Chapter 1
1542 Words
My Alpha promised my luna title to his pregnant mistress.
Seven years as Alpha Rowan's Luna. Seven years of loyalty, blood, and devotion. And he repaid me by parading her through our pack like she already wore my mark. He thinks I don't know about the betrayal. He thinks I have thirty days to come crawling back.
He has no idea what I know.
I filed the Bond Severance Request. The clock is ticking. I didn’t spend thirty days crying into my pillow—I spent them making sure he'd have nothing left to grieve. Preparing to burn his perfect world straight to the ground: his title, his pride, and the family he chose over me.
Then came the stranger.
Midnight. A deserted street. One look from silver eyes, and every wolf around us scattered. The Alpha aura so potent, even Rowan would have felt small. I didn’t know his name when he wrapped his jacket around me. I didn’t know he was the Alpha King.
And I didn’t know he was my fated mate.
The next morning, Rowan smelled another Alpha on me and lost his mind, suddenly furious that I’d been touched. But he has no right to my body, my heart, or my grief. Not anymore.
While Rowan chose her, I chose power.
Thirty days. One fated bond. Zero mercy.
****
Vicky~
“You're finally willing to surrender the Luna title?”
The former Luna’s voice echoed through the mindlink, dripping with amusement. I stood alone in the den as I bit my lip.
"Yes," I replied, my voice steady.
A heavy silence stretched across the link. For seven years, Alpha Rowan Blackthorne's mother had wanted me gone. Now that she was getting her wish, she sounded genuinely shocked.
"You chased my son for seven years," she murmured, the amusement fading into suspicion. "You fought every she-wolf who dared challenge you for his side. Yet you're just. giving up?"
I lowered my eyes to the thick, ceremonial parchment in my hands. Three words were stamped in elegant, brutal ink across the top: Bond Severance Request.
The High Wolf Council could dissolve a fated Mate Bond, but the ritual required thirty days concluding with an official decree during the upcoming Blood Moon Council. It was the exact amount of time left in my marriage.
"I have one condition," I said, staring out at the valley.
"Name it."
"When Rowan names his new Luna, I want ten million dollars”
A bitter, mocking laugh traveled through the link. “ No land?"
"No."
Fine. But I need thirty days to arrange everything. Once it's done, you're out of his life. Permanently!”
I let out a breath I felt like I’d been holding for years. Three years ago, I had crossed half the continent to stand beside Rowan when he inherited Silver Ridge to be his Luna.
To the world, we were the blueprint of a perfect union… the legendary Alpha and his fiercely devoted Luna.
But a perfect image is easily shattered.
Leaving the ridge, I retreated to my private quarters inside the packhouse, placed the signed severance document inside a wooden chest, locked it, and pushed it to the very back of a dark cabinet.
Taking a deep breath, I opened a different mindlink.
Me: Elder Cassandra, I'm ready. I will return to Moonfang Territory after the Blood Moon.
The response from my old mentor was instantaneous.
Elder Cassandra: Finally remembered you're the most powerful Runebinder I ever trained? Good. Stop wasting your divine gifts on an Alpha who doesn't deserve them. Come home.
A sad smile touched my lips. I closed the link, realizing with a pang of relief that it wasn't too late to reclaim my own life.
Later that evening, I was in the kitchen when a heavy, unfamiliar scent flooded my senses. It was a thick, feminine perfume overlying a trace of ozone. Only then did I realize that Rowan was back.
My stomach twisted into a tight knot. Seconds later, a pair of powerful arms wrapped around my waist from behind, and a warm press of lips landed on my shoulder.
“You're still awake,” Rowan murmured, his deep voice vibrating against my back. It was the exact voice that used to make my heart race. Now, it just made me numb.
“You're late,” I said softly, forcing a fragile smile as I turned in his arms.
“The council meetings ran long, darling. Alpha duties,” he sighed smoothly.
I kept my smile fixed, though a bitter mockery screamed inside my head. The scent on his collar told a completely different story.
A month ago, I overheard the omegas whispering in the laundry room. Spurred by a sickening gut feeling, I had followed a faint scent trail to an abandoned border lodge.
There, beneath the glowing sky, I had watched my husband leave the cabin with another she-wolf. Before I could even process the sight, he had pulled her into his arms, kissing her beneath the moonlight while whispering a silent promise to make her his true Luna because she was already pregnant for him.
I had cried all my tears that night. But out of the heartbreak, a cold clarity had formed. If he wanted to be rid of me so badly, I would give him exactly what he wished for.
"What's that?" Rowan’s voice jolted me back to the present. He was looking at a beautifully lacquered wooden box sitting on the counter.
"A gift," I replied.
A boyish grin immediately broke across his handsome face. "What did I do to deserve a gift?"
I choked back a hollow laugh, a sudden flare of anger burning in my throat. "It's a very special gift. But you can't open it until the Blood Moon ceremony."
Rowan’s brows furrowed in slight confusion. "That exclusive?"
"Very."
If he knew the box contained the official dissolution papers that would strip him of his mate bond, he wouldn't be smiling.
But he suspected nothing. Turning around, he began plating the dinner he had brought in, glancing at me with the warm, attentive eyes that had fooled the entire pack.
“You've lost weight,” he noted, his forehead creasing with worry. “Don't tell me you're skipping meals again?”
It was funny how a wolf could completely destroy your soul and still worry about whether you'd eaten dinner.
"Rowan," I said quietly.
"Hm?"
"Do you love me?"
He froze. For a fraction of a second, a flicker of sheer panic crossed his features before it was quickly masked by his usual charm. He pulled me onto his lap, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
"You are my mate, Vicky. My Luna. My entire future," he whispered against my ear.
Once, those words would have been my anchor. Tonight, they were just poison.
Before I could answer, the crystal embedded in his pack-link gauntlet glowed bright white. As he tilted his wrist, the caller's ID flashed clearly across the surface: Selena.
I watched his jaw tighten instantly.
“I. I have to go,” Rowan said, clearing his throat as he pushed himself up. “An urgent pack matter just came up at the border, and…”
“Go,” I interrupted, offering him a serene smile. Part of me… the foolish, dying part had hoped he would finally tell the truth. But he just gave me a hurried peck on the cheek and rushed out into the night.
Two hours later, I stood in the shadows staring out at the Moon Lake.
It turned out that I had followed his scent trail, and the sight before me was exactly what I expected.
Selena was tangled in Rowan's arms, her face buried in his neck. He was stroking her hair with a gentle touch… softness he had never shown me, no matter how hard I had tried to earn it.
“I hate hiding,” Selena pouted, her hands sliding up his chest.
“I want to be with you openly. I want to be your Luna.”
“I know, sweet girl,” Rowan murmured, catching her hands. “But you can't just mindlink me whenever you want. My mate is still at the packhouse.”
“You don't even love her,” Selena countered softly, sliding her arms around his neck.
Rowan didn't deny it. Instead, he leaned down and began to unbutton her coat, his voice thick with desire. “God, I’ve missed you.”
My chest thumped at the sight because the only time Rowan had ever undressed me with that kind of desperate hunger was on our wedding night. Every promise, every vow from that night had been a lie.
Turning on my heel, I sprinted away from the lake. I ran until my lungs burned, throwing open the doors to my quarters.
Before I could realize what I was doing, I stormed over to the wall calendar, picked up a heavy black marker, and violently crossed out today's date.
Thirty days until I ceased to be the Luna of Silver Ridge.
Thirty days until I was free and Alpha Rowan Blackthorne would understand that tearing a fated mate bond apart hurts more than finding a replacement.
- Writer
