Chapter 1

After my daughter died, I finally became exactly what Alpha James Sterling wanted me to be.

He kissed his human adoptive sister. I acted like I didn't see a thing.

He slept with her. I was even willing to buy them condoms.

Everyone in the pack praised me for being mature and generous. James finally let his guard down around me.

But I used that exact moment to escape, fleeing to the Forbidden Zone for five whole years.

Five years later, I returned. James knelt in the freezing snow, begging for my forgiveness.

I only gently wrapped my arm around the man beside me and smiled.

"Alpha James, long time no see. Meet my true mate, Alpha King Zane."

Elena POV

After my daughter died, I finally became exactly what James wanted me to be.

He stayed out partying with his friends until midnight. I stopped asking when he would be back, and I stopped caring who he was with.

When he got drunk and mumbled "Clara" in his sleep, I didn't throw a tantrum anymore.

Even when I was ambushed and severely injured outside, I dragged my bleeding body back to the packhouse alone, quiet as a ghost, and patched myself up.

Gamma Frank looked at my wounds, his eyes filled with worry.

"Luna Elena, should I call Alpha James?"

James?

I let out a soft laugh. It was self-deprecating, but mostly, it was the sweet taste of letting go.

"No need," I whispered. "We aren't close."

Frank opened his mouth to protest, but eventually closed it. As my second-in-command, he knew exactly what had happened in this pack. He knew the hell I had been through.

Once he left, the bedroom fell back into a suffocating silence.

I closed my eyes. My daughter's sweet, smiling face flashed across my mind. I could still hear her tiny voice calling me "Mommy."

But right after that came James's cold, heartless face.

"Elena, Anna needs the antidote. Only Clara has the cure. But she has one condition."

"She wants you to leave."

"Your departure in exchange for Anna's life. It's a fair trade, isn't it?"

Fair? What a joke!

When had James ever been fair to me?

Only after I married him did I find out that his heart belonged to Clara, the fragile, helpless human girl his parents had adopted.

I had been naive enough to believe that since we were fated mates, my love would eventually be enough to win him over.

But five years of marriage only brought me to a point where he forced me to choose between my daughter's life and my marriage.

If he hated me so much, why did he accept me in the first place?

In the end, I agreed to leave. I gave up my title as Luna just so he would save our daughter.

But he lied to me.

At the very last minute, Clara smiled and claimed she actually didn't have the cure.

And James? He just patted my shoulder and said indifferently, "Clara is just a human. How could she get her hands on Wolfbane? We'll find another way."

Another way?

The poison in Anna's tiny veins was spreading every second. There was no time.

Two weeks ago, Anna took her last breath in my arms.

At that exact moment, my heart died with her.

"Luna, the Alpha is here," Frank's voice called gently from the door.

I opened my eyes and, right on cue, James was standing at the doorway.

He was still painfully handsome. His black wool coat made him look tall and imposing, but there was a dark, irritable shadow lingering between his eyes.

The silver glow in his eyes faded as he walked over to my bed. He looked down at me, his tone laced with his usual accusation.

"Why didn't you tell me you were hurt? If the pack warriors hadn't informed me, how long were you planning to hide this?"

I stared back at him.

I knew he was only here because his wolf demanded it.

If this were the past, I would have been thrilled by his concern. But now, even my inner wolf remained dead silent.

"Alpha James is a busy man. I didn't want to bother you with such trivial matters." I paused, adding coldly, "Besides, we are over. I won't be your Luna for much longer."

I emphasized the title "Alpha James" to draw a clear line between us.

I knew he hated this version of me.

In his memory, I was always the girl who blushed at his slightest touch, who waited up all night with a warm plate of food, and who cried under the blanket whenever Clara made an intimate phone call to him.

Back then, he found me annoying. He said I was too dramatic, too clingy to be a proper Luna.

But now, I was exactly what he wanted. I didn't care about his life, and I didn't need him when I was sick. Yet, he looked furious.

"I haven't accepted your rejection yet! We are still mates! Even if we end things, I am still Anna's father!" James growled, desperately trying to use our dead daughter to hold onto the last thread of our connection.

At the mention of Anna, my body stiffened, but I quickly forced myself to calm down.

"Anna doesn't need a father anymore." I lowered my gaze to hide the raw grief in my eyes. "James, the moment you chose Clara over Anna, you lost the right to be her father."

"You!" James's face turned pale. He wanted to snap back, but no words came out.

Just then, his phone buzzed. It was his custom ringtone for Clara.

He instinctively glanced at me. I had already turned my face to the window, ignoring him completely.

James answered the phone, his voice instantly softening. "Clara? What's wrong?"

Clara's weak, sobbing voice echoed through the quiet room. "My chest hurts so much. James, I'm scared. Can you come over?"

James frowned. "I'll be right there."

He hung up, swallowed hard, and looked at me as if he wanted to explain.

I spoke first. "Go. I have plenty of people to look after me."

He couldn't say a word.

The moment the door slammed shut, a single tear finally escaped my eye.

It wasn't for him. It was for the foolish girl who had loved him so blindly, and for the sweet little daughter who never got the chance to grow up.

I reached under my pillow, pulled out my phone, and dialed a number.

"Professor Charles, I accept the Royal Council's assignment. I'll go to the Forbidden Zone for the Wolfbane research project."