Chapter 1

I ran through the toxic haze. My lungs were on fire. I didn't care.

Six hours ago, my mate's voice had cut through our matebond: "Clara—rogues everywhere, come save me!"

So I came.

Briars tore my skin. Poison seeped into the cuts. I felt each one—and kept running. My legs stopped feeling like mine somewhere back there. I didn't care about that either.

"Luna—" My subordinate's voice cracked through the link. "Get out of there! He was never there."

"He's with Tessa. Watching her try on your wedding dress."

The words stopped me cold.

The ground didn't move with me. Neither did the haze. Just me. Frozen.

"CLARA—RUN!" My wolf's scream ripped through my chest.

I turned.

Too late.

Emerald eyes ignited in the gloom. A blur of fur and fangs erupted from the dark. I threw my arm up—

Teeth sank into my throat!

...

The night stretched into a mindless eternity.

Everything dissolved into a blur of blood, rain, and bone-chilling screams.

By the time the first cold rays of dawn hit my face, I was a broken, blood-stained mess. But I was alive.

And the Clara who loved Xavier was dead.

Bzzz.

My phone vibrated. A text from Thomas, my most loyal sentinel.

"Luna, I'm sorry. Alpha Xavier has been in contact with her the entire time. Last night, he rented out the Peak Penthouse. He's throwing her a welcome-back gala."

Then came the video.

In the clip, Xavier stood before a grand, gilded mirror. He was adjusting a delicate white veil over a woman's soft brown curls.

He was smiling—that same tender, breathless smile he used to give me before we mated.

I checked the timestamp. 9:47 PM.

While the rogues were tearing the meat from my bones, he was playing dress-up with his ex.

My thumb hovered over the screen, a bead of blood from my mangled hand dripping onto the image, staining Tessa's perfect, radiant smile.

It also shattered the lie I'd spent months forcing myself to believe.

Six months ago, Xavier had knelt by my dying father's bedside. He'd sworn on his wolf's life that he would never see her again.

Ended up...a Lie.

Every word out of his mouth had been a calculated lie.

I dialed his number.

It rang for a long, agonizing minute before he finally picked up.

"Clara?" His voice was deep, smooth. In the background, I could hear it—the faint, elegant swell of a violin.

"Where are you?" I asked, my voice a hollow shell.

"I told you," He sighed, that patronizing tone creeping in. "Rogues blocked the pass. I'm at the border cabin."

"Are you hurt?"

"No. Just a weak signal." He paused, his voice dropping into a low, practiced hum of concern. "Why are you still awake? Are you scared of the storm?"

"Come on, Clara. Don't be so dramatic. You're stronger than that."

Stronger?

I looked down at my leg.

The wound still burned. Blood and mud caked the the empty place where the flesh had been.

"Does the cabin have a live orchestra, Xavier?" I whispered.

The line went dead silent.

"The cabin owner has an old record player," He chuckled, mocking. "Are you really calling to micromanage me, Clara? I've had a long day and I'm not doing this with you."

The classic move. Make me out to be the crazy one. The paranoid mate. Anything to escape accountability.

"I'm not fighting, Xavier."

"Then be a good girl and go to sleep," he said, his voice softening again, though the edge remained. "I'll bring you those lemon scones from Magnolia's tomorrow. Your favorite."

Magnolia's lemon scones.

They were Tessa's absolute favorite.

I was highly allergic to them. He hadn't just forgotten—he had never cared enough to remember.

"Okay," I said.

It wasn't compromise. It was giving up.

"Love you. Sleep tight."

The line went dead.

I stared at the black screen until a notification popped up. It was a new post from Tessa's private account.

A close-up of Xavier's hand—unmistakable with his heavy, obsidian Alpha ring—tracing the curve of her collarbone.

Her caption: He promised that no matter who he married, I would always be his first priority.