Chapter 1

The bells of the Moon Goddess Festival rang across Blackwood territory.

Tonight, the Alpha was supposed to lead the pack in an oath before the Moon Goddess, swearing to protect our land.

As his Luna, I would stand at the center of the altar and pray for our people.

Torches burned across the central square.

The elders and pack members had already gathered.

But with only ten minutes left before the ceremony, the Alpha’s place remained empty.

Damon was nowhere to be seen.

As his wife and the Luna of Blackwood, I felt a knot tighten in my stomach.

In three years, Damon had never missed the Moon Goddess Festival.

Not even when war raged along our borders.

I handed the silver chalice to an attendant.

“I’m going to find him.”

The wind caught the hem of my gown as I hurried down the corridor leading to the council hall.

It was unnaturally quiet.

The door to Damon’s private chamber stood slightly open, warm yellow light spilling through the gap.

I raised my hand to knock.

Then my fingers froze in midair.

A woman’s breathless moans came from inside.

The bed creaked violently against the wall.

“Damon…”

Her voice broke between gasps.

“Slower…”

Then came Damon’s low, hoarse murmur.

“Easy. Just take it.”

Every drop of blood in my body turned to ice.

Before I could think, I shoved the door open.

Damon was on top of a woman in our bed.

His shirt hung open, his clothes disheveled.

At the sound of the door, he turned with a frown.

Desire still burned in his wolf-gray eyes, mixed with irritation at being interrupted.

The woman beneath him slowly turned her face toward me.

Selene.

A pureblood wolf.

A faint square of paler skin marked the inside of her wrist, the shape left by a human clinic band.

The clean medicinal scent beneath her perfume did not belong to any healer in Blackwood.

For one sharp second, I wondered where she had truly been during those three missing years.

Damon’s first love, who had vanished three years ago.

The woman he had once promised to make his Luna.

Damon looked surprised for only a second.

He did not panic.

He did not look ashamed.

He did not even get off the bed.

Instead, he grabbed his coat and draped it over Selene, protecting her from my eyes.

“You’re here. Good.”

His voice was so cold, anyone listening might have thought I was the one who had betrayed him.

“Selene just returned, and she isn’t feeling well. I won’t be attending the festival tonight.”

I stood in the doorway, my fingers trembling.

“What did you say?”

“I said I’m staying with her.”

Damon finally rose and buttoned his shirt at an unhurried pace.

As though what I had just witnessed meant nothing.

I stared at him.

“Tonight is the Moon Goddess Festival.”

“I know.”

“The entire pack is waiting for you.”

His expression hardened.

“It’s only a ceremony.”

“You can handle it by yourself.”

“You’ve been managing the territory for the past three years, haven’t you?”

Then he added coldly, “Don’t make a scene over something so small.”

Something so small.

He had been in our bed with another woman minutes before the most sacred ceremony of the year.

And somehow, I was the unreasonable one.

Three years ago, Damon had been brought to me half-dead.

I was the human doctor who saved his life.

Later, I accepted the Moon Goddess’s bond, became his Luna, and held Blackwood together while he fought.

But only now did I understand.

To Damon, I had never truly been his wife.

I was only a capable, obedient caretaker who never fought back.

Selene sat up, clutching the thin blanket around her body.

There was no weakness in her pale face.

Only triumph.

“You’re not going to blame Damon, are you, sister?”

She ran her fingers through her hair, watching me with open provocation.

“After all, I was the one who stood beside him first.”

“And I was the woman he promised to make his true mate.”

His true mate.

I had spent three years protecting his territory.

Three years fighting to keep our marriage alive.

Yet to them, I was nothing more than a thief who had taken Selene’s place while she was gone.

I bit down on my lip until I tasted blood.

Then I looked at Damon.

“Are you really staying here?”

He avoided my eyes.

After fastening the final button of his shirt, he turned and helped Selene to her feet.

His touch was gentle, as though he were handling something precious.

“Selene has only just returned. She needs time to adjust.”

“She needs me tonight.”

With one arm around her, he led her past me.

As they passed, I caught the unfamiliar scent of her perfume clinging to his skin.

Their footsteps faded down the corridor.

I remained alone in the empty chamber.

Slowly, I turned toward the window.

Boom.

The opening cannon of the Moon Goddess Festival exploded over the central square.

Cheers and ceremonial horns rose into the night.

The ritual was about to begin.

The pack did not know that their Alpha had abandoned his sacred oath for another woman.

Or that he had just betrayed the person who once saved his life.