Chapter 1

Karri

As an Alpha's mate and the Luna of a pack, severing the bond between my husband and me will consume half my life force. But if divorce is the only way to find my peace again, then I'm ready to give that much.

Three years ago, I found my family after living as a rogue with a woman who raised me as her child. The day I was born, the doctor pronounced me dead, and my mother was told only my twin sister had survived the painful birth. She was on a journey when her water broke and was rushed to the pack's clinic.

My mother signed for her dead child to be disposed of without bothering to even look at the child once. She had no use for a dead child. The cleaner was told to go bury the child in the woods. My mother left without a trace.

That night, as the woman was digging, about to place the child in the grave, the baby let out a loud cry. Just then, the woman heard loud gunshots and screams in the pack. She could see smoke. It was obvious the pack had been invaded. She took the child and ran deeper, far away from the pack. That night, the entire pack was burnt to the ground, and the people who managed to survive were displaced.

The woman saw me as a blessing, the reason she was out in the woods when the invaders came. But she needed to return me to my parents. There was not a single trace left of the fire. I grew up calling her mother, and she loved me without bounds. Until one day, scrolling through social media brought the news of the cherished only daughter of the Beta of Capstone Pack, Marisa Atkinson.

My friend Vivian immediately recognized the resemblance. She pulled my attention to the picture, and with every slide, it was impossible to deny. I looked up the details of the Atkinsons and showed my mother the picture of the Beta's wife. She gasped immediately when she saw her.

Although older, she said firmly, “That is your mother. That is the woman I wiped down and cleaned up twenty-three years ago.”

I traveled down to Capstone Pack. That day, a wedding was going on. I had gone straight to ask for the Beta and his wife, excited to return to my parents. I was finally face-to-face with my mother and Marisa. Not even they could deny the resemblance. I told the story of what happened the night she gave birth to twins and went home with one. But I wasn't received as I had hoped. They had lived their lives satisfied with one daughter and one son, Nat, my older brother, and Marisa, my twin sister.

My mother told me she had no place for an extra child and her other child died twenty-three years ago. My heart was completely wrecked as the tears poured down my face. I turned around to leave when a fleet of cars arrived at the compound, a tall man with a powerful aura stepping out of the car in wedding attire. Guards lined up on his sides. I knew immediately he wasn't just a pack member or some wealthy man.

People bowed as he came closer. Marisa screamed his name, “Shane!” from behind me, launching herself into his arms, but he didn't respond. He stood there stunned, his eyes darting from Marisa to me.

We were identical twins, but anyone could tell the difference by the cheap clothes I was wearing and Marisa's glowing skin. We were from the same parents, but life had dragged me to the wrong side of fate.

Just then, a sweet smell seeped into my nose. His eyes widened as he looked at me, with Marisa still by his side. He growled, “Mate,” shattering the atmosphere.

Marisa collapsed.

I had been mated to my sister's husband.

Shane Brandes, the Alpha of Capstone Pack, who loved Marisa with no regret, immediately rejected the bond, but it dragged his heart instead. The elders confirmed that as an Alpha, he couldn't marry outside who the goddess had chosen. Severing the bond without the proper ritual would harm him instead.

He was forced to marry me, and my hell began from that day.

It's been three years, and I thought maybe soon he would come to accept the bond and see that I love him beyond anything else as my mate.

Every attempt to please Shane ended in humiliation and despair. My mother hated me more for ruining her beloved daughter's happy life.

My father barely cared what happened to me. Nat, my older brother, would do anything to protect Marisa. I was still an outsider to the pack members, even though it was proven I was also the Beta's daughter.

My hand squeezed the edge of the document I had gotten from the pack court. This divorce paper has the power to cut the ties between Alpha and Luna mates, but at the expense of the life force of the one who initiated it.

I was done taking all the bullshit they threw at me. I would give Shane and Marisa what they've always wanted, and I would go back to my life, even with an unhealthy body.

My phone vibrated on the table in front of me in the Luna's office. I was only a puppet here. Everyone knew who the true Luna was.

The notification showed the blog headline announcing the date for the pack festival.

It's a celebration hosted every year, and right now I should be in the pack hall where the preparation is being discussed, but of course, Marisa is there beside Shane, in the name of ‘she'd been trained to be Luna for years, so only she understood how the pack activities worked.’

I push off my seat, packing up for the day. As I walked down the pack office building, I heard a familiar giggle and then a calm voice followed.

Turning, I saw Shane and Marisa standing there. Marisa wore a simple white dress that made her golden skin glow beneath the lights, with the golden Luna pendant resting against her chest. A wide smile spread across Shane's face. In our three years of marriage, not once did he throw such a loving gaze at me.

I tried to fit in, but now, I have realized, beside him was better if it were Marisa. Whatever cruel joke the goddess was playing by bonding us, I have to be the one to stop it.

I watched as Marisa kissed Shane's cheek and bid him as he turned back to his pack office. Marisa walked towards the pack hall, her face full of excitement.

I swallowed the lump in my throat before turning to go to the pack hall.

It's twenty-nine days to the next full moon, that's the only day we can break our bond. Which is also the pack's festival day.

I will present the document to Shane then.