“The Blackwood family has wronged you. I’ll handle the unbinding process myself. In seven days, I’ll return your freedom.” As the future Alpha, Garrett’s mate bond and its dissolution required approval from the Alpha Council.
“As for your mother and child’s funeral arrangements…”
The healer had already brought the baby over.
It seemed even heaven couldn’t bear to watch me waste away in this mate relationship any longer.
So it let this child be born without breath.
I turned my head away.
I fought to control my emotions.
“Bury the child in Shadowmoon Pack territory. I’ll take my mother’s ashes with me.”
The old Alpha nodded painfully.
“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have forced you to stay in Shadowmoon Pack. Go, go. You deserve a much wider world.”
With that, he hunched his shoulders and left, carrying the dead child in his arms.
The tears I’d been holding back finally couldn’t be stopped.
All kinds of bitterness flooded my heart.
My binding with Garrett had been the Alpha’s arrangement from the start.
The first time I met Garrett, we both knew we were destined mates. The old Alpha needed Garrett to have a steady, reliable Luna to help manage and assist Garrett in running the pack.
I needed someone to pay for my mother’s enormous medical bills. Both my parents had been great warriors.
To resist rogue wolf invasions and protect werewolf territory, they fought in a brutal battle where my father died and my mother was severely injured. She not only lost her wolf but needed expensive medical treatment to survive.
So we made a perfect deal.
I quit my job, accepted Garrett’s mark, and took on the identity of the pack’s future Luna to help Garrett learn his duties as Alpha heir.
After becoming mates, I learned about Garrett’s childhood trauma—how his parents died in pack warfare when he was young.
I also witnessed him crying out “Mommy” in his sleep during midnight nightmares.
Two broken souls found resonance in that moment.
I wanted to heal Garrett’s wounded heart. Our similar experiences made me gradually fall in love with him. I was willing to give him everything I had. I wanted to build a happy family with him.
To fulfill my duties as the pack’s future Luna, I worked hard to care for every pack member. I genuinely befriended each one and took on the dangerous job of training warriors in Garrett’s place.
To be a good mate, I overcame my natural fear of fire.
I practiced cooking relentlessly, trying to recreate the taste of his mother’s food. Even when the flames burned my wolf, I never complained once.
To recreate the safe house where he played with his mother as a child, I spent an entire year painstakingly restoring every detail of the cabin from his memories.
I even learned various bedroom techniques to satisfy his needs.
I thought we would have a happy future together.
But on our mating ceremony anniversary, he brazenly took my best friend to a hotel. She was the first friend I’d made after joining Shadowmoon Pack. I never imagined she’d befriended me just to seduce my mate.
I ran there like a madwoman to confront them.
Garrett sneered and threw the agreement between me and the Alpha in my face.
“Aria, what do you think you are? Played around for a couple days and you actually think you’re the real Luna?”
“You’re just a dog my grandfather bought. What right do you have to question me?”
“If you dare make me unhappy, I’ll have your mother’s treatment stopped immediately!”
I was struck like lightning. I couldn’t say a single word.
After that, Garrett got worse.
After he was done playing with internet celebrities and actresses, he started targeting my friends.
Constantly pushing my boundaries.
On one side was my mother who needed medical treatment.
On the other was a marriage that had already rotted to its core.
These two forces pulled at me relentlessly.
I was nearly at my breaking point.
My body gradually grew weaker. During a combat training session, while dodging an opponent’s attack, I discovered I couldn’t shift. Only then did I realize I was pregnant—the most vulnerable time for any werewolf.
The old Alpha pleaded with me desperately: “Aria, please keep this child. He might be the turning point in your relationship, and he’ll be the pack’s future heir.”
“If Garrett still doesn’t change his ways after the child is born, I promise I won’t force you to stay anymore.”
Carrying all these complicated emotions, I chose to agree.
Never imagining that after trying so hard for so long, I couldn’t hold onto any of it.
Not my mother. Not my child. Not my marriage. Not love.
Nothing at all.
