Chapter 1

After a 36-hour shift at the healing center, I brought my mate, Alpha Damien, his favorite meal, eager for a quiet moment together.

But I found him in a secret manor on the edge of our territory, laughing with another woman and a little boy I never knew existed.

Hiding in the shadows, I heard him call me his "Omega placeholder," a political tool he would publicly reject once a new treaty was signed. My adoptive parents, the Alpha and Luna, were in on it. My entire life, my fated bond, was a carefully constructed lie.

Just then, he sent me a mind-link, "Miss you, my sweet."

The casual cruelty of it burned away my tears, leaving only cold, hard rage.

They were planning my public humiliation at a grand dinner. But I prepared a gift for his son's birthday party, set to be delivered at the exact same time.

Inside was a data crystal containing every one of their secrets.

Chapter 1

Selene POV:

The sterile scent of antiseptic and dried herbs clung to my clothes, a familiar perfume after a thirty-six-hour shift at the pack's healing center. My muscles ached, a deep, satisfying burn from mending torn ligaments and setting broken bones after a border patrol skirmish. But exhaustion was a small price to pay. All I could think about was him.

Damien. My mate. My Alpha.

His favorite meal, a thick, rare steak with wild mushrooms, was warm in the insulated container I carried. He'd been locked in a high-level council meeting all day, planning the pack's next corporate expansion. I imagined the appreciative smile that would light up his stern face when I walked in. A small surprise, a moment of peace just for us.

The guards outside the grand oak doors of the council hall stood rigid, their faces impassive.

"I'm here to see Alpha Damien," I said, offering a tired but hopeful smile.

One of the guards, a warrior named Marcus, avoided my eyes. "The Alpha left an hour ago, Selene."

"Left?" The warmth from the food container suddenly felt like a dead weight in my hands. "The meeting was scheduled to run past midnight."

"He said something urgent came up," Marcus mumbled, his gaze fixed on a point over my shoulder.

A knot of unease tightened in my stomach. Urgent? He would have told me. He always told me.

We have a Mind-Link, a sacred connection gifted by the Moon Goddess to fated mates. It's our private sanctuary, a stream of thoughts and emotions meant to flow only between us. For years, I'd felt his love like a constant, steady current beneath the surface of my own thoughts.

I closed my eyes, retreating into the quiet of my mind and reaching for him.

*Damien? Is everything okay?*

Silence.

Not just silence, but a cold, deliberate wall of it. The link was there, but it felt like shouting into an empty cavern. A shiver, cold and sharp, traced its way down my spine. This felt different. Colder. For years, I'd mistaken his mental distance for the stress of leadership, but this was a deliberate, locked door.

Panic began to bubble in my chest. I pushed it down, focusing. A mate's scent is their soul's signature, unique and undeniable. I took a deep breath, filtering out the smell of damp earth and pine from the surrounding forest, searching for his.

There it was. Faint, but unmistakable. Cedarwood after a storm, with a sharp, clean hint of winter wind. It was the scent that had first announced him as mine, the scent that made my inner wolf purr with a sense of home.

But it wasn't heading toward our home. It was leading away, toward the very edge of the Silvermoon Pack's territory.

My feet moved before my mind could process it, following the ghostly trail. The path led me away from the familiar pack houses and training grounds, into a secluded part of the woods I'd never explored. Nestled in a clearing was a modern marvel of glass and dark wood, a manor that screamed wealth and secrecy. It wasn't on any pack maps.

Lights blazed from within, spilling onto a manicured lawn. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat of dread. I crept closer, hiding in the deep shadows of an ancient oak tree.

Through a massive floor-to-ceiling window, I saw him.

My Damien.

He wasn't in his formal Alpha attire. He was in a soft, casual sweater, and he was laughing. A deep, genuine laugh that I hadn't heard in years. On his shoulders, squealing with delight, was a little boy, maybe four or five years old.

Then, a woman walked into the frame, her hand resting on Damien's arm with an easy intimacy.

Lyra.

The daughter of the Stonecrest Alpha. Five years ago, her pack was supposedly decimated in a rogue attack. We were told she was the sole survivor, sent to a neutral territory to recover from grievous injuries. She looked anything but injured now. She was glowing, radiant, her eyes fixed on Damien with possessive adoration.

A low, guttural growl ripped from my own throat, the sound of my wolf clawing at the inside of my chest, desperate to tear through the glass and rip apart the scene before me.

I moved silently along the wall of the house, my healer's soft-soled shoes making no sound. A terrace door was ajar, letting the cool night air in and their voices out.

"...just a little longer, my love," Damien was saying, his voice a low murmur as he set the boy down. "Once the merger treaty with Stonecrest is finalized, we can finally be a proper family."

"I'm tired of hiding, Damien," Lyra's voice was sharp, impatient. "I want to be your Luna. In the light. Not cooped up in this gilded cage while that Omega placeholder wears a title that should be mine."

*Placeholder.*

The word hit me with the force of a physical blow, knocking the air from my lungs.

"Selene has served her purpose," Damien continued, his tone cold and pragmatic. "Her fated bond kept my wolf settled. It was a political necessity to secure my transition to Alpha. But you, Lyra, you and Leo... you are my future. My dynasty."

The boy, Leo, ran to Lyra. "Mommy, can Daddy read me a story tonight?"

My vision blurred. Their son. My adoptive parents-the Alpha and Luna of our pack-they knew. They had to. The funding for a place like this, the secrecy... it could only be sanctioned from the very top.

My world, once a stable, loving home, fractured. The love I thought I had, the family I cherished, the mate I worshipped-all of it was a lie. A carefully constructed cage to keep me docile and useful.

Just then, a warm, familiar presence brushed against my mind. The Mind-Link.

It was Damien.

*Just finished the meeting. So tired. Miss you, my sweet.*

The lie, so casual, so cruel, was the final twist of the silver dagger in my heart. The pain was so immense, it burned away the tears, leaving behind something cold and hard and terrifyingly clear.

In the wreckage of my shattered heart, revenge began to take root.

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