Chapter 1

It was the 99th night Ryan hadn’t come home. I was trapped in a nightmare so deep it felt like drowning. Just as I was struggling to surface, a strange, aching pain bloomed between my legs.

“Mm…” I winced, letting out a low moan of pain, while my wolf purred in contentment.

Could it be… our mate?

Fighting through the discomfort, I clumsily responded to the man who was kissing me with a rough, urgent hunger.

Between ragged breaths, I asked uncertainly, “Ryan… is that you?”

He mumbled something incoherent, his large hands roaming my body without restraint. But once I was sure—once I knew it was my mate of three years—I did my best to match his rhythm, to meet him halfway.

It hurt. But at long last, he was willing to be with me. To truly claim me as his mate.

Maybe—maybe I could even bear his child…

My hands pressed against his strong back, tracing every perfect line of muscle, feeling the strength in every thrust. It all felt like a gift from the Moon Goddess herself, something sacred, something finally mine.

I moved with him, swaying to his rhythm beneath the silver moonlight spilling through the window. It wrapped us in a soft, glowing halo. Maybe this was all a dream…

But if it was, I wished I could never wake up.

With a smile tugging at my lips, I leaned in to kiss my mate—until the sound that left his mouth shattered everything.

“Daze…”

I froze.

My heart lurched violently, and it felt like the blood in my veins was running backward.

Daze. Daisy Miller’s nickname. The perfect first love of Alpha Ryan. The girl his father had banished to Italy in the name of the Pack.

I knew—after his father’s death—she’d come back.

Yesterday, I received a message from her. Cold. Cruel.

[Fiona, I’m back. And soon, there won’t be a place for you in the Brown Moon Pack.]

[I grew up with Ryan. Do you really think a few measly years with him could ever replace me in his heart? Go back to the orphanage where you belong.]

[You don’t know how much Ryan loves me, do you? Even in your bed, he’ll call my name. Because that’s all you are—my stand-in. Hurts, doesn’t it?]

A substitute?

No. I was chosen by the Moon Goddess herself.

I was Alpha Ryan’s rightful mate.

I am Fiona Smith.

I’m no one’s substitute.

And yet… beside my ear, Ryan kept whispering, “Daze… Daze…”

Her vicious words echoed in my mind like a curse, every one of them exposing how blind—how foolish—I’d been.

Since I was a child, the Pack doctor had identified the blood of the White Wolf in me. I grew up in the largest tribe, revered as its little princess. I studied in the Moon Temple, destined for greatness. When had I ever suffered such humiliation?

My tears fell before I could stop them. I clenched my fists, my whole-body trembling under the weight of what I refused to believe but could no longer deny.

All these years, I’d tread carefully. I’d been obedient and gentle. I even gave up the job I loved, devoting myself completely to being Luna of the Brown Moon Pack—to being Ryan’s mate.

But to the women in the manor—Mrs. Grant and Lena Grant—I was a nobody. A social climber from some insignificant Pack. They humiliated me every turn. And I took it all in silence, just to keep Ryan from being burdened.

Wasn’t I humbling enough?

Why did even my last shred of dignity have to be torn apart like this?

That night stretched endlessly.

I stared at the ceiling, wide awake till dawn. My wolf, Sue, lay still and silent inside me. She knew it too—our mate had someone else in his heart.

The next morning, as I sat at the vanity applying makeup, I suddenly felt a wave of cold aggression behind me.

I kept my expression calm, pretending not to notice, and continued with my skincare routine. But then—his hand clamped around my wrist, yanking me to my feet.

The bottle slipped from my fingers, shattering on the floor. White cream spilled everywhere, gleaming under the light like moonlight scattered at the foot of the Goddess’s temple, beautiful, broken, and impossible to gather again.

I looked up and glared at Alpha Ryan, my eyes burning with rage. But the moment I met his stormy blue gaze—seething with fury and loathing—and felt the wave of anger surge through our mate bond, my heart still gave an involuntary shudder.

“You think drugging me—using such vile tactics—will make me love you? That you can force a mating and crown yourself Luna of the Brown Moon Pack? That you’ll bear little wolf cubs?”

“I hate being manipulated more than anything! I will never submit to some so-called fated mate bond ordained by the Moon Goddess—especially not with someone like you!”

Alpha Ryan towered over me, practically snarling through gritted teeth. His grip on my wrist didn’t loosen—instead, it tightened mercilessly. His pupils had shifted entirely to a glowing amber, the mark of an enraged Alpha barely restraining himself.

That striking face of his, once beloved, now twisted into something monstrous. His fury rolled off him in waves, the oppressive weight of Alpha dominance crashing over me like a storm.

Drugging him? Really?

I let out a bitter laugh. “Is that what you see when you look at me? Someone so low I’d stoop to something like that?”

His lips curled into a cruel smirk, his eyes a pit of contempt. “Didn’t you already play your little tricks on the old Alpha—manipulate him into forcing this bond on me? And now you want to act innocent?”

“You, who are rotten to the core, aren’t even worth a strand of Daze’s hair!”

Rotten to the core. Pretending to be pure…

So, this is what Alpha Ryan truly thought of me.

And yet—back at my coming-of-age ceremony—he looked at me like I was his whole world. He promised to protect me with everything he had.

As for drugging him? If I ever had the intention, I could’ve done it long ago. Why would I wait until now?

He doesn’t know me at all.

How laughable. Three years of devotion of sacrifice—worthless in the end.

Fine, then. There’s nothing left to hold on to.

Ignoring the pain in my wrist, I gritted my teeth, summoned every ounce of strength, and tore myself free from his grasp.

Then I raised my head and met his eyes, my voice steady and clear.

“Alpha Ryan. Let’s sever the bond.”

“What?”

He froze, brows knitting, clearly not expecting me to be the one to say it. After all, in his mind, I was the one who’d drugged him.

“Have you lost your mind?”

I shot him at a cold, level glance. He was taller than me, stronger, but in that moment, I stood my ground, unwavering.

“Haven’t you always wanted this?” I asked, my voice cutting like ice. “You said you were forced into the mate bond by the old Alpha of the Brown Moon Pack. He’s gone now. No one’s stopping you from being with Daisy Miller anymore. Don’t you want to give her the title she’s waiting for?”

This twisted, unwanted bond should’ve ended long ago.

I was never meant to be a caged rose.

Alpha Ryan pressed his lips together; eyes fixed on me. Maybe he didn’t believe I’d really let him go. Maybe he thought I’d beg.

He studied me in silence, then scoffed under his breath. His tone was frigid.

“Don’t come crawling back.”

I gave a low laugh. My heart had never been so sure.

Just like when I first stepped into the Brown Moon Pack without looking back.

After all, the High Priestess taught me: as a daughter of the Moon Goddess, you must be fearless in your arrival—and even more fearless in your leaving.

“My only regret,” I said quietly, “is that I ever stayed in this pack. That I stayed by your side at all.”

With that, I turned and walked away without hesitation or a second glance.

I didn’t care how Alpha Ryan saw me anymore.

Because none of his opinions mattered.