Chapter 1

To the outside world, I was the envy of every she-wolf as the fiancée of Alpha Kael. But inside the gilded cage of his pack house, I was a ghost.

I molded myself into perfection for him, wearing the colors he liked and suppressing my own voice.

Until I walked past his study and saw him with Lyra-the orphan he called his "sister."

His hand rested intimately on her thigh as he laughed, telling her, "Elara is just a political necessity. You are the moon in my sky."

My heart shattered, but the physical blow came days later.

During a training exercise, the safety cable snapped. I fell twenty feet, shattering my leg.

Lying in the dirt, gasping through the pain, I watched my Fated Mate run.

Not to me.

He ran to Lyra, who was burying her face in his chest, feigning terror. He comforted her while I bled.

Later, in the infirmary, I heard him whisper to her, "She won't die. It will just teach her who the real Luna is."

He knew. He knew she had sabotaged the rope with silver, and he was protecting her attempted murder.

The final thread of my love incinerated into ash.

The next morning, I walked into the Council Hall, threw a thick file on the table, and looked the Elders in the eye.

"I am dissolving the engagement," I stated coldly. "And I am withdrawing my family's silver supply. I will starve this Pack until you beg."

Kael laughed, thinking I was bluffing. He didn't notice the lethal Beta from the rival pack standing in the shadows behind me, ready to help me burn Kael's kingdom to the ground.

Chapter 1

Elara POV

I woke up in a bed that cost more than most wolves earned in a lifetime. The silk sheets felt like liquid ice against my skin, offering no warmth, only a sleek, expensive chill.

This room, gilded in gold and draped in velvet, was not a home. It was a cage.

I was the fiancée of Alpha Kael, the most powerful leader of the Blood Moon Pack. To the outside world, I was the envy of every she-wolf. To the inside world, I was a ghost.

I stretched, my senses reaching out. The Pack bond hummed in the back of my mind, a low frequency of connected consciousness. But when I tried to touch Kael's specific frequency, I hit a wall of ice.

There was no warmth. No "Good morning, my love." Just the cold, hard silence of an Alpha who didn't care.

A knock sounded. Three Omega maids entered. They dipped their heads, baring their necks in submission, but the gesture was hollow. I caught the scent of their emotions-sharp and curdled, like sour milk.

Disdain.

"Alpha Kael requests your presence at breakfast, my Lady," one said, her eyes fixed on the floor to avoid meeting mine.

"Thank you," I whispered.

I dressed carefully. I wore the blue he liked. I skipped the perfume he hated. I was molding myself into a statue of perfection, hoping that one day, the stone might finally turn to flesh in his eyes.

The moment I stepped into the corridor, his scent hit me.

Kael.

His scent was like a thunderstorm crashing into a pine forest-overwhelming, electric, terrifying. My inner wolf, usually dormant, lifted her head. She wanted to howl, to claim, to submit.

But then, another scent hit me. Sickly sweet. Like vanilla that had been left out in the sun too long.

Lyra.

She was an Omega, an orphan Kael's family had taken in years ago. His "sister," they said. But sisters didn't smell like that-cloying, heavy with arousal. And brothers didn't look at sisters the way Kael looked at her.

I cut through the garden, intending to take a shortcut to the dining hall. The low murmur of two Beta warriors drifted from behind a manicured hedge.

"Did you see the Luna-to-be this morning? Looking pale as a ghost," one sneered.

"She's just a placeholder," the other laughed. "Everyone knows Lyra is the Alpha's true favorite. If it wasn't for the Elders insisting on the bloodline match, Kael would have marked Lyra years ago. That girl Elara? She's just a walking womb for the next heir."

My heart stopped. It felt like a physical blow to the chest. My breath hitched, and a sharp pain radiated through my bond.

Mine! My inner wolf growled, but it wasn't a growl of possession. It was a growl of pain.

I needed to see him. I needed to prove the voices wrong.

I followed Kael's scent to his private study. The door was ajar. I shouldn't look. I knew I shouldn't. But my feet moved on their own.

Through the crack, I saw them.

Kael was sitting in his massive leather chair. Lyra was perched on the armrest, her fingers tangling in his dark hair. She was whispering something, giggling, her body pressed against his shoulder.

Kael wasn't pushing her away. His hand, large and powerful, was resting on her thigh. His thumb traced circles on her skin, dangerously close to her neck-the spot where a wolf Marks his mate.

"But Kael," Lyra cooed, her voice dripping with fake innocence. "She is the Mate the Elders chose. You can't just leave her. It would ruin your reputation."

Kael chuckled, a low, dark sound that vibrated through the floorboards.

"Mate?" he scoffed. "The Moon Goddess plays cruel jokes, Lyra. You are my choice. You are the moon in my sky. She is just... a political necessity."

A joke.

He called our bond a joke.

The air left my lungs. My vision blurred. My inner wolf didn't howl this time. She screamed. A sound of pure, unadulterated agony that echoed in my skull.

Run, she whispered. Run, little one. Find your true path.

I stepped back, the floorboard creaking under my weight. But I didn't stay to see if they heard.

I turned and ran.

I ran until my lungs burned and my legs shook.

I stopped at the edge of the territory, looking back at the mansion that loomed like a monster against the moon.

"I," I whispered into the cold night air, my voice trembling but my eyes dry, "will never love you again."