2

##Chapter 2

The photo nearly made me drop my phone.

Adrian. Half-naked. Asleep in a hotel suite, the city lights blazing through the floor-to-ceiling glass. His arm draped around her—Jennifer, with her hair a tangle of victory, smirking straight into the camera as if mocking me.

I wanted to vomit.

Another message followed. This time a picture of her hand. A diamond ring glittered on her finger, engraved with the letters A&A.

My blood turned to ice.

That design was mine. My wedding ring bore the same inscription—except mine said A&C. He had given her the same promise he gave me, like I was nothing but a draft he’d grown bored of.

My wolf snapped inside me, fury rattling my bones. Kill her. Tear him apart. End this farce.

Then the third image came through—a medical report. My eyes caught the words before my brain could process them. Patient: Jennifer Nelson. Result: Eight weeks pregnant.

My hands shook so violently the phone slipped onto the floor with a crack.

I couldn’t breathe. My chest split open. Eight weeks. Two moons ago, he was still in my bed, whispering that I was his world.

And now he had given another woman what I had begged the Goddess for and never received. A pup.

A text lit up the screen.

“Clara, stop pretending. He belongs to me. He told me you’re cold, lifeless, a Luna in name only. With me, he feels alive.”

Another came.

“Look at the report again. This pup is the future of Blackridge. I’ll be the one standing beside him soon. You should step down gracefully, Luna.”

The word Luna seared across my vision like fire.

I smashed the phone against the wall. The glass spider-webbed, but the pain in my chest didn’t lessen.

Tears blurred my vision, but beneath them a sharper flame burned.

I wasn’t going to cry in front of Adrian. Not anymore.

The next morning, he walked into our bedroom with breakfast, wearing his perfect Alpha mask again. The scent of foreign perfume still clung to his shirt.

“Clara,” he said softly, setting the tray down. “I know I’ve been busy. Don’t be upset. I’ll make it up to you.”

Busy? That was what he called rutting his Beta’s daughter?

I stared at him, the bile in my throat threatening to spill.

“Adrian,” I whispered, “do you love me?”

He blinked, startled by the question. Then he smiled, that smooth, deadly smile. “Of course, Clara. You’re my Luna. My only one.”

Lies. Each word a dagger.

I wanted to scream, to shove Jennifer’s photos in his face, but reason chained me down. If I showed my cards now, he’d twist it, manipulate, gaslight me into silence.

No. I needed to end this on my terms.

So I turned away from him, staring out the window where dawn crept across the horizon. “I’m tired. I don’t want to see anyone today.”

He kissed my temple as if I hadn’t just shattered inside. “Rest then. I’ll handle everything.”

The moment he left, I called Elijah—the pack’s legal advisor, the only man who ever looked at me without fear of Adrian’s power.

My voice shook, but my decision did not.

“Elijah… draft me a divorce agreement. Today.”

There was silence on the line. Then, softly: “Clara, are you sure?”

“Yes.” My nails dug into my palm, drawing blood. “Leave the assets. Leave the estates. Leave it all to him. I don’t want a single thing that carries his stench.”

The words came out like broken glass, sharp and final.

By nightfall, the documents lay before me on polished mahogany, my name already written in black ink.

When I returned to the packhouse, Adrian was lounging in the living room with a glass of wine, as if nothing in our world was fractured.

“Where were you?” he asked, smiling. “I thought we’d watch a movie tonight.”

I placed the folder on the table between us.

He frowned. “What’s this?”

“Read it.”

His hands froze when he saw the title: Divorce Agreement.

I lifted my chin, voice steady even as my wolf growled and my heart bled. “You wanted freedom, Adrian? You have it. We’re done.”

The mask finally cracked. His golden eyes darkened, his jaw clenched.

“No,” he said, his voice dropping into a growl. “You’re mine, Clara. You’ll always be mine.”

I met his fury with ice. “Not anymore.”

He slammed the glass onto the table, wine spilling like blood across the wood. His power radiated, Alpha dominance pressing on my lungs until I could barely breathe.

But I stood tall. For the first time, I didn’t bow.

I turned, walking toward the door.

And just as my hand touched the handle, his voice thundered through the room, feral and desperate—

“If you walk out that door, I’ll lock this entire city down. No one leaves until you crawl back to me.”

My blood ran cold.

The Luna was no longer free.