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"Want me, Adeline?" Blaine's voice brushed my ear as his hands locked around my hips. I clutched the bedframe while he drove into me again, and a bright shock of pleasure raced through every nerve I had.
My back bowed under him. A helpless sound slipped out of me, half sigh and half surrender. "Yes... it feels amazing."
"Then let me have my turn, baby." He gave a low, rough laugh, and the tempo of his body changed—harder, faster, more demanding. I went loose beneath him, stripped of strength, carried only by the force of him.
When the climax finally broke over him, it came with a deep, feral sound. His broad weight dropped against mine for a second, our bodies still tangled together.
I reached for him instinctively, wanting to keep him close, but he was already moving. He rose from the mattress in one smooth motion and took the edge of the bed, dragging a hand back through his tousled hair. I stared at his side profile instead. He looked unreal—carved, polished, impossible. The line of his jaw was so severe it seemed chiseled by a sculptor's hand, like some living statue brought to life.
That perfect Alpha belonged to me.
Blaine had power, beauty, status, and the authority of the Briarcliff Pack behind him, one of the most feared packs on the East Coast. I had none of that. I was only an Omega with no pack to stand behind me.
Still, he had never been cruel to me. He treated me gently, spoke with respect, and never humiliated me in front of the others. Yet there was always distance under the softness, something I could feel even in the heat of bed. Our marriage had started as a bargain for politics, and for three years our bodies had fit together almost perfectly while the center of him stayed sealed away.
The one thing that made that gulf unbearable was the reason the pack kept whispering: I still hadn't given him an heir. I had gone to the clinic again and again. My best friend—the pack doctor—kept telling me the same thing: I was healthy, only overwhelmed. But that answer never reached the people gossiping behind my back. Blaine never accused me outright, but his silence only made the shame heavier.
Tonight, though, was supposed to end all of that.
Two weeks earlier, I had learned I was pregnant.
My fingers slid over the small curve of my stomach. It was still flat, still easy to hide, but it carried everything I had been waiting for. Today was our third anniversary, and I had chosen this night on purpose. I wanted to tell him myself.
I was gambling every last piece of my heart on the hope that he would finally let me in—that he would look at me and, just once, choose me in return.
"Blaine," I said quietly, my voice rough from what had just happened.
"Adeline, we need to talk." He cut across me at once and stepped away, leaving me with a sudden, cold hollow where his body had been.
I swallowed and forced my lips into something like a smile. "What is it?"
The air seemed to harden around us. Blaine grabbed the robe from the floor, shrugged it on, and then said in a flat voice, "We should get a divorce."
For a moment, I felt as if the room had tipped sideways. My ears rang. "What did you say?" I managed, but even to me, my voice sounded thin and broken.
"Serena is back." His words landed like a blow.
The name split through me with brutal clarity. Serena—his fated mate. The daughter of his former Beta. They had been meant to hold a mating ceremony and spend their lives together.
Instead, disaster had struck. Serena had thrown herself in front of Blaine during a rogue attack and taken a devastating wound straight to the heart. Even after that, Blaine had never let go of the idea of being with her. Then she vanished without warning.
For three years there had been no trace of her. I had almost managed to forget she existed.
I bit down on my lip until I tasted blood, trying to keep my hands from shaking.
Blaine looked at me once, briefly, and then kept going. "Her wolf spirit was badly damaged in that attack, so she went away to recover. The healer told her..." His expression tightened. Guilt shadowed his eyes. "She only has six months left."
I went still. A damaged wolf spirit wasn't just weakness. For a werewolf, it was a slow, grim death.
"I'm so sorry," I said, and I meant it. "We can find her help. The best healers, herbalists, whatever she needs—"
"No." The word came out sharp enough to slice. His impatience had already replaced the guilt. "That's not what she asked for. She only has one wish left." He hesitated for a beat, then set his jaw. "She wants to spend the last six months as my wife."
The sound that came out of me was almost a laugh, but it broke before it could become one. Tears blurred my sight. "This can't be serious. Blaine, I'm your mate. And I—"
"Adeline, the title of Luna was always meant for Serena." He shut me down without letting me finish. His stare had gone cold again, emptied of warmth. "I expected you to support this."
My hand drifted to my stomach. I needed him to understand, needed him to stop before he walked past the point of no return. "Are you really going to do this?" I asked. "Think about it before you decide. Are you sure you won't regret it?"
In the pack, a child born outside marriage was never spared judgment. I could already imagine the stares, the whispers, the way my baby would be marked before it even drew breath. Blaine, though, completely misunderstood what I was trying to say.
His gaze sharpened into ice. "You really are disappointing, Adeline. I know exactly what you're scared of. You're worried about losing the pack's protection, worried you'll lose the comfortable life I've given you." His mouth curled in disdain. "Fine. I'll fix that for you. I'll hand you an unlimited credit card right now. If you can't even offer a little compassion, then you're hopeless. Cold. Self-centered. Unreasonable. You don't deserve to be loved."
The words hit harder than anything else he had said.
Then he delivered the final blow. "And that's exactly why your father died," he snapped. "Because he had a weak, useless, selfish daughter who couldn't protect him. He was left to face those rogue wolves alone."
My thoughts went blank.
How could he say that to me? My father had been killed by rogue wolves. Blaine knew I had nearly fallen apart after losing him. He had been the one who found me and brought me into the Briarcliff Pack.
