CHAPTER 1
SERENITY KELLER
"Mrs. Vernal, take a look at these photos."
The young woman standing in front of me scattered the pictures across the floor. My gaze swept over them, landing on Elias's face—so devastatingly handsome that my wolf, Novella, trembled every time I saw it. But those honey-sweet eyes weren't looking at me. They were fixed adoringly on the woman in his arms. On the crowded dance floor of a bar. In the passenger seat of a speeding sports car. In front of a hotel room's floor-to-ceiling windows.
Their heads were close, as if they might kiss at any moment. The intimate poses looked like something from a magazine cover, dripping with heat and pheromones.
"You should recognize the man in these photos with me." The woman's crimson-painted lips moved like a garish wound, spitting out words sharp as blades, trying to pierce my heart.
But surprisingly, my bleeding heart had grown too numb to feel much pain anymore.
"I do," I said. My voice came out so calm it startled even me. "That's my mate."
The woman's smile widened. "Good. Since you can see clearly, I'll be blunt. He's betrayed you, and he chose me. An Omega like you doesn't deserve to be his Luna."
Doesn't deserve to be Luna.Such a familiar accusation.
I lifted my head and met her eyes. Beneath her smug confidence, I saw nothing but contempt for me.
That look. I knew it too well. From the very first day I married into the Vernal pack, everyone had looked at me exactly that way.
Everyone except Elias.
I thought back to six months ago, when things between us hadn’t been so cold. After he'd chased off the pack members who'd been harassing me because of my status, he turned to me.
"Listen, Serenity." His expression was stern, his tone cold as ice, but the fingers wiping tears from my cheeks were unexpectedly warm. "Don't think being an Omega means you have to let them walk all over you. Don't let anyone else dictate how you live your life. You have every right to decide what you do. When you need to say no, say it loud enough for them to hear."
"What if they hit me?" I had asked through my tears.
Elias's hand had paused for a moment. Then he had said firmly, "Then call my name. Call me—and I'll come protect you."
Now, standing before me, this young woman was saying almost the exact same words those bullies had said back then. But this time, Elias wouldn't appear to defend me.
This time, he was the one sending these women to my door.
"You're the third one this month," I murmured.
The woman didn't catch it. "What?"
"I said you're the third woman this month who's come to me hoping to replace me as Luna." I stood, the black silk of my gown swaying with my movement. I stepped toward her, and she backed away. "The one before you was a model. Before her, his secretary. They all came with photos, even videos. They all said the same things."
Words like curses.
Words like daggers.
Every single one—Elias's revenge against me.
I stopped walking. "So you're nothing special."
"Everyone knows the Vernal pack's Alpha is a notorious playboy now. His flings are as countless as the stars, and every one of them thinks she's special. But none of them are."
Because I knew the truth. He didn't love any of them.
The old Elias would never have done something like this. He was the Vernal pack's most powerful and brilliant heir. Everyone had high expectations for him, and he had never disappointed anyone.
Until the day Liv died.
