Chapter 1

I pushed open the carved stone door to Alpha Axton’s study, planning to surprise him with a warm midday feast. What I found instead knocked the breath from my chest.

My mate—my legally bonded Alpha—had Vanya Redmist pinned against his obsidian desk, their mouths fused together, his claws tangled in her midnight hair. Scrolls and territorial maps littered the ground like fallen leaves.

They sprang apart at the echo of my boots across the granite floor. Vanya swiped her mouth with the back of her hand, tugging her tunic back into place, never once meeting my eyes.

“Isolde—” Axton moved toward me, his Alpha mark glowing faintly at his throat, his mantle of authority crooked. “This isn’t what it looks like—”

I lifted a hand. My Moonbond ring shimmered under the lanternlight, mocking me. “Don’t talk.”

“Please, love. Just let me speak—”

“We’ve been together for five years,” I said, my voice far steadier than the storm inside me. “Five years of a sacred matebond, and this is what it meant to you?”

Vanya clutched her tablet of runes and headed toward the exit. “I should leave.”

“No,” I snapped, the word cracking like a command-sigil. “It seems this den suits you better than it ever suited me.”

Axton shoved a hand through his disheveled hair. “That isn’t right. You’re my bonded mate—”

“Your mate?” A bitter laugh spilled out of me. “Is that what you call this? Because from here I stand, I look like a deluded she-wolf.”

“It was one lapse. One weak moment—”

“Spare me.” The food basket slipped from my numb fingers. “I don’t want your explanations. I don’t want anything from you.”

The life I’d built in this kingdom—far from the shadows of my bloodline—fell apart in a breath. Every vow, every shared dawn, every whispered promise in the moonlight—lies.

“Isolde, don’t walk out like this—”

“How should I walk out, Axton? With your command? Your blessing?” I slid the Moonbond ring off my claw-marked finger, the metal still warm.

“Here. Offer it to someone who still buys your fantasies.”

——

The ring struck his desk with a sharp clang, echoing through the chamber. Axton looked at the ring, the panic on his face hardening into something colder, sharper. The charming façade I once fell for peeled away like rotted bark.

“Do you know, Isolde?” He straightened his mantle and smoothed his tunic. “Maybe this is overdue.”

My heart seized. “Huh?”

“Let’s stop pretending, Isolde.” He leaned against the desk with crossed arms. “I sought you out for a reason. An heiress of the Rustpire Pack? Who wouldn’t chase that prize? And you practically handed yourself over—eager to flee your pack’s ancient wealth and their expectations.”

Each word sliced like a blade dipped in frost. The room spun as five years of memories cracked apart, replaced by calculation.

“You abandoned everything to run away with me. How poetic.” His smirk deepened. “But now? I’m the Alpha of my own kingdom. I have choices.”

His gaze drifted to Vanya, who stood taller, a sly smile curling her lips. “Better choices.”

I gripped the doorframe, grounding myself. “You bonded with me for the Rustpire inheritance?”

“Your pack’s fortune was… enticing. Even if you pretend it doesn’t matter.”

He scoffed. “Trying to live like a common pack wolf. What a waste.”

A twisted laugh burned my throat. He had no clue what being a Rustpire truly meant.

Not the wealth.

The power.

The ancient moon-magic that ran through our blood like molten silver.

“There’s nothing I never gave you,” I whispered.

“No.” His eyes turned glacial. “You trapped me in a dull life, a tiny den, pretending you're normal. Vanya, at least, embraces ambition and understands pack politics.”

“We faced everything together.” My voice cracked. “Five years. A life was built side by side. The pup—”

The memory of that freezing healer’s chamber cut through me. The decision Axton insisted was “for the pack.” The sterile stone. The way he held my hand as we severed the life growing inside me.

Axton’s laugh tore through the room like shattered bone.

“The pup? That was just strategy.”

He leaned back, loosening his mantle. “A child might’ve softened your pack. Might’ve opened their vaults. But when your elders didn’t budge—” He shrugged nonchalantly. “Why keep it, then?”

My knees nearly gave out. I dug my nails deeper into the stone frame.

“And besides—” He shot Vanya a wicked smirk. “That was the night I met this spark. Remember that tavern near the healer’s hall?”

Vanya’s red-painted lips curved. “Oh, very clearly.”

“While you were unconscious from the procedure,” Axton continued, “Vanya and I had… quite the celebration in my inn chamber. Didn’t we?”

The world tilted. That night—while I lay drugged and grieving over our pup—

“You bedded your assistant?” The words stung my tongue. “On the same day I—”

“Best night I’ve had.” He winked at Vanya. “No offense, mate. Some she-wolves actually know what an Alpha needs.”

Tears pricked my eyes—I wiped them away, refusing to let them see the fracture. The Rustpire in me stirred—a power I’d buried these past five years.

“I want a dissolution of our bond.” My voice was steel. “Tomorrow.”

Axton barked a laugh, smug and loud. “Tomorrow? Even for you, that’s bold.”

“I have connections. It can be done as soon as possible.” I lifted my chin. “And rest easy—I won’t demand a single lunar coin.”

“No compensation?” His brows rose. “Interesting. I expected a fight.”

“I don’t need the scraps of an unfaithful Alpha.” My lip curled. “Keep your hoard. You’ll need it to maintain your new pet.”

Vanya’s cheeks flushed. “Careful how you talk—”

“Or what?” I snapped. “You’ll bed my mate? Ah—already checked that box.”

Axton strode around the desk, settling into his high-backed Alpha chair. “Perfect. This simplifies everything.”

He tugged Vanya closer, their fingers intertwining. “We can begin shaping our future, right, love?”

“Absolutely.” Vanya’s grin flashed fang. “I’ve always wanted a high-ranking post.”

“And you’ll have it.” Axton stroked her wrist. “Along with everything Isolde never appreciated.”

I watched them—two vipers coiled around each other, convinced they’d claimed victory. How tragically mistaken they were.