Chapter 1
A nightmare.
It was that same, terrible nightmare. I could never shake it off.
In the dark, the wet sound of claws ripping through skin was shockingly clear. The feeling of hot blood splashing my face was so real it terrified me. And those eyes—those yellow eyes with thin black slits that stared at me from the thick darkness, filled with endless hatred and hunger.
I shot up in bed. My breath caught in my throat, and my heart hammered in my chest, as if it would burst out the next second.
Outside the window, silver moonlight cut through the heavy velvet curtains and fell onto the floor. It was still the deep of night.
I reached out my hand without thinking, feeling the spot beside me—only a cold, flat bedsheet.
Leighton wasn't in the bed again.
Lately, he had been spending more and more time in his study, always using the excuse of "pack business" that never seemed to end. A strange, cold worry settled in my stomach. My Luna's instinct, which used to be so sharp and had saved me from danger countless times, was screaming in the shadows.
I put on my nightgown. My feet touched the cold marble floor. I needed a glass of water to wash away the awful feeling left by the nightmare and my loneliness.
As I walked down the silent corridor, a tiny, deliberately quiet laugh slipped into my ears. I stopped dead. My muscles instantly tightened. Every nerve stood on end.
The sound... it was light and lazy. It clearly came from the end of the hallway—Leighton's study.
A chilling fear instantly gripped my heart. A strong, bad feeling washed over me.
I crept along the freezing wall like a ghost, inching my way toward the door, which was slightly ajar (not fully closed).
Three years of marriage meant I knew everything in this palace. But the voices coming from behind the door were like a silver-coated dagger, stabbing my eardrums and reaching straight to my brain.
"Leighton... oh! You are so naughty! Are you sure that old woman won't find us?" a young woman's voice cooed sweetly.
Old woman?
My fingernails scraped the hard stone wall, making a loud, harsh sound. Those words felt like a red-hot brand, burning through my body and onto my heart.
Old woman? I was only thirty! How dare she call me that—
"Her?" Leighton's voice was filled with a sneer and pure disgust. "That failure, Sophia? She can't even handle her own pitiful power now. What if she finds out? She's not the fearsome Luna she once was. She's sickly all the time; she can barely complete a full wolf change. To me, she's just a complete burden."
Failure... burden...
Each word was like the sharpest wolf claw, ripping apart the love, trust, and sacrifices I had woven together for three years, exposing the rotting bones underneath. Memories rushed into my mind: I remembered the last time, a year ago, when Shadow Hunters attacked the pack nursery. I dragged my torn belly, fiercely protecting the children beneath me, my silver-white fur soaked red with my blood... Leighton rushed in, guarded me when I was near death, held my hand tight, and swore with bloodshot eyes that he would never let me be harmed again... Was all that just a brilliant act?
"But she is your wife, the Pack's Luna..." The woman—Julia, I recognized her voice, the hussy from the Bloodmoon Pack in the North who was here under the pretense of "exchange"—was still pretending to be kind.
"Not for much longer." Leighton's tone was cold and controlling. "At the full moon ceremony tomorrow, the entire Pack will witness that she no longer deserves the Luna position. Her power is fading fast, and the pack members already question her ability. And you, my beautiful Julia," his voice became delighted, "you are the one who deserves to stand beside me as the new Luna. Your power, your bloodline, truly matches mine."
The world began to spin. I leaned against the cold wall, barely managing to keep my trembling body upright.
Three years. I bore his heir, bled and sacrificed for this pack, guarded our people and territory, and faced death countless times! And he, behind my back, was insulting and crushing me in the dirt, planning to discard me like an old, worn-out garment!
"Tomorrow, I will announce that Sophia is stepping down for health reasons." Leighton continued his shameful plotting, without a trace of guilt. "Then, at the right time, I will announce our union. You, Julia, from the noble Bloodmoon family, with your pure and strong bloodline, will be welcomed by our people."
"What about Erica?" Julia asked. "She is your daughter, the rightful Alpha heir."
"Erica?" Leighton sneered. "A little failure? She perfectly inherited her mother's weak, pathetic bloodline. She can never be a worthy Alpha! I need a truly powerful heir!"
My Erica... my darling baby... In her father's eyes, she was just a failure?
A wave of dizziness and nausea hit me. I was about to turn to escape this suffocating, hopeless place when the study door was suddenly flung open from the inside.
Leighton's tall figure filled the doorway. He was only wearing black trousers, his hair messy, his strong upper body bare, with fresh scratch marks across his chest.
We stared straight at each other in the doorway.
A flash of surprise crossed his eyes but was instantly replaced by cold impatience. "Sophia," his voice showed no panic at being caught by his wife. "Since you were listening outside, it saves me the trouble of explaining."
My lips trembled violently, but no sound came out.
"Julia, come here." Leighton reached out and pulled the woman who was hiding behind him forward. "Come meet my wife... oh, excuse me, my soon-to-be ex-wife."
Julia stepped forward timidly, tightly linking her arm with Leighton's. She deliberately adjusted her open collar, proudly showing off her curves.
She looked at me, her eyes stripped of their former modesty and pretense, leaving only raw smugness.
"Good evening, Sophia." She lifted her chin slightly. "Or, should I call you... Ex-Luna ahead of time?"
