Chapter 1After the Moonhealer's den emptied my womb and called it mercy, I lay in my nest scrolling through posts.
I wasn't looking for anything. My wolf was too quiet. My chest felt hollowed out. I just needed noise.
Then I saw the question.
"What's your mate's get-out-of-jail-free card?"
I stared at it for a moment. My thumb hovered over the screen.
The Great Quake at Red Hollow. He covered me with his body and took the falling stone on his back.
That was going to be my answer.
But then another comment slammed into my feed - and my whole body went cold.
"I'm a high-end Omega escort on the rogue circuit, but I found true love. He's an Alpha - strong, rich, generous. He paid my bond-fee for thirty years upfront, and he can't keep his hands off me. My back aches, my legs shake, and he still growls if I'm not in his arms."
My wolf stirred. Uneasy.
The next line made her go dead still.
"As for his get-out-of-jail-free card? His Luna finally conceived through the moon-rite treatments. I joked that I didn't want a squalling pup stealing his attention. So he forged the pup-screening rune, told his Luna the pup was broken, and forced her into the healer's den to get rid of it."
Then she dropped a picture.
Dim light. A big, knuckled male hand wrapped around a female's waist.
"Now he holds me even in sleep. Tsk. He really can't let me go."
I saw the scar on that hand.
And my blood turned to ice.
THAT scar. Jagged. Pale. Wrapped around the knuckles.
It was exactly the same scar my mate got in the Great Quake.
The comments exploded under her post - curses, threats, every wolf in the feed tearing her apart.
She didn't back down. She got bolder.
"Mistress? Please. The one who isn't loved is the real third wheel, okay? What's wrong with fighting for true love? You're all just jealous because I found an Alpha who'd burn his own pack for me."
My hands shook so hard I nearly dropped my phone.
My wolf clawed at my ribs. She wanted out. She wanted blood.
But I forced her down.
After I calmed enough to breathe, I pulled up the female's profile and messaged Dorian.
"Are you still working late at the Alpha Hall?"
The reply came fast.
"Yes, little wolf. What's wrong?"
I didn't answer.
I called for a pack car and went straight to Silverrun's Alpha Hall.
Our years of bond couldn't be doubted because of a few baseless comments. True or false, I had to see it with my own eyes.
When I reached the main den, I ran into his Gamma steward.
His face went tight with surprise.
"Luna? What brings you here?"
I didn't say a word. I walked past him, stepped into the elevator, and went straight up to Dorian's private den.
I pushed the door open.
The empty room I'd expected wasn't empty at all.
In the wide, stone-and-glass den, Dorian sat upright in his leather chair. Sharp jaw. Broad shoulders. Every inch the Alpha of Silverrun.
He looked up at the sound of the door.
One brow lifted. A teasing edge crept into his voice.
"Little wolf? What - don't trust your Alpha, so you came to check on me?"
Looking at that familiar face, the heart that had been in my throat finally dropped back into place.
Grief and fear hit me all at once. My eyes burned. My wolf whined. I almost threw myself into his arms.
"Don't come closer!"
Dorian's growl came out muffled - rough enough to stop me dead.
I froze.
He was pinching the bridge of his nose, looking sick.
"Be good. I think I caught something. You just had the healer's procedure - your wolf is weak. Don't get close, or I'll infect you."
He did look bad. Cold sweat rolled down his temples. His breathing was fast. His face was flushed.
Low, suppressed pants kept slipping out of his throat.
My chest tightened.
"Dorian, let's go to the Moonhealer's den."
Then I caught something from the corner of my eye.
The reflective glass beside his desk mirrored a silhouette.
A female.
Hiding under his desk.
Chapter 2
A cold bolt shot down my spine and spread all the way to my fingertips. My wolf went rigid inside me. My eyes burned, but I didn't make a sound.
Not one.
"Never mind - my stomach just cramped. I should get back to the den."
I didn't wait for Dorian to answer. I turned and fled.
The rain had started sometime while I was inside. Of course it had. The sky probably knew before I did.
My boot slipped on the wet stone, and I went down hard in a puddle. The cold water soaked straight through my clothes.
I broke.
The chill in my bones? Nothing. The sting in my palms? Nothing. The thing tearing through my chest - THAT was everything.
My phone buzzed in my hand.
Her. Again.
A new video. The caption made my stomach flip.
"My Alpha patron is SO smart. He knew his Luna was already downstairs, so he had his Gamma send a warning. But I wasn't scared at all~ Doing it right under her nose was thrilling."
I clicked it. My claws itched to shred the screen.
Her voice came through, sweet and sticky. "Your Luna was just here. Was it thrilling?"
"What are you doing?" Dorian's voice - hoarse, scolding. "We almost got caught."
But I heard it. That undertone. The softness. The way his growl curled around the words.
DOTING. He was DOTING on her.
I bit my lip so hard blood flooded my mouth.
I made it back to the den soaked to the bone. My fingers shook as I dialed the Moonhealer's hall.
"Hello - I need to ask about the pup-screening rune I had done two weeks ago. Was there any problem with it?"
The healer on the other end sounded kind. Gentle. Like she was talking to a fragile thing.
"Oh, Luna Lowry. Your pup is perfectly healthy. Didn't you see the report? We sent it straight to your Alpha. The pup is healthy. Strong heartbeat. Everything is fine."