Back then, he had lifted me into his arms and said, "You'll be my Luna. The Luna of the Briarcliff Pack, one of the strongest packs on the East Coast. No one will hurt you again."
I could still remember the severity of his face, the strength in his jaw, and the way I had believed him. For one reckless moment, I had thought I had finally found a reason to keep living.
Now even that memory felt rotten. The tenderness I had cherished had never truly existed. It had all been my own invention, a lie I had fed myself until it looked like love.
In one breath, it was as if the air had been ripped from my lungs.
"Fine. I agree to the divorce." My voice came out unnervingly calm. "And I won't accept your mark either."
Only by rejecting the mark could we sever the bond properly as wolves.
Blaine's eyes flashed. "You think refusing the mark will make me back down? Don't waste your time. It's settled."
At that exact moment, the phone on the bedside table started buzzing. The ringtone was unmistakable. Serena.
He snatched it up at once. The hard line of his face softened so completely that I barely recognized him; his expression turned warm in a way I had never once managed to earn.
When the call ended, the mask snapped back into place. "Serena said she'll stay in the guest wing," he told me. "She's not coming to take your room, Adeline. I won't be bringing her into the master bedroom."
Then he looked at me with open disgust and added, "See? You don't even come close to someone like her."
Without another glance, he walked out.
My knees gave out before I could steady myself. I slid down the wardrobe, one shaky breath at a time, until I was crumpled on the floor.
It was almost absurd. I had truly believed tonight would change everything. I had convinced myself this would be the night he finally chose me, the night he loved me back.
Instead, it became the most humiliating night of my life.
Tears blurred everything. It felt as though my chest had been split into a thousand sharp pieces. Trembling, I pressed my palm over my lower stomach. There was a tiny life there.
My friend's warning from the hospital came back to me with painful clarity: "Adeline, you don't have a wolf. If your emotions spiral, the baby could be in danger."
I could not afford to fall apart.
And I would not accept the cruel terms Blaine had shoved at me. He thought he was being merciful by keeping me from being cast out as a rogue. He knew perfectly well that for an Omega without a wolf, being packless was practically a death sentence. He was betting on my fear. He was certain I wouldn't dare refuse him.
But even as despair pressed in around me, another voice surfaced in my memory, low and steady like a growl against my skin.
"Adeline, remember... no matter how far you drift, you'll always have me."
No.
I could not make a deal with the devil.
Thirty days. That was how long a divorce took to finalize.
One month. It had to be enough time for me to find a way to survive.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from Blaine.
"Be at the Pack Council Hall tomorrow at nine sharp to finalize the divorce papers."
Chapter 2: Fractured Vows
I never knew exactly when sleep finally took me. All through the night, my stomach kept knotting and turning, like someone had shoved it into a blender and switched it to high. Since yesterday, the pain had only grown sharper.
Was my child reacting to his father's coldness? Was he quietly protesting for me?
When I stared at the empty bedroom, the truth hit hard: Blaine had not come back once. So he had spent the entire night with Serena.
That thought sent tears rushing back into my eyes. How could he erase everything I had done for him so completely? I still remembered the moment he hauled me out of my father's blood. That was the instant I had fallen for him with everything I had.
For three years, I had lived at his command. I was only an Omega, but I was capable, and he had leaned on me for nearly everything.
I handled the orphanage for young pups. I settled disputes inside the pack, balanced the accounts, and guarded our reputation with obsessive care. Too many nights, I had worked until the sky went black. Briarcliff’s climb to power was not built on Blaine’s strength alone. It was built on my labor too.
Of course, I would bet my life he would never admit that.
By the time I looked at the clock, it was already past nine-thirty. I forced myself to hurry through my morning routine. I needed this marriage ended as fast as possible.
But the scene at the Council Hall gate made me stop so abruptly I nearly lost my balance. Blaine had Serena locked in his arms, holding her as though she were the rarest thing in the world.
Last night, that same chest had been the place I leaned against.
The air seemed to vanish from my lungs. For a second, I could not draw a breath.
Then came the words that shattered what was left of me.
"Of course, Serena. I’ve always loved you," Blaine said, his voice softer than I had ever heard it. "Even when I was making love to Adeline, I was saying your name in my heart."
Everything inside me collapsed at once.
The skin at my neck burned fiercely, as if someone had pressed a branding iron against it again and again. It was more than pain in my body. It rose from somewhere deeper, ripping through my soul and racing through my veins like fire. My heart felt struck through, then split into a thousand jagged pieces that tore at my chest from the inside out.
My face drained white. My knees nearly gave way.
So that was it. Every hot night, every moment I had mistaken for closeness, every time I had trembled in his arms and said his name—he had been thinking of Serena all along.
I had only been a substitute. A miserable replacement.
Then I caught the flicker of a smug smile on Serena’s lips. Was she really sick?
A wave of unease twisted through my stomach, and a cramp hit so hard I almost folded in half. No. I could not break here. I could not let them see me fall apart, and I absolutely could not expose the secret of my pregnancy.
I clenched my teeth and straightened, drawing on every bit of strength I had left. When I spoke, my voice was steady. "Fine. Let’s get this over with."
Blaine’s brows pulled together. His eyes swept over my face, suspicious. "Why do you look so pale?"
Before I could answer, Serena broke into a coughing fit.
