Chapter 1

Beatrice’s POV

The night the Blood Moon rose over Silverpine Territory, I was taken from my own wedding anniversary celebration.

When I woke, I was inside an abandoned border lodge with Cassandra beside me, both of us stripped of our phones, jewelry, and any hope of calling our packs for help.

We were held there for three days before the rogues finally abandoned us near the eastern border, but by then, neither of us would ever be the same.

The healers examined us the moment we returned, searching for injuries and signs that the rogues had marked us.

Thankfully, neither of us had been touched in the way everyone feared, but the trauma alone was enough to leave us trembling whenever we smelled smoke or heard unfamiliar wolves.

A month later, however, another truth surfaced that changed everything. Cassandra and I were both carrying pups.

The entire Silverpine Pack celebrated when Cassandra’s pregnancy was announced. She was Logan’s childhood companion, the daughter of an influential elder family, and practically everyone in the territory had once expected her to become Luna before I ever appeared in his life.

I had been his chosen mate, but Cassandra had always occupied a place in his heart that I could never completely reach. When the elders began whispering about the timing of my pregnancy, Logan made a decision without ever asking me what I wanted.

“The pup Cassandra carries is mine.” His words were spoken during the council gathering, in front of the entire pack.

My fingers went cold as I stared at my mate, waiting for him to take back what he had said, but Logan only reached for Cassandra’s hand and held it tightly.

He knew the truth better than anyone—we had been taken together, and nothing had happened between Cassandra and me that could explain a pregnancy afterward.

Yet he chose to claim her pup publicly while allowing everyone to believe that the pup inside me belonged to a rogue.

“The pack cannot survive another scandal,” Logan said quietly when we were finally alone. “Cassandra has already suffered enough, Beatrice.”

I stared at him, unable to understand how easily he could say it. “And what about me?”

His expression softened for only a moment before becoming firm again. “You’re stronger than she is. You can handle the rumors.”

I almost laughed.

That was what he had always told me whenever Cassandra needed something. I was stronger, more understanding, more capable of enduring disappointment without making a scene.

Whenever Cassandra needed Logan, I was expected to step aside because she was fragile, because she had known him longer, because her happiness supposedly depended on him.

But this time, there was something growing inside me, something innocent that had done nothing wrong, and Alpha Logan had already decided it was worthless.

“Then I’ll handle it,” I whispered.

I walked away before he could see my tears.

The next morning, I went to the pack’s legal hall alone.

Wolves usually dissolved their mate bonds through the Moon Council, but Logan and I had completed a formal union after our mating ceremony, which meant there were documents to sign before the bond could be officially severed.

The registrar looked surprised when I placed the separation papers on her desk. She reminded me that the Moon Council required thirty days before the separation became permanent, giving both mates a chance to reconsider.

“I won’t change my mind,” I told her.

She hesitated. “Luna Beatrice, once the final seal is placed—”

“I know.”

My hand trembled when I signed Logan’s name beside mine.

For years, I had imagined growing old beside him. I had imagined little wolf pups running through the gardens of our future home while Alpha Logan chased them through the snow. I had imagined standing beside him during the Alpha succession ceremony, wearing the silver crown of the Luna.

Instead, I was sitting in a cold legal hall, severing the bond that had once felt stronger than fate itself.

Afterward, I went to the healer’s sanctuary.

I didn’t tell Logan.

I didn’t tell my family either.

I simply asked the healer whether the pup inside me was healthy. She placed her palm against my stomach and closed her eyes, using her wolf’s senses to listen to the tiny heartbeat beneath my ribs. When she finally smiled, there was sadness in her expression.

“The pup is strong.”

My throat tightened.

“Can you… end the pregnancy?”

The healer stared at me for several seconds before answering. “A-Are you sure?”

I thought about Logan standing beside Cassandra. I thought about the way the pack already looked at me, as though I carried something shameful beneath my heart.

Most of all, I thought about bringing a pup into a world where its own father would call it a rogue’s bastard.

“Yes.”

The healer prepared the medicine.

As I lay beneath the moonstone lamps, memories came rushing back with cruel clarity.

I remembered the first time Logan saw me during the Alpha Academy trials, when he was supposed to give a speech to the entire pack but completely forgot his words after our eyes met.

I remembered him leaving hundreds of moon lilies outside my bedroom because he had learned they were my favorite flowers.

I remembered the winter he crossed three territories just to find a particular honey cake I had mentioned wanting.

I remembered waking one night to find him sitting beside my bed, brushing my hair away from my face after I had shifted too hard during training. He had once pressed his forehead against mine and whispered that even if the Moon Goddess gave him another hundred lifetimes, he would still choose me.

I believed him.

That was the worst part.

Because Alpha Logan had loved me once. Maybe he still did in some distant, buried part of himself, but whenever Cassandra needed him, that love became something I was expected to put aside.

I remembered the night I had waited for him beneath the northern lights. He never came because Cassandra had developed a fever.

I remembered our mating anniversary when he abandoned our dinner because Cassandra had been frightened by a thunderstorm.

I remembered lying sick in our room with a burning fever while he was across the territory comforting her after she had a nightmare.

Every memory that had once made me smile now felt like a blade.

The medicine began to take effect.

I closed my eyes.

For the first time, I stopped hoping Alpha Logan would choose me.

When I woke, the room was quiet.

The healer sat beside me and gently told me that it was over. I placed a hand over my stomach, but there was no warmth beneath my palm anymore. The little life I had been protecting was gone, and somehow, despite all the pain, I felt strangely empty rather than relieved.

I left the sanctuary before sunset.

Outside, the Silverpine mountains glowed beneath the dying light, painting the sky gold and crimson. Alpha Logan had once promised that he would take me beyond the pack borders and show me every beautiful place in the werewolf territories. I used to believe we had an eternity to keep those promises.

Now I understood something.

Sometimes the Moon Goddess did not break a bond all at once.

Sometimes she simply gave you enough reasons to finally let go.

And I had just chosen to let go of mine.