Chapter 1

On the night before my husband's birthday, I went to his study to surprise him.

I was holding the key to the limited-edition black Lamborghini he had been eyeing for months.

Damon had fancied that car for a while. So, I had pulled every string and finally managed to get it for him.

A big smile was plastered across my face as I approached his study.

But my footsteps came to a sudden halt when I heard a low, cautious voice from inside.

“Damon, I am your mother. Do you think I wouldn't be kind to my grandson, my own flesh and blood?”

I froze.

I recognized the voice immediately.

It was Dr. Reed, our house physician—the sweet and gentle woman who had taken care of me for years.

But she...

Damon's mother?

And whose grandson?

I leaned closer to the door.

“Rayan's constitution is simply too weak to bear the power of an Alpha.”

The key slipped slightly between my fingers.

I had never heard the name Rayan in our twelve years of marriage.

I should have gone inside.

Instead, an invisible force seemed to glue my feet to the ground. I couldn't move an inch.

Damon finally spoke.

His usual gentle, deep voice was now tense and alert.

“How much weaker?”

“Much weaker than he should be at five.”

Five?

My heart gave a strange, painful beat.

I bit my dry lips.

“His wolf hasn't matured yet.” Dr. Reed sighed. “We've tried everything.”

“Does Catharine know?”

Damon's voice remained calm, but something in it made my chest tighten.

I pressed myself against the wall and leaned closer.

“Not yet.” Dr. Reed rubbed her forehead. “But how long can we hide it?”

Then she lowered her voice.

“Damon, don't forget. You need that throne, and only Serena's Moon Blood can help.”

Moon Blood?

My mind suddenly drifted back to my eighteenth birthday.

…

“Little Sere.”

My father's soft voice echoed in my memory.

Adrian Ashford, the strongest Alpha of our generation, had looked at me with unusual seriousness that day.

“From now on, protect your Moon Blood well.”

I laughed.

“Why?”

His expression had darkened.

“Remember this. The Moon God gave you the solemn power to protect or dethrone an Alpha.”

“Okay.”

I nodded while shrugging my shoulders, too young and ignorant to understand the weight of his words.

…

Now, standing outside Damon's study, I finally remembered.

My eyes burned.

“Your son needs much more Moon Blood,” Dr. Reed said.

Son?

Damon had a son.

For a moment, my mind refused to understand the words.

Damon and I had been married for twelve years.

Twelve years of waking beside him.

Twelve years of attending pack functions together.

Twelve years of being introduced as the Alpha and Luna.

And apparently, somewhere during those twelve years, my husband had found time to father a child I knew nothing about.

My fingers tightened around the Lamborghini key until the metal dug into my palm.

Then Dr. Reed said something that made my blood run cold.

She shuffled some papers.

“Coax her into signing this document. Then we can directly transfer her blood to Rayan until he gains enough power.”

My knees trembled.

How could she be so cruel?

After my parents died, I had mourned them until I stopped eating and sleeping.

At that time, Damon had introduced Dr. Reed to me.

A middle-aged woman with motherly affection.

She had been the one who insisted that I needed regular examinations. She looked over my blood tests, supplements and regular checkups.

She had always held my hand afterward and told me not to worry.

I had trusted her.

More than that I had loved her.

“Mother...” Damon clenched his fists. “She's already very weak.”

Something shifted inside me.

Standing in front of this unbearable reality, a thin thread of hope surfaced.

Damon sounded worried about me.

Perhaps he had an explanation.

Perhaps Rayan wasn't…

“Then what do you want?” Dr. Reed's voice turned icy. “Don't tell me you're feeling bad for that bitch.”

“Damon, Catharine saved your life. She is your marked mate. Is this how you will repay her?”

She grabbed his hand.

“Think carefully. Do you want your son to die?”

“No.” Damon shook his head urgently. “But what if Serena dies? Don't forget, knotting with Serena is what strengthens my Alpha power, too.”

I stumbled backward.

So he had been worried about himself.

All this time, I had never understood why Damon refused to mark me.

Whenever I asked him, he would gently brush me off.

“Sere, your body is too weak. Let's wait until you're healthier. I can't stand seeing you in pain.”

For twelve years...

For twelve years, I had believed Damon was protecting me.

I had thought he was the shield between me and every evil in this world.

But who knew the man I trusted most was the one hurting me the deepest?

I had never questioned him when he made me endure the pain of knotting.

Yet he was supposedly too afraid to mark me.

I remembered watching young couples receive their permanent marks and start families while I had nothing.

I had always wondered why.

Now I knew.

A tear finally slipped down my cheek and landed on the Lamborghini key.

“Damon, do you think I don't know you?” Dr. Reed frowned. “Are you still feeling guilty about that matter?”

“Think about Catharine and Rayan. They are your family.”

Her voice grew louder.

“Serena... she's nothing but a stepping stone for you to ascend to the throne.”

“Don't talk about her like that.” Damon frowned.

Maybe because I had trusted him blindly all these years.

Maybe because I had been bound to this man since I was nineteen.

Or maybe because I had loved him with everything I had, a part of me still wanted all of this to be a lie.

Maybe he would say, She's my wife. Don't hurt her.

But fate was cruel.

“Do whatever you can.”

Damon sighed and pressed his forehead into his palm.

I laughed silently, though my chest felt unbearably heavy.

Damon Vale. Very good.

The world became strangely quiet.

I stared at the tall figure who had held me in his arms countless times.

