Chapter 1Eight years. One sacrifice. Zero loyalty.
I gave up everything to save him. Built him from nothing.
He gave me a 0.7-carat diamond. "You're the only light in my dark life."
Then he gave his mistress a 5-carat ring. Our anniversary villa. And a pup.
I'm Lena. I destroyed myself to keep Thayer alive. He repaid me by letting her slap me in our own home.
"Look at yourself. Do you even resemble the woman you once were?"
He was right. I didn't.
So when the Moon Goddess offered me one way out, I took it.
Ten days. I sold everything. Burned the photos. Packed my life into garbage bags.
On the final night, I smiled at them both. "Be happy."
Then I leaned back and let myself fall.
He spent two years searching. When I came back for five hours, he fell to his knees.
"Lena, don't leave me alone!"
"We loved once. But we don't love anymore."
This time, goodbye is forever.
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I'd just finished another vicious fight with my Alpha mate, Thayer Voss. He'd come home straight from being intimate with his mistress, Nina West.
When he found me lying on the bed, he stepped close and wrapped his arms around me from behind. His lips were warm, brushing against my neck again and again.
I sat up abruptly and slapped him without thinking. "Thayer, you might not mind being filthy, but I do."
He froze for a second, then touched his cheek with a bitter, humorless smile. In an instant, he grabbed me and pinned me against the bathroom vanity mirror, one hand gripping my jaw, his gaze venomous.
"You're disgusted by me? Lena, look at yourself. Do you even resemble the woman you once were?"
I stared at my reflection in the mirror. My hair was a mess, one strap of my nightgown slipping off my shoulder. I looked like a madwoman. The eyes that had once been my best feature were no longer bright or gentle. Fine lines had crept onto my face. All the vitality I'd once had was gone.
In that moment, Nina's young, glowing face flashed into my mind. Those bright, burning eyes, full of desire and ambition, staring at me with provocation.
"So that's your excuse for cheating, Thayer?" I scoffed, leaning against the wall, my eyes stinging with tears.
He stepped closer, his thumb gently wiping the corner of my eye. "I've told you a hundred times. It's just a fling. When I get bored of her, I'll come back. Lena, I've always loved you."
Disgusting. Unbearably disgusting.
I screamed in agony, grabbed a bottle, and smashed it against the mirror. Glass shattered everywhere. "Get out! Just get out!"
After he left, I stood barefoot on the cold marble floor, staring out the window at the giant LED screen where Thayer had put up a massive modeling billboard for Nina. I let out a hollow, bitter laugh.
This kind of vicious confrontation had played out countless times over the past year. At first, it had hurt so deeply I thought I'd die. Now I only felt numb and hopeless.
I was only human. I couldn't shift. I had no wolf.
Eight years ago, I met Thayer. Back then, his father had cheated, the family business had collapsed, his mother had killed herself, and he was drowning in debt. His eyes had been empty, lifeless.
It was me, on a bright, peaceful morning, who walked up to that broken, miserable boy.
Later, we lived in a basement together, ate cheap, simple meals together, paid off every last debt bit by bit.
Once, he'd asked me, confused. "Why are you so good to me?"
I'd smiled and laced my fingers through his. "I think it was the Moon Goddess's will."
He lowered his head and whispered, "Then she gave me the best gift I've ever received."
The day the Moon Goddess told me to leave, he'd seemed to know. Red-eyed, he held me tight from behind and didn't sleep a single wink all night. My heart softened. I held him back. "Thayer, I'm not going home."
After that, we formed our mate bond and stayed bound for five years.
But three years into that bond, Thayer cheated. He took a struggling young model as his mistress—Nina West.
I still remembered the day I found out. He came home drunk, collapsed against me, and mumbled half-asleep, "Baby... when did you get shorter?"
I'd thought it was funny at the time. I'd always been 5'4". I couldn't just shrink.
Later, I went through his phone and found out about Nina—tall, sexy, nothing like me. And that "baby" he'd called out... had it been Lena? Or Nina?
Chapter 2
I can't remember most of the details from that day. Only the deafening roar in my head, the world spinning out of control.
Thayer got on his knees in front of me, crying and begging, saying he'd made a mistake, gotten carried away for a moment.
Three years of dating, three years of marriage. I'd given up going home. And this was how I was repaid. I couldn't accept it. I refused to let us go that easily.
So we silently agreed to stay married.
But love that's rotted, a rose that's rotted from the inside out—you hate to throw it away, but it makes you sick just to look at it. With every betrayal, we fought, resented each other, until we were empty, broken, and numb. It was like a slow, painful death, slowly wearing away what little love we had left.
So when the Moon Goddess spoke to me again after so long, I answered immediately. "I regret it. I want to go home."
"I warned you that day. No one can predict the future... not even Thayer's change of heart. But I will give you one more chance to return. Only... it will be ten days from now."
Tears streamed down my face, and I nodded.
