ZaraPOV

I stare at the message on my phone, and a bitter smile twists my lips.

—Ten minutes. Get to the hospital and apologize toStella. Now.

My finger hovers over the screen. Before I can type a response, another text slams through.

—If anything happens toStella, you'll pay with your life.

The words blur. I blink, but the tears come anyway, hot and shameful against my cheeks.

Timothy Sterling. You forgot, didn't you? Today is our third wedding anniversary.

He's not our mate,' Raven growls in my mind, frustrated. 'Why do you keep doing this to us?'

'He saved my life,' I whisper back to her. 'Ten years ago, he pulled me from that wreck. I owe him everything.'

'That doesn't mean we belong to him! I feel nothing from his wolf. No bond. No recognition. He's not—'

'Enough.' I cut her off. 'I know you don't feel the mate bond. But I love him. That has to be enough.'

Raven goes silent, retreating into the depths of my consciousness. She's given up arguing with me.

I spent the entire afternoon preparing dinner. Every dish is perfect—roasted lamb with rosemary, the way Timothy likes it. The table is set with candles. Pathetic, really. Waiting for a husband who'll never come home.

Except someone does come home.

Just not my husband.

The front door slams open.Stella Taylor struts in like she owns the place, her heels clicking against the hardwood, her wolf's scent—Lyric, all honeysuckle and false sweetness—polluting my home.

"Zara." She smiles, and it's all teeth. "Still pretending you have a marriage worth celebrating?"

I yank the apron off and throw it at her face. "Get out of my house."

She catches it, laughing. "Your house? You really don't know, do you?" She steps closer, invading my space. Her wolf rises behind her eyes, challenging mine. "Timothy loves me. Not some pathetic omega who can't even shift properly."

My hands curl into fists. Raven snarls inside me, wanting out. 'Let me rip her throat open.'

"You're nothing,"Stella continues, circling me like prey. "A wolfless omega who—"

"I'm not wolfless," I bite out. "And you know it."

"Then why can't anyone feel your wolf?" She leans in close, whispering. "Why didn't Timothy's wolf recognize you? Because you're an omega, Zara. The lowest rank. Defective."

I shove her back. Hard.

She stumbles, eyes wide—then calculating. The screech of tires outside makes us both freeze.

Timothy's home.

Stella's lips curl into something cold and victorious. She backs toward the staircase, her movements deliberate. Then she tips backward and throws herself down the stairs.

The crack of her body hitting each step echoes through the house.

"Stella!" I lean over the railing, shock numbing my limbs. "You insane—"

The front door crashes open. Timothy Sterling, Blue Moon Pack's Alpha, strides in. His wolf—Havoc—pulses with dominance, making the air thick and heavy. He's half-shifted, eyes blazing gold, canines elongated.

He seesStella crumpled at the base of the stairs and goes completely still.

"What did you do?" His voice drops into that Alpha tone—the one that makes lesser wolves submit, that vibrates through bone and marrow.

"Timothy, I—"

"Don't." He blurs across the room with werewolf speed, kneeling besideStella. When he scoops her into his arms, his hands shake. "Stella.Stella, look at me."

"Timothy..." She curls into his chest, bleeding from a gash on her leg. "Don't be angry at Zara. It's my fault. I made her upset."

"You're lying!" The words rip out of me. "She threw herself down! She—"

"Enough!" Timothy's Alpha command slams into me like a physical blow.

Raven snarls, resisting. 'No! I won't submit to him! He's not our Alpha!'

But I force her down. Force her to lower her head. 'Please, Raven. He's hurting. Just submit.'

'He's NOT—'

'He saved my life!' I'm practically begging my own wolf now. 'I owe him this. Please.'

Raven fights me, but I'm stronger in this moment. Years of believing Timothy is my savior, my destiny, gives me the will to suppress my own wolf's instincts.

She finally yields—not to Timothy, but to me. And I hate myself for it.

"You've taken everything from her," Timothy snarls at me, his wolf rising to the surface. "And now you want to kill her too?"

"I didn't—"

"Stop lying!" Veins bulge in his neck. His eyes are pure gold now, Havoc completely in control. "You're so good at pretending. So good at acting innocent. I should never have married you."

The words hit harder than any physical blow could. My knees buckle slightly.

'He didn't mean it,' I try to convince myself. 'He's just angry. Once he calms down—'

'He's NOT our mate!' Raven roars back, furious now. 'I've been telling you for three years! His wolf doesn't recognize us. There's no bond. There never was!'

"Timothy..." My voice comes out broken, unfamiliar. "You really think that?"

"What I think," he says, liftingStella in his arms, "is that you'll answer for this when I get back."

He carries her toward the door.Stella's head lolls against his shoulder—but her eyes find mine. Sharp. Aware. Triumphant.

Her lips move silently: 'You. Lost.'

My phone buzzes with another message. I'm sitting on the floor now, back against the wall, everything inside me hollowed out.

—Get to the hospital. Apologize. Ten minutes.

I swipe to the next text. This one's fromStella.

—Did you see how he held me? How he looked at me? He'll always love me, Zara. You should just disappear.

Then an image loads. Timothy, fresh from the shower. His robe hangs loose, exposing the hard planes of his chest, water still beading on his skin. The intimate casualness of it—the way he's comfortable, relaxed—makes my stomach turn.

—Last night, he stayed at my place. Want to know what we did?

The next message is just ellipses. Mocking. Suggestive.

I imagine Timothy's hands on her skin. His mouth on hers. His body pressing her into the mattress. Him entering her, claiming her the way an Alpha claims his mate—fierce and possessive and whole. His wolf recognizing hers, merging with hers, the way he never recognized mine.

Three years. Three years of marriage, and he barely touched me. Maybe a handful of times, and even then it was perfunctory. Mechanical. Like he was fulfilling an obligation. His wolf always pulled back from mine, refusing the bond.

But with her? I imagine him losing control. Giving her everything he never gave me.

'Stop,' Raven begs. 'Please stop thinking about it.'

But I can't.

Three years. Three years of trying. Of hoping that maybe, eventually, he'd see me. That the mate bond would miraculously appear. That his wolf would finally acknowledge mine.

But Raven was right all along.

'I'm sorry,' I tell her. 'I should have listened to you.'

'We were stupid,' Raven says, but her voice is gentle now. 'You wanted so badly to believe he was the one who saved you. That he was meant for us.'

'He's not, is he?'

'No,' she says softly. 'He never was.'

The phone rings. Timothy's sister, Esta.

"Zara? You home?"

"What do you want?" I don't have the energy to pretend anymore.

"The cook's out with Mom. Come make me dinner. I'm starving."

I laugh. It sounds unhinged even to my own ears. "No."

"What did you just—"

I hang up.

For the first time in three years, I hang up on a Sterling.

Raven stirs inside me, surprised. 'What are we doing?'

"Something I should've done a long time ago," I say out loud, my voice steady now. Cold.

I look down at my phone. At Timothy's messages. AtStella's gloating photos.

At three years of humiliation.

'It's time to leave,' I tell Raven.

'Finally,' she says, relief flooding through our bond. 'I've been waiting for you to wake up.'