs," Ethan announced, his voice ringing with the authority of an Alpha passing judgment. "Let them all witness whether you are worthy. And since it's a test," he added, a cruel smirk playing on his lips, "we'll open the betting. Let's see what your life is really worth."

He wasn't just testing me.

He was humiliating me.

He was turning my life or death into a worldwide spectacle.

Bella kept her head bowed, the picture of a heartbroken daughter.

But I saw it—the faint, triumphant smirk on her lips.

A strange calm washed over me, chilling the fear in my veins.

This was what it felt like to be completely and utterly broken.

Fine.

If this was his choice, I would face it.

"I'll do it," I said, my voice so steady it surprised even me.

I fought back the sting in my eyes and met his cold gaze. "I'll do the trial, Ethan. But know this. When it's over, whether I live or die, the bond between us will be broken. We are done."

For a split second, his expression flickered.

A flash of… shock? Regret?

But then the ice returned to his eyes, colder than before.

"Survive," he commanded, "and you can have your place as my Luna back."

But I knew, even if I survived, I would never be his Luna again.

He had already destroyed everything between us.