The house fell deathly quiet again. I dried my eyes and began packing. I didn't want to leave a single trace of myself in this world. I stuffed all my clothes into garbage bags and threw them away. I took down every wedding photo of Thayer and me from the walls, then pulled out the wedding ring he'd given me.
On our wedding day, Thayer had dropped to one knee, choking up, holding this tiny 0.7-carat diamond that had cost him everything he had. "Lena, you're the only light in my dark life. I'll be faithful to you for the rest of my life."
Small as it was, that diamond had held the fiercest love between us. I'd worn it every day until the day I saw Nina walking with him, her hand glittering with a 5-carat pink diamond. After that, I'd put my ring away in a drawer and never touched it again.
I slammed the diamond against the wedding photo. The glass shattered instantly.
Finally, I looked around this house, filled with traces of Thayer and me, and felt a strange sense of peace. I'd clung to this sick, twisted marriage for five years, struggled for five years. Now that I could finally leave, it felt like freedom.
The next morning, I woke up and went downstairs. The house was dim. Thayer sat on the sofa smoking, his expression dark and unreadable.
"Where are the wedding photos?" he said calmly, stopping me.
His phone kept buzzing, message after message. It was Nina. She was holding a bouquet of long-stem red roses, smiling brightly. Last night was so tiring... but I'm energized now that I have my gift~
He didn't even bother hiding it, letting the screen glow openly.
"I put them away," I said flatly, walking past him to the kitchen for a glass of water.
He stubbed out his cigarette and smirked, standing up. He pulled a high-end Van Cleef & Arpels necklace from his pocket and fastened it around my neck from behind. "Still angry? Here. An apology gift. It suits you."
He leaned down next to my ear, his voice low and silky, dangerous. "Lena, you will always be my Luna. No one can take your place. Not even Nina. When I get bored of her, we'll try for a pup. How does that sound?"
I shoved him away coldly, turned, and brushed the bright red lipstick stain off his shirt. A cold, mocking smile tugged at my lips. Then I turned and walked away.
Chapter 3
Thayer and I once had a pup. I just didn't know it at the time—it was my first pregnancy, and I had no idea.
Back then, I was still desperately clinging to the hope of Thayer's fidelity. I lingered hopelessly outside the hotel where he was staying with Nina, crying the entire night. At dawn, I watched him walk out with his arm around her, one hand resting on her hip as he guided her into the passenger seat. They were all over each other again before they even left the parking lot.
In that moment, gripping the steering wheel, I let out an uncontrollable scream and slammed my car into theirs with everything I had. That's when I lost the pup.
It was the fourth time I'd caught him with her.
Thayer looked surprised for a moment, but still didn't suspect anything. He just nodded absently and left again. He didn't come home for two days.
During those two days, I watched the nonstop gossip about him and Nina plastered all over the news. I stayed eerily calm. I didn't call. I didn't text. Instead, I stayed home and sold off every piece of property and jewelry I'd accumulated over the years.
In the first two years after we formed our mate bond, Thayer had built a fortune through sheer determination. We were newly mated then, at the height of our love. Every property he bought, he put in my name. He said he felt guilty—that I'd pulled him out of the darkness and suffered alongside him for so long. Only giving me financial security could ease his conscience.
In the end, he didn't give me enough love—but he gave me more than enough wealth. Enough that even if I returned to the human world, I'd never want for anything.
Five days remained until I left. I drove out to the countryside. There was still one property deed I hadn't sold. It was an anniversary gift Thayer gave me after we mated. We'd spent every vacation there during our happiest times. That pup had been conceived there, too. The villa meant everything to us.
I went to pick up the deed and list it with a realtor. As I drove into the neighborhood, I realized I hadn't been back in two years—not since Thayer started cheating.
But everything looked different. The yard outside the villa was filled with roses. Frowning, I got out and unlocked the door. Before I could open it, someone pulled it from the inside.
"Hey—didn't I just satisfy you?" a voice purred.
It was Nina. She stood there in a red silk nightgown, leaning lazily against the doorframe. At first, she looked startled. Then her eyes traveled over me, slow and deliberate, gleaming with contempt and satisfaction.
In that instant, everything clicked. Thayer had set her up here.
"This is my house," I said flatly. "You have five minutes. Get dressed and get out." I reached for the door.
Nina blocked me, meeting my eyes without a flicker of fear. "But the Alpha gave it to me."
"Gave it to you? When was the title transferred? The legal owner doesn't know? I'm just letting you stay here. Don't act like you own a place that's not even yours."
Nina's face went pale, then flushed red.
I didn't bother arguing. I called Thayer right there. Let him handle his own mess.
On the phone, Thayer let out a dry laugh. "Lena, it's just a house. Let the girl stay there a few days. Don't go after her. She cries easily, and I'm the one who has to deal with it."
I didn't catch the rest. Nina grabbed my wrist and leaned in, her voice dripping with venom. "Luna... I heard you and Thayer were together three years before you mated. Well, I've been with him three years too. Think I'll be Luna by the end of this year?"
She pressed a hand to her stomach. "Oh, and here's another bet for you—the pup I'm carrying."
