The long mahogany dining table was laden with exquisite food.

The place where I usually sat beside the Elder Luna was now occupied by Selina.


She served food to the Elder Luna with a charming smile, making the old woman beam with delight.

I was seated next to Alex, directly across from them.

Throughout the entire meal, Alex dutifully played the role of perfect husband.


He cut my steak, quietly asked about my preferences, and when guests praised us as a "model couple," he displayed a perfectly measured smile and possessively held my hand.

No one knew what sordid scene was unfolding beneath the elegant tablecloth.


Selina's foot had already transformed into half-wolf form.

Her toes, bearing black claws, brazenly stroked Alex's inner thigh, again and again.

And Alex, my supposedly noble and self-restrained Alpha, didn't push her away.

He didn't even shift his posture.

I saw his Adam's apple bob once, his breathing momentarily quickening.

He maintained the façade of loving husband at the table while enjoying his mistress's attentions underneath.

The room filled with hypocritical laughter and clinking glasses.

The air grew thick and nauseating.

I couldn't bear it anymore.

"I need some fresh air," I put down my cutlery and stood.

"What's wrong, baby?" Alex immediately interrupted his conversation with an elder, his face full of concern. "Would you like me to accompany you?"

"No need." I fled from the dining room like a prisoner escaping confinement.

I walked alone to the Ancestral Garden at the back of the estate.

This was the most sacred place of the Black Moon Pack, with the names of all past Alphas carved on the sacred stone at the garden's center.

Suppressed panting sounds came from behind the sacred stone.

My footsteps halted.

I circled around a dense bush and witnessed a scene I would never forget.

Alex had Selina pressed against the sacred stone carved with his ancestors' names.

His hands roughly tore open her white dress, his lips greedily devouring her neck.

Selina released a satisfied moan, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist.

*My Alpha... right here... I love this...*

*Little slut,* Alex's voice was hoarse with desire. *Didn't you say you enjoy challenges? Isn't this more exciting than my study?*

*Yes... I absolutely love it...*

They were right there, engaging in primal coupling beneath the gaze of all the Black Moon ancestors.

What they defiled wasn't just my marriage but the honor of the entire pack.

I leaned against a distant tree trunk, feeling ice-cold throughout my body, as though my blood had stopped flowing.

After some time, approaching footsteps interrupted them.

It was the Elder Luna.

"Alex! You're being outrageous!" she scolded harshly, though there was no real anger in her words.

When Selina emerged disheveled from Alex's embrace, the Elder Luna showed no surprise whatsoever, but instead took out a shawl and draped it over Selina's shoulders.

"What impropriety, carrying on in such a place!" she scolded her son, yet positioned Selina protectively behind her. "Hurry and fix your clothes, child. What if you catch cold?"

From my vantage point, the three of them looked exactly like a family.

Harmonious and perfect.

While I was completely, utterly the outsider.

So, they all knew.

In the entire family, I alone had been kept in the dark, like a fool.

I staggered backward, the world spinning before my eyes.

A soft whimper sounded at my feet.

It was Moon Shadow.

It had followed me without my noticing and now nuzzled my ankle.

I crouched down and reached out my hand—this was my last consolation.

"Moon Shadow... come here, come to me..."

I thought it would comfort me as it had comforted Selina.

But it didn't.

Just as my fingertips were about to touch it, it suddenly bared its teeth.

Sharp teeth sank deep into my ankle!

Excruciating pain shot through me as blood instantly stained the hem of my dress.

Moon Shadow released its bite, let out a threatening growl, then turned and ran quickly back to Selina's side, like a child seeking approval for its deed.

Even the spirit wolf I had raised from birth chose to betray me, to tell me in the cruelest way possible that I was unworthy.

The burning pain brought my mind to terrible clarity.

Alex and the Elder Luna had heard the commotion and looked in my direction.

Seeing the blood on my ankle, Alex's expression changed dramatically as he rushed toward me.

"Ella! What happened?"

He caught me as my body collapsed.

I looked at him, at Selina protected by the Elder Luna behind him, at Moon Shadow nestling by Selina's feet.

Tears finally broke through the dam.

At first they fell silently, then came unstoppable sobbing.

Alex completely misunderstood my pain.

He held me tightly in his arms, softly comforting me: "Shh, don't cry, Ella. It's just a wolf, isn't it? If you want Moon Shadow that badly, we can bring it back to the main house tomorrow..."

I clutched his shirt, my knuckles turning white from the force.

My voice broke, filled with endless despair.

"I don't want it anymore!"

"What?" He froze.

I looked up at him, my vision blurred with tears.

"Alex, I don't want you anymore."