Chapter 1Aurora's POV
It felt like an unseen wolf had its jaws clamped around my throat. Tight. Bruising. For a long time, I couldn't speak. My wolf paced inside me, snarling. When I finally forced the word out, my voice cracked.
"WHY?"
Why would Alpha Damien Kane - Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack - betray me, then still walk me to the Moonstone Registry like nothing happened? Why wait until the one moment I was supposed to become his Luna to rip my heart out with the truth?
Damien froze.
Then he threw his head back and laughed. Loud. Careless. Alpha.
"You win."
I stared at him. My brain went blank. My wolf went dead silent.
A second later, a familiar female voice slid through the SUV speakers. "Then you have to use my favorite strawberry-flavored one tonight, okay?"
My eyes snapped wide. My blood turned to ice.
"Omega Morgan and I made a bet on how you'd react when you found out I was bedding her. I said you'd slap me. She said you'd ask why." Damien spoke so casually it made me sick. "If I win, she wears black stockings. If she wins..."
He raised one brow. "Well. You heard my Omega."
Then Omega Morgan Crowe's voice came back through the speakers.
"Five years, Aurora, and you're still just as pathetic as I remember. But I'll give you this - you've got fantastic taste in Alphas. I like this one a lot too."
Their laughter filled the car. My limbs went numb. My claws shot out and dug into my palms.
For one horrible second, I wasn't there. I was five years in the past.
I'd cut a border summit short to surprise my then-mate, Ethan Stone, Alpha of the Silverfang Pack, on his birthday. But when I opened the door to our den, I found him and Morgan tangled together by the open window, the moon making their bare skin gleam.
Ethan went pale. His wolf flashed gold in his eyes, then died.
Morgan? She just lit a cigarette and smirked.
"Sorry, Aurora," she said. "The unmated life gets lonely. I borrowed your mate for a bit."
And just like now, I'd stood there and asked them both, "Why?"
Their mouths moved. Excuses. Promises. Bullshit. But my ears were stuffed with cotton. My wolf was howling so loud inside me that I couldn't hear a word.
Then their faces went white.
They both shouted my name.
A sharp, brutal pain tore through my lower belly. It doubled me over. When I looked down, blood was pouring down my legs - bright, red, wrong.
That day, I lost the three most important people in my life.
My best friend of ten years.
My bonded mate of one year.
And the three-month-old pup in my womb.
Chapter 2
Aurora's POV
"Yeah, yeah, I know you're obsessed with me. I'll see you tonight. Gotta drop Aurora off at the den first."
Damien's voice cut through the fog in my head. He ended the call. The car went dead quiet. Just breathing. His. Mine. My wolf was still clawing at my ribs, trying to break free and rip his throat out.
After a while, he spoke again.
"You're probably starving. Let's grab your favorite cake, then I'll take you home."
Gentle. Soft. Like he hadn't just shattered me into a million pieces. Like I wasn't sitting there with bloodshot eyes and a body that wouldn't stop shaking. I looked like a complete fool.
"Damien..." My voice came out ragged. "Why? You swore you'd cherish me for the rest of your life."
Tears spilled down my cheeks. I couldn't stop them. My wolf whimpered inside me.
But Damien didn't wipe them away. Not this time. He just leaned back in his seat, a faint, cruel smirk curling his lips.
"If you'd picked me the first time, maybe I would've cherished you forever. But now?" He shrugged. "You're just used goods. Why should I stay pure for you?"
He tossed a tissue at me. Like I was some pathetic charity case.
I jerked back. Stared at him. My mate. My Alpha. A monster wearing his face.
We'd grown up in the same pack. Trained together. Fought together. He and Ethan had both confessed to me on the same moonlit night. I chose Ethan. Damien had just nodded, congratulated us, and kept his distance. Then Ethan cheated. And I couldn't handle it. I slit my wrists and prayed to the Moon Goddess to let me die.
That's when Damien came back. Like some angel sent from the sky. He pulled me out of the darkness. Healed me. Put me back together piece by broken piece.
I thought about all of it. Every late night. Every gentle word. Every promise.
"If it bothered you that much," I whispered, "why did you even pursue me? Why mate with me at all?"
Our eyes met. Damien sighed.
"I thought I didn't care. But when we started planning the ceremony..." He paused. His jaw tightened. "You were too good at it. You knew how to haggle with the moon photographer. You knew to buy a cheap backup set of rings in case someone stole the real ones. Even this morning, you didn't even have to think about what to wear to the Moonstone Registry. You just KNEW."
