Chapter 1 Trap

Ariana POV

The crisp medical clearance in my hand felt like a ticket to paradise. Six months of choking down Healer Danna's bitter herbs had finally paid off. The liquid silver was completely flushed from my system. I could finally bear pups for my mate, Alpha Holden.

The phantom pain of four years ago briefly flared in my veins-the dark alley, Rogue Darian's cruel laugh, and the agonizing burn of the silver poison that forced my newly awakened White Wolf into a deep coma. Everyone in the Pack called me a cursed wolfless. But Holden hadn't cared. He had wrapped me in his intoxicating cedar scent, offering me a ring and a promise of forever. I thought the Moon Goddess had sent me a savior.

The private elevator chimed, opening to the executive floor of Hayes Tech. I stepped out, eager to share the good news, but a cloying vanilla scent immediately assaulted my nose.

"Do you have an appointment?" Bree, the low-level Omega intern Holden sponsored, blocked my path. Her chin tilted in arrogant defiance.

Beta Collier rushed forward from his desk, his face pale. "Bree, step back. Apologize to the Luna."

But I wasn't looking at Collier. My eyes were fixed on Bree's hands. Her nails were painted a distinct Morandi blue-the exact shade of the "ink stain" I had scrubbed off Holden's collar yesterday. My gaze trailed up to her collarbone, where her blouse was carelessly unbuttoned. Deep, purple love bites marred her skin. And beneath her cheap vanilla perfume, the unmistakable, possessive scent of Holden's cedar clung to her like a second skin.

My stomach plummeted. The mate-bond pulsed with a sickening truth. He hadn't been avoiding my bed for the past six months to "let my Inner Wolf heal." He was using this Omega as a stand-in to vent his lust.

Ignoring Bree's smug smirk, I walked past them toward the heavy oak doors of the Alpha's office. They were slightly ajar. I raised my hand to push them open, but the voice inside froze my blood.

"You need to be discreet with that Omega plaything, Holden," my own brother, Bryan, growled. "If you let your backyard catch fire, it'll ruin everything."

Holden's arrogant chuckle drifted through the crack. "Relax, Bryan. Ariana is a broken, wolfless dependent. She won't notice a thing. Besides, I only mated her to buy you time."

"I know," Bryan sighed, his tone devoid of any brotherly affection. "Wiping Kylie's tracks from that silver attack wasn't easy. If the Enforcers found out Kylie hired that Rogue to cripple Ariana, she'd be exiled."

"Exactly. I played the devoted Alpha, and Ariana fell right into the trap. Kylie is safe."

The medical paper slipped from my trembling fingers.

A trap.

The four years of devotion, the sweet whispers, the sacred mate-bond-it was all a grotesque lie. My husband and my own flesh-and-blood brother had sacrificed me to protect Kylie, the fake daughter who had stolen my life and poisoned my soul.

A soul-tearing agony ripped through my chest. The mate-bond screamed, twisting like a jagged silver blade in my heart. I doubled over, biting down on my lower lip so hard that metallic blood flooded my mouth, swallowing the agonizing whimper that threatened to escape.

I didn't burst in. I didn't scream. The betrayal was too absolute, too cold. I turned on my heel, my heart turning to absolute ice, and walked away toward the executive terrace. I forcefully severed the emotional tether on my end of the bond, plunging it into a suffocating, dead silence.

Almost instantly, a chaotic ripple echoed behind me.

Through my heightened hearing, I heard the violent scrape of a heavy chair. Holden's Inner Wolf let out a sudden, panicked rumble. The heavy oak doors were ripped open, slamming against the wall.

"Where is she?" Holden's voice was tight, laced with a frantic terror I had never heard before.

"Alpha?" Beta Collier stammered in the hallway. "Luna Ariana was just here... she had a run-in with Bree at the elevator."

The scent of pure, unadulterated panic flooded the corridor as I pushed open the glass doors to the terrace.