Chapter 1 Chapter 1

"Alpha Carl, this is going too damn far! Daisy's barely hanging on. She's still healing from everything she went through for you. And now, because Fiona got herself into some petty fight, you're just going to drop everything and run to her? "Do you even hear yourself right now? You're putting Daisy and yourself at risk! Do you have any idea how many rival packs are just waiting for you to show your face? You're being a damn idiot!" The voice of Axel Payne—Carl's close friend—echoed through the cracks in the wall. I froze mid-step, caught off guard for a second. As the most powerful Alpha in the Eastlands, Carl ruled over an empire of businesses. To keep his dealings private, his castle was riddled with hidden chambers. Moments later, the sound of something shattering echoed through the air again. Axel continued, "What do you mean you only ever loved Fiona? Maybe Daisy was just some Rogue you dragged in from the Borderlands, but she's spent years being a decoy, and she's never let you down! "If you never loved her, then why didn't you let her go? If it had been Fiona in her place, you'd be dead by now!""Shut the hell up! If I don't paint Daisy as my weakness and my one obsession, how else am I supposed to keep Fiona off my enemies' radar? Daisy's been Luna of the Eastlands for years. It's not like I ever mistreated her!" Carl's voice came through, sharp and low. I backed into the wall, eyes widening as the truth hit me—he'd loved someone else all along, whereas I was nothing but a decoy. I staggered back to my room. The wound I'd earned protecting him tore open again, and blood leaked from my abdomen, but I barely felt it over the sting of betrayal. On the nightstand, the apples Carl had so carefully sliced for me sat untouched, mocking me like some twisted joke. He treated me like I was everything. He pulled me out of the Borderlands, made me his mate, and gave me everything I ever asked for. That kind of bold, all-consuming love sparked envy wherever we went. As Alpha of the Eastlands, Carl ruled over ten packs and a business empire that stretched deep into the lawless Borderlands. In just five years, I'd been abducted three times because of him, taken two knives to the gut, and thrown myself in front of a bullet. I would've died for him if needed! I thought all his grand gestures meant he loved me down to the bone, but it was all a lie. "Did you just go out?" Carl's voice came from behind me abruptly. I turned on instinct. Tears still streaked my face, and I met his warm, smiling eyes. Countless times, I'd told myself I was one of the lucky ones. I told myself that the Moon Goddess had smiled on me, giving me someone as perfect and exceptional as Carl for a mate. But now, for the first time, I saw that cold look in his eyes that made my blood run still. "Daisy, are you scared of me? Where did you just go?" Carl questioned. He was too astute. I managed a smile. "I woke up and you were gone, so I went looking. It freaked me out a little, that's all." One week—that was all it took to go from a nameless Omega Rogue scraping by on the Borderlands to being mated to the most powerful Alpha in all of the Eastlands. After that first abduction, the fear never really left me. It clung to my bones. Anytime Carl wasn't near, panic crept in, and I'd start to shake. He didn't question it. He just stroked my hair to quiet the storm in me. His fingers found my jaw, trailing softly along the curve before brushing my ear. He then slid down my neck, tracing the length of my spine. I drew in a sharp breath, and a tremor ran through me. Finally, his hand settled at my waist, its warmth setting fire to every nerve beneath my skin. "I'll be gone tomorrow. Be good and wait for me at home," he said. Carl pressed a kiss to the corner of my lips, his breath hot against my ear as the words melted into me like a brand. A shiver ran through me. I clung to his shirt, my voice barely a whisper as I said, "Carl, my wound still hurts..." He pulled my top over my head, brows knitting together when he saw the bloodied bandages beneath. "Daisy, you're always getting hurt. I have urgent business to attend to. You've got to start taking better care of yourself." Carl's touch was gentle as he replaced the bandages and smoothed on the ointment. There was real concern in his eyes, but the words I'd overheard kept replaying in my mind. Why was he leaving tomorrow? Was it to see Fiona Barone, the woman he truly loved and the one I'd nearly died trying to protect?

