Chapter 1

For three years, my Alpha husband forced me to take inhibitors, claiming my bloodline was too "weak" to bear his heir without dying.

I believed him, swallowing the pills and the lies to be his perfect, submissive Luna.

But during the rogue attack at the Victory Gala, the truth finally shattered me.

A feral wolf lunged for my throat. I screamed Bennett's name, frozen in fear without my wolf to protect me.

He looked at me. Then he looked at his mistress, Aria, who was cowering behind a table with her wolf fully accessible.

He turned his back on me.

He tackled the rogue attacking her, leaving me exposed to be torn apart.

If his Beta hadn't stepped in at the last second, I would have died right there on the ballroom floor.

When the fighting stopped, Bennett didn't even look my way. He was too busy cooing over Aria's minor scratch, ignoring his wife who had nearly been slaughtered.

I realized then that the pills weren't for my safety. He was keeping me sterile and docile until he could replace me with her.

I walked upstairs, past the wreckage of my marriage, and flushed the inhibitors down the toilet.

Then, I took out a piece of pack stationery and wrote the words that would destroy his world.

"I, Kelsey Jensen, reject you, Bennett Randolph, as my mate."

I left the note on the nightstand, packed my passport, and walked out into the night, never looking back.

Chapter 1

Kelsey POV

The moonlight pooled across the bedroom floor like stagnant water, cold and unfeeling.

I sat on the edge of the bed, my knuckles white as I gripped the fine Egyptian cotton sheets.

A dull throb pulsed low in my belly. The Heat.

It wasn't the consuming fire promised in the old stories. It was a sickly, heavy ache, smothered under layers of chemical restraint. I looked at the bottle of pills on the nightstand. *Inhibitors.*

Bennett had first pressed them into my hand three years ago.

"Your bloodline is too weak, Kelsey," he had said, his voice dripping with that Alpha authority that made my knees shake and my will crumble. "If I knot you, if my Alpha blood mixes with yours during the Heat, it could kill you. Take these. For your own safety."

I swallowed the lie along with the pill.

I was the Luna of the Silver Crest Pack. It was a title that commanded respect from the neighboring territories, a title that meant I was the mother of the pack. But inside these walls? I was a ghost. I was the keeper of archives, the organizer of festivals, the smiling face next to the Alpha.

But I was unmarked.

Three years of marriage, and Bennett had never sunk his teeth into the curve of my neck. He had never completed the bond.

I stood up, smoothing the ice-blue silk of my dress. Tonight was the Victory Gala. I had to go downstairs. I had to smile.

The ballroom was suffocating. The scent of champagne and roasted meat mixed with the heavy musk of shifting wolves. I stood in the shadow of a pillar, my eyes scanning the crowd.

There he was.

Bennett Randolph. My mate. My Alpha.

He stood near the center of the room, holding a glass of amber liquid. He looked magnificent, his shoulders broad, his jawline sharp enough to cut glass. But he wasn't looking for me.

His eyes were locked on Aria Diaz.

Aria was the daughter of our Gamma. She was petite, with cascading dark hair and a laugh that sounded like wind chimes. She touched Bennett's arm, her fingers lingering on his bicep.

I inhaled sharply.

My senses, though dampened by the inhibitors, still caught it. Underneath Bennett's scent-which usually smelled of rain and deep forest pine-there was something else. Something sweet. Cloying. Like vanilla and rot.

It was her scent. It was all over him.

I closed my eyes, memories of our childhood flooding back. We played in the creek. He promised me the world. He told me we were Fated Mates. I believed him. I believed him so much that I accepted a marriage without a mark, a bed without warmth, a title without power. I accepted being a barren Luna because he said he wanted to protect me.

I opened my eyes and saw them moving toward the balcony.

I followed, keeping my distance, slipping into the alcove near the heavy velvet curtains. I didn't want to see. I just wanted to be wrong.

I reached out with my mind, trying to find the thread of our bond. It was thin, frayed like an old rope. I pushed against the mental barrier he usually kept up.

*...she's just so boring, Mark,*

Bennett's voice echoed in the Mind-Link. The projection wasn't meant for me. He was speaking to his Beta, Mark, but he hadn't shielded it properly.

My breath hitched.

