Chapter 1

Isla's POV

On our fifth wedding anniversary, my husband forgot me. By nightfall, someone buried me alive.

I never imagined the worst day of my life would begin with so little.

For an entire year, I had secretly taken on extra duties around Blackthorn Palace, denying myself every luxury just to buy Alpha Damon Blackthorn the sports car he'd always wanted. I thought that maybe, after five years of marriage, this anniversary would finally make him see me.

Instead, Damon looked at me with confusion when I wished him a happy anniversary.

He had forgotten. Because today wasn't our anniversary in his eyes.

It was Rowena's birthday.

His first love. His best friend.

He told me we'd have another anniversary next year, that I was making a big deal out of nothing, then left without even looking at the gift waiting for him outside the palace.

Minutes later, he called, not to apologize, but to order me to bring a replacement gown to Rowena's birthday celebration after she accidentally stained hers.

Not once did he ask how I felt. But like always, I obeyed.

I placed the gown inside my car and drove toward Mooncrest Hotel, still hoping that somehow, the night would get better.

It never did.

A truck suddenly crashed into my car.

Pain exploded through my body as the vehicle spun across the road. Before I could even catch my breath, several masked rogue wolves ripped open the door and dragged me onto the pavement.

"W-Wait!" I cried, struggling against them. "I'm the Luna of Blackthorn!"

They ignored every word. Instead, they hauled me into an abandoned factory, throwing me onto the cold concrete floor before fists and boots rained down on me.

Blood filled my mouth as agony stole every breath, leaving me to stare through blurred vision at the masked wolves waiting for me to die.

"Who sent you?" I gasped. "No one attacks a Luna without someone's orders."

Silence.

Just another brutal kick sent me crashing to the floor before they dragged into a wooden coffin, tossed me inside, and slammed the lid shut, plunging me into darkness.

"No! Please!" I screamed, pounding against the wood as nails pierced through the lid one by one.

Every hammer strike sealed my fate as dirt buried the coffin, my screams faded beneath the earth, and I clawed at the wood until my fingers bled.

Moon Goddess... please...

Just as darkness claimed to me, the coffin splintered open, fresh air rushed into my lungs, and strong hands pulled me to safety.

"Easy."

I looked up through tear-filled eyes.

"Kael..."

My husband's younger brother.

His silver eyes scanned the forest before helping me to my feet.

"We have to leave."

"W-Who did this?" I asked, my entire body trembling.

"I don't know," he answered quietly. "But don't tell anyone I rescued you. If whoever ordered this finds out you survived, they'll finish what they started."

A chill ran through me as Kael warned me not to trust anyone in the pack, yet, bruised, bloodied, and wearing my torn dress. I still went to Damon, hoping he'd finally care.

The ballroom fell silent as Harold, my father-in-law, stared at me in shock, but before I could speak, my mother-in-law snatched the gown from my hands.

"Look at yourself," Meredith sneered. "Did you come here just to embarrass our son?"

Laughter echoed through the ballroom as I searched for Damon, but my husband only glanced at me before frowning in disgust.

"Go change," he said coldly. "You're embarrassing me."

He never asked if I was hurt or who attacked me. I went to change into the only outfit my mother-in-law approved, a maid's uniform, and the ballroom erupted in laughter when I returned.

Mocking me.

Unable to endure the humiliation any longer, I turned to leave until Rowena's voice behind a nearby door stopped me, and I quietly pulled out my phone to record as she hissed, "I paid you to kill her."

My blood ran cold.

"How is she still alive?"

"Someone interfered," one of the rogues answered nervously. "We never saw his face."

"You idiots!" Rowena snapped. "Next time, make sure she dies. Lady Meredith won't tolerate another failure."

My heart nearly stopped. Meredith...

My mother-in-law knew?

"But why not just banish Luna Isla?" the rogue asked.

Rowena laughed.

"Use your brain. Isla is the last heir of House Nightfang. Damon only became Alpha because he married her. If she leaves him, everything we've stolen disappears."

She paused before saying the words that shattered me.

"So she can't leave. She has to die."

Frozen behind the wall, I ended the recording, knowing the family I'd spent five years loving wanted me dead.

Swallowing my fear, I returned to the ballroom, where Rowena stood smiling in Damon's arms as though she'd already won.

"You look much better in a maid's uniform," she mocked.

I met her eyes and smiled back.

"No matter what I wear, I'm still Blackthorn's Luna."

Her smile faltered.

"Enough, Isla," Damon snapped. "You'll have to accept Rowena. She's moving into the pack house as my second Luna."

My world tilted. Rowena rested a hand on her stomach and smiled.

"I'm pregnant."

Damon immediately wrapped an arm around her waist, his eyes filled with a tenderness I had begged for during five years of marriage.

"Our child deserves a complete family." I didn’t say anything. Instead, I turned away as though I couldn't bear another second.

Everyone thought I'd left, but I hid behind a marble pillar as Harold, Meredith, Damon, and Rowena gathered only moments later.

"You ordered her death and still failed?" Harold hissed. "Are you all idiots?"

"It's not our fault," Rowena defended herself. "The rogues said someone appeared and rescued Isla before they could finish the job."

"It doesn't matter," Damon said flatly. "Nothing changes. Isla still has to die."

My breath caught. Harold's face darkened.

"That isn't the point. What if she finds out? What if she learns everything we’ve done?”

Damon let out a mocking laugh.

"She won't."

He sounded almost amused.

"I've spent five years keeping her exactly where I wanted her."

He grinned as he added, "There is nothing to worry about. As long as she remained my Luna, the Nightfang throne, its lands, and its wealth stayed under my control."

He looked down at Rowena with a smile so gently it made me sick.

"She won’t suspect a thing. She still has no idea who really killed her parents." Harold said, and the world around me went silent.

"Of course she didn't," Damon replied.

"She was too busy grieving to notice that we arranged her parents' death, comforted her at the funeral, then convinced the High Council that marrying me was the only way to protect House Nightfang."

He laughed.

"And she thanked me for saving her."

A tear slipped down my cheek, but with Damon's next words, grief died, anger took its place, and my wolf roared within me.