Chapter 1 It Wasn't A Question

Vera

The divorce papers sat on the marble breakfast table like a venomous thing waiting to strike.

I stared at them, my coffee untouched, my hands trembling. Six months. Six miserable months of being Mrs. Darius Blackthorn, Luna of the Silvercrest Pack, and it was already over.

I should have cried. I should have felt my heart shatter.

Instead, I felt relief.

And that scared me more than the papers themselves.

"You're not going to sign them?"

The voice sliced through the silence. Selene stood in the doorway, her dark hair falling in glossy waves over a silk robe that wasn't hers. My robe. The one that had gone missing from my wardrobe a week ago.

Of course she'd wear it.

"I..." My throat was dry. "Why would he..."

"Oh, Vera." Selene glided across the floor like a ghost of the sister I used to know. "You know why."

And I did.

I'd known since the wedding night, when Darius's mark on my neck had felt more like a brand than a bond. When his eyes had been cold, distant... already belonging to someone else. Her.

He never touched me after that. Not once.

When I caught them in the garden months later, not kissing, but close enough that the air burned between them , I'd told myself I'd imagined it. That my husband wouldn't betray me with my own sister.

But now, the papers said otherwise.

"He wants to marry you," I said, my voice breaking.

Selene looked away, feigning guilt. "The Elders discovered a clause in the Luna Accord. Since you and Darius haven't... you know... the union can be annulled. They said it's better for the pack."

Better for her, she meant.

"The physician confirmed you're still... untouched," she added softly, twisting the knife. "So technically, the marriage was never..."

"Real?" I finished for her, forcing a laugh that came out like a sob. "Right. Not real."

Selene's eyes watered. "I'm sorry, Vera. You were never meant for this world. You belong in libraries, not among wolves and politics. Just sign the papers. You'll be free."

Free.

What a lovely word for discarded.

Something cracked inside me, quiet at first, then sharp as lightning. I stood, my chair scraping against marble. "Where is he?"

Selene's lips parted. "Vera..."

"Where. Is. He."

"In his office. But please..."

I didn't wait.

My footsteps echoed down the hall as I passed the curious stares of pack members. They could smell the storm coming, my scent spiking with fury and something darker, something even I didn't recognize.

Darius's office door loomed ahead. I didn't knock.

He was behind his desk, head bent over a stack of documents like nothing in the world could touch him. When his eyes lifted to mine, those silver-gray irises went cold in an instant.

"Vera." Calm. Controlled. Detached. "I assume Selene told you."

"She told me everything." I held up the papers. "Your little solution."

"It's for the best," he said simply. "You must see that."

"For the best," I echoed, stepping closer. "For who, exactly? You? Her? The pack that already whispers behind my back?"

Darius sighed, leaning back in his chair. "You're unhappy here. I can't give you what you need. This was a mistake from the start."

"A mistake," I whispered. "Funny, that's exactly what Selene said."

His jaw tightened. "Leave her out of this."

"Why? She's in everything." My voice shook. "From the moment we arrived, you looked at her like she hung the moon. You never even tried to hide it."

"That's not true."

"It's pathetic, Darius. You could've at least waited until after the honeymoon to break my heart."

"Enough." His tone snapped like a whip. "Sign the papers and spare us both the misery."

I stared at him for a long, trembling moment. Then I smiled. Small. Sharp. Dangerous.

"I'll sign them," I said. "But only after you tell me one thing."

His eyes flickered. "What?"

"Who told the Elders about my... untouched status?"

He froze. For a split second, a heartbeat, I saw something flicker in his gaze. Guilt. Shock.

"Was it you?" I asked softly. "Or her?"

He didn't answer.

The silence told me everything.

I turned to leave, the papers clutched in my hand. "I hope she was worth it, Alpha."

My fingers brushed the doorknob, then I heard it. A voice. Muffled but unmistakable, coming from his communicator on the desk.

"Did she sign?" Selene's voice.

My blood turned to ice.

Darius lunged for the device, but I was faster. I snatched it, slammed it against the wall, and watched it shatter into pieces.

For the first time since our marriage, Darius looked... I'm afraid.

I straightened, chin high, every ounce of heartbreak twisting into something fierce and cold.

"You both made one mistake," I said quietly. "You thought I was weak."

Then I walked out, leaving him in the wreckage of his lies.

And for the first time in six months, I didn't feel like a ghost.

I felt alive.