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Chapter 1 — The Bond Is Severed
Chloe's POV:
Pain.
It felt like fire racing up and down my spine and igniting every nerve in my body.
I clenched my teeth and pushed all the liquid from the syringe into my womb.
This was "Tears of the Moon Goddess."
An illegal drug that would forcibly drive an Omega into heat, increase the chance of conception, and burn away the mother's lifespan.
For the sake of giving my