"What... are you doing?" I finally heard my own hoarse voice. "How dare you..."
"How dare I?" Leighton stepped forward. His powerful, terrifying Alpha pressure crashed down on me like towering mountains, instantly making it hard for me to breathe and my knees weak.
"I am doing what an Alpha must do—choosing a stronger, more suitable Luna for my Pack! A highborn mate who is worthy of me, not a failed woman who is aging and running out of strength!"
"I am your wife!" The suppressed anger and pain finally broke loose. I screamed. "I am the rightful Luna of this Pack! I bore your children! I bled and sweated for this Pack! I almost died for it!"
"That's all in the past," Leighton said, his tone flat. "Look at you now, Sophia. Your power is constantly failing, and your scent is so faint I can barely smell it. The Pack needs fresh blood; it needs strong genes for the future." His gaze lingered greedily on Julia's young body. "Julia's bloodline is purer than yours, her strength is greater, and most importantly. He paused, a satisfied smirk curving his lips. "She is younger and prettier than you, and... she is already carrying my son."
"Vile! Disgusting! Is this what an Alpha should do? I will never let you win!" I struggled to straighten my spine, which felt close to breaking, trying to maintain the last shred of Luna dignity, though my voice still shook. "I am the rightful Luna! The Pack Elders will never agree to this outrageous, shameless decision!"
"The Elders?" Leighton let out a cold, mocking laugh. "Do you think those old fools would fight their Alpha for a useless old woman? I have already 'talked' to them one by one, using power and deals they couldn't refuse! Everyone will 'support' my decision!"
Everyone betrayed me? The elders I once trusted, respected, and saw as family? The pack members I risked my life to protect, the ones I saw as my own?
"What about Erica?! She is your flesh and blood! The Pack's only legal heir!" I looked at him with despair.
"Erica?" Leighton's face was openly disgusted. "A shy failure who is unfit to be the Alpha of our tribe!"
My daughter... my clever, kind daughter whom I treasured... was so worthless in his eyes!
"How can you talk about your daughter like that, as a father?!" My body shook violently with rage. "She just needs more time! Every wolf's awakening cycle is different, don't you understand that?"
"It's you who doesn't understand, Sophia. Her inferior bloodline, inherited from you, is her original sin," Leighton said firmly. "But Julia will give birth to the truly powerful, pure heir I need."
"Enough!" I yelled, cutting him off. I forcefully tried to summon the Luna power inside me. I wanted to use my power to force these two wicked traitors to submit—
But... no matter how hard I tried, nothing happened.
My power, which used to make the strongest warriors in the Pack bow their heads, now sank like a stone in the ocean, failing to cause even a ripple, unable to stir a single piece of dust in the air.
Leighton and Julia exchanged glances, then burst into laughter. "See that?" "You can't even release the basic Luna pressure anymore. You're finished, Sophia. Face the truth."
I turned away in humiliation, not wanting to see their sickening faces anymore. I dragged my heavy legs, stumbling towards my bedroom, which was now nothing more than a prison cell.
Behind me, Julia's undisguised giggle followed: "She really is useless!"
Locking the door, I collapsed onto the floor, leaning against the cold wood. The tears I had held back finally flooded out like a dam breaking.
Every moment of the last three years, the warm, happy memories, now turned into the sharpest blades, tearing my heart into a thousand pieces.
After crying for what felt like forever, a very faint, cold smell of metal reached my nostrils.
It was slight, but strangely improper.
I instantly stopped sobbing. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down, and started hunting for the source of that weak but disturbing odor.
Finally, my eyes landed on the bedside table—where a beautiful three-tiered velvet jewelry box sat, containing all the gifts Leighton had given me over the years. Every gift had been precious to me, holding his supposed "love" and "memories."
The cold, death-like metallic smell was coming from that box.
I opened the lid. Inside were the familiar jewels—my wedding ring, a birthday necklace, and an anniversary bracelet. I took out every layer. Then, I turned the box over and checked each piece of jewelry carefully, using my fingertips and my almost-gone but lingering sense. Finally, as I picked up the platinum necklace with the large sapphire, which Leighton gave me for our first anniversary, my fingertip touched a minute, almost imperceptible bump on the gemstone's setting.
I leaned closer. The beautiful, clear sapphire was hollow! When I opened it, a tiny black stone was fitted perfectly inside, covered in twisted symbols!
It was a Moonbane Rune Stone! I remembered the Pack's old shaman teaching us in Rune class, his expression serious. This rune stone was a forbidden, ancient object used to punish pack traitors. It acted like a greedy leech, slowly and constantly draining a wolf's life force and core power, while the shaman who created it would gain power as the stone absorbed the traitor's life. If the magic was discovered or broken, the shaman who made the stone would also pay with their life.
I understood everything instantly! My strange weakness and tiredness over the last two years... the constant fading of my power... it wasn't some natural aging! It was my deeply loved husband, Leighton, who, day after day, year after year, used these carefully hidden poisons in his "gifts of love" to silently destroy me!
Just as I was reeling from this horrifying truth, a gut-wrenching scream suddenly came from the next room—
"Mommy—! Save me. I hurt so bad."
It was Erica.
I sprang up from the dressing table as if struck by lightning. I ran wildly toward her closed door and shoved it open with a crash.