Chapter 1

“I promise you, once I’ve dealt with all of this, I’ll come back and take over as Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack.”

I said it into the phone, then ended the call without hesitation.

Inside me, my wolf whimpered, the sound crushed tight in my throat. I knew I was at my limit.

I stared at the House I’d lived in for nine years, and let out a bitter smile.

Nine years of expectation, nine years of compromise and giving. In the end, it was all just a fake dream.

Lost in thought, I brushed against the shelf by accident. The framed photo tipped over and hit the floor.

It was a picture of Ann’s biological mother and my husband, Eric.

Today was Ann’s birthday banquet, hosted by the Silver Claw Pack.

Ann was nine years old. In front of a room full of Alphas and elders, she shoved me hard.

I wasn’t prepared. She might have been a pup, but she was strong. I stumbled backward, crashed into the table, and knocked over several glasses of red wine.

The liquid spilled down my shoulder and slid into my chest. It was cold, like ice sinking into my bones.

She looked at me, awkward, drenched, humiliated, and smiled, pleased with herself. “What right do you have to break things in this House?”

She didn’t allow the Omegas nearby to help me up. Instead, she picked up the photo frame and held it out toward me. “It was your cruelty that killed my mother,” she said coldly. “Everything that’s happening to you now is what you deserve.”

I was wearing heels. The fall had twisted my ankle badly. There was no way I could stand up on my own.

Only then did the elder Luna finally notice my situation and hurry over. She snapped at the Omegas beside her. “How could you listen to a pup? Ashley is the Luna of this Pack.”

But that was as far as it went. She was only scolding the innocent Omega.

Turning to me, she wore a gentle, charitable smile but her tone was distant, detached, exactly like Eric’s.

“Ashley, you know Ann is just used to Eric loving only her mother.”

When I stood there in silence, too stunned to respond, the elder Luna lost her patience. “As the Pack’s Luna, looking like this is a disgrace to the Silver Claw Pack.”

I took a deep breath and forced myself upstairs, biting back the sharp pain in my ankle.

The woman in that photo frame wasn’t just Ann’s mother. She was my twin sister and she died after giving birth to Ann.

Nine years ago, I was supposed to be Eric’s Luna.

We weren’t just fated mates chosen by the Moon Goddess but we had known and loved each other long before. But now, it seemed like I was the only one who thought this way.

Before the bonding ceremony, my sister Edna became Eric’s Luna.

Soon after, Edna got pregnant and began living the life that should have been mine.

When she died in a tragic labor accident, I was branded “a monster”.

They said I had been jealous. That I wanted to replace my own sister. And Eric loved Edna so deeply that even though we shared the same face, he could tell at a glance that I wasn’t her.

But as the only daughter left in the family, my role changed overnight.

I went from Eric’s original fiancée to Edna’ replacement.

I married Eric as a stand-in Luna.

I raised my sister’s daughter in her place.

There was no wedding, no ceremony, but just a simple family dinner.

After the meal, my stepfather pulled me aside and warned me again and again.

Our Pack needed Eric’s support and I didn’t have any qualification to defy him.

For nine years, I treated Ann as my own child.

For nine years, I loved Eric just as I always had.

Only now did I finally understand how foolish I’d been.

Eric never loved me, not once.

His indifference and Ann’s hostility, they made a true painfully clear—I only held the title of Luna.

I did everything a Luna was supposed to do, yet my status was lower than an Omega’s.

If this had happened four years ago, if Ann had lost her temper like this back then, I would have swallowed my pride, coaxed her gently, begged for her forgiveness, all because I loved Eric.

But now? I was done.

What was truly laughable was that Ann didn’t even know the truth.

That photo, the one she treasured so much, was never hers to begin with.

Back then, the elder Luna had hired a photographer to take pictures of Eric and me.

But Edna lied, saying my stepfather wanted to discuss Pack business with me. I missed the shoot.

The elder Luna scolded me for being not punctual and told Edna to take my place in the photo.

Piece by piece, Edna stole my life.

“All the elders are here. The banquet’s about to start,” Eric’s voice came from outside the bedroom door, dragging me back to reality. “Where are you, Ashley?”

I finished getting ready. The moment I stepped out of the bathroom, he pushed the door open and walked in.