Chapter 4

Over the next week, I turned a blind eye as Lydia and Ethan flaunted their affection openly.

On the surface, I became the picture of the obedient, submissive Luna. I was unfailingly polite to Ethan and overly accommodating to Lydia.

I even acted small and meek around her.

Ethan saw everything. Gradually, guilt began eating away at him. The way he looked at me softened.

Sometimes, he even ignored Lydia's demands just to appease me.

Realizing that my docility was getting under her skin, Lydia tried to play the victim harder.

Her favorite trick was framing me for petty accidents.

Unfortunately for her, having lived through this once, I knew all her dirty games.

When she tried to stage a tumble down the stairs and blame me, I threw myself backward instead.

She landed with a bruise. I landed in a pool of my own blood.

When Ethan found me drenched in blood, what could he possibly say?

He scooped me up and rushed me to the Healer's clinic himself. Every time, Lydia was left behind, stomping her feet in fury.

Taking advantage of being alone with Ethan in the recovery room, I positioned my loyal warriors outside the door, letting them report Lydia's arrogant taunts directly to him.

Then, I weakly gripped his hand, tears pooling in my eyes. "Honey, I know Lydia only acts out because Sam died. I don't blame her. Please don't be hard on her. She's suffered so much."

"Tina and I are fine. We will help her heal."

My broken, selfless act completely reeled Ethan's wandering heart back toward me.

The night I was discharged from the clinic, he pulled me toward the bed, his breath hot with sudden desire.

Panic flared in my chest. I quickly knocked a vase off the nightstand, shattering it loudly.

Right on cue, within three seconds, Lydia burst into the room.

"Ethan! My chest hurts so bad... Can you take me to the clinic?"

"Have the guards take you!"

Furious that his intimate moment had been interrupted, Ethan snapped at her, his face dark with irritation.

Lydia looked like she had been slapped.

Playing the saintly Luna, I gently touched Ethan's arm. "It's alright. Go with Ms. Hayes. If Sam is watching from the heavens and sees us neglecting her, he'll be heartbroken."

The mention of Sam struck a nerve. Reluctantly, Ethan pulled away from me and got out of bed.

A minute later, the two of them hurried out of the estate.

Standing on the balcony, I watched their car disappear into the dark before heading straight into Tina's room.

My daughter was already dressed, a tiny backpack sitting beside her. A bright smile lit up her face. "Mom, is it time?"

I nodded.

After two weeks of humiliation, our time had finally come.

Nobody knew how agonizing it had been to endure Lydia's smug taunts and the pack's pitying glances.

Now, it was time for them to pay the price.

The night before our departure, I stood alone in the moonlit courtyard.

Silver light washed over my skin. Suddenly, something inside me stirred.

It felt like an ancient, slumbering power waking up beneath the call of the moon.

Instinctively, I raised my right hand and spread my fingers wide.

Before my eyes, my hand began to shift.

My nails lengthened into razor-sharp black talons. The bones in my knuckles thickened, and sleek, silver-gray fur rippled across the back of my hand.

I gasped.

This wasn't a standard wolf shift, nor was it a human form. It was a legendary intermediate state—a partial shift.

I clenched my fist, feeling a terrifying surge of raw power coursing through my veins.

I tried to push the transformation further, but like a groggy beast, it retreated back beneath my skin after a brief stretch.

I tried a few more times, but couldn't trigger it again.

Still, I wasn't discouraged.

I knew it was there. That was enough.

The next morning, Tina and I slipped toward the pack border. My father was already waiting in a hidden vehicle.

Right before we crossed, a mind-link pinged from Ethan: "Honey, Lydia's condition is complicated. Go to sleep without me."

Hearing his voice in my head, I smiled coldly.

What an actor.

He had no idea that Lydia had just sent me a smug text: [Your Alpha belongs to me tonight.]

I didn't reply to either of them. Instead, I sent out a pre-scheduled pack-wide broadcast.

Once the command was transmitted, my boots crossed the Ridge Pack border line.

The heavy weight on my chest vanished instantly.

At the exact same moment, Ethan, who was sitting by Lydia's hospital bed, received an urgent mind-link from his Beta.

"This better be important," Ethan growled.

"Alpha Brooks! You need to get to the Great Hall right now!"

Annoyed, Ethan rushed back to pack headquarters.

The second he stepped through the doors, his face drained of all color. "No... This is impossible!"