When she finally spoke, her voice was feeble and sweet. "Adeline, I know you’re being forced into this." She pressed herself weakly against Blaine’s arm. "I already begged him. Blaine promised you could keep the life of a Luna."
Tears spilled down her cheeks. "Adeline, please don’t blame Blaine for being cruel. He’s only doing this because he’s afraid you’ll have regrets after I’m... after I’m gone."
How kind of her.
Every sentence she spoke only made Blaine’s devotion to her more obvious. And each word reminded me exactly what I was to him: the clingy wife who refused to let go.
Blaine rose to his feet and shot me a cold look. "Come inside. Stop wasting time."
He could not wait to be done with me, to leave me behind as quickly as possible. And six months from now, was he really still planning to take me back?
I hesitated, and Serena immediately stepped in again, her tone dripping with false concern. "Adeline, it’s not too late if you want to change your mind—"
Then she launched into another fit of violent coughing.
I cut her off. "Change my mind? For a jerk who thinks about another woman while he’s having sex?" I watched Blaine’s expression harden all over again.
I gave him a sharp smile. "So what is it, Alpha Blaine? Are we going in, or do you want me to reconsider?"
With a furious shove, he pushed Serena ahead of him toward the office.
I followed behind.
Seeing them side by side made me feel like an intruder. My eyes started to sting again, but I forced the tears back. There was no point crying over someone who did not love me.
The hall was nearly deserted.
The moment the staff saw Blaine enter, they shot to their feet in alarm. "Alpha?"
"We’re here for a divorce," Blaine said flatly.
They froze. Their eyes flicked between Serena and me before landing on me.
"Luna..."
"Just process it," I said, handing over my ID.
Too nervous to ask anything else, the clerk began typing with shaking hands.
The only sound in the hall was the system’s sharp beeping, each tone scraping at my nerves.
A few minutes later, the clerk suddenly stopped. His face had gone tense and troubled.
"Alpha, the system shows that you and Luna Adeline are both registered as core pack members. Under Wolf Pack Law, Section 72, your divorce request has a one-month cooling-off period."
Blaine’s face darkened at once.
"What did you say?"
"I mean that you can only file today," the clerk said, sweating now. "If both sides still want the divorce after thirty days, the mate bond can be officially dissolved then."
Thirty days.
That meant I would still be wearing the title of Blaine’s wife while he paraded Serena around for a full month.
"Is there really no other option?" I heard myself ask, even though I already knew the answer.
The clerk wiped at the cold sweat on his forehead. His voice shook. "I’m sorry, Luna. Those are Council rules. The system is locked down. I don’t have permission to override it."
Blaine strode up to me, his tall frame throwing me into shadow under the weight of his Alpha aura. "Adeline, are you so desperate to get away from me?" His jaw flexed. "Are you throwing a fit now? I’ve explained this to you more than once. This is temporary. In six months, we’ll remarry, and you’ll still be Luna. Who exactly are you performing for with this 'I’m desperate to escape' act? Trying to make me feel guilty?"
He ground the words out through his teeth.
I almost laughed. He was the one forcing the divorce, the one who had dragged his old flame in front of me to humiliate me, and now he disliked it because I was finally giving him what he wanted?
"Blaine, you really do think too highly of yourself. Do you imagine I’m some pet you can call in and cast out whenever it suits you? When you want me, I’m your Luna. When you don’t, I’m just a placeholder you can toss aside?"
I took a step back, putting distance between us.
"There is no temporary," I said, my voice carrying through the vast hall, clear and hard. "The second I sign, we’re finished. Permanently."
Blaine reached out as if to grab my arm, but Serena’s weak voice cut across the moment. "Blaine... the wind is so cold. I feel chilled..."
I did not stay to watch them lean into each other.
Turning away, I headed straight for the Council Hall exit. I had to get to the hospital. I had to make sure my pup was safe.
Chapter 3: Fractures at the Manor
I rushed out of the office and went straight to the hospital. After what had happened the day before, I had to know whether my pup was all right.
Valerie, my best friend, brought her glitter-covered, diamond-studded iPad down on her desk so hard the sound cracked through the room.
"Absolute morons," she snapped, her white coat whipping around her legs as she paced. "They don't understand a single thing about what's actually happening."
I lifted the tablet, but the brightness stabbed at my eyes before I could even focus.
Every feed was drowning in praise for "Alpha Blaine's noble sacrifice." The leading post showed Blaine wheeling Serena out of the office. His head was angled toward her, his eyes soft, his whole face arranged into something warm and protective.
And me? I had been reduced to a throwaway line: "the wolfless ex-wife finally remembers her place and steps aside."
The comments were worse.
"Bless Serena. She's the real Luna. After everything she's suffered, she deserves happiness."
"Adeline should've left forever ago. Three years clinging to the Luna title and what did she give the pack? She can't even produce an heir."
"Didn't she stall the divorce because she wanted more money? Greedy parasite."
"Alpha still hasn't taken the Luna title from Adeline. Probably because Serena is too delicate right now. He must not have had a choice."
Each line landed sharp and hot, like a slap I couldn't dodge.
"Enough." Valerie plucked the iPad out of my grip and killed the screen. "People get brave when they're hiding behind keyboards. Let them choke on their trash opinions."
