Chapter 1

The day my mother became critically ill, my Alpha husband, Ronan Blackthorn, refused to lend me even a single dollar.

He said coldly, “The pack already has enough projects draining its funds. Try the black-market lenders. Figure it out yourself.”

Then he lifted the phone back to his ear. His voice softened immediately.

“The five million in seed money is already in your account. Consider it a trial run. If you lose it, you lose it.”

On the other end of the call was Selene Vale, a young Omega who had recently joined his investment firm.

I gripped the medical bill so tightly that my nails dug into my palm.

I didn’t cry. I didn’t argue. And I didn’t beg him again.

He nodded in satisfaction. “You’re my Luna. You should know how to control your emotions. Stop acting like a helpless pup and expecting everyone else to clean up after you.”

I gave a quiet hum and said nothing.Maybe it was time to end our mate bond.

He still did not know that I was carrying his pup.

By the time we finally severed our mate bond, the once-untouchable Alpha was on his knees before me, his eyes red as he begged, “Evelyn, please don’t do this. My wolf is going feral without you.”

...

It was nearly one in the morning when Ronan returned to the estate.

I sat in the living room with the medical center’s invoice and my mother’s critical-condition notice spread out before me.

Beside them lay the petition to dissolve our mate bond, already bearing my signature.

He frowned when he saw me. “Why are you still awake?”

His calm expression dragged me back to that afternoon, when I had begged him to save my mother. He had refused to pay for the treatment that could keep her alive, then turned around and wired Selene five million dollars.

I had thought I was already numb.

But seeing him come home as though nothing had happened still sent a silver needle straight through my chest.

Ronan’s gaze fell on the table.

“What is all this?”

“A petition to dissolve our mate bond.”

He stopped moving.

A few seconds later, he looked as though he had heard an absurd joke.

“Evelyn, What are you pulling this time?”

I pushed the papers toward him. “I’ve already signed them.”

He did not pick them up. He merely stared down at the words as his expression slowly hardened.

Alpha authority edged his voice. “Because I refused to lend you money?”

“No.” My voice was quiet. “Because today I finally realized that it isn’t that you have no money or that you refuse to help people. You simply refuse to help me.”

Ronan’s face darkened. “I reviewed Selene’s proposal. It is a pack investment, not a personal favor. If it succeeds, it will generate substantial returns for the pack.”

I looked at him. “The money came from your private account. You personally guaranteed it, and you agreed to absorb every loss. You call that a pack investment?”

Six years ago, the first time Ronan caught my scent, his wolf had roared one word inside him: Mate.

I was the fated mate chosen for him by the Moon Goddess.

We had once believed the bond between fated mates was strong enough to withstand any betrayal.

Only later did I understand that the Moon Goddess could arrange for two wolves to meet, but she could not force either of them to cherish what fate had given them.

Now he had almost no patience left for me. “You went through my things?”

I gave a faint laugh.

His first instinct was not to explain. It was to blame me for discovering the truth.

Ronan set his glass down hard on the table.

“Evelyn, you’re emotional right now. I’m not discussing this with you.”

“I understand that you’re under pressure because of your mother, but you don’t get to take your anger out on me.”

I looked at him. “She is your family too.”

Ronan looked away.

“I never said I would do nothing.”

“I simply don’t believe we should keep pouring money into a treatment plan with no foreseeable result.”

As though realizing how cruel that sounded, he added,

“I can help you contact better werewolf physicians and ask around for healing resources.”

“But you will have to find the money yourself.”

Ronan had not become the youngest Alpha in Nightfall Pack history because he was merciful.

No matter who stood before him, he judged only results and value. Every decision was as precise as a business transaction. The pack praised him for his rationality.

But he had not always treated me this way.

Once, he had listened patiently to every word I said.

If I so much as frowned, he would immediately ask what was wrong.

I had believed I was the one exception to all his rules.

Now even my mother’s life had become, in his words, a loss “not worth further investment.”

I forced down the nausea twisting in my stomach, rose, and slipped the petition into its folder.

“Be at the council hall at ten tomorrow morning. We’ll begin the bond-dissolution process.”

Ronan stared at me for a long moment, clearly taking none of it seriously.

“Evelyn, once you leave me, how will you pay for your mother’s treatment?”

My fingers clenched the instant the words left his mouth.

He knew exactly what terrified me most.

He also knew exactly what I needed.

So he was using it to force me to bow my head.

I met his gaze. “I’ll find a way.”

My answer seemed to offend him. His face grew colder.

“Then you had better not come crawling back to me.”

I knew he thought I was bluffing again.

During past arguments, I had threatened to leave many times, but our mate bond had never truly been severed.

This time was different.

I turned and walked back to the bedroom.

Before closing the door, I heard him answer a call in the living room.

As if afraid I might overhear, he lowered his voice, but he could not hide the tenderness in it. “Selene, I reviewed the materials.”

“Don’t be nervous. I’ll attend tomorrow’s pack pitch with you.”

I closed the door and slowly sank against it.

A dull ache pulsed low in my abdomen.

I had been so consumed by my mother’s condition that I had not gone back for my follow-up appointment.

A reminder from the medical center still waited on my communicator:

[Ms. Evelyn Hart, you are seven weeks pregnant with a pup. Please attend your scheduled fetal-vitality examination.]

I stared at the message for a long time before silently darkening the screen.