Chapter 1

On the fourth anniversary of my son's death, I went to the Pack Archives to perform a soul-soothing ritual for his spirit.

But the records showed a truth I couldn't comprehend. My mate, Alpha Damien, had another child-a secret son with the she-wolf he'd sworn was just a crazed stalker.

He lied through our sacred mind-link, claiming a pack emergency, but I found them at a secret manor, laughing. He, his mistress, and their boy-a perfect, happy family.

Hiding in my own garage, I overheard the conversation that shattered my world. My son didn't just slip and fall into the river. He ran in terror, scared by the sound of their wild, careless mating nearby.

Their affair killed my baby.

As this horror crashed down on me, our mate bond, meant for love, became a tool of torture. It forced me to feel every second of his pleasure as he took her again, right there in the car, just feet from where I hid.

He and his mother then framed me for abuse, had my son's ashes dug up and flushed down a sewer, and beat me with a silver whip before leaving me for dead with a pack of feral Rogues.

But I survived. And I made a choice. I wouldn't seek revenge. I would seek oblivion.

I found a pack that practiced forbidden magic, a ritual that could wipe my mind clean.

I would erase him, our son, and every memory of my old life. I would be reborn.

Chapter 1

SERAPHINA'S POV:

The full moon hung in the sky like a silver scar, a perfect, mocking circle. Four years. It had been four years to the day since the light of my life, my only cub, Zayn, was extinguished.

My fingers trembled as I parked the car. The Black Moon Pack's Archives were an old stone building, smelling of ancient paper and secrets. Tonight, I was here to perform the final soul-soothing ritual for Zayn. A small, private ceremony to help his spirit find peace. It was all I had left.

The Elder at the records desk, a stooped wolf with cloudy eyes, greeted me with a respectful nod. "Luna Seraphina."

"I'm here for the soul-soothing," I said, my voice a thin whisper.

He nodded slowly, pulling out a heavy ledger bound in dark leather. "Of course. We just need to verify the bloodline records for the ritual."

He ran a gnarled finger down the page. "Alpha Damien Blackwood... your mate. One cub, Zayn Blackwood, deceased." He paused, his brow furrowed. "Ah, and... one other."

A cold dread, heavy and thick, settled in my stomach. "What other?"

The Elder squinted at the book. "A second cub. Orion. Mother's name is listed as Lila."

Lila.

The name hit me like a physical blow. Lila, the she-wolf who had been so obsessed with Damien that she'd been cast out, declared a Rogue for her relentless stalking. That was years ago.

Just then, a warmth spread through my mind, a familiar presence. It was Damien, using our Mind-Link. The sacred connection between fated mates, meant to be a channel of pure truth and love.

"My moon," his voice echoed in my head, smooth as velvet. "I love you. I'm caught up dealing with an urgent Pack emergency. I'll be home as soon as I can."

The words, once a source of comfort, now felt like ice. A lie. I could feel the falsehood of it, a sour note in the symphony of our bond. An emergency?

My wolf, a broken and silent thing since Zayn's death, stirred with a flicker of rage.

I couldn't breathe. I wouldn't believe it. Not my mate. Not the Alpha who was sworn to me by the Moon Goddess herself.

"The address," I choked out, pointing a shaking finger at the ledger. "Where is this... Orion registered?"

The Elder, sensing my distress, wrote it down on a slip of paper. I snatched it and ran from the Archives, the ritual forgotten.

The address led me to the Pack's private academy, a place I hadn't visited in four years. I parked across the street, my heart pounding against my ribs like a trapped bird.

And then I saw him.

My mate. My Alpha. Damien.

He wasn't in a meeting. He was standing by the school gates, a soft smile on his handsome face. A woman with long, dark hair, Lila, was walking toward him. And holding her hand was a small boy, his face a miniature version of Damien's.

"Daddy!" the boy shouted, running forward.

Damien scooped him up into his arms, his smile widening. He then reached out, his hand settling naturally on the small of Lila's back, pulling her closer. They looked like a family. A perfect, happy family.

My soul felt like it was being torn in two.

I followed them, my car a ghost trailing their happy little life. They went to a beautiful manor I'd never seen before, a secret nest tucked away. I watched from the street as they played in the garden, Damien pushing the boy on a swing, Lila laughing as she looked on. It was a picture of the life that should have been mine. The life that was stolen from me.

Numbly, I drove back to our home, our "nest." I entered through the underground garage and hid behind a thick concrete pillar, my own home now feeling like enemy territory.

His car pulled in moments later. The air was instantly thick with her scent. Not perfume. It was the primal, musky scent of a she-wolf, marking her territory. Marking my mate. Marking my home.

I held my breath, listening. They were still in the car.

"He was so happy to see you today," Lila's voice was sweet, cloying. "He misses his father."

"I know," Damien's voice was heavy. "It's complicated, Lila."

"Is it?" she purred. "Four years, Damien. Four years since that night. We were just... lost in the moment. Our howls... how could we have known the cub would wander so close to the river?"

The world stopped.

My blood turned to ice.

That night. The night Zayn died. He had been playing by the riverbank. They told me he slipped. They told me it was a tragic accident.

But it wasn't.

It was them. Their mating, so loud and uncontrolled, had terrified my little boy. He had run, scared and alone, and fallen into the freezing water.

As this new, horrifying truth crashed down on me, another sensation flooded my senses, transmitted through the mate bond. It was a wave of raw, animalistic pleasure. His pleasure.

I clamped my hands over my mouth to stifle a scream.

He was with her. Right now. In the car, not twenty feet from where I was hiding, in the garage of the home I shared with him. He was taking her, marking her, their bodies moving together in a rhythm of pure betrayal. The sacred bond, meant only for me, was forcing me to feel every second of his infidelity.

My world didn't just break. It was annihilated.