I lay back on the examination table and fixed my gaze on the fluorescent panel above me. Even with the screen dark, those comments hissed through my skull, poisonous and persistent, eating at whatever pride I had managed to keep.
"I'm fine, Valerie," I said, and my own calmness sounded strange to me. "What strangers say doesn't matter. They mean nothing to me."
The lie was obvious, even to me. When everyone seemed to be pointing at you, indifference became almost impossible.
Valerie watched my face with the caution of someone who knew every crack in it. "Adeline, hear me out. Serena may become Blaine's wife, but she isn't yet. And Blaine still hasn't formally removed you as Luna. If you told him the truth—if you told him about the baby—maybe things would change. His grandmother has always loved you, too."
Her grandmother's voice drifted through my memory, gentle and fond: "Adeline, I have never met a kinder soul. Blaine needs a Luna like you."
But that belonged to another life.
"No." I cut Valerie off before she could say more, the refusal leaving me almost before I decided to speak. "We're divorced. Serena has all of his heart now. I won't raise my child inside a poisoned family."
Blaine's words pushed back into my mind before I could stop them: "Even when I was making love to Adeline, it was your name I was whispering in my heart."
That sentence had not faded. It was still buried in me like a blade.
"He told me he doesn't love me, Valerie. He even said..." My throat closed, and my voice shook despite my effort to steady it. "He said that when he was in bed with me, I wasn't the one in his thoughts."
Valerie's expression hardened into fury. "That bastard."
"If he learns about this baby, he'll either treat it like an inconvenience or drag me into a custody war just to hand the child to a nanny afterward. This baby belongs with me. With only me."
For a few seconds, Valerie said nothing. Then her voice dropped. "So you're leaving?"
I had spent the entire night turning that question over until it bruised. Leaving meant severing myself from everything I had built here: the room I had decorated piece by piece, the orphanage I had poured myself into, even the people I had once mistaken for friends. Staying meant accepting humiliation as a daily routine.
"I have to." I nodded once, making the decision feel solid. "For my pup, I need to put as much distance between Blaine and me as I can."
"Where would you go? Back to your uncle's territory?" Valerie's brow creased. "Adeline, he has never seemed trustworthy. And now that the Silvermount Pack is basically under his control, returning there might put you in even more danger."
I didn't answer, because she was right. My uncle had never liked me. If my father's name hadn't still carried weight while he was alive, I would have been forced out of the Silvermount Pack years ago. Now, with everything stripped from me, going back would make me easy prey.
Then another face flashed through my thoughts—the man whose presence had felt wild, dangerous, almost beastlike.
No. Whatever happened, I would not walk into another Alpha's territory.
There was still a second path. Once I left the Alpha Commissioner's residence, I would begin drawing a new map for my life.
"Don't worry, Valerie. You know me." I gave her a small smile, hoping it looked steadier than I felt. "I always figure out how to stand up again."
Valerie exhaled heavily, then reached for the ultrasound machine. She squeezed a thick ribbon of cold gel onto the probe.
"Fine. Lie back. Let's check on your little one."
I smiled and settled onto the table. The gel shocked a flinch out of me when the probe slid over my stomach.
A grainy black-and-white shape shimmered to life on the monitor. Then a fast, steady heartbeat filled the room.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Nothing I had ever heard had been more beautiful.
Valerie kept her eyes on the screen. Slowly, the tension left her brows, and a small, professional smile touched her mouth.
"Right here, Adeline." She indicated a tiny bright point. "Your pup is developing exactly as it should. And..."
She hesitated, then raised the volume a little.
"Hear that? That heartbeat is stronger and much faster than a human baby's would be. You've got a healthy little wolf pup in there. Even without wolf traits of your own, Blaine's Alpha blood is clearly dominant."
I stared at that small life flickering on the screen until my eyes burned.
My child. My blood. My family.
Wherever I went, whatever choice came next, this fragile heartbeat would be the reason I kept moving.
Valerie put the probe aside and passed me tissues so I could clean the gel from my abdomen.
"Adeline, you need to understand what you're choosing," she said, no softness leaving her gaze but all the seriousness returning to it. "You don't have a wolf spirit. Physically, you're an ordinary human woman. Carrying a werewolf baby is going to be hard on your body. It will drain you in ways you can't predict. And raising a wolf pup alone... you don't know yet how difficult that could become."
"I'll manage." I pushed myself upright, the tissue crumpling between my fingers. "Not having a wolf doesn't make me helpless."
Valerie held my eyes for a long moment. At last, she nodded.
"All right. If this is what you choose, then I'll support you—as your friend and as your doctor. But I have one condition. You come in for regular checkups. If your body starts failing under the strain, you listen to me without arguing. And with that awful flu spreading around—"
"Agreed."
After the examination, we went over the precautions I needed to take during pregnancy. Valerie prescribed vitamins, told me to rest whenever I could, and reminded me again to keep my emotions as steady as possible.
When I left the hospital, some of the weight inside me had eased. The baby was healthy. For the moment, that was enough strength to keep breathing, keep planning, keep going.
On the drive back to the Alpha Manor, the shape of a plan began forming. I could move into the apartment near the orphanage. A recent flu outbreak had left them short-handed, and they needed help badly.
I had lived there before I married Blaine. One month remained for me to put everything in order: find another pack, prepare quietly, and disappear before Blaine even understood I was gone.
