Chapter 1
Ivy’s POV I could smell the scent of red roses before I even stepped into the dining hall. It wafted in from the hallway—faint but cloying, triggering an itch in my throat and a sting in my wolf’s nose. My wolf, whimpered low inside me. He did it again. He never remembered. After two years of marriage, Alpha Ethan still couldn’t recall that my wolf hated roses. The pollen sent her into sneezing fits, and the scent only agitated her. But Farah loved them. Of course she did. I swallowed the tightness in my throat and pushed open the grand oak door to the pack house’s formal dining room. Inside, the table was already set—steak, greens, a bottle of aged red wine—and at the center of the table was a sad bouquet of red roses, half-wilted, petals already drooping like they couldn’t wait to die. Alpha Ethan looked up from his seat with a wide, oblivious grin. “There you are,” he said smoothly, standing to approach me with something clasped in his hand. “Happy second anniversary, Ivy.” He held out a single rose, its stem crooked and its head already drooping. I stared at it, feeling the pulse of my wolf’s irritation rise in my chest. “Do you remember our first dinner as married couple?” he asked. “I got you these. You liked them, right?” I took the flower wordlessly, my fingers brushing the pollen. My wolf snarled inside me. I forced my expression to remain neutral. “It was Farah who liked them,” I said quietly. “I’m allergic.” He blinked at me, confused for a moment, then chuckled like I’d told a harmless joke. “Right, right. My mistake.” He sat back down like nothing had happened. My stomach turned, but I reminded myself why I was here. I reached into my coat and pulled out the envelope I’d spent the last three weeks preparing. The elder had told me Ethan needed to sign it himself before I could relinquish the Luna title and dissolve our union under pack law. I placed it in front of him, beside his plate. “Sign this.” He glanced down at the envelope and raised an eyebrow. “Is this another report for the land dispute with Westline Pack?” Before he could open it, the door behind me opened again, and the air shifted. A soft, familiar giggle floated into the room like a curse. Farah stepped inside like she owned the place, her hair in waves, her dress hugging every curve. She beamed at Ethan. “Am I interrupting something?” “No, of course not,” the alpha said, his eyes lighting up in a way they never did with me. He stood immediately, abandoning the envelope, and went to greet her. “Come sit. We were just about to eat.” He pulled out a chair for her—my chair—and guided her in like she was royalty. I watched in silence as he fussed over her, cut her steak perfectly, poured her wine, all while my flower lay forgotten on the side, its pollen floating into the air. My wolf’s anger buzzed through me, and I sneezed once, sharply. Neither of them noticed. “I heard the patrols are picking up rogue scent trails again,” Farah said casually, dabbing her lips with a silk napkin. “Maybe we can inspect the borders together after this?” Ethan nodded eagerly. “That’s a great idea. We’ll go after lunch.” I stared at them, heat burning behind my eyes, not from jealousy but from the sheer humiliation. He hadn’t even opened the envelope. When they finished eating, Ethan finally reached for the document. He didn’t even glance at the title—“Formal Resignation of Luna Duties and Dissolution of Marriage”—before scrawling his signature across the bottom. “There,” he said, distracted, his eyes back on Farah. “Handled.” He didn’t ask what it was. He didn’t look me in the eye. I watched him walk out with Farah, his hand resting on the small of her back, both of them murmuring and laughing as they left the dining hall behind. The moment the door closed, I exhaled and closed my eyes. He didn’t even care. I had loved him once. Deeply. Foolishly. I had married him knowing we weren’t fated. I had taken the Luna title to keep our two packs in alliance, to prevent scandal after Farah had run off with her fated mate years ago. I thought he might grow to love me if I stayed. If I proved myself. If I endured. But now I knew the truth. I was never more than a placeholder. Even after the truth of my lineage came out—how I, not Farah, was the true daughter of the Snowland Pack Luna—my family had chosen to protect Farah’s image instead. She was the perfect one, the precious one. And I… I seemed like the shameful result of a mistake, despite being born from the true Luna. I was the humiliation when it was Farah who was born out of our father’s mistake. They let Farah return to Ethan like nothing had changed when she came back to the pack. I didn’t even know what happened to her and her fated mates. One day, she just came back again, wanting to take everything from me. And Ethan? He didn’t even try to hide it anymore. He stopped coming home some nights. He started whispering to her in corners. I overheard him one night, when he thought I was asleep, say to Farah, “I never loved Ivy. She was just someone to fill the space you left behind.” That was the moment I stopped hoping. I opened my phone and dialed a number I hadn’t used in two years. It rang twice before a deep, familiar voice answered. “…Ivy?” “Alpha,” I said, my voice steady. “I need you to come get me out of Foreland Pack. I’ll be ready once the elder confirms everything is finalized.” I looked at the envelope now sitting in the center of the table, Ethan’s careless signature smeared slightly by steak grease. “Happy anniversary, Alpha,” I whispered bitterly.