Chapter 3

The parchment caught my eye before I even realized what I was reading.

“Alpha Damon Whitecastle and Selene Ravenwood Seen Together at the Moonstone Auction—Their Bond Still Burns After All These Years.”

My heart seemed to stop as I stared at the words, a sharp ache spreading through my chest.

There they were—Damon and Selene, dressed in fine pack attire, standing close enough to make their familiarity impossible to mistake. Selene’s fingers rested lightly against his arm, while Damon gazed at her with a warmth I had not seen directed toward me in years. They looked like a mated pair whose bond had never weakened, the kind of couple other wolves would envy.

And he had told me he was away on a business journey.

This was not business.

The Moonstone Auction was an exclusive gathering attended by influential Alphas and their families. Damon had not gone there to negotiate pack affairs.

He had taken Selene there.

It was a date.

My fingers tightened around the parchment as I continued reading. The article went on about their undeniable chemistry and the affection they supposedly still shared after all these years. Every word made my stomach twist, because I knew that what the writer called lingering affection was something far more intimate.

I let the parchment fall onto the table and closed my eyes as tears blurred my vision. The betrayal I had tried to convince myself could not possibly be true was now impossible to deny. I had heard Damon's words with my own ears, and now I had seen the truth with my own eyes.

Yet as the pain threatened to consume me, my hand instinctively moved to my stomach.

My baby.

I took a slow breath and rested my palm over the small life growing within me. My child was innocent of every betrayal Damon had committed, and I would not allow the ugliness of his choices to poison the precious gift the Moon Goddess had placed in my life.

Whatever happened between Damon and me, this child would always be loved.

I had to remain strong, not because I was no longer hurting, but because I now had someone else to protect.

That was why I went to the pack healer that afternoon.

The familiar scent of herbs and moonflower filled the healing chamber. The healer placed her palm over my abdomen and murmured an ancient prayer before moving a polished moonstone across my skin. A soft silver glow spread beneath the stone, and moments later, the faint rhythm of my pup’s heartbeat filled the chamber.

“Everything is well,” the healer said warmly. “The pup is healthy and growing exactly as it should.”

Tears filled my eyes, but this time they were not tears of grief.

Relief washed through me, easing something inside my chest that had been aching for days.

For the first time in weeks, I felt something other than pain.

I felt hope.

When I left the healer’s chamber, I knew what I needed to do.

I went to Whitecastle territory, to the great stone hall where Damon conducted the pack’s affairs. For years, the place had felt like another home to me, but that day, as I passed beneath its towering entrance, I felt like a stranger trespassing on land that had never truly belonged to me.

The guards lowered their heads respectfully when they saw me, while the servants stepped aside as I entered. I held the parchment containing my resignation tightly in my hand before approaching one of the attendants.

“Is Alpha Whitecastle in his study?”

“Yes, Luna,” she replied, though her expression immediately became uneasy. “But you cannot enter at the moment.”

I frowned.

“And why is that?”

“Alpha Whitecastle has an important visitor and ordered that he not be disturbed.”

My chest tightened.

“An important visitor? Who?”

The young female immediately lowered her gaze.

“I am sorry, Luna. I was ordered not to say.”

I stared at her for a moment, anger slowly replacing my shock.

Damon had not even told me he had returned from his supposed business journey.

“I am his mate,” I reminded her firmly. “Surely I do not need permission to see my own husband.”

She swallowed nervously.

“I am sorry, Luna, but Alpha Whitecastle gave strict orders.”

I clenched my jaw before forcing myself to nod.

“Very well.”

I turned away as though I intended to leave, but instead of walking out, I waited until the attendant disappeared around the corner before making my way toward Damon’s study.

The door was slightly open.

I stopped outside it, my heart beginning to pound.

Some part of me already knew what I would find inside. Another part begged me to turn around before I witnessed something that could never be unseen.

But I had spent enough of my life believing lies.

I pushed the door open just enough to look inside.

The sight before me stole the breath from my lungs.

Damon stood beside his desk with Selene in his arms.

She was pressed against his chest, her face tilted toward his, and there was a tenderness in his expression that I had once foolishly believed belonged to me.

Then his lips met hers.

I stood frozen in the doorway as they kissed, completely unaware that I was watching them.

His hand rested possessively against her waist while Selene’s fingers curled against his chest. The intimacy between them made it painfully clear that this was not the first time they had crossed that boundary.

For a moment, I wanted to rush inside and demand an explanation. I wanted to scream at Damon for every lie he had told me and ask Selene how she could stand in my husband’s arms without shame.

Then I remembered my pup.

I remembered my mother’s death.

And I remembered the promise I had made to myself.

I would not give them the satisfaction of seeing me break.

Instead, I quietly stepped back and reached into my satchel for the enchanted memory stone I carried with me. With a whispered spell, I captured the scene within its surface, preserving the image of Damon kissing Selene exactly as I had witnessed it.

I had my proof.

That was all I needed.

I returned to the table where I had left my resignation parchment and placed it where Damon would certainly find it. Then I turned and walked away without making a sound.

Once I reached the courtyard, I mounted my horse and rode home.

There, I gathered every gift Damon had given me during our five years together. The jewelry, gowns, ornaments, and keepsakes I had once treasured because I believed each carried a piece of his love now meant nothing to me.

I carried the boxes outside and built a fire beneath the open night sky, feeding the flames with everything he had given me.

The fire had barely begun consuming the first box when I heard footsteps behind me.

I turned.

Selene stood several paces away.

Before I could ask how she had entered the estate, she stepped forward and kicked one of the burning boxes.

The force scattered its contents across the ground, sending photographs and half-burned keepsakes into the flames. Glowing embers drifted through the air and landed against her cheek, yet she merely smiled as though she had done nothing wrong.

I stared at her in disbelief.

“Selene, what are you doing?”

She widened her eyes and offered an innocent expression that did not reach her smile.

“Oh, forgive me. I must have slipped. I certainly did not mean to do that.”

Her gaze dropped toward the burning photographs.

“Wait,” she said sweetly. “Are those pictures of you and Damon? Why are you burning them? Have you finally realized how little you mean to him?”

My brow lifted.

“What did you just say?”

Selene’s smile deepened.

“I was only wondering whether you finally understood your place. You could not even protect your own mother when she was dying, after all.”

My entire body went rigid.

She stepped closer, her eyes gleaming with cruel satisfaction.

“You were so useless back then,” she continued. “Your mother died, and there was nothing you could do to save her. Perhaps that is simply what happens when a weak female tries to hold on to things that were never meant to belong to her.”

Something inside me snapped.

Before I had time to think, my hand moved.

The slap echoed across the courtyard.

It was not hard enough to send a trained wolf flying, but Selene staggered backward with a startled gasp. Her heel caught on the edge of the burning box behind her, and she lost her balance.

Her body fell directly into the flames.

My eyes widened in horror as the fire surged around her.