Chapter 1

From that day onward, even under the same moon, nothing bloomed the way it once had.

Seven years after her mating ceremony with Ethan Lawson, Sophia Carter inherited the entire fortune of the Carter Bloodline. The inheritance was not merely wealth but generations of accumulated territory rights, moonstone reserves, ancestral estates, and authority recognized by ancient pack law. According to tradition, the transfer required verification of lineage and the registration of one’s official mate before the inheritance could be sealed.

Sophia had expected the process to be simple.

Instead, she was told that she had no husband.

The Carter family steward stood quietly beside the long stone table while the Moon Priest carefully unfolded the registry scroll. His expression gradually changed as his aged fingers moved across lines of sacred records.

After a long silence, he looked up.

“Lady Sophia,” he said with visible hesitation, “there appears to be an error.”

Sophia frowned slightly. “An error?”

The priest lowered his eyes respectfully.

“The Moon Registry recognizes Alpha Ethan Lawson as having completed the sacred mate registration seven years ago.”

Sophia nodded faintly. That was expected.

Then the priest continued.

“However… the she-wolf registered beside his name is not you.”

For a moment, Sophia thought she had misunderstood.

The chamber remained completely silent.

Even the moonstone lamps seemed to dim.

The steward swallowed before speaking carefully.

“The registered mate of Alpha Ethan Lawson is Vanessa Lynn.”

Sophia did not react immediately.

She simply looked at them.

Everyone in Ashford Territory knew she and Ethan had belonged to one another since childhood. Their families had arranged their union before they were old enough to shift. She had grown up hearing that she would someday become Luna of the Lawson Pack, and Ethan had never once denied it.

If anything, Ethan had loved her too fiercely.

When they held their mating ceremony at twenty-two, half the territory gathered beneath the Moon Goddess’s altar. Ethan stood before the entire pack and publicly swore that no woman would ever stand beside him except Sophia Carter. He had kissed her forehead and promised that his wolf, his territory, and his life belonged to her.

She remembered every word.

Back then, she had believed him completely.

But according to the sacred registry, while she had been sleeping after their ceremony, Ethan had completed the final binding elsewhere.

With another woman.

Sophia lowered her gaze and let out a quiet laugh.

It did not sound like her own.

Twenty-seven years.

They had known each other for twenty-seven years.

She had trusted him enough to never question why he insisted on completing the final registration himself.

Now she understood.

A pulse brushed lightly against her consciousness.

Her mindlink.

Ethan.

His familiar voice appeared in her thoughts with effortless warmth.

“Sophie, I’m back. I brought gifts from the southern territories. Handle whatever you’re doing first—I’ll return home after meeting with the council.”

His tone softened naturally.

“I missed you.”

Sophia closed her eyes.

Today was the day Ethan returned.

She had actually gone to wait for him outside the territory gates.

And she had seen him.

She had seen Ethan walk through the stone entrance with Vanessa beside him.

She had watched him touch her casually.

Then stop.

Then lower his head and kiss her as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

At that exact moment, his voice had entered Sophia’s mind and told her he missed her.

Her chest tightened.

She suddenly wondered whether every word he had ever spoken to her had come just as easily.

Her thoughts drifted unwillingly to the past.

When she was fifteen, the Carter family wanted to send her east to continue her training.

Ethan found out and appeared at her family estate that same night.

He remained outside for days.

Rain soaked through his clothes and he refused to leave.

When she finally ran out to see him, he caught her hand and looked at her with red-rimmed eyes.

“Sophie,” he said hoarsely, “don’t go.”

Then, with all the certainty in the world—

“You belong with me.”

Later, when the Lawson elders wanted Ethan to train with the Northern Alphas, he rejected the opportunity without hesitation.

He had smiled and said, “What use is another territory if Sophie isn’t there?”

Everything he had done looked like love.

Everything.

That was what made the truth unbearable.

Sophia stood and picked up the inheritance documents.

The steward looked uncertain.

“Lady Sophia… what would you like to do?”

Sophia looked out through the tall windows toward Ashford Territory.

Then she answered quietly.

“Prepare the transfer agreements.”

The steward blinked.

“All of them?”

She nodded.

“All Carter holdings inside Ashford.”

If Ethan could erase twenty-seven years without hesitation—

then she could leave with the same determination.

Seven days.

She would settle the inheritance.

Withdraw every alliance.

Sell every estate.

And when she left—

she would leave nothing behind except a title Ethan could no longer reach.