Chapter 1

My heart plummets to the floor as I push open the bedroom door.

The scent hits me first. Raw, animalistic, and wrong. So very wrong. The metallic tang of sweat mixed with something else. something that makes my wolf recoil in disgust. The air is thick with the musk of sex and betrayal.

And there he is.

Damien

My mate. My alpha. The man I was supposed to marry in three months.

He's naked, tangled in sheets that smell like another woman, scrambling to cover himself as his eyes meet mine. His dark hair is disheveled, his face flushed with guilt and panic. Behind him, a blonde woman definitely not pack clutches the bedsheet to her chest and bolts for the bathroom like a coward.

Saraphina—" Damien voice cracks as he stumbles off the bed, his pants around his ankles. "It's not what it looks like."

A hollow laugh escapes my throat. Cold and sharp. The laugh of a woman whose world just shattered into a million pieces.

I take a step forward, my heels clicking against the hardwood floor. Every instinct in my body screams at me to shift, to let my wolf tear him apart for this betrayal. But I won't give him that satisfaction.

"Not what it looks like?" I repeat, my voice eerily calm despite the rage burning through my veins. "Really, Damien ? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you were fucking another woman in our bed."

He flinches at my words, finally pulling his pants up. "Saraphina, please, I can explain—"

"Explain what exactly?" My voice rises, the control I've been holding onto finally slipping. "That you decided to cheat on your mate the same day we buried my father? That while I was grieving, you were here screwing some human?"

The bond between us that sacred connection that every werewolf dreams of feels like acid in my chest. I can feel his guilt and panic through it, and it makes me sick.

"I wasn't thinking clearly," he stammers, reaching toward me with shaking hands. "The full moon is in two days, and I—"

"Don't." I step back, my wolf snarling inside my head. "Don't you dare blame the moon for this. Don't you dare make excuses."

My breath comes in short gasps as I stare at him. This man who claimed to love me, who marked me as his mate, who promised me forever just six months ago.

"I came here because I needed you," I whisper, my voice breaking. "I buried my father today, Damien. The man who raised me, who taught me everything about being strong, about honor. And I needed my mate to hold me, to tell me everything would be okay."

Instead, I found him buried between another woman's thighs.

Damien face crumbles. "Saraphina I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It was a mistake—"

"A mistake?" I laugh again, but there's no humor in it. "Your dick just accidentally slipped into her?"

He flinches like I've slapped him.

The bathroom door opens and the blonde woman emerges, fully dressed now, her eyes darting between us nervously. She's human I can tell by her scent, by the way she moves. No grace, no predatory awareness. Just a weak little thing who probably has no idea what she's gotten herself into.

"I should go," she mumbles, grabbing her purse.

"Yes, you should," I snap, my eyes never leaving Damien face. "And next time, make sure the man you're fucking isn't already mated. Some of us don't take kindly to sharing."

She practically runs from the room, the front door slamming behind her.

Now it's just me and him. The cheating bastard who threw away our bond for a quick fuck.

"Saraphina please," Damien begs, dropping to his knees in front of me. "I love you. I've always loved you. This doesn't change anything—"

"Doesn't change anything?" My voice turns deadly quiet. "You betrayed our bond, Damien . You violated the most sacred trust between mates. How does that not change anything?"

I can feel my wolf pacing inside my mind, demanding blood, demanding justice. The urge to shift is almost overwhelming.

"I can fix this," he says desperately. "I'll do whatever it takes. I'll cut off all contact with her, I'll—"

"You think this is about her?" I interrupt. "This isn't about some random human, Damien . This is about you. About the kind of man you are. The kind of mate you are."

I turn toward the door, my heart pounding against my ribs. I need to leave before I do something I'll regret. Before my wolf takes over completely.

"Saraphina wait!" Damien lunges forward, grabbing my wrist.

The moment his skin touches mine, I feel it the bond between us snapping like a rubber band stretched too far. The connection that's been there since the day he marked me just... breaks.

I rip my arm away from him with such force that he stumbles backward.

"Don't. Touch. Me." Each word comes out like a growl, my canines extending slightly.

The love I had for him dies in that moment. Whatever we were, whatever we could have been—it's over.

I don't look back as I walk away. I can hear him calling my name, begging me to stay, but I keep moving. Out of our apartment. Out of our life together. Out of the future I thought we'd share.

The night air hits my face as I step onto the street, and for the first time in hours, I can breathe. My wolf is still snarling, still demanding retribution, but I push her down. Not yet.

I walk in a daze through the empty streets, my mind completely lost. I'm mourning my stepfather, mourning the life I thought I'd have, mourning the mate I thought I knew.

By the time I reach my mother's house, dawn is breaking over the horizon. The funeral feels like a lifetime ago. Everything feels different now. Colder. Like the walls themselves know what I've witnessed tonight.

I push through the front door, my heels clicking against the wooden floor.

"Mom?" I call softly, setting my keys on the hall table.

She should be sleeping. I left her resting after the funeral, exhausted from grief and the stress of losing the man who'd been her husband for fifteen years.

I move through the house quietly, not wanting to wake her. She needs her rest.

But as I pass the kitchen, I see something that makes my blood run cold.

My mother is on the floor.

"Mom?" My voice comes out as a whisper, terror creeping up my spine.

She doesn't move.

No. No, no, no.

I drop to my knees beside her, my hands shaking as I check for a pulse. Her skin is burning hot, fever raging through her small frame. There are strange red marks on her arms not quite burns, but something else. Something I don't recognize.

"Mom!" I shake her gently, then harder when she doesn't respond. "Mom, wake up! Please!"

Nothing.

My wolf whimpers in my head, sensing the danger, sensing that something is very wrong. This isn't just illness. This is something else. Something supernatural.

My hands tremble as I grab my phone and dial 911.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"My mother," I gasp, pressing my forehead to hers. "She's unconscious and burning up. Please, I need an ambulance."

"Stay calm, ma'am. We're sending help right now."

But I'm not calm. I can't be calm. First my father, then Damien betrayal, and now this.

"Stay with me," I whisper to my mother's still form. "Please, Mom. Stay with me. I can't lose you too."

The sirens in the distance sound like a death knell.

And somewhere in the back of my mind, a terrible thought begins to form.

What if this isn't a coincidence? What if someone did this to her?

What if the supernatural world I've been trying so hard to stay away from has finally caught up with us?