By the time I parked in the driveway, I drew in a slow breath. This might be one of my final returns as the mistress of this house. The thought hurt in a tender, bitter way, but I had already accepted it.
Then I walked into the Alpha Manor, and the sight ahead stopped me cold.
The staff were throwing my belongings out of the master bedroom.
Blaine had told me Serena would not be taking my room.
Yet my clothes, my books, and the hair clip Blaine had once bought for me were scattered across the lawn as if they were garbage.
My gaze caught on the clip. It had snapped cleanly in two, crushed beneath an old sweater like it had never mattered. Blaine had picked it up on a whim after an Alpha conference; to him, it had been nothing more than an afterthought. But I had held it for ages that day, foolishly believing it meant he had thought of me, truly thought of me, for the first time.
To me, it had been worth more than any jewel.
Now it lay broken in the dirt, and all I saw was myself reflected in it—discarded without care.
"Why were you at the hospital?" Blaine surged toward me without warning and clamped his hand around my arm. Suspicion, not concern, burned in his eyes.
I tried to pull free, but his strength pinned me in place. "We signed the divorce papers, Blaine," I said, my voice going cold. "Focus on your future wife. Don't waste your attention on an Omega who will soon be out of your life."
"Oh, Adeline, you're home." Serena rolled her wheelchair closer, her gaze sliding over the mess of my belongings on the grass. False guilt softened her features like a mask. "I'm so sorry. Blaine insisted that I needed a room with better airflow while I recover. You know how stubborn he gets."
She spoke as though the Luna title had already settled on her shoulders.
Nausea climbed from my stomach into my throat. I flicked one dismissive hand and finally shoved Blaine away.
"Don't trouble yourself," I said, ice threading through every word. "I have no intention of staying in the Alpha Residence."
I turned to go.
Blaine didn't let me.
He dragged me into a guest room and slammed me against the wall, caging me there. His eyes had gone feral, rage blazing in them as if he wanted to rip me apart.
A violent tremor shot through my body—
Chapter 4: The Room Between Us
Blaine's POV
"What did she just say?"
Panic struck through me so sharply that, for one breath, I forgot how to move. Adeline's voice had gone flat and frozen, final in a way that made it feel as though she were already sliding out of my reach. Had she heard what I had told Serena that morning? That had only been mercy. A dying woman needed steadiness; the doctors had said Serena's emotions mattered if she was going to recover.
Yet Adeline had looked almost bloodless, and the wild urgency in her need to leave only fed the anger burning in me. Serena had been right. Adeline was probably frightened of losing her position, so now she was trying to make me feel guilty. She was only an Omega—without influence, without money, without leverage. What made her think she could walk away from the pack?
My hand locked around her arm. I searched her face, trying to read the thoughts she refused to give me. Why did her feelings matter this much to me? Had I actually started caring for her the way Serena had accused me of doing? No. Impossible. Not now. Not ever.
Two hours earlier, while we were driving back, Serena's fingers had settled over my hand. My first instinct had been to withdraw, but I had stopped myself when I saw how weak she looked.
"Blaine," Serena had asked, her lashes wet, "are you thinking about Adeline? Or... do you love her?"
"Don't say absurd things. Serena, you're the woman I love," I had said, too sharply. "I could never love a selfish, powerless Omega. No one has ever been as brave as you were when you took that attack for me."
Something had flashed in Serena's eyes, but I dismissed it before it could mean anything. Then she had breathed out and said, "I think Adeline is just scared she'll lose the life you provide. In time, I'm sure she'll understand why you're doing all of this."
Her chest had shuddered as she went on, tears slipping faster. "Besides, I only have six months left. However much you love me now, I can never truly keep you. And Adeline's behavior makes me feel like some horrible villain."
"You aren't one." I had brushed the tears from her cheeks. "I'll make her apologize to you."
"No, Blaine. Please don't." Serena had caught my arm at once. "You know the only thing that matters to me is where your heart stands."
I had bent my voice lower. "Then listen to me. In one month, you will be my wife."
After that, exhaustion had claimed her, and she had fallen asleep against me. Looking down at her gentle face, I had felt my fury toward Adeline flare all over again.
Why couldn't Adeline accept this with some dignity? I was only asking her to step aside for a while. Six months. That was all.
When Serena died peacefully, I would marry Adeline again. I would even give her a wedding grander than the first one to make up for it. She would remain the Luna of the Alpha Manor, still surrounded by comfort, rank, and everything money could offer.
Instead of appreciating that, she acted as though I had betrayed her.
She knew exactly what our marriage had been from the beginning.
Her father had died at the hands of rogue wolves, and her mother had abandoned her afterward, leaving alone without looking back. My grandfather and Adeline's grandfather had been close friends, so Grandfather had ordered me to protect her.
Serena had just left me then. When I found Adeline collapsed in grief, fragile as blown glass, I had lifted her from the ground without thinking.
"You will be Luna of Briarcliff Pack," I had promised her. "No one will hurt you again."
She had sobbed against me until she passed out.
Once she woke, we completed the marking ceremony. I had made the terms plain: this was a practical arrangement, nothing more. I needed someone to occupy the position of Luna.
Still, she had accepted with almost painful happiness. Every day, she cared for me with obsessive attention. I told her it was unnecessary, but she kept doing it anyway. In bed, she was fire; sometimes all it took was seeing her seated quietly across a room for my body to react.