Those words were soft. Light.
And they cut through me like a silver blade.
My stomach turned. Nausea climbed my throat.
I hung up. Ran to the bathroom. Threw up until my head spun.
Five years of moon-rite treatments. Over five hundred injections. Every ache. Every prayer. Every night I begged the Moon Goddess for a pup.
All of it. A joke.
A MASSIVE. SICK. JOKE.
A hard chill crawled over my skin. I hugged the toilet and cried and laughed at the same time. My wolf howled inside me - low, broken, furious.
When I finally stopped shaking, I took a hot shower and crawled into bed.
Then I opened her profile again.
She used to be a high-end Omega escort on the rogue circuit. Her early posts were all bare skin and bedroom eyes. Only two posts had anything to do with Dorian.
The first was from a year ago.
A photo of a pack token - one of Silverrun's den badges. The caption: "Finally legit! No more rogue dens for me. Now I get to go to work with my Alpha patron every day!"
The name on the badge: Maeve Doyle.
The second post was from six months ago.
Our bonding anniversary. Dorian told me he had to stay late at the Alpha Hall.
But in Maeve's post, he was at the Moonlight Fair. With her. Smiling. Buying her sweetcakes.
And the dinner he brought home that night? Their leftovers.
The screen went dark. My own tear-streaked face stared back at me.
Dorian came back late.
"Why are you still awake? Stomach still hurting?"
His hand reached for me. I flinched away.
He frowned. Impatience flickered across his face.
"What now, Sienna? I've been running all day. I don't have the energy to coax you. Whatever it is - tomorrow. I'm going to sleep."
He was out in minutes.
I picked up his phone from the nightstand.
My fingers moved before I could think. My birthday. Our bonding day.
INCORRECT PASSWORD.
It hit me like a slap.
I didn't stop. I scrolled through her profile until I found her birthday. Entered it.
UNLOCKED.
My chest caved in.
Scrolling up, it was full of obscene flirting. Endless.
Three days ago:
"Alpha honey, can't you come over today? Your tired little Luna is so annoying."
"Be good. Wait a few more days. She can't be left alone right now."
This morning:
"Alpha babe, come keep me company today? I'm wearing that shift you love so much~"
Chapter 3
I read every message. Every single one. Like a fool. Like a wolf pressing her own paw into a silver trap.
My jaw locked so tight it hurt. But a sob still broke out of me.
Beside me, Dorian moved in his sleep. His arm slid around me, pulling me against his chest. His hand stroked my back - slow, steady, practiced.
"What's wrong, little wolf? Sad about the pup again? Don't be. I'm here."
His body was warm. The scars on his hand were ugly - twisted, roped, crisscrossed.
And just like that, I was somewhere else.
The Great Quake at Red Hollow. Years ago.
Dust everywhere. The sky brown with falling stone. And a teenage Dorian - lean, wild, brave - sprinting toward me through the chaos.
He threw himself over me. A boulder came down. He didn't even grunt. His blood hit my face, hot and wet.
We were trapped for two days. His body was wrecked. Every breath he took sounded like broken glass.
But he kept talking. Kept coaxing me.
"Sienna. Sienna. Don't be scared. We're getting out."
"If I don't make it - you drink my blood. You eat my flesh. You get out alive. Promise me."
Back then, he loved me to death.
So how did we end up here?
I lay stiff in his arms until dawn. Eyes wide open. Wolf silent. Heart dead.
At breakfast, I set my cup down and asked him straight.
"Do you know Maeve?"
Dorian's jaw tightened. His wolf flickered behind his eyes - uneasy.
I watched him. My eyes went red at the edges.
"Look me in the eye and tell me you two are innocent. Is she your steward or your - ?"
"ENOUGH!"
He flipped the table. Dishes shattered. His eyes were full of disgust.
"Your moon-sickness is acting up again. Every day - paranoid, unreasonable, impossible. I can't DO this."
The door slammed behind him.
I sank to the floor. A dull ache spread through my chest.
Moon-sickness. My deepest wound.
We came to Blackridge with nothing. No pack. No coin. No name. Dorian had a head full of territory designs and a wolf too proud to beg.
Then his designs were stolen. He tried to fight back - got framed for it instead.
I couldn't stand watching him break. So I went alone to confront the thief.
We fought. I lost my footing. Fell down the stone stairs. Lost our first pup.
That was the first time I ever saw Dorian cry.
He knelt in front of me. Tears and snot running down his face.
Every "I'm sorry" he said felt like he was bleeding out.
After that, the moon-sickness took me. I clawed at my own arms without thinking. I cried all day. I couldn't stop seeing that little pup.
Dorian had no work. He ran messages for the pack during the day and came home to hold me at night.
Then the original designs turned up in our own den. His name was cleared. He built his own pack enterprise.
And my moon-sickness slowly faded.
But the fall had wrecked my womb. Natural conception was impossible. So came the moon-rite treatments - endless, endless rounds.
Those days were the worst of my life.
I never thought the boy who once shielded me with his own body would kill our pup with his own hands.
And then use my deepest pain to stab me in the heart.
I wiped my face. Walked into the study. Started printing the bond-breaking papers.
This time? Not even the get-out-of-jail-free card would save him.