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

As night settled in, Carl wrapped his arms around me and drifted off without a care. But I lay there wide awake, breathing in his familiar scent while the conversation I'd overheard that day played on a loop in my head. I didn't open my eyes until I was sure he'd already left the next morning. It was just a short walk from the bedroom to the study. Inside, he kept only things that had to do with me. From our first anniversary to my last birthday, every little keepsake was carefully arranged. Anyone who saw it would've said he adored me. But only I knew about the diary tucked away in the drawer's hidden compartment. It was a diary that wasn't mine. Carl told me that when he was drunk. That night, he kept repeatedly apologizing, his face tight with guilt. But back then, I was too caught up in him to think twice about it. By morning, he'd forgotten he ever said a word. I slid open the hidden compartment and brushed the dust off the diary. The lock was intricate—proof of how much its owner valued whatever was inside. I never thought the code-breaking I'd learned from some old man back in my Rogue days would come in handy now. The lock clicked open, and I flipped to the first page. There, in Carl's bold, forceful handwriting, was a name—Fiona. The first ten pages were filled with nothing but his love for her. Between the lines, every word felt deliberate, burning with passion yet laced with hesitation. It was a side of Carl I'd never seen before. This wasn't the Alpha of the Eastlands or the man who held life and death in his hands. With me, he'd always been composed. I thought that was maturity and that he'd simply grown out of the wild passion of his youth. But the truth was, he just didn't love me enough. The last page was a mess of frantic writing. "Someone tried to kill Fiona. She was right all along. No one tied to the seat of power should ever have a mate. I have to get her out of here. It's too dangerous." After that, the journal entries became scattered. "She's so easy to deceive. A few sweet words, a couple of carefully placed lies, and she follows blindly.""I thought about Fiona again today. Poor thing actually believed I was talking about her. Fine. I'll let her believe it, as long as Fiona stays safe.""If she ever ends up as my mate, she probably won't even care if someone tries to kill her. She's just an Omega and a former Rogue.""The Moon Goddess will curse me for this, but the abduction went exactly as I planned. The trauma will keep her close. She'll never walk away from me now. I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to her." I covered my eyes, flustered and afraid the tears would spill. A heavy ache rolled through my chest. So, the one Carl wanted beside him in the light was never me. All our happiness—our meeting, our love, and the bond we shared as mates—was never real. It was just a beautiful illusion I'd crafted for myself from the start. I closed the diary and tucked it carefully back into its hiding place. It wasn't until I'd left the study that I finally let the tears fall. I curled in on myself, like I'd slipped back to those days when I was just a Rogue scraping by in the Borderlands. The memory of my first abduction flashed through my mind. … Back then, Carl and I were still deeply in love. I'd just been discharged from the hospital and was bursting to tell him the news—I was carrying his pup. But the moment I got into the car, everything went dark. Later, those Rogues dragged me across the floor. The cold and the relentless torture were too much, so I lost the pup that had only just begun to grow inside me. By the time Carl burst in and pulled me into his arms, all that was left was the blur of my fading consciousness and the blood soaking through my clothes. It was around that time that I developed something like a psychological dependency. I couldn't stand being away from Carl for long. The healer said I needed constant companionship and reassurance from my mate. The torture had left lasting damage to my body, too. It meant I'd never be able to carry a pup of my own again. Carl comforted me back then, saying it didn't matter if we couldn't have pups. But now, I see the truth—he never wanted a pup with me to begin with. He was the one who stole that future from me. What I mistook for love and salvation was nothing more than a carefully crafted lie. "My mate betrayed me! He lied to me! This can't be forgiven!" my wolf howled in fury. Suddenly, a searing pain ripped through my chest, knocking the breath from my lungs. My body went haywire out of my control. I collapsed onto the bed, convulsing violently. And yet, in the heart of that agony, my mind grew eerily still. Every moment I'd ever shared with Carl played on a loop, refusing to let go. For five long years, I'd survived one assassination attempt after another, each time barely making it out alive. And every time, Carl had rushed in to save me, even if it meant getting hurt himself. His fear for me had been real because if I died, all that danger would shift to the one he truly loved—Fiona. My hands trembled as I pulled up Carl's transaction records from the past few years. He ran a jewelry business in the Borderlands, and every single gift he'd ever given me had come from there.

