Chapter 1
I had barely opened my eyes that morning when my phone started blowing up with notifications. It was 6:47 a.m., and I was still half-asleep.
I had just taken my first sip of coffee when Janet, our head of public relations, called. The moment I heard her voice, I knew something was wrong. My wolf was already on edge, picking up on the tension before I even knew what was happening.
“Mrs. Blackthorn, we have a situation.”
I set down my cup. “How bad?”
“Photos of Alpha Blackthorn with Sienna Blake surfaced about an hour ago. They’re… pretty compromising.”
I already knew what she meant.
“Send me everything.”
Within seconds, photographs filled my screen.
Andrew Blackthorn, my husband, the billionaire heir and older Alpha of our pack, sat beside Sienna at Le Bernardin. His hand covered hers beneath the table. Another photo showed Sienna resting her head against his shoulder in the back of his car.
Seeing my husband like that with another woman made my stomach twist.
The last one was worse.
Andrew was looking at her with an expression I hadn't seen directed at me in months.
Sienna Blake was a Brazilian supermodel whose face appeared on magazine covers across the country. She was also a werewolf, though the human world knew nothing about it. Like most of us, she lived among humans and kept her true nature hidden.
Andrew had been “consulting” with her about a charity gala for weeks. I'd seen her name on his calendar, blocked out in neat two-hour increments.
Apparently, that consultation had become intimate.
My wolf reacted before I could stop it.
A sharp wave of anger moved through me, followed by the instinctive need to protect what was mine.
I forced it down.
Andrew was my Alpha, and I was his Luna.
But I was not his mate.
That distinction had never mattered more than it did now.
“I’ll handle it,” I told Janet, opening my laptop. “Send everything to me.”
For the next three hours, I worked, sending press releases, making calls, and quietly feeding friendly journalists a harmless story about Andrew’s “business dinner” with Sienna and her role in the charity gala.
I timed social media posts, called editors, and used every favor I had until, by ten, the scandal had been reduced to nothing more than a business dinner.
That was what I had become good at during my two years as Andrew’s wife, making his disasters disappear while keeping our pack’s secrets buried beneath the polished image of a powerful family.
By 10 AM, I was dressed in my armor, a tailored navy suit that made me look every bit the capable, unshakable Luna I was expected to be.
My dark hair was pulled into a sleek chignon, and I kept my wolf tucked beneath my calm exterior. In our world, image carried its own kind of power.
I closed my laptop and caught my reflection in the dark screen. There she was, exactly as everyone expected, his flawless wife, his Luna, and the woman who never made a scene.
I left the gallery and went straight to Andrew’s office, the executive floor unusually quiet. Even with the doors closed, I could sense him inside, my wolf immediately alert to his presence.
After two years as his wife, I knew that feeling too well.
Two years beside him had taught my wolf every detail of his scent, his movements, even the subtle changes in his mood.
I stopped outside his office, folded my arms, and waited, though I wasn't sure if I wanted an explanation, an apology, or simply anything at all.
“Are you guarding the door now?”
I turned.
Elliot Blackthorn leaned against the wall, his dark hair tousled and his expensive shirt wrinkled, looking like he'd slept in the office again.
At twenty-six, Andrew’s younger brother had perfected the art of looking devastatingly handsome while appearing completely uninterested in everything around him.
But I knew better.
Elliot was an Alpha too.
Different from Andrew, but no less powerful.
His wolf was always close beneath the surface, restless and alert. Even when he looked relaxed, he noticed everything.
His eyes moved from me to Andrew’s office.
“Is this what you’ve reduced yourself to?” he asked. “Standing guard like some kind of security detail?”
“Good morning to you too, Elliot.”
He came to stand beside me.
I could feel the controlled strength beneath his careless appearance.
“Is this what you do now?” he asked. “Clean up Andrew’s messes while he hides behind his office?”
“I’m managing a situation.”
“You’re enabling a situation.”
His laugh was sharp.
“Do you even hear yourself? ‘Managing a situation.’ Christ, Samantha, you sound like a corporate press release.”
The elevator dinged.
My wolf reacted to an unfamiliar scent coming from the hallway, and I tensed before I could stop myself.
The doors opened, and another executive stepped out, heading toward the opposite corridor. False alarm. I let out a quiet breath, only to realize Elliot had noticed.
Of course he had.
“You don't even get angry anymore.”
“I'm not here to discuss my marriage with you.”
“That isn't what I asked.” I kept my eyes on Andrew’s door.
“This is my job, Elliot.”
“No.” His voice dropped.
“Your job is supposed to be being his wife. This... this is just sad.”
I looked at him.
For once, there was no sarcasm in his expression. His eyes held something else, something deeper, like a feeling he had kept buried for a long time.
“You're his Luna,” he said quietly. “That doesn't mean you're supposed to protect him from everything he does.”
My throat tightened.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand more than you think.” He looked toward Andrew’s office.
“He knows exactly what he's doing.”
Before I could answer, the door opened.
Andrew stepped out, his steel-gray eyes landing on me before moving to Elliot. The moment the two brothers faced each other, the air between them grew tense, and I could feel both their wolves reacting.
Two Alphas, carrying the same blood but holding very different power, stood only a few feet apart. Neither man backed down.
“Why are you two standing here?” Andrew asked.
Elliot pushed away from the wall.
“Your wife is doing your job for you.”
Andrew’s jaw tightened.
“Elliot.”
“What?” Elliot smiled without warmth. “The photos are already everywhere. At least let her pretend she isn't embarrassed.”
I looked between them.
“I’m going home.” Andrew’s gaze followed me.
“Samantha.”
I stopped.
“Come back tonight.”
I nodded once and walked away.
I didn't know then that he would come home early.
Or that, for one brief evening, he would make me remember why I had once loved him.
That night, I was standing in the kitchen when Andrew walked in.
He wasn't wearing his suit jacket.
His sleeves were rolled to his forearms, and for once, he looked less like the powerful Alpha everyone in our world respected and more like the husband I had married.
“I made dinner,” he said.
I stared at him.
“You cooked?”
“Don't look so shocked.”
He placed a plate in front of me, and the simple gesture unsettled me because, for once, there was no phone, no assistant, and no mention of Sienna.
When a chill ran through me, he immediately took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders, his familiar scent making my wolf go still. I hated how easily my instincts still responded to him as he sat across from me.
“You've barely eaten.”
“I was busy.”
“With my scandal.”
I looked at him, but he didn't apologize. Instead, he reached across the table and brushed a loose strand of hair from my face, the tenderness unsettling me more than his coldness ever had.
For one dangerous moment, I wanted to believe this was the husband I had married, the man I had once loved, but then his phone rang.
Andrew glanced at the screen.
Something in his expression changed, and the warmth vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He stood.
“I need to take this.”
I watched him walk away as my wolf sank quietly inside me, already knowing who was calling.
Vanessa Cole… his ex, the woman he’d once loved.