No. I could not let my thoughts keep circling back to Adeline. If she believed she had the right to refuse an Alpha, then I must have encouraged that illusion myself.
The car rolled to a halt. Serena raised her tired face toward me, her voice faint and pleading. "Blaine, will you carry me upstairs? I don't think I can hold on much longer."
"Of course." I gathered her into my arms, pushed through the manor doors, and caught the first servant I saw. "Which room gets the best airflow?"
The servant went pale. "Alpha, the master bedroom has the best ventilation."
My frown came immediately. I had promised Adeline I would not force her out of the master bedroom. Then Serena bent forward and coughed blood into her palm.
"Serena!" My roar made the servant flinch. "Get a doctor. Now."
Serena clutched at me before the servant could move. "No, Blaine. I can't listen to another doctor tell me there is nothing to hope for. You know how many I've already tried. Please."
I turned back to the servant, my voice going cold. "Go to the master bedroom. Remove all of Adeline's belongings."
Only then did I realize Adeline had not returned yet. Where had she gone?
"Where is Luna Adeline?" I demanded.
"Luna Adeline went to the hospital," the servant answered.
The memory of her bloodless face hit me at once. Was she actually ill? I sent a mind-link to my Beta without delay. "Find out why Adeline went to the hospital."
When she came back, I would make one thing clear: I would not keep indulging her willfulness. If she kept acting this way, I would cut off her financial support.
My Beta had not even left before Adeline returned to the estate.
I strode to the entrance and seized her the moment she came in. "Why were you at the hospital?"
She tried to wrench herself free, her teeth clenched. "We just signed the divorce papers. You should be worrying about your future wife, not an Omega who will be out of your life soon enough."
"Oh, Adeline, you're home." Serena wheeled herself closer, her eyes landing on the personal items scattered across the floor. Guilt softened her tone. "I'm so sorry. Blaine insisted I needed the room with better ventilation for my recovery. You know how stubborn he is."
Adeline did not look at Serena. Her stare stayed fixed on the mess of her belongings. Among them lay a broken hair clip—the one I had once brought back from an Alpha conference. I had barely thought about it at the time. It had not cost much, and it had been easy to buy.
But I remembered that night. Adeline had come to me with a passion so fierce anyone would have thought I had given her some priceless jewel worth hundreds of thousands. She was an Alpha's daughter; luxury had not been new to her. Even so, her eyes that day had shone as though I had handed her the most precious thing in existence.
I had enjoyed what she gave me that night. The hair clip itself had vanished from my mind afterward. Now, watching the light break in her eyes, I felt something twist.
"Don't bother," Adeline said, tearing free of my grip, her voice carved from ice. "I won't be staying in the Alpha Residence anymore."
"What are you talking about?" I caught her wrist again. "Is this another tantrum?"
The determination in her gaze was the same steel I had seen when she signed the divorce papers. No. I would never let her move out. She was an Omega; outside alone, she could be attacked by rogue wolves at any time.
But beneath that excuse lay a thought I did not want to name: if she left now, she might never return.
My hand tightened. I dragged her straight to the guest room beside the master bedroom, and before reason could catch up, I shoved her against the wall.
A hiss tore from me. She trembled. Rage snapped through my control, and I bit down on her lip. She needed to learn.
Adeline's POV
Inside the room, I stared at Blaine in stunned disbelief. His familiar scent closed around me, making my head blur, and a moan escaped before I could stop it. Last night, his kisses had burned just like this. But sanity cut through the haze: his first love, his fated mate, was just beyond the door.
In a single breath, grief and heartbreak hardened into towering anger.
So I sank my teeth into his lower lip.
Blood spread across my tongue instantly.
"Argh—"
Blaine made a low sound of pain, and his hold loosened by reflex.
Now.
I used every bit of strength I had, lifted my hand, and struck him across the face.
Slap!
The sound cracked through the empty living room.
Blaine's eyes flared wide. A heartbeat later, fury twisted his face, and he reached for me again.
"Alpha Blaine," I said, breath dragging out of me, each word forced into place, "why are you doing this? Do you regret divorcing me? Have you fallen in love with me?"
He stepped back as if I had thrown filth at him. His smile came cold and cruel. "Do you honestly believe I can't give up your body? My wolf is only reacting to the female he marked. Don't confuse that with love. Love is something you will never get from me."
Pain cramped through my stomach, sudden and brutal. He had no idea how merciless those words were. It felt like the man I loved most had taken everything I had felt and declared it worthless.
The ground seemed to disappear beneath me. I grabbed the doorknob to keep myself upright, then lifted my head and forced calm onto my face. "Excellent, Alpha Blaine. Your love means nothing to me anyway."
The air went rigid.
Blaine's eyes reddened. Still, at last, he released me. "Good. Otherwise, I would need to make it even clearer that I don't love you. Not even a little."
A black hole opened inside me. Again, I was falling. Hearing Blaine say the truth with his own mouth—that he did not love me—still ripped through me. My knees almost gave way.
"May I leave now?" I forced out through my teeth.
"Never." Blaine's roar filled the room. "You are staying here. You know what happens to an Omega alone outside. You'll be attacked. Kidnapped. You'll waste the pack's security resources."
My heart had already gone numb from hurting. I inhaled slowly and said, "Reject me, and I won't be the pack's responsibility anymore."
