Chapter 1

I heard the Moon Goddess calling to me—her ancient, mournful voice echoing through my mind.

*Open your eyes, my child. See your fate.*

And I did.

The marking ceremony, seven days from now. Sacred flames roaring against the night sky.

I stood in a flowing white ceremonial gown, waiting for my mate, Derek Blackwood, to mark my neck with the eternal bond.

But that's not what happened.

I watched myself being led, half-carried, toward a glass chamber.

My body burned with fever. My skin flushed an unnatural crimson, pupils blown wide—symptoms of heat-inducing drugs.

My wolf howled inside me, frantic and wild, but she couldn't break free from the poison's grip.

Three rogue wolves waited inside the glass chamber. Their eyes held nothing but hunger and madness.

I endured everything they did to me.

And outside that glass prison, every member of the Silver Moon Pack and the Shadow Pack watched.

Derek's voice cut through the air, cold and mocking. "Look at your precious Alpha's daughter, Ella Silverman. Look at what she truly is."

My father, Victor Silverman, stepped forward, his face arranged in careful grief. "I can no longer call her my daughter. This alliance is void." He paused, gesturing beside him. "But I have another daughter. A pure and kind-hearted girl who will take Ella's place."

My half-sister, Lina Chase, emerged from the crowd, tears glistening in her eyes—fake tears—as she pressed herself against Derek's side.

And my mother—the true Luna of the Silver Moon Pack, Elena Silverman—her already fragile body collapsed under the devastating blow.

I watched her crumple to the ground, blood trickling from her pale lips.

I struggled to reach her, but my body refused to obey. The drugs had turned me into nothing more than a puppet.

By the time I finally came to, my mother was dead.

And I had been exiled from the pack—stripped of my home, my bloodline, everything.

The vision shattered.

I woke with a gasp, chest heaving.

The familiar ceiling stared back at me. My bedroom in the Silverman Estate.

I was alive.

I was still here. Seven days before the marking ceremony.

The Moon Goddess had given me a second chance.

...

My heart pounded against my ribs; my palms were slick with cold sweat.

Then I heard it—sounds from the next room that turned my blood to ice.

A woman's moan. Then a low, familiar laugh.

Derek.

He'd stayed at the estate tonight, supposedly to discuss the details of our alliance. His guest room shared a wall with mine.

I held my breath, wolf-sharp ears catching every sound through the wall.

"Careful, Derek." Lina's voice, laced with feigned concern and genuine excitement. "What if Ella wakes up?"

"She won't." Derek's voice was low and confident. "I slipped something into her evening tea. Enough to keep her out until noon tomorrow." A dark chuckle. "Doing this right next to her... it's thrilling, isn't it?"

Lina's moan turned pleased, her voice breathy and vicious: "You're so bad... future... Alpha."

"Oh, you little minx." Derek's breathing grew ragged as he finished.

His voice drifted through the wall, lazy and sated.

"Seven days from now, this will all be over."

"Once Elena's dead, Victor won't have anything holding him back. You'll officially become a Silverman daughter, and our union will put both packs under my control."

"Elena..." Lina's voice held an edge of anticipation. "Is she really dying?"

"Your father's poison is brilliant—completely untraceable. On the day of the ceremony, we'll increase the dose. And when she sees her daughter being... used by rogues in front of everyone—" He paused meaningfully. "The shock will kill her. A Luna that sick can't survive that kind of blow."

My nails bit into my palms, blood seeping through my fingers.

My mother. They were poisoning my mother.

The woman who had always been my gentle protector. Who, even through her illness, had fought to shelter me. Her weakness wasn't disease—it was my father's poison.

I remembered her pale face, her body growing frailer by the day, my father's hollow concern and theatrical sighs.

I'd thought it was some rare wasting illness. I'd thought fate was simply cruel.

But the truth was that her own husband—the man who had climbed to his Alpha position on the strength of her family's power—had been slowly killing her all along.

And Derek, the man I'd believed was my perfect mate, had known everything.

They all knew. This was their conspiracy.

"I love you, Lina." Derek's voice seeped through the wall. "Since the moment I first saw you. Ella was just a tool—a stepping stone to get the Silver Moon Pack's power. When this is over, you'll be my Luna."

"So we can do this again?" Lina's voice turned playful. "Right here, next door to her?"

"Of course, baby. She won't know a thing."

I clenched my jaw, letting the pain and fury crash through me.

Once, I'd trusted him completely.

Derek Blackwood, heir to the Shadow Pack's Alpha title.

He'd pursued me for two full years. Confessed his love under the full moon. Promised me eternity beneath the stars.

Every kiss. Every embrace. Every sweet word—all lies.

And my father, the man who should have protected me, had made me a pawn, paving his path to power with my mother's life.

Fine.

Good.

Thank you, Moon Goddess. Thank you for waking me early, for letting me see the truth.

I lay still in the darkness, listening to the obscene sounds filtering through the wall, letting the tears fall in silence.

But these would be the last tears I ever shed for them.

Seven days.

I had seven days.

I would save my mother. I would destroy them all.

I would make them pay for every lie, every drop of poison, every betrayal.

The Moon Goddess had given me this chance, and I would not waste it.