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

That jewelry company didn't take on any outside clients. Other than the fixed annual transfer of 100 million dollars from Carl, all of its profits came from internal allocations within the conglomerate he ran. Despite that, its influence was staggering, and every single piece of jewelry produced ended up on Fiona. I stumbled across Fiona's Facebook profile. She'd been living it up in a beachfront villa. Her fingers were entwined with some man's in her latest post. The caption read, "My greatest love." I zoomed in. On the man's ring finger was a ruby band that matched hers, and a faint mark around his wrist hinted at a bracelet that had been there far too long. Carl once told me he hated wearing rings, so at our mate-bonding ceremony, we had everything except rings. Like a fool, I believed him. I even wove a bracelet by hand and fastened it around his wrist. He called it his protection charm and swore he'd never take it off. Then, Fiona showed up, and it was gone. I scrolled through her Facebook. On February 14th, Carl gave her a sapphire necklace, carved from the flawless heart of a single stone by master craftsmen. That same day, he gave me one too, studded with broken bits of sapphire. On July 7th, he bought the finest moonlight silk to have a custom gown made for Fiona. Meanwhile, I got a moonlight silk scarf. Entry after entry, I kept scrolling, each one carving out my heart a little more. Carl saw me as nothing more than Fiona's stand-in. Every so-called "gift of love" he gave me was just an afterthought and whatever was left once he'd finished crafting perfection for her. Five years of everything we had shattered in a heartbeat. I cried through the night before it finally hit me. Everything Carl ever did, all that tenderness and affection, was just setting me up for the fall. I was still just the Rogue from the Borderlands. When my tears finally dried, I decided I'd leave him in a week. During that time, Carl texted me once. I used to think he checked in on me every day because he loved me, but now I knew better—he was just afraid Fiona's scapegoat might run. Well, if that was all I ever was, why the hell should I make it easy for him? Carl came home in the dead of night. The moment he walked in, he buried his face in my neck, nuzzling me like some lovesick fool. "Daisy, did you miss me? I couldn't sleep a wink without you," he said lovingly. Dark circles hung under his eyes, and he really did look like he'd been up all night. Once, that would've broken me. Now, I didn't even flinch. He didn't even love me. Yet here he was, putting on this sickeningly sweet act. It made my skin crawl. "Shy, are we?" he teased. He let out a low chuckle. Then, he yanked me hard against his chest, making me endure his rough, possessive touch. … The second I opened my eyes in the morning, I saw Carl looming over me with a dark expression. I shrank back, remembering just how fast his temper could flare. "Your phone went off. What did you delete?" he questioned. I glanced down at my phone. It was a message from my lawyer. The pack had formally removed me from their registers. I managed a thin smile. “Nothing important. Just an old email account. It had been inactive for too long, so I deleted it.”"Oh?" Carl leaned in, his hand tightening around the back of my neck. "Don't lie to me, Daisy. Don't you dare betray me." I nodded. Luckily, Carl's phone rang before he could press any further. "What? Fiona's back? Who told her she could come? Hold her there. I'm coming." His voice was tight and low with tension. He strode out without so much as a glance in my direction. Before I walked away from all of this, there was still one thing I had to do. Even though I'd already cut ties with the pack, I couldn't stand the thought of my name—Daisy Smith—still being linked to Carl. I had to break our mate bond completely without him ever knowing. After taking a steady breath, I typed out a message to Fiona's number. "Hi, Fiona Barone. I'm Carl's mate. We need to talk."