*She's a good administrator,* Mark's voice replied, hesitant. *She keeps the pack running.*

*A pack needs heirs, Mark,* Bennett sneered. I could hear the clinking of glass in his mind. *Kelsey is too weak. She's too tame. I need a real Luna. Someone with fire. Aria... she's ready. The Moon Goddess might have made a mistake with Kelsey, but I can fix it. Tonight, under the full moon, I'm going to ensure the pack gets the heir it deserves.*

The world tilted on its axis.

He wasn't protecting me from his Alpha blood. He was keeping me sterile. He was keeping me docile, ready to be discarded.

My Inner Wolf, usually a quiet, dormant thing, let out a low, mournful whimper. It wasn't anger yet. It was the sound of a heart breaking.

I stepped back, intending to flee to my room, but a siren shattered the air.

*ROGUES!*

The mental scream tore through the Mind-Link.

The ballroom erupted into chaos. Glass shattered. Screams erupted. The heavy double doors burst open, and wolves-mangled, feral, smelling of sulfur and madness-poured in.

"Bennett!" I screamed, my human voice cracking.

I saw him. He was across the room, shifting. His clothes shredded as he transformed into a massive midnight-black wolf.

A rogue, foaming at the mouth, lunged toward me. I froze. I didn't have my wolf. The inhibitors made shifting nearly impossible.

I looked at Bennett. His massive wolf head turned. He saw me. He saw the rogue mid-air, claws extended toward my throat.

Then, he looked to his left.

Aria was cowering behind a table, a rogue circling her. She had her wolf. She could fight. I couldn't.

Bennett didn't hesitate.

He turned his back on me.

He launched himself at the rogue attacking Aria, tackling it to the ground, leaving me exposed.

Time didn't just slow; it crystallized. I watched the rogue's yellow teeth snap inches from my face. I smelled its rotten breath. I realized, with a clarity that was colder than the moon, that I was going to die. And my mate chose to save his mistress.

A blur of brown fur slammed into the rogue, knocking it away from me.

It was Mark.

He tore the rogue's throat out in one motion and shifted back, naked and bloody, breathing hard. He looked at me, his eyes wide with horror and pity.

"Luna... are you okay?"

I looked past him. Bennett was standing over Aria, nuzzling her neck, checking her for scratches. He didn't even look back to see if I was alive.

My Inner Wolf went silent. The whimpering stopped. The hope stopped.

"I'm fine, Mark," I said. My voice was steady. Terrifyingly steady. "Don't apologize for him."

I turned and walked out of the ballroom. I walked through the blood and the glass. I walked up the grand staircase.

I went to our bedroom.

I took the moonstone necklace off my neck-the symbol of the Luna. I placed it on the nightstand.

I moved to the closet and pulled out a small bag hidden behind the winter coats. I didn't pack clothes. I packed my passport, my sketchbook, and a wad of cash I had saved from selling my art online under a pseudonym. I had been saving for a rainy day, never admitting to myself that the storm was already here.

I went to the bathroom and dumped the inhibitors into the toilet. I flushed them.

Then, I pulled out the document.

It was a generic "Mate Dissolution Agreement" that Bennett's father, the old Alpha, had drawn up years ago "just in case." Bennett didn't know I had a copy.

I signed it.

Then I took a piece of Pack stationery. I picked up a pen.

*I, Kelsey Jensen, reject you, Bennett Randolph, as my mate and Alpha.*

I didn't feel the snap of the bond yet. He had to accept it, or I had to be far enough away for the distance to sever it naturally.

I placed the note on top of the necklace.

I walked out of the room. I walked out of the Pack house. I walked out of my life. The chaos of the attack was dying down, the warriors tending to the wounded. No one looked at the Luna slipping into the shadows.

I dialed a number on a burner phone.

"Blackwood," a distorted voice answered.

"It's Kelsey," I said. "I need the extraction. Now. And I need my scent scrubbed."

"Destination?"

"Paris," I whispered. "Take me to Paris."

As I climbed into the black sedan waiting at the edge of the territory, I looked back one last time. The moon hung high and full, indifferent to my pain.

Bennett, you think you're breeding an heir tonight. But you just lost your wife.

My Inner Wolf stirred. It felt weak, but for the first time in three years, it felt free.