Chapter 1

Ava's POV

"Why would your husband tell you that you're infertile? You're clearly healthy."

I jerked my head up, nearly crumpling the test results in my hand. The pack doctor pushed up his glasses and looked at me with a complicated expression, as if deciding whether he should continue.

"That can't be right." I shook my head, my voice more urgent than I expected. "Damon wouldn't lie to me. You must have gotten the results wrong."

I defended him almost without thinking. It wasn't blind faith; I knew Damon too well. Six years ago, when I walked into the Darkmoon Pack council hall with a research report on improving werewolf physiology, the pack had been little more than a few rickety wooden buildings without even a proper medical room. I was a female omega whose shifting was unstable, yet over the next few years, I helped take Darkmoon from one of the weakest packs on the East Coast to second place.

Damon had never dismissed my talent. He gave me a laboratory, resources, and the words, "You're the most remarkable omega I've ever met." I still remembered how serious he looked when he said it. If there had really been another woman in his life, there was no way I wouldn't have noticed.

"There has to be an explanation." I shoved the report into my bag and stood. "I need to talk to him."

I practically ran out of the hospital. Rain started the moment I stepped outside and quickly grew heavier. I didn't open an umbrella. I let it soak my hair, thinking only one thing: Damon needed to know. The answer we had waited four years for might not be what we had believed at all.

I rushed into the estate, ran upstairs, and went straight to his study. I pushed open the door and froze.

Damon's hands were locked around a woman's waist as he thrust into her. Her messy red hair spilled across the familiar desk where I had sat only last night, explaining clinical data to him in detail. My mind went completely blank. The man who had once marked me publicly in front of the pack was now on top of another woman.

The low growl inside the room stopped. A moment later, the woman turned toward him. "When are you finally divorcing that omega? I've waited long enough, Damon. Leo deserves a real family."

Their son? Leo?

Three years ago, Damon and I had "adopted" Leo from an orphanage. Damon told me he'd chosen the boy at random because he wanted to help me move past the pain of being "infertile." I had been so moved that I told him I didn't need my name on any of the patents. Everything I had belonged to him.

I covered my mouth to keep from making a sound and pressed myself against the wall, forcing myself to keep listening.

"Calm down, Sylvia." Damon's voice softened in exactly the way it used to when he spoke to me. "You were the one who left for Europe. My parents were furious. I couldn't exactly announce you as my woman after you disappeared."

"Things are different now. You're Alpha." Anger sharpened Sylvia's voice. "And Leo should be with his biological mother."

"Not yet." Damon bent down and kissed her. "Ava is still working on the partnership with the Crawford Pack. Once the agreement is done, she'll be driven out immediately. And why are you worried? She thinks she's infertile, and her name isn't on any of the patents. Keeping her around as a servant works just fine."

"You're right." Sylvia laughed, glancing toward the door. "We'll throw Ava out of the pack like a dog."

Then she bit Damon's lip and let out a moan that made my stomach turn.

I ran away from the office and collapsed outside, gasping for air. It was true. He had lied about my infertility so I would be more grateful to him and keep working for him without asking for anything in return.

My body swayed, and nausea rose in my stomach. I gripped the wall to keep from sliding to the floor. Damon had never loved me.

I thought back to when I was eighteen, when I walked into the university with a research report and met him. He told me our bond was deeper than a werewolf bond and that he could never leave me. His gentlemanly manner had won me over, and later the pack held a public marking ceremony for us.

Had all of that been fake? For six years, I had practically lived in the laboratory, working myself to exhaustion to make this pack stronger. I had never forgotten that I was an omega. I only wanted to prove that Damon had not chosen the wrong person.

Even when I worked until I coughed blood, I dragged my exhausted body home and cooked for his family. His mother never missed a chance to humiliate me, calling me a useless omega who couldn't even produce an heir. His sister insisted that I had stained Darkmoon's reputation. His father simply watched in silence. I never argued with any of them. I believed Damon loved me.

"Baby, you're an omega woman. If you make this research public under your own name, the whole pack will question you. But I know your value. Once we defeat the strongest pack on the East Coast, the Crawford Pack, I'll make sure every pack in North America knows what you contributed."

I had kept waiting for him to acknowledge me publicly, but he had never meant to keep that promise. I needed to get to the laboratory and take the core research data before he could throw me out. My shoes were soaked and I was freezing, but I forced myself to stay calm. I had almost no money in my account. Without those materials, I had nothing to leave with.

I needed to move quickly before I was thrown out with nothing.

My phone rang.

An elderly, respectful voice came through the line. "May I speak with Ms. Ava Crawford?"

My breath caught. "Ms. Crawford?"

"Yes, Ms. Crawford. Your father, the Alpha of the Crawford Pack, passed away yesterday. According to his will, you are his only legal heir. You will inherit all of his property, as well as the Crawford Pack."

My eyes widened. "How is that possible?"

"Ms. Crawford, I have already transferred one billion dollars into your personal account."

A notification sounded on my phone. I looked down at the screen.

Available balance: $1,000,000,056.

It was real.

"Alvin," I said, my voice unexpectedly calm. "I need you to prepare a document for me."

"What document, Ms. Crawford?"

"A divorce agreement." I paused. "I caught my husband cheating. We signed a prenuptial agreement before we married. My money was mine, and his was his. But now it's different, Alvin. He cheated. According to the agreement, everything he owns is about to become mine."

I ended the call and stood in the rain, letting it fall across my face. There was still one thing I needed to do.

I took another cab to the laboratory, used my access card, and went straight to the safe where the core data was stored. I put the encrypted hard drive and the paper reports into my bag. My fingers were still shaking, but every movement was precise.

When I finished, Damon called.

"Ava." His voice was as gentle as ever. "Come home. I have a surprise for you."

A surprise? Bringing a mistress into our home certainly counted as one. I looked at the hard drive in my hand and smiled faintly.

Damon, you're about to see exactly what the omega you deceived is capable of.