Do whatever you have to.

My husband had just given permission for the woman he had marked as his partner to take as much blood from me as necessary.

For his son, for the Alpha throne, for a future that apparently had no place for me.

I almost walked away.

Then Dr. Reed spoke again.

“If you can, knot with her after a few days. It will be the full moon. You'll regain much more power than usual.”

“Catharine's heat is coming.”

Damon paused.

“I still have to see if I can spend time with Serena.”

My heart cracked again.

He was worried about her heat.

All these years, he had let me endure mine alone.

I had suffered through it without my Alpha's pheromones, wondering why my own mate never seemed to care.

Now I knew.

Catharine had always come first.

My knees nearly gave out.

I covered my mouth.

Catharine.

The woman he had marked willingly, who had given him a son, apparently possessed the place in his life I had spent twelve years believing belonged to me.

He never kissed me while we were intimate.

“You'll become breathless if we kiss now. It's not good for you.”

“Serena, be a good girl and follow my lead.”

Suddenly, those memories felt different.

My stomach twisted.

How many times had I given him something he never deserved?

How many times had I mistaken his hunger for love?

Dr. Reed spoke again.

“Catharine is your chosen partner. Rayan is your flesh and blood. If you want your son to inherit the Alpha power, you cannot keep protecting Serena.”

“She is my Luna.”

“Only because you need her.”

Silence followed.

Then Dr. Reed spoke quietly.

“And don't forget how you became Alpha in the first place.”

I stiffened.

“What do you mean?” Damon asked.

Dr. Reed laughed.

“You're asking me?”

Her voice became colder.

“We killed the former Alpha and Luna once to put you where you are. Why should we hesitate to sacrifice another Luna for the same throne?”

My heart stopped.

My parents. The former Alpha and Luna.

Their deaths had been the wound I had carried all my life.

I had always believed the people responsible had never been found.

But Dr. Reed had just said we.

I backed away from the door.

My vision blurred.

Damon's family had killed my parents.

And I had married their son.

I turned before they could hear me.

I walked away in silence. I couldn't let them know about my presence.

Not yet!

I made it to our bedroom before my legs finally gave way.

I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the Lamborghini key.

The gift I had bought for my husband.

The husband who had a son and a mistress. The husband who had been taking my blood for power and position.

The husband who had been secretly producing an heir.

My hands shook as I reached for Damon's phone on the bedside table.

It was unlocked. I knew his usual password.

But there was an application I had never seen before.

It demanded another password.

My fingers hovered over the screen.

Then I remembered the bracelet on Damon's wrist.

It had a date engraved into it.

Whenever I asked about it, he always smiled and said,

“This is the date I fell for you.”

Now, that felt like the cruelest lie of all.

I took a deep breath and typed in the date.

The hidden application opened.

My blood ran cold.

The wallpaper showed Catharine holding a little boy, Rayan.

I had met Catharine once at an elite gathering.

She had introduced herself as Damon's friend. I had smiled and welcomed her into our circle, even helping her establish connections with some of the elites, never realizing I was greeting the woman who already carried my husband's mark

I had believed them.

I almost laughed at myself.

Such a fool.

I scrolled through everything, photographs, messages, bank transfers.

Records of Damon buying Catharine a penthouse for her birthday.

As I scrolled down, my eyes were getting heavy.

Then a new message appeared.

Catharine: The doctor says the twins are healthy.

My fingers went numb.

Another message arrived.

Catharine: Rayan will finally have siblings. I hope they're as strong as their father.

An ultrasound appeared beneath it. Two tiny forms, two heartbeats, two more children. But they were not mine.

I stared at the screen until the words blurred.

Twelve years…

I had given Damon twelve years.

My loyalty, my name, my blood, my trust and my family's power. I gave him the Alpha's position, the company my father painstakingly built from scratch. I handled countless negotiations, midnight meetings, business deals and endless compromises just to help him build the empire.

And all this time, he had been building another family behind my back.

Then I remembered my father's warning.

“Stay away from the Vales.”

I had never understood why.

Now I opened my father's old diary with trembling hands.

One entry caught my eye.

Luxian Vale is targeting me this time. Even so, I will fight for my clan and my daughter.

I couldn't read anymore.

Not tonight.

I already knew enough.

I looked down at the Lamborghini key still sitting in my palm.

A few hours ago, I had been excited to surprise Damon.

Now I couldn't remember why I had loved him.

But that wasn't true. Rather, I remembered exactly why.

Because for twelve years, I had believed he loved me too.

That was the cruelest part.

I could expose him tonight and reject him as my mate.

But then what?

Damon would know I had discovered the truth.

His mother would destroy the evidence.

Catharine would disappear.

Rayan would be hidden.

The twins would be protected.

And whatever remained of my parents' legacy would vanish before I could reclaim it.

So I wiped my tears.

I put the Lamborghini keys inside the drawer.

Then I looked at myself in the mirror.

The broken woman staring back at me slowly disappeared.

I would let Damon believe his secret was safe.

I would let Dr. Reed continue believing I was the foolish Luna she had manipulated for years.

I would let Catharine believe she had won.

They wanted my blood, my throne, my silence.

Fine!

For now, they could have my silence.

But they had already taken my parents.

They had stolen my blood.

They had stolen twelve years of my life.

Now it was my turn.

I would take everything from them.

They had mistaken my silence for weakness.

Soon, they would learn how badly they had miscalculated.