"I know exactly what you're trying to do." His voice dropped into ice. "You want pack gossip turned against Serena. You want everyone saying she is the villain because you were thrown out of the Alpha Manor while she was sick."
All the strength left me. My thoughts emptied. Whatever I did, he would find a way to humiliate me. That was the difference between being loved and being unwanted.
My hand moved to my lower abdomen. I had almost said I only meant to move out for a while when Blaine's tone suddenly softened.
"The master bedroom is better for Serena's recovery," he said. "I'll have the servants prepare another bedroom for you on the west side of the second floor. It will have the same conditions as the master bedroom."
"Fine," I heard myself say. My voice trembled, though I fought to steady it. "But I need to leave now."
Red rose in Blaine's eyes again. Before he could erupt, I rushed to explain. "The orphanage has been overwhelmed lately. It's flu season, and the children need someone to care for them. I need to stay at my apartment so it's easier to look after the sick kids."
His brow pulled tight. "You don't have to stay there. You can drive back and forth."
I shook my head. "No. I'm afraid I'll carry the virus back here. That would be dangerous for Serena's recovery."
"Cough... cough, cough..."
Serena's familiar, fragile coughing drifted from the other side of the door. She had clearly heard us.
"Blaine..." Her weak voice seeped through. "Adeline is right. My immune system is very fragile right now. If I catch the flu, I might..."
She let the sentence die, but no explanation was needed.
Blaine's face turned unreadable. His gaze shifted from me to Serena beyond the doorway, and I could see him measuring the choice in front of him.
"Temporarily," he said at last, each word ground out between his teeth. "Only temporarily. When things at the orphanage settle down, you will come back. That is an order. If you use this as a chance to run, I will hunt you down myself. Remember who you are, Adeline. You belong to Briarcliff Pack forever."
I gave him no answer.
A month could change many things. And Blaine still did not know that I owned a gallery where Alpha councils were often hosted. With that opening, I could look for a pack that truly fit me.
I lifted my luggage from the floor and drove toward the apartment near the orphanage.
Chapter 5: Quiet Replacements
Serena's POV
Adeline had left.
I kept my eyes on Blaine while he stood there with his fingers pressed to his split, bleeding mouth.
My pulse hammered so hard it seemed to shake my ribs. Yes, I had heard them. All of it. Every ugly, breathless word. Blaine had kissed her. He had pushed himself on her.
And now the thought would not leave me alone—if I had not painted myself as a woman half a step from the grave, would he have come back to me at all? Would he have accepted this ridiculous marriage arrangement, even with its six-month limit?
No.
He never would have.
The truth sat right in front of me, impossible to ignore. Adeline mattered to him. She was not a substitute he had grabbed because he was lonely, not some pretty distraction to pass the time. That woman had spent three years cutting her initials into a heart I used to believe no one could enter.
Even after he spat those vicious things at her, his body betrayed him.
My fingers tightened around the arms of the wheelchair until my knuckles ached.
Leaving Blaine back then had been the stupidest decision of my life. Worse than that, though? I had not even been the one who saved him that night. Not really. Some unknown she-wolf had appeared, pulled him from danger, and vanished before anyone could ask her name.
I had simply been there when his eyes opened.
So he believed I was his savior. The entire Briarcliff Pack believed it with him.
Naturally, I did not correct them. I had been his girlfriend. Who else would they expect to find at his side?
Then I lied again. I told him my wolf had disappeared, that she had been taken from me. I wanted his guilt. I needed it. With that guilt wrapped around him, the plan I had carried for so long could finally begin.
I had never wanted to bury my whole life inside a pack as Luna. I wanted distance. Cities. Countries. A life that stretched farther than pack borders and ceremonies. Maybe, somewhere out there, I would meet a man better than Blaine.
I had believed I deserved that.
So I walked away. To make the lie believable, I found a hospital that treated more than humans. Wolves, witches, other species—the place knew how to keep secrets. One witch sealed my wolf for me, and after that, I arranged a full medical record to support the story.
For a while, I tried everything I thought I wanted. Human men. Male wolves. Freedom.
None of them measured up to Blaine.
When news reached me that Blaine had bonded, I did not panic. It changed nothing. The moment I came to him and made my request, he did not make me beg. He said yes at once.
I will not deny it—when he agreed, my heart lifted. I loved him. In that instant, I knew I still did.
But days later, I saw what I had not wanted to see.
Blaine had returned to me, yes. Happiness had not come with him.
That was when understanding struck like cold water. Blaine was not the same man I had left behind. Some part of his heart, some hidden corner of his thoughts, had already shifted away from me. He looked as if he had fallen for Adeline without even realizing it.
I could not allow that.
Before he understood his own feelings, I had to take back what belonged to me. His attention. His devotion. His heart, completely.
I had already studied Adeline from every possible angle. I knew her background, her habits, her weaknesses. She had no wolf, true, but she had been born an Alpha's daughter. Royal enough, once. Now her father was gone, and that old title carried no real power.
Still, I had to admit she had earned praise while she served as Luna. She was not one of those useless women who knew only how to smile and arrange flowers. She was capable. Too capable.
That made her dangerous.
But danger could be erased.
And I would erase every mark she had left behind.
