Chapter 3

I slammed my apartment door shut, the deadbolt clicking into place. Zoe’s truck was already speeding off down the street.

The mud from the neutral zone was still caked heavily on my combat boots, carrying the pathetic, desperate scent of Kael’s tears. My chest heaved. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.

Seeing him grovel in the dirt wasn't enough. It didn’t fix the crater in my chest. It didn’t bring my brother back.

Because Kael’s betrayal was only half the story. The other half belonged to her.

Selene.

I leaned against the door, closing my eyes. The memory of her sickly sweet vanilla scent invaded my nostrils, choking out the present.

Three years ago.

Everyone in the Bloodmoon Pack thought Selene was a fragile, sweet omega. A delicate flower who needed constant protection. But I knew the snake hiding beneath the petals.

She loved the thrill of the theft. She loved taking what was mine.

I remembered the Packhouse kitchen, just days before my engagement ceremony. Selene had cornered me near the counter, dropping her innocent act the second we were alone. Her eyes glinted with pure, calculated malice.

"Liam is so fiercely protective of you, Elara," she had whispered, her lips curling into a wicked smirk. "He loves me too, you know. If he ever found out about what Kael and I do behind your back... I wonder if he’d do something stupid?"

I had brushed her off as a jealous liar. I was an idiot.

The truth hit me two nights later.

I walked into Kael’s private quarters to surprise him. Instead, the heavy, suffocating stench of sex and claiming hit me like a physical gut punch.

They were in my bed. The bed meant for our engagement night.

Kael was hovering over her, his fangs fully extended. Right before my eyes, he sank his teeth into the crook of her neck. A mating mark.

Selene’s eyes snapped open. She saw me standing in the doorway. She didn't gasp. She didn't push him away. Instead, she locked eyes with me, dug her nails into Kael’s back, and deliberately moaned louder. The sound was a victory cry.

I ran. But Selene wasn't finished. Stealing my mate wasn't enough; she wanted to absolutely destroy my world.

Later that same night, Liam’s comms device buzzed.

Selene had deliberately recorded their vile session. She sent the audio file directly to my brother.

I was in Liam’s room when he played it. The wet, slapping sounds of their bodies filled the silence. Then came Kael’s voice. Lazy. Arrogant. Cruel.

"Elara is too immature," Kael panted on the recording. "She has no idea what a man actually needs. Don't worry, baby. Once I marry her for the Pack’s sake, I’ll still keep you right here. She’s too stupid to ever figure it out."

Liam’s face drained of color. Then, his eyes flashed a violent, glowing gold.

He roared, grabbing the heavy metal comms device and hurling it against the concrete wall. It shattered into fifty pieces.

"Liam, no!" I screamed, lunging to grab his arm.

He shoved past me, snatching his tactical jacket from the chair. His chest heaved with a terrifying, protective fury. "I will never let anyone hurt my sister like this! I'm going to kill him!"

"He’s the Alpha! He'll execute you!" I begged, tears streaming down my face.

Liam didn't listen. He tore the door open and stormed out into the freezing rain.

That was the last time I saw my brother alive. His eyes burning with absolute love for me.

Everything that happened next was a perfectly orchestrated slaughter.

Selene knew Liam was coming for Kael. She panicked. To save her own skin, she feigned a massive panic attack. She screamed through the Pack link that a rogue was trying to break into her window.

She demanded protection. And Kael gave her everything.

He didn't just send a patrol. He pulled every single enforcer. He ordered the border guards to abandon their posts and form a perimeter around Selene’s bedroom. He stripped the Pack’s defense bare.

I saw the security center footage weeks later. It was burned into my brain forever.

While Liam marched toward the border to find Kael, the perimeter alarms began flashing a blinding, urgent red. Five massive rogue wolves had breached the unguarded western flank.

The monitors blared. The distress signals went off.

And Kael? Kael was standing right in front of the control room console. He reached over, slammed his hand on the mute button, and pinned Selene against the desk, kissing her deeply. He literally turned his back on the flashing red lights.

He silenced the network.

Liam hit the western flank just as the rogues poured in. He had no backup. No guards. No Alpha.

My brother fought five fully grown, bloodthirsty rogues alone. For three excruciating hours.

The border cameras captured every brutal, agonizing second. He fought like a demon. He took down two of them. But there were too many. They tore his armor. They shredded his legs.

If Kael had just looked at the screen. If Kael hadn't muted the link. The enforcers were only ten minutes away. Liam could have been saved.

But Kael was busy keeping his whore warm.

The absolute worst part—the memory that woke me up screaming every single night—was the mind-link.

As the largest rogue clamped its jaws around Liam’s throat, my brother didn't curse Kael. He didn't scream in anger. Through the fading, static-filled Pack link, his broken, dying voice echoed in my head.

"Don't hate him, El... maybe... maybe he has his reasons... just live..."

He used his last breath to defend the man who murdered him.

Later that night, the rain washed Liam’s blood over my trembling hands as I held his mutilated body in the mud. I screamed until my vocal cords tore. I screamed until I tasted copper.

I opened my eyes, the memory violently releasing me back into the present.

I was standing in the middle of my apartment. My claws were fully extended, digging so deeply into my palms that dark drops of blood splattered onto the hardwood floor.

I looked up at the wall. Liam’s framed photo smiled back at me.

My chest vibrated with a low, feral growl.

Elder Marcus said the Pack needed its true Luna. Kael said his wolf was dying without me. Selene probably thought she had already won, sitting comfortably in my stolen territory.

I wiped the blood from my hands and walked over to my closet. I dragged out my heavy black duffel bag and threw it onto the bed.

I started tossing in my combat knives. My silver-laced knuckles. My tactical gear.

They wanted me back? Fine.

I would go back to Bloodmoon. I would walk right through their front gates. But I wasn't returning to heal Kael’s broken soul. I wasn't returning to play the forgiving Mate.

I was returning to watch his empire burn.

Since Kael and Selene wanted to play games with lives, I would let them experience exactly what I felt three years ago. I would rip everything they loved to shreds, and I would make them watch.

I zipped the duffel bag shut.

I'm coming home, Alpha.