Chapter 2

By sunrise, Gideon had already begun erasing me from the Blackwood Pack.

He had approved my request to hold the coronation at the Moon Goddess Temple. He thought I wanted to give Talia a more sacred, more impressive ceremony.

He never asked why I had chosen a place where every vow became binding.

I stood in the main hall and stared at the Alpha family tree painted on the stone wall.

A thick black line cut straight through my name.

Aveline Hale.

Right beside Gideon’s name, a new name was freshly painted: Talia Voss.

My chest tightened, making it hard to breathe. Before coming downstairs, I went to the bedroom that Gideon and I shared for five years.

The door was wide open. Two maids were stuffing my clothes into cheap cardboard boxes. Talia sat on the edge of my bed, running her hand over the silk sheets.

Gideon stood by the window and looked at me without any guilt.

"Talia needs to rest," he said, his voice flat. "Her pregnancy makes her tired, and she needs the Alpha's scent to feel safe. Your things are moving to the side wing."

I was his fated mate. Yet, I was kicked out of my own home.

Footsteps echoed behind me as Maris Blackwood walked up.

She was Gideon's mother and the former Luna, a cold woman who only cared about pure bloodlines and strong heirs.

She did not greet me. She reached out and unclasped my silver Luna necklace, the chain scraping painfully against my skin.

Talia walked downstairs then, leaning on Gideon's arm. Maris smiled warmly at her—a smile she never gave me—and put my necklace around Talia’s neck.

"Your title belongs to Talia now," Maris said coldly. "Your duties do not."

She fastened my necklace around Talia’s throat.

"You will continue serving this family exactly as before. The only difference is that no one will call you Luna."

I looked at the woman I had dutifully called Mother for half a decade.

They hadn't just betrayed me overnight. This was a calculated, systematic execution. I was being stripped of my dignity, my home, and my life by this entire royal family.

I turned my gaze to Gideon, the mate bond in my chest burning with a sharp, bruised agony.

"She gets my husband, my bedroom, my crown, and my name," I said, my voice trembling. "What do I have left?"

Gideon frowned, looking annoyed by my question.

"You are still my fated mate," he said, speaking as if that single fact should fix everything. "Isn't that enough?"

Enough? My inner wolf whimpered in the dark.

---

That evening, the pack held a welcome banquet for Talia. I stood quietly in the corner, a ghost in my own home.

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the hall.

Talia dropped her glass and fell to the floor, screaming as she clutched her swollen stomach.

Gideon rushed to her, his face turning pale with terror. "Eira! Get Eira!"

Eira pushed through the crowd. She was the High Priestess who managed spiritual healings and mate bonds for the pack.

Eira placed her glowing hands on Talia’s stomach, and her face drained of color instantly.

"The child..." Eira gasped, looking at Gideon with wide eyes. "The child is under attack by the Alpha's Blood Moon curse."

Gideon froze, turning his head to lock eyes with me.

Eira stood up. "Only Luna Aveline's Moon Goddess blessing can shield the baby."

He did not walk over to ask for my help, nor did he care if it would hurt me.

Standing over his pregnant mistress, my fated mate issued a cold Alpha command.

"Tomorrow at the coronation," Gideon ordered, his voice echoing through the room, "you will transfer your blessing to Talia."

He thought the temple would make his command sacred.

He had forgotten that the Moon Goddess listened to more than an Alpha’s orders.