Chapter 1

Right before our Mate Ceremony, my older sister Selina ran away with her "true love."

Her fated mate, Alpha Dominic of the Shadow Pack, slipped the mating ring onto my finger instead.

After we bonded, this notoriously ruthless Alpha spoiled me endlessly.

Until three years later, Selina returned, claiming she had been struck by an Eclipse Curse.

Everyone pressured me to give Dominic back to her.

Even Dominic frowned and pleaded with me:

"Selina was betrayed by that bastard, and now she has the Eclipse Curse. She's miserable, Elena. I just want to give her a proper Mate Ceremony and be there for the final stretch of her life."

I agreed. I stood by and watched them hold a grand Mate Ceremony, watched them pack for their honeymoon...

Until I found out I was pregnant with his pup, and discovered the mark Dominic gave me was completely fake.

Selina had always been his true fated mate.

When he finally returned from their honeymoon, I didn't scream or make a scene. Because I had already quietly accepted the true mating mark from his bitter rival—Alpha Adrian of the Frostridge Pack.

Ever since I became pregnant, I was exhausted all the time. That afternoon, while resting in the Pack Clinic lounge waiting for my nutrient shots, half-asleep, I heard hushed voices coming from the consultation room next door.

It was Dominic and the old Pack Healer.

"Alpha Dominic, are you sure you want to keep hiding this from her?" the Healer asked anxiously. "That mark was forged using silverleaf sap and a moonlight ritual. It lasts five years at most before it completely fades away. When that happens..."

"Enough," Dominic said, his tone chillingly flat. "Five years is more than enough. Selina will come back, and everything will return to how it was supposed to be."

"But Luna Elena..."

"She is just a temporary placeholder," Dominic cut her off. "When Selina comes back, I'll dissolve our bond and pay Elena a generous settlement. You take this secret to your grave."

Footsteps moved toward the door.

I froze in my chair, the blood in my veins turning to ice.

Silverleaf sap. Moonlight ritual. A fake mark. A placeholder.

Every single word tore through my chest like a silver blade.

For three years, I believed I was his fated mate. I thought the faintness of the mark was just because of my unique biology...

Turns out, from the very beginning, everything was a lie.

My hand instinctively moved to shield my lower belly, where his pup was already growing.

Just yesterday, he had pressed his face against my stomach and whispered, "I hope it's a little she-wolf."

I walked out, hailed a cab, and went straight to his penthouse.

As my finger hovered over the scanner, a pathetic realization hit me.

Three years as his mate, and I didn't even have access to his private sanctuary.

"Luna Elena!" Beta Mark ran up behind me, flustered. "Alpha Dominic is in an important meeting..."

"Scan it," I said, my voice eerily calm. "I'll wait for him upstairs."

Intimidated by my command, Mark scanned his card.

The moment the doors slid open, cold air blasted out, thick with the scent of heavy perfume.

I looked up and instantly caught sight of two tangled silhouettes through the frosted glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

I froze in the doorway.

Selina’s voice drifted out: "Alpha Dominic, having me stay here to suppress the curse... if my sister finds out..."

She coughed softly into her hand, but her eyes flicked toward the door with unmistakable mockery.

"She's been spoiled since she was little. If she finds out you've loved me all these years, I'm afraid she won't be able to handle it."

I took a step back. Dominic had held me in his arms last night, whispering that he loved me...

Then I heard Dominic's tender voice as he cradled her face: "All right, don't worry about her. Did you take your medicine?"

I turned around quietly. Beta Mark rushed over in a panic. "Luna Elena, why are you..."

I ignored him and stepped silently into the elevator.

Back at the manor, I started packing my bags. While clearing out a drawer, my fingers brushed against a hardcover photo album.

I opened the first page, and my breath caught in my throat.

Eighteen-year-old Selina, her white dress catching the wind.

Twenty-year-old Selina, smiling brightly under her graduation cap.

Twenty-five-year-old Selina, standing on a beach, her long hair blowing in the sea breeze.

On the back of the very last photo, a line was scribbled in sharp, familiar handwriting:

*Selina, it's been three years. You're finally back.*

...

Tears ran down my face, and then, suddenly, I laughed out loud.

So throughout these three years, he had been hiding away in corners I never saw, gazing at her photos.

So when Henry, Margaret, and Daniel begged him to marry Selina, the slight tremor in his hands hadn't been indignation on my behalf—it had been pure excitement.

So on the day of their Mate Ceremony, his red, misty eyes as he cupped her face hadn't been grief, but the joy of finally getting what he always wanted.

And I was stupid enough to think he was my savior.

I snapped the album shut and shoved it back where it belonged.

A violent wave of nausea hit my stomach.

I rushed into the bathroom and dry-heaved over the sink. Looking up, the mirror showed my pale, ghostly reflection.

Now I finally understood why the old Pack Healer couldn't look me in the eye the day we supposedly completed our mark.

If you never loved me, why did you mate with me in the first place?