Chapter 1
At twenty-two, Harvey, the Alpha of Black Moon Pack, publicly canceled our mate bond.
He chose Sophia.
The moon hung high that night. The entire pack had gathered. It was supposed to be the day Harvey and I sealed our blood oath.
But before the ceremony even began, he announced in front of all the elders—the bond was void.
After the banquet ended, he came to see me alone.
“Sophia saved my life,” he said, his voice low. “Three months ago I was ambushed near the border by people from Sliver Fang Pack. She took the fatal strike for me.”
“Sophia’s parents want to send her to Bloodmoon Pack, to marry a fifty-year-old Alpha in exchange for resources.”
“I can’t just stand by and watch.”
He told me he had signed a three-year agreement with Sophia. When the three years were over, he would fulfill the blood oath he had made with me.
In my previous life, I believed him. I gave up the title of Luna.
I willingly moved into the villa he arranged at the edge of the pack territory, becoming his lover hidden in the shadows.
When the three-year deadline was almost up, Bone Claw Pack broke through Black Moon Pack’s border.
The Alpha of Bone Claw Pack proposed a condition: if they wanted their territory back, Harvey’s “true mate” would have to complete a hunting trial.
It was the first time Harvey brought me before everyone.
I thought he was finally going to acknowledge me.
Instead, he personally sent me—a woman with a wolf-spirit defect—into the forest.
He coaxed me softly.
“Sophia is too weak. If she goes into the forest and loses control of her wolf form, she’ll get hurt.”
“Emma, just this once more.”
“When it’s over, she and I will owe each other nothing. I’ll marry you.”
He promised me that.
Then, in front of the entire pack, he forced me to sign a life-and-death waiver.
And pushed me into the forest.
A leopard chased me through the trees.
I didn’t even have the ability to shift.
Its foul-smelling fangs pierced through my chest.
My body tore apart, blood exploding into the air.
Only then did I finally understand—
I should never have believed in that man.
I never expected the Moon Goddess to pity me… and sent me to the year I was twenty-two.
Harvey’s hand had just reached for my shoulder.
“Emma, are you still mad?”
I jerked upright from the pool.
My wolf spirit throbbed faintly with pain.
I gasped for air, gripping the edge of the basin with both hands.
The face in the mirror was pale.
I had been reborn.
Just moments earlier at the party, Sophia had lost a shooting game.
Her punishment was to kiss Harvey for ten minutes.
Harvey didn’t refuse.
He only smiled casually and said to me “Emma, it’s just a kiss.”
“She only feels more familiar with me. She doesn’t know anyone else here.”
In my previous life, my eyes burned red with anger. When their lips tangled together, I ran out of the shooting range.
He didn’t come after me. We stayed in a cold war for an entire week.
In the end, I was the one who gave in first. I made the pizza he loved, delivered his meals for three months.
Only then did the silent war finally end.
Because I loved him too much. So much that I placed myself beneath everything else.
“Stop being like this, okay?” Harvey said gently. “If it bothers you, I’ll pay more attention next time. I hate seeing you upset.”
Then he stepped forward to hug me.
The moment he was about to touch me— My body reacted before my mind.
I slapped him.
The sound cracked sharply through the room.
His pupils shrank.
“Emma, you hit me?”
“How dare you?”
He stared at me in disbelief, fury rising in his eyes.
“I’ve been protecting you all these years! I didn’t even let you attend pack training because I was afraid your wolf spirit would get worse. Don’t you understand that at all?”
“All I did was kiss Sophia once and now you’re giving me attitude?”
I clenched my fists, forcing down the hatred boiling in my chest.
I hadn’t forgotten how he pushed me into that forest.
And I certainly hadn’t forgotten how easily he treated my life as a bargaining chip.
“You’re only acting like this because you know I like you—”
I cut him off calmly.
“Then cancel the mating ceremony.”
The air froze.
“What did you say?” he asked slowly.
“I said cancel the mating ceremony.”
He narrowed his eyes, studying me before letting out a mocking laugh.
“All this because of a kiss?”
I looked straight at him.
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
He ground his molars together.
Then kicked over the trash can beside him and stormed out of the shooting room, fury radiating from his back.
In my previous life, after our cold war ended, he held me and said:
“It was just a game. Sophia is responsibility. You’re the future Luna. Don’t worry about it.”
Back then I didn’t dare argue.
But now I know—
If there is betrayal, even when wrapped in the name of responsibility… it is still betrayal.
As I passed the main hall, I heard him say,
“Emma’s wolf spirit is defective. I’ve protected her since she was little. Without me, who else would spoil her like this?”
I lowered my eyes and gripped my phone tightly.
In this life— I will not be the one pushed into the forest.
