Chapter 1

Joseph went back to his room to play, and I unfolded the bond-breaking agreement.

Five years of being bound to David Hayes, the Alpha of the Blazetooth Pack.

Five years of living apart like strangers.

Tonight, I was finally ready to let go.

Just then, the door creaked open. Joseph padded in, clutching a small soccer ball.

“Mom, are we really leaving the pack?”

He wrapped his little arms around me, his voice muffled against my chest.

“Mom… David just kissed me on the cheek. I think he likes me.”

His innocent eyes lifted to mine—so full of hope that it broke something inside me.

I froze, remembering the truth: David had never once allowed Joseph to call him Dad.

When Joseph was three, he’d run up to him after a hunting trip, giggling.

“Dad, you’re amazing! I wanna be just like you when I grow up!”

The soldiers laughed softly.

David didn’t.

His expression darkened. “Who’s your dad? Don’t ever say that again.”

That night, he ignored our son’s tears completely.

When Joseph was four, he’d bragged to the other pups, “The Alpha is my dad!”

David found out. His face turned to stone. He didn’t yell—

he just stopped talking to Joseph for an entire month.

After that, the laughter in our home vanished.

Joseph learned to walk on tiptoe around his own father, afraid to breathe too loudly.

He started calling him “David.”

Now, holding my son close, I whispered, “Joseph, your dad’s mate has come back. We have to go.”

His eyes flickered with confusion. “But Mom… this ball—David gave it to me.

If he doesn’t like me, why would he give me a gift?”

He asked so earnestly that my throat tightened.

How could I tell him that David’s smile tonight wasn’t for him—but for her?

How could I tell him that I was dying?

That the healer said my wolf spirit was fading fast—

that I only had three days left before the bond would consume me completely?

“Joseph,” I murmured, “would you come with me? We’ll go to Grandpa’s pack. They’ll love you there.”

He hesitated. “Can we stay a little longer, Mom? Just three days?

If he really doesn’t want us after that, we’ll go. But I want to call him Dad… just once.”

Tears blurred my vision. I stroked his hair and nodded, though my heart was already breaking.

He didn’t know that three days was all I had left to give.

David’s first love, Sophia Sinclair, had returned today.

She was the Luna he was supposed to have—the one who disappeared five years ago, two days before their ceremony.

When she left, he fell apart. Every full moon, he’d howl at the sky like a wolf mourning his mate.

And then one night, under that same moon, his wolf lost control—

and I, the foolish council messenger, knocked on his door.

That was how I became the Luna no one in the pack knows exists.

The woman he marked out of duty.

The mother of the pup he never wanted.

And in three days, I’d be gone from his world forever.