Chapter 1

For the sake of a mere omega plaything named Caspian, the Alpha Luna proposed at the Blood Moon Gala that she should be allowed to take two mates.

I refused to lower my dignity as a high-ranking wolf of the Sterling Pack, so I turned my back on her and married Seraphina Blackwood, who had claimed to love me for years.

After our mating ceremony, we lived in what seemed like perfect harmony, our souls supposedly in sync.

It wasn't until our sixth year of marriage that I discovered the obsidian charm she gave me―the twin to the one she always wore―was actually hollowed out and filled with refined wolfsbane, a slow-acting toxin meant to kill.

And that silver dagger she kept in our bedroom for years, claiming it was her most precious heirloom, was engraved with lilies.

I finally realized I was nothing more than a stumbling block she had to move for her true love, Caspian. She had endured years by my side just to pave a golden path for him to rise in the pack.

No matter how foolish I was, I couldn't ignore the truth anymore.

One bowl of poison, one Severance Decree, and I was finished with Seraphina Blackwood. We would go our separate ways, never to cross paths again.

1.

"Master Callum, your body is already so weak. Do you really not care about your life?"

My guard, Kael, had eyes red from crying as he tried to snatch the bowl from my hands. "If Lady Seraphina finds out, she will be furious!"

I gave a faint, hollow smile and took the bowl back, swallowing the bitter, brownish liquid without a single moment of hesitation.

"She will be more than happy to see this, Kael. Why would she be angry?"

My life and my love were never the things she truly wanted.

In the six years since I married Seraphina, I have endured the silent torture of her mother's constant shaming for my inability to produce an heir. I had visited every healer in the Silver Ridge Territory, only to find out today that it was all because of this poison. She never wanted to have my pups.

Even Kael, a simple guard, could see how much I was suffering. How could I, the one living through it, have been so blind?

I looked down bitterly at the obsidian charm clenched tightly in my palm.

Among all the gifts Seraphina had given me, this was the most modest, yet it was the one I cherished most.

She had once personally fastened this black stone to my belt. "Marrying you was my dream for years, Callum. Now that it's come true, I want to give you the best of everything in this world."

I grew up in the harsh northern tundras and always loved the resilience of winter blossoms. She had given me this obsidian, claiming it represented the strength of my spirit.

Back then, my heart was overflowing with joy and gratitude. I truly believed my hardships were over and that I had finally found my fated mate.

That was until the pack physician frowned while checking my pulse. "This isn't just a rare obsidian stone. It's a vessel for a poison that slowly eats away at a werewolf's core."

The lie that Seraphina had so carefully woven with threads of fake affection finally began to unravel before my eyes.

The toxic tonic worked quickly. A sharp, burning pain began to radiate through my abdomen.

The health I had spent six years trying to maintain was destroyed in a single moment.

Just then, someone hammered loudly on the bedroom door.

"Callum, what's wrong with you today? Why is the door locked?"

Seraphina's voice sounded worried and urgent, as if she were about to break the door down any second.

I hurriedly curled myself into a ball, my voice trembling as I replied, "I'm not feeling well today, Seraphina. I look terrible. I don't want you to see me like this."

She huffed in annoyance. "That won't do. If you're sick, we need to call the High Healer. Don't tell me you're being stubborn about your medicine again because it's bitter?"

"Callum Sterling, if you don't open this door right now, I'm breaking it down!"

The door shook under her strength. But just as she was about to kick it open, Seraphina's movements stopped.

A servant whispered something in her ear, and the woman who had been so desperate to see me suddenly went silent.

Her hand remained on the door, but she didn't push it open.

"Callum, something urgent has come up at the Alpha's manor. I have to go. I'll be back soon."

I let out a long, shaky breath and immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood. My hand, stained red, collapsed onto the wooden table as the last of my strength vanished.

Seraphina was a high-ranking commander of the pack. What could be so urgent in our peaceful territory?

It was nothing more than her secret lover, Caspian, catching a slight cold. The Alpha Luna's other consorts were likely blocking the healers from seeing him.

Caspian had nowhere else to turn, so he finally reached out to Seraphina. And the moment she heard he was in trouble, she lost her mind and went running to him.

How could she possibly spare a thought for me?

Kael held me, sobbing as he wiped the blood from my face with shaking hands. "Master, she has treated you with such disrespect. We can't stay here. Let's go home!"

I squinted my eyes and smiled weakly. "Yes. Let's go home."

I had almost forgotten that I, Callum Sterling, was once the most arrogant and proud young lord of the Sterling Pack, the son of the Great General.

Even without being Seraphina Blackwood's husband, I would live a much better life.