Chapter 1

My husband is the heir to the oldest werewolf family in London. He is also my fated mate.

He has never once acknowledged me.

While he was on the phone with his little assistant, I told him I'd filed for divorce.

He didn't even turn around. "Fine. Do whatever you want."

So I did.

It wasn't until my daughter and I had vanished from London completely that he finally panicked.

Three months later, he got down on his knees on a cobbled street in Bath and begged me to come home.

My six-year-old daughter planted herself in front of me and stared coldly at her own father. "You're a bad man. Stay away from my mum! You don't get to be my dad!"

Chapter 1

"Anna, are you sure about this?" Mr. Patel, the head of HR, took off his glasses. He sounded genuinely surprised. "The firm thinks very highly of you. At last week's partners' meeting, someone even suggested promoting you to associate director next year."

I sighed and told him I was sorry too.

But I explained, as sincerely as I could, that my husband had taken a new job in Bath, and I didn't want us living apart long-term. It wasn't good for our daughter. "You know how much a stable, loving home matters to a child."

Mr. Patel nodded, a flicker of sympathy in his eyes. "It does. Well, I wish you all the best in Bath."

As I walked out of HR, my eyes went, without my permission, to the floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side of the floor. This was Canary Wharf, and the whole wall was glass.

Oliver Hartley was standing there on the phone. Charcoal bespoke suit, a pair of silver cufflinks at his wrists. Behind him, the Thames lay flat and gray. He looked flawless, like something that belonged in a gallery.

Legally, that work of art was my husband.

He was also the person in this world who hated me most.

London has eight million people, and a few thousand of them are like us. We go to work, cram onto the Tube, do the school run. We live perfectly ordinary lives among humans, and only we can smell the small difference in each other.

The Hartleys are the oldest werewolf family in London, and Kingsgate Partners is their firm. To his human colleagues, Oliver was the youngest partner in the building. To every wolf in London, he was the Hartley Alpha.

And I was just a wolf from an ordinary family.

Seven years ago, I caught the scent of sandalwood on him in the office lift, and the wolf inside me knew him instantly. He was the mate the Moon Goddess had chosen for me.

We'd been married for six years. None of our human colleagues knew. None of the other wolves in his family knew either.

He said the Hartley Alpha couldn't have a mate from a nobody family.

The mating mark he'd left on the side of my neck had spent six years hidden under my shirt collars.

I'd been planning to go over and ask if he could get away this afternoon for our daughter's school play. I didn't expect him to stay for all of it. But Daisy had rehearsed for a whole month to play Alice in Alice in Wonderland, and every single day she'd asked whether Daddy was coming.

The moment our eyes met, the warmth drained out of his. He frowned at me from across the floor, as if my being on his level at all was a deep personal irritation.

He ended his call and started to turn away. At almost the exact same second, his human assistant, Jessica, walked up smiling and hooked a finger casually around his suit cuff. "Oliver, there are a few bits of this quarterly report I just don't get..."

"Sure. Come by my office in a bit." His voice went soft at once. He even bent down a little to listen to her.

I had never been given that kind of patience. That kind of gentleness.

I stood there and watched them walk off side by side. Under my collar, the mating mark gave a dull throb.

Whenever a fated mate's heart turns toward someone else, the other half feels it.

After six years, I was used to it. My phone buzzed. A voice message from Daisy, sent from her smartwatch.

"Mummy, is Daddy coming today? I really want him to see the bit where I fall down the rabbit hole!"

For a second, my vision blurred. Through the glass, Oliver was tucking a windblown strand of Jessica's hair behind her ear. I already knew how this would go. I texted him anyway:

"School play at 2:30 this afternoon. Daisy's playing Alice. Can you come? Even for twenty minutes?"

No reply. Not for a long time.

I closed my eyes. I should have known. He didn't love me. Why would he spare a thought for our daughter?

It didn't matter. Soon, we'd all be free.

In the school hall, Daisy stood on tiptoe in her blue dress, white pinafore, and black hair ribbon, peeking out through the gap in the curtains.

"Mummy, is Daddy here?"

I crouched to tighten her ribbon and tried to keep my voice light. "Daddy had a really important meeting come up last minute. He asked me to record the whole thing, and he's going to watch it tonight. Promise."

The light in her eyes dimmed. Only for a moment. Then she put on a big smile. "That's okay! Having you here is enough!"

She was six, and she'd already learned to read a room. She'd even learned to pretend to be happy so I'd feel better.

I pulled her into my arms and held on tight. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I've let you down.

The play was a huge success. Daisy shone up there. At the curtain call, the head teacher handed her a certificate for Best Young Performer.

She came running into my arms waving it. "Mummy, let's put it on the fridge! Then Daddy will see it every morning when he gets his milk!"

At home, I made her a celebration pizza and cupcakes. She didn't even change out of her costume. She lay on her tummy at the coffee table drawing, glancing up at the door every few minutes.

Seven o'clock. Nine o'clock.

Still no Oliver. Still no reply.

"Mummy..." Her voice was very small. "Is Daddy not going to see my video?"

She was on the edge of tears, and she was trying so hard to hold them in.

I stroked her soft blond hair. "He's just really busy, love."

"It's okay!" Daisy suddenly smiled, even though her eyes had gone red. "I've got you! Let's have cake!"

I was lighting the candle when my phone screen lit up.

A notification from the team group chat. Oliver had posted something.