Chapter 3

The phone clicked open.

Since the day we bonded, his passcode had always been my birthday. He used to swear there were no secrets between an Alpha and his Luna—a sacred trust he’d just traded for a Beta’s bed.

I tapped the thread. Little Kitten’s profile photo was Cynthia in the lace nightgown I had bought her for her own birthday. She was posing for the lens, eyes hooded.

"Don’t you dare touch Maya. I mean it," the last message read.

Then the one before it: "Tonight, I want you to turn on the bedroom camera. I’m watching."

A cold sweat broke across my skin. A camera. My own mate had installed a hidden lens above our marriage bed just so his mistress could watch him perform the "loyalty" of ignoring me.

I scrolled up, but the rest was a void. He had wiped the history clean.

The shower cut off. By the time Fred walked out, toweling his hair, the phone was back on the table. I was sipping the coffee he’d brought. It tasted like ash.

I didn't just want to sever the bond anymore. I wanted to bleed him dry. I was going to take every asset, every resource, and every shred of dignity he had left.

Fred stood there shirtless, water tracking down his ribs. "Sorry, Maya. I have to head to the Northern Territory next week for diplomacy. I’m going to miss your birthday."

Two years. Two years of missed birthdays, each with a different "diplomatic" excuse.

"It’s fine," I said, my voice eerily calm. "Go."

I’d already checked Cynthia’s Instagram. She and her "mystery man" were heading to a coastal resort next week. A week was more than enough time to have my lawyer gut him.

I got dressed and left. While I was out, Fred’s assistant called, begging me to drop a missing boundary agreement at the office.

I reached Fred’s door and froze. Voices drifted from inside—several of his Lead Warriors were laughing.

"Come surfing with us next week, little sister-in-law," one joked.

"Yeah, we’re all family now. Stop hiding behind your Alpha."

I peered through the cracked door. Cynthia was curled into Fred’s side, right there in his office chair. Fred shot his men a warning look. "She’s a Beta. She’s sensitive. Watch your mouths."

The assistant beside me turned white as a sheet. "Luna..."

I forced a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "Pretend you never saw me."

I turned to bolt, but Fred’s Alpha hearing caught the rustle of my clothes. He shoved Cynthia aside and burst into the hall, nearly colliding with me. Guilt flickered in his gaze.

"Maya. What are you doing here?"

I held up the envelope. "Delivering the agreement. It’s done. I’m leaving."

Cynthia appeared behind him, her face twisting into a mask of wounded innocence. "Sister, why won’t you even say hello? Did I do something wrong?"

She called me sister with her mouth while her eyes devoured my mate. I looked at her—really looked at her. She was just an ordinary Beta. Average face, average spirit. She was a pale imitation of her mother.

I, however, carried my mother’s pure Alpha bloodline.

"Yes," I said, my voice echoing in the hall. "You did."

Cynthia’s face went rigid. She immediately buried her nose in Fred’s arm, whimpering. "Fred, did you hear what she just said—?"