Chapter 3

I couldn't remember how I'd made it back to my room.

Thick clouds swallowed the moon, leaving the world soaked in inky black. A wave of hopelessness rose from deep inside me.

Then, a sudden, violent nausea surged up my throat. I stumbled to the side, heaving uncontrollably.

A terrifying, impossible thought hit me. My hands shook as I used the oldest, most primal method to confirm it. I was pregnant.

A pup… conceived on that night of shame.

The discovery struck me like lightning, splitting my despair down the middle. I reached out to Damian through mind-link.

There was no response.

He had blocked me.

Panic clawed at my chest. I ran for the door, yanking it open, only to see two cold faces.

Damian's guards were standing like statues, blocking my way.

One of them said flatly, "Night has fallen. Alpha Damian orders that you rest, Luna Eva."

They shoved me back into the room, slamming the door shut. I slid down the door, leaning against it, my hands clutching my still-flat belly.

I told myself it was okay. The night would end, and tomorrow, when the first rays of sunlight broke through the darkness, I would tell Damian that he would have an heir.

But with the first light came an awe-inspiring host of envoys, and my heart sank.

The banners they carried bore the snarling red-fanged insignia—not the Silvermoon pack's.

It belonged to Chloe's pack.

Damian gave them the highest honors, a full ceremonial welcome. He spent the entire day in a secret meeting with them in the study.

And I—the supposed Luna—was shut out, dismissed as if I didn't exist.

The details of their discussion soon came to light.

The Blackrock pack intended to form an alliance with the Bloodfang pack, Chloe's pack.

The Bloodfang pack had one demand. They wanted Damian to mark Chloe and hold a grand mating ceremony, publicly declaring Chloe as the true Luna.

Damian summoned me to the temple. Standing before the sacred statue of the Moon Goddess, he said calmly, "For the future of the pack, I've made an agreement with the Bloodfang pack."

He looked at me without a trace of guilt. The light I once saw in his eyes had vanished entirely.

"From today, you're no longer my Luna," he added.

I stared at him in disbelief. "And your promise to me? The Blood Moon… Have you forgotten it?"

My voice trembled.

Damian's expression remained blank. "In the face of the pack's future, personal feelings are irrelevant."

Right then, everything clicked into a horrifying clarity. He had wed me to maintain peace while secretly amassing power. After my father's death, he tore up the treaty and annexed my pack. He broke the Blood Moon vow just to secure the support of the Bloodfang pack.

He had never loved me. He only wanted control and power.

And I was just a tool. One that had served its purpose and was now discarded.

Liam had been right. I had blinded myself with the illusion I created. Seven years of devotion, and I still hadn't seen the truth.

I gazed at Damian, stunned, yet somewhere in the depths of my heart, a final spark of hope flared.

He might not care about me, but he couldn't abandon his pup.

I laid the news of my pregnancy before him, my last desperate gamble.

"I'm pregnant with our pup."

Damian froze for a moment. Then, a contemptuous laugh tore from him.

His laughter stabbed into me like a thousand tiny pins. He bent over, gripped my chin, and forced me to look at him. "To protect your title as Luna, you come up with such a ridiculous lie? Seven years, and I've never laid a hand on you. Or… Were you so impatient for the Blood Moon and found someone else?"

His gaze was icy, devoid of any warmth.

"Eva, you're becoming more ruthless by the day."

My blood ran cold. Desperate to defend myself, I stammered, "N-No! T-That night… at the celebration—"

"Enough!"

Damian snapped, cutting me off. Pointing at the statue of the Moon Goddess, he said icily, "By the Moon Goddess, I swear to dissolve our mate bond. I reject you as my destined mate. The official papers to revoke your Luna title will arrive soon—and you will sign them."

With that, he signaled his guards and strode out of the temple.

I froze, trapped in an icy abyss.

The guards dragged me away, but beneath the crushing despair, something fierce took root.

A cold, burning hatred, crawling up from the depths of my shattered heart, uncoiling like a stubborn vine.

From now on, I, Eva Lopez, would no longer live for love.

For my pup, for the Silvermoon pack, I would reclaim everything that was rightfully ours.