Chapter 2

The rain hammered against our windows like bullets, each drop echoing the chaos in my mind. My wolf paced restlessly, her anger matching my own.

I hadn't slept, hadn't moved from the armchair in our living room since Dominic retreated to his study hours ago. The mate bond between us felt like a festering wound, toxic and painful.

When his phone rang at 2 AM, cutting through the storm, I knew exactly who it was before he even answered. My enhanced hearing picked up every word.

"Scarlett? Are you okay, sweetheart?" His voice was soft, tender in a way he hadn't spoken to me in months, maybe years.

I crept closer to his study door, my bare feet silent on the hardwood floor—a predator's stealth that all werewolves possessed.

"Don't worry about the storm, baby. I'm coming over right now."

Baby. He called her baby. My wolf snarled.

"No, no, don't apologize for calling. You know I'd do anything for you."

The call ended, and I heard him gathering his keys, his wallet, probably the cologne he only wore for pack gatherings and special occasions.

This was my chance, and I wasn't going to waste it.

I slipped into his study the moment I heard his car pull away, my fingers trembling as I typed in Sophie's birthday on his computer password prompt.

The screen unlocked immediately.

Twenty-seven thousand, four hundred and thirty-two messages.

My hands shook as I opened the chat thread, each message a silver dagger straight through my heart and my wolf's soul.

"First time cooking for you tonight. Hope it's not terrible! I'm so nervous! ?"

"You're already perfect, Scarlett. Don't change a single thing about yourself. Your wolf is magnificent."

The timestamp showed our wedding anniversary—the anniversary of our mating ceremony under the full moon.

"Are you okay after this afternoon? I was worried I was too rough with you. My wolf got a bit carried away."

"I'm perfect, just a little sore. My wolf loved every minute of it. Are you thinking about tonight when you go home to your mate?"

"Don't think about that. Think about us, about what we have together. About how our wolves run together under the moon."

I kept scrolling, bile rising in my throat, my wolf howling in anguish with each message revealing the depth of his betrayal, the careful construction of his double life.

"She doesn't suspect anything, does she?"

"Vivian? No way. She's too busy with Sophie and her writing to notice what's happening right under her nose. Her wolf has gone soft from domesticity."

Too busy with our pup and the career I'd put on hold for his dreams.

I plugged in a USB drive with shaking hands and began copying everything—every photo, every message, every goddamn piece of evidence of his systematic destruction of our mating bond.

The timestamps went back exactly two years, to that pack summit that "saved our marriage" because he came back "more committed than ever" and "ready to be the mate you deserve."

All lies. Every single word had been a calculated deception.

When the files finished copying, I sat back in his leather chair and stared at the proof of my utterly destroyed bond glowing on the computer screen.

But proof was power, and in werewolf society, evidence of betrayal could mean everything in pack court. I was going to need all the power I could get for what came next.

Because Dominic Crawford had just made the biggest mistake of his life, and he didn't even know it yet.

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