Chapter One

SYRA

“What is all this?” I whispered, my breath catching as my trembling fingers brushed the edge of the papers Asher had just placed before me. My heart pounded in my ears, louder than his voice.

“Divorce papers, Syra,” he replied coldly, his eyes fixed anywhere but on me—like I was already a distant memory.

“Dah, genius, I can see that,” I choked out with a bitter laugh, frustration bleeding into my voice as I took a shaky step back. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Asher. Are you for real right now?”

He snapped then, his tone curt, like he was scolding a child instead of breaking me. “We’ve already gone over this, Syra. I appreciate your commitment—hell, I respect it—and that’s why I’m offering to split everything fairly.”

“You appreciate me?” I echoed, stunned, my voice barely a whisper now. “Are you insane, Asher? We’ve been married for ten damn years. Ten years! And this is how you end it?”

“Come on, Syra,” he growled, his voice rising as he glanced at the glass walls of the office, noticing the staff outside, ears perked, eyes flicking. “Don’t make a scene.”

I felt something in me shatter. “Huh! Half the employees are wolves, Asher—they can hear us whether I scream or not,” I snapped, throwing the papers down onto the desk like they’d burned me. “You’re really going to toss our marriage away for that bitch?”

He chuckled—he actually chuckled—and it sliced through me like a blade.

“Marriage?” he scoffed. “Syra, be honest with yourself. Our marriage was a contract. You needed me, I needed you. It was business—nothing more. But she…” His voice dropped, almost reverent. “She’s the woman I love. And I’m going to mark her in three month.”

I laughed, hollow and cracked. It felt like the only thing left I could do without collapsing. “Seriously, Asher? Fuck you.”

I turned, storming out of the office, brushing past stunned employees who tried hard not to meet my gaze. My blood boiled, vision blurred, but I didn’t stop until I reached the elevator.

_____________________________________________________________________

“He wants to divorce me,” I cried, voice trembling. “Ten years, Janey. Ten fucking years. I gave him everything. I stood by him when he was nothing, when he couldn’t even pay his debts—when he almost took his own life. I lifted him up. I made him laugh. And now he’s going to mark her?”

Janey held me tighter, her hand gently rubbing my back. “It’s okay, child. It’s okay.”

But it wasn’t.

It wasn’t okay.

“She left him, Janey! She left him and ran off to the UK chasing her stupid dreams. And I—I stayed. I stayed when he was at rock bottom, when he had no one. And now?”

My chest ached, every sob sharp as glass in my throat.

“How can someone change so much?”

But the truth hit me harder than his words. Somewhere deep down, I’d always known. I was the lifeline—never the love of his life. The convenience. The back-up plan. The investor. My father had warned me. He saw the greed in Asher’s eyes even when I was too blinded by heartbeats and stupid dreams. I gave up my place in the Moonclaw pack. I sacrificed everything. And now?

Now I was being tossed aside like expired parchment.

I stumbled into the nearest washroom, gripping the sink, staring at the wreck I’d become in the mirror. My makeup had smudged into thick black streaks beneath my eyes. 

Mascara and heartbreak didn’t mix well. I looked like a ghost of the woman I once was.

A soft laugh escaped my lips.

Just a cruel fucking joke.

All those years, all those promised marking ceremonies… always postponed, always “not the right time.” Of course, he never meant to mark me.

I was just a placeholder.

That’s when I stumbled on the kind of information that slaps sobriety into your bones, even if you’re three glasses into a bottle of emotional ruin. My steps faltered outside the washroom as a woman's voice echoed from just around the corner—crisp, amused, and oblivious to the storm she was stirring inside me.

“Yeah, I’m serious. It’s all over the company. In order for Adrian to inherit the empire, he has to get married.”

I froze.

Her voice laced with sarcasm and curiosity continued, unconcerned.

“That’s not all. I heard he might be looking for anyone. Like, no mate bond required—just someone bold—or stupid—enough to say yes.”

A pause. Then a sharp, humorless chuckle.

“Put the money aside, of all Alphas, who the hell has the guts to accept Adrian? I mean, the guy is a walking nightmare. Just imagine being his bride, let alone bearing his mark. Ugh. Gives me chills just thinking about it.”

I didn’t realize my fists had clenched until my nails bit into my palms. My breath caught, lips parted slightly as I stared into the cracked mirror in the hallway, catching sight of the broken woman blinking back tears with mascara-streaked cheeks.

She was me. And she was tired of being pitied.

I sniffed, dragging my trembling fingers down my face as if trying to peel off the pain. The mirror didn’t lie. I looked like hell—hair disheveled, eyes red, lips trembling—but behind the mess was a glint of something fierce. Something dangerous.

Maybe this was the worst idea I’ve ever had.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was time to play the game.

A wicked game.

I squared my shoulders, chin lifting slightly as my reflection hardened. If the world was a battlefield, then I’d stopped being the collateral damage.

______________________________________________________________________

The Next Day….

“Here. I’ve signed the damn papers.”

I hurled the documents right at his face.

Asher flinched, stumbling back a step, his lips still glistening with her gloss. He shoved Kate aside like she was a mere inconvenience.

“What the hell, Syra? Ever heard of knocking?”

“Tch,” I scoffed, my eyes locking with hers. She looked smug—like she’d just scratched a winning lottery ticket.

“Hi, Syra,” she said, all sugar and venom. “Didn’t know you’d be dropping by.”

God, how badly I wanted to rip that fake smile right off her face.

Asher shuffled through the papers, his expression twisting into disbelief.

“What is this?” he asked. “You don’t want anything?”

“Yeah, dumbass. I don’t want a cent from a man who tosses loyalty like trash,” I snapped. “You want a divorce? There—you got it.”

I stepped forward, slamming my palms onto the glass table with enough force to rattle his fancy pen set.

“Let's get this straight. This is me cutting you off, Asher. No strings, no shared memories, no apologies. Just like you threw away everything we built, so will I. But don’t you dare come crawling back when regret finally sinks its claws in.”

He gave a lazy smirk, dropping the signed papers like they were of no consequence.

“Don’t worry. I won’t.” He extended his hand mockingly. “To new beginnings.”

“Fuck you.”

I turned sharply, chest heaving, trying not to scream. I wanted to be composed, to walk out like he didn’t matter. But no one walks away from ten years without bleeding inside.

I stormed out, blinking rapidly to hold back the burning behind my eyes. I jabbed at the elevator button just as a sharp voice followed me.

“Hey, Syra! What the hell are you planning?”

Kate’s heels clacked obnoxiously as she strutted in, the doors sliding shut behind her.

“Drop the act, Kate,” I said coldly. “I already know what you are.”

She scoffed, flipping her ponytail back like she was in some damn commercial.

“Oh, poor Syra,” she purred. “Still pretending you were anything but a placeholder? He always belonged to me. You were just the filler until I came back. Ten years or a hundred—he’d still pick me. I’m the real mate.”

That was it.

My vision tunneled. Something inside me snapped as my wolf stirred.

Before I realized what I was doing, my hand was around her throat, lifting her clean off the ground. Her feet kicked as she clawed at my wrist, eyes wide with panic.

I leaned in, voice low and laced with frost.

“Pick up whatever trash I toss out, Kate. It won’t make you shine. I will always be above you—with or without Asher. You want to play Luna? Try surviving the war you just started.”

I dropped her like the garbage she was.

She fell to her knees, gasping and wheezing, face pale as I towered over her.

“You started this war?” I smiled, slow and dangerous.

“You want to see a fucking real bad bitch”.

“ Let me show you what one looks like.”