I drew in a long, careful breath and forced the turbulence inside me to settle. Then I guided my wheelchair closer to Blaine. When I reached for him, I let my hand shake just enough before my fingertips brushed the wound on his lip.
"Blaine," I whispered, soft enough to sound afraid. "Did she hurt you?"
His gaze cleared a little, as though I had dragged him back from wherever his mind had gone. The darkness in his face remained, but the wild edge in his eyes dulled. "She's completely lost it," he said, the words scraping through his teeth.
"Please don't talk about her that way." I lowered my eyes. "She's in pain. No female wolf could calmly watch her mate being shared. This is because of me. I should never have returned and ruined things between you."
His jaw flexed.
The anger that had sharpened his expression began to loosen, replaced by something heavier. Guilt, yes. But not only guilt. Something I could not name, and did not like.
"Serena, no." He crouched in front of me until his eyes were level with mine. His voice had softened in an instant. "None of this is on you. I made you a promise. You deserve this. Don't put the blame on yourself."
Relief slipped through me, small but sweet.
For the moment, Blaine's heart seemed to tilt toward me again.
"Lunch is ready, Alpha Blaine, Ms. Serena," a servant announced with a respectful bow, breaking the silence between us.
Blaine stood. Without pausing, he moved behind my chair and began wheeling me toward the dining room, as if caring for me had always been his most natural instinct.
"You're hungry," he said. It was not a question. "You should eat."
I let myself enjoy it.
Sunlight poured through the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows and spread across the spotless dining table in pale gold. For one fragile moment, the room felt like the past had opened its doors for us. Just Blaine and me again. Before the lies became complicated. Before Adeline.
Servants set down the dishes one after another. The scent of creamy mushroom soup rose first, warm and familiar, tugging a memory loose before I could stop it.
"I remember, this used to be—"
"What is this?"
Blaine's voice cut clean through mine.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop. His eyes fixed on the bowl as if someone had placed poison in front of him. A hard crease formed between his brows. "Didn't I already make myself clear? I said not to serve this again."
Then his attention moved to the steak beside it, and his expression darkened further. "And this? Medium? Are you trying to wreck my stomach?"
The servant went rigid. In the next second, their head dipped low, and fear shook their voice. "I'm terribly sorry, Alpha. I'll remove it immediately. It's only that... Luna used to prepare all of your meals personally, and she said—"
"She said what?" Blaine asked, his tone changing so suddenly that even I noticed it.
The servant swallowed. "Ma'am... Luna said your stomach cannot tolerate heavy food well, especially after long patrols. That was why she changed your diet three years ago. She has been cooking your steak medium-well herself because she said that was best for you."
A tightness clamped around my chest.
Adeline had even altered the way he ate.
"Cough... cough, cough..."
I forced the coughs out at just the right moment, sharp enough to pull him back to me.
"Serena!" Blaine turned at once, alarm flashing across his face. He bent toward me and patted my back with nervous care. "Are you all right?"
I shook my head faintly and leaned into him while pretending to catch my breath. Only after the coughing eased did I lift my face, pale and fragile, and look at him with all the gentleness I could summon.
"Don't scold them, Blaine. They're only trying to look after you."
I waited, then shaped a small, tired smile. "From now on... let me cook for you. You always loved the sandwiches I made for you back then."
His body stilled. "No," he said at once. "Your health—"
"The doctor said light activity would be good for me," I cut in before he could refuse properly. "And I can't stand thinking of you skipping meals because nothing tastes right. If I cook for you, Blaine, it will make me happy. It will make me feel... as if I can still be useful."
He looked at me then, and the guilt in his eyes softened into tenderness so thick it was almost too easy.
"Serena..." After a long breath, he reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "You're too kind."
I gave him a warm smile.
Inside, I laughed.
If I wanted to replace Adeline, I could begin with what touched him every day. His meals. His routines. The quiet places she had claimed without permission.
"Oh, Blaine," I added, as though the thought had only just occurred to me. I let a flicker of excitement brighten my eyes. "There is one small thing I wanted to discuss with you. The Moonstone Salon is coming soon, and I was hoping I might display a few of my paintings there."
The Moonstone Salon carried real weight among the wolf packs. A place there would not simply show my art. It would show me. If my work appeared at an event of that standing, my position would rise with it.
He looked surprised, so I continued before he could question me too closely.
"I want to do something that matters for you and for the Briarcliff Pack. And if... if any of the paintings happen to sell, I would like every bit of the money to go to the pack orphanage."
Emotion gathered in Blaine's face, deepening until it seemed ready to spill over.
"Of course," he said immediately. His voice turned gentle, and his smile followed. "Of course, Serena. I'll ask my Beta to arrange the best location for your work. Whatever you need, I'll make it happen."
Exactly.
Just as I had planned.
I rested against him, quiet and content on the outside, while inside my mind assembled the next pieces one by one.
Chapter 6: The Envelope of Truth
Adeline's POV
The moment I left the Alpha Manor behind, I drove to the apartment I had bought before I ever became Blaine's wife. He knew it existed, of course, but he had never once crossed its threshold.
It had no manicured gardens, no glittering chandeliers, no servants drifting in and out like shadows. There were only two modest rooms, a living space, and a small kitchen with a window facing the city's blur of neon. Still, every inch belonged to me.
For once, I didn't have to plan a meal around Blaine's appetite.
I dropped onto the soft couch and let my lungs expand, as if ...
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