Chapter 1

1.

Five years as Damian's fated mate. Five years. And then he got himself wounded on a hunt.

They said the toxin destroyed his memory. He forgot everything about me. But he remembered Clara with perfect clarity. The girl who grew up beside him in the pack. The girl everyone assumed he would marry.

He threw me out of the Alpha's residence for her.

Then he poured the poison down my throat with his own hands.

Silver powder and wolfsbane. The two oldest, cruelest recipes there are. It burned through my organs. Boiled its way into my marrow. I felt something inside me seared to death while I was still alive.

I can never bear pups again. Not his. Not anyone's.

"Clara is the only one worthy of carrying the next Alpha. You? You're nothing but a stray mutt who wandered into my territory and refused to leave."

That night, the moon hung full in the sky. The old wound on my heart flared.

Silver dagger. Years ago. It never truly healed. I staggered out of the shed, desperate for air.

And walked straight into his words.

"Alpha, what if Luna finds out the memory loss is faked…"

"She won't." Damian's voice. Calm. Casual. "Once Clara's and my bonding ceremony is done, I'll wrap this up. I'll 'regain' my memory. Then I'll coax her back."

"As for the poison… I promised Clara my heir would come from her womb. Lyra will forgive me. She always forgives me."

I stood there, frozen.

Forgive.

He thought I would forgive.

There was no toxin. No memory loss. There never was. Just his meticulously constructed lie. And his arrogance. His certainty that I was too stupid to ever see through it.

Moonlight fell on my bare feet. Cold. Something inside my chest was splitting open. Not pain. Something deeper than pain. A collapse. Silent. Absolute.

A low, broken laugh escaped me. I stumbled back into the shed.

Wind knifed through the shattered window. I flinched.

Ridiculous. Just yesterday, I was on my knees in the moonlight, begging the Moon Goddess to give me back the Damian whose eyes held nothing but me.

Now I understand. There was no curse.

He wanted to marry Clara. He always did. This "memory loss" was just an excuse.

I lay on my side in that rotting shed. The old wound throbbed in waves. I couldn't breathe through the pain.

Damian used to pull me into his arms on the full moon. He'd wrap his fated-mate presence around my whole body. Share the pain. His palm pressed against my back like a wall of warmth.

He called me his moonlit mate. Said he'd protect me for life.

That was before.

"Luna! Hold on! I'm getting the Alpha!"

Jenna, my attendant, saw my face go bone-white. Saw the cold sweat soaking through my clothes. She bolted for the Alpha's residence.

I didn't have the strength to stop her. I just lay there, staring at the cracked ceiling until my vision blurred.