Chapter 1

The countdown in the laboratory jumped into its final second.

Three. Two. One.

A green light flashed on the main screen.

The experiment succeeded.

All the instruments let out piercing beeps at the same time. Data swept across the screen like a tide, the curves broke through the critical threshold, and the printer spat out test results page after page.

I clutched the freshly printed results, my fingertips trembling slightly.

This was the breakthrough I had hidden from Damon and secretly developed for more than six months. A completely new medical technology. In the past, no man had ever crossed that barrier. But now, the one who completed it was a woman. I did not care about the congratulations of those unrelated people. At this moment, I only wanted to find my husband—the Alpha of the Dark Moon Pack, Damon.

This technology was powerful enough to rewrite Dark Moon’s fate. It might help us win cooperation with the Crawford Pack, and even give us the chance to replace them and become the strongest pack on the East Coast.

Damon had always dreamed of the day Dark Moon would rise.

“Ava, as long as the pack becomes number one on the East Coast, I will make your contribution to the pack public.”

I could not wait anymore.

I was an Omega, and my husband was the Alpha of the Dark Moon Pack. After I was confirmed to be an infertile Omega, Damon still publicly marked me. He rewrote my fate, and I was willing to give everything for him. I even planned to put his name on this patent.

I quickly copied the complete experimental data into an encrypted hard drive, stuffed the printed report into a folder, held it in my arms, and rushed out of the laboratory.

I ran all the way and rushed into the Alpha’s estate.

Once I arrived, I went straight to Damon’s office.

The door was slightly open.

I raised my hand, ready to knock, but before my knuckles touched the door, a woman’s moan came from inside.

I froze in place.

I pushed the door open and saw my husband.

Damon’s hands were firmly gripping a woman’s hips, thrusting hard into her body. Her messy red hair fell over her back, and she was bent over the wide office desk I knew so well, letting out moans of pleasure.

Three months ago, I had also bent over this desk, explaining my clinical data to Damon.

At last, he let out a low growl, and the two of them stopped.

I stood outside the door, my mind completely blank, unable to believe everything in front of me.

How could the man who had publicly marked me sleep with another woman?

“Damon, when exactly are you going to divorce that Omega?” the woman turned around and questioned him sharply. “I’m running out of patience. Our son, Leo, should have a real home.”

I finally saw her face clearly.

Sylvia.

Damon’s former mate.

What did she just say?

Their... son?

Leo?

Three years ago, Damon and I had “adopted” a little wolf named Leo from the orphanage. Damon told me that he had casually chosen this boy because he wanted to help me walk out of the pain of being unable to have children.

At that time, I had been moved beyond words.

My God.

Why did he lie to me?

I pressed myself against the wall and forced myself to keep listening.

“Sylvia, calm down.” Damon’s voice was very gentle, just like how he used to speak to me. “You were the one who wanted to go to Europe to develop your career. You were the one who abandoned me. My parents were very angry about it. You just came back. I can’t immediately bring you home and then tell them everything. All of this needs time.”

“The situation is different now. You are the Alpha,” Sylvia said angrily. “Besides, Leo needs to be with his biological mother.”

“I know.” Damon lowered his head and kissed her. “But I still need Ava. She has been doing medical research. Once she produces something valuable enough, we will have the chance to reach an agreement with the Crawford Pack. Once the agreement is signed, we will have the power to replace them and become the strongest pack on the East Coast.”

He lowered his voice.

“Once the agreement is signed, I will remove her Luna position. When that time comes, this title will be yours. You will become the Luna of the strongest pack on the East Coast. Isn’t that worth waiting a little longer?”

My body swayed, and the air in my lungs seemed to be completely sucked away.

I had to hold on to the wall so I would not collapse to the ground.

Damon had never loved me.

When I was twenty, I went to the university to submit a research report and met him back then. He said the spark between us was deeper than a werewolf bond, and that he could no longer leave me. I was moved by his gentlemanly manner, and then came the public marking by the pack.

Was all of this fake?

Was it only for my talent in experiments?

For three years, I had almost lived in the laboratory, working desperately, only to make the pack stronger.

I had never forgotten that I was an Omega.

I only wanted to prove that Damon had not chosen wrongly.

Even when I was so tired that I coughed blood, I dragged my exhausted body home and cooked for his family. His mother seized every chance to humiliate me, scolding me as a useless Omega who could not even give birth to an heir. His sister insisted that I had stained Dark Moon’s reputation. And his father only watched quietly from the side.

I never talked back. I only believed that Damon loved me.

As if the hole in my heart was not big enough, they spoke out another shocking fact.

“You’re right,” Sylvia laughed even louder. She looked toward the door. “And you even lied to her that she couldn’t have children. Such a stupid reason, and she actually didn’t suspect anything—just this alone is enough to prove she doesn’t deserve to be the Luna of the strongest pack.”

“Enough. Don’t mention that lowly Omega woman again,” Damon said sharply.

Sylvia knelt down, held Damon’s penis, and took it into her mouth.

The suffocating sounds rang out again.

I could not stay for even one more second.

I turned and fled.

If I stayed any longer, I would collapse directly to the ground.

I could not have children, and I never doubted him because I loved him—every word he said sounded like a divine decree to my ears.

And the result?

He only did it to control me.

An Omega. An Omega who could not have children. I could only desperately prove myself.

I tightly clutched the folder with the experimental data and stuffed it into the hidden compartment of my bag. The encrypted hard drive that stored all the core research was also lying safely inside.

A chill ran down my back.

I did not dare imagine at all: if I had really handed the results to Damon with my own hands, I would have been driven out of the pack the next second.

No wonder, every time I mentioned this matter, he had said—

“Baby, you are only an Omega woman. If you make the research results public, everyone in the pack will question you. But I know your value. When we defeat the strongest Crawford Pack on the East Coast, I will let all the packs in North America know your contribution.”

He had never planned to fulfill this promise.

But he would not have this chance anymore.

Damon did not even know that I had already completed the most crucial experiment.

And he would never know whose name would be signed on the patent application.

I needed a divorce agreement.

But I did not know anyone outside the pack. I did not even have a single cent.

I remembered what I had once said to Damon—

“Darling, I don’t need a salary. As long as I have you, I don’t need anything.”

That stupid sentence I had once accepted so happily now stabbed into my chest like a knife, again and again.

No.

I would not give up even the slightest chance.

I thought of a high-ranking werewolf I had once worked with. Perhaps he could help me.

But just as I was about to dial, my phone rang first.

An unknown number.

I answered numbly.

An elderly and respectful voice came from the other end of the phone.

“May I ask if this is Miss Ava Crawford?”

“I am Ava.” I struggled to find my voice.

“Miss Crawford, I am the manager of the Crawford Pack. I regret to inform you—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 entire Crawford Pack.”

My body began to tremble.

“How is this possible?”

“Miss Crawford, I have already transferred one billion dollars into your personal account.”

As soon as he finished speaking, my phone rang with a bank transfer notification.

I lowered the phone and stared at the screen.

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

That was right.

A surge of power rose from the soles of my feet.

Damon, you want to cooperate with the Crawford family.

But you absolutely cannot imagine who will be standing across from you at the negotiation table.

I wiped the rainwater from my face and pressed the phone back to my ear.

My voice was so calm that even I almost could not recognize it.

“Prepare a divorce agreement for me. Immediately terminate all cooperation between the Crawford family and the Dark Moon family.”

After hanging up the phone, I raised my head.

Now, I had to go to the hospital.

I had to find out what exactly was wrong with my body.