His face darkened. "Everything about you screamed that I was marrying another Alpha's leftovers. I'm not okay with that, Aurora."
Tears blurred my vision. I couldn't see him anymore. But I heard every word. Every single knife.
"But I love you," he went on. "So here's the deal. You were with Ethan for a year. I get a year to screw around before I settle down. Fair's fair, right?"
Something warm touched my face. I blinked hard. My tears splashed onto the back of Damien's hand. He flinched like I'd burned him and yanked his hand away.
"NO! It's NOT fair!" I screamed. My wolf howled with me. "If it bothered you, you should've TOLD me! You shouldn't have saved me and promised me forever just to betray me like this! I want a divorce!"
He just stared at me. Cold. Calm. When I finally ran out of breath, he spoke.
"We're already mated. You don't get to decide what's fair. And divorce?" He laughed. "Don't even think about it. If you can live with it, stay. If you can't, suck it up."
Then he pushed open the passenger door and shoved me out.
"You're really pissing me off right now. Get out. Go think about what you've done."
Chapter 3
Aurora's POV
The storm had just passed. But the ground was still soaked. I hit the mud face-first. The road was slick as oil. Every time I tried to push myself up, my hands slid out from under me. My wolf was too weak to help. She just whined and curled up.
Damien sat in the car. Watched me. Face blank as stone.
"See that, Aurora?"
I looked up. Rain dripping off my nose. Mud in my mouth.
He laughed. Cold. Alpha cold.
"You can't even stand without me. Where the hell would you go if you broke our bond?"
I opened my mouth. Nothing came out.
He slammed the door. Hit the gas. The SUV shot past me like an arrow. Mud sprayed across my face. My eyes went dark.
And then the memories came. Like a film reel I couldn't stop.
After Ethan and I severed our bond, I fell apart. Severe depression. The kind that makes you claw at your own skin. I couldn't stop hurting myself. Every time Damien found a new cut on my arms, he'd make two on his own. "We bleed together," he'd say. "That's what mates do."
I couldn't sleep. So he tore open the roof of his den and replaced it with a skylight. He held me all night. We counted stars until dawn. When I couldn't eat, he starved with me. Literally. His wolf got thin. His eyes went dull. But he never left.
After a year of that, I started to heal. I started to trust him. The day he confessed, he dropped to one knee. His wolf shone gold in his eyes. "I will never betray you," he swore. "Not in this lifetime. Not in the next."
I believed him.
And now? One year later? His promise was dead.
I wiped the mud from my eyes. Used the wet stone path to drag myself up. My legs shook. My movements were clumsy. A group of wolves passing by laughed. One of them muttered, "Look at the fallen Luna."
Shame burned through me. Panic too. I flagged down a rogue driver. He took one look at me and said, "Upfront. Plus two hundred silver marks. You're filthy."
I didn't care. I agreed.
But when I reached for my pack credit, the driver checked his screen and shook his head.
"Frozen. Every account. Not a single coin."
He kicked me out. The sky opened up again. Rain hammered down. Stinging. Numbing. I don't know how long I walked. Hours. Maybe more. My wolf had gone silent. Finally, I made it back to Damien's den.
I pushed the door open.
My mind went blank.
A pair of heeled boots and polished leather shoes were tangled on the floor. Lacy lingerie. A black formal jacket. All in a heap.
And by the window - Damien. Holding Morgan. Kissing her like his life depended on it.
For one second, the scene overlapped with five years ago. Same window. Same Omega. Same betrayal.
A broken, off-key howl tore out of my throat. I didn't even realize I was making the sound. My hands shook. My feet shook. My whole body shook. My wolf clawed at my chest, trying to shift, trying to tear, trying to do ANYTHING.
Damien pulled back. Frowned. Annoyed.
"What are you freaking out about? It's not like this is the first time you've seen something like this."
Morgan laughed. That same smug, mocking laugh.
"Long time no see, Aurora. I misspoke on the phone, by the way. Damien is WAY better than Ethan."
Her words made him smile. "You've got good taste."
He chuckled and walked toward me.
The closer he got, the harder I shook. My stomach turned. My wolf recoiled. When he reached out -
I doubled over. Vomit hit the floor. Uncontrollable. Violent.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him go rigid. Just for a split second.
Then his voice slid into my ear. Low. Chilling.
"Do you find me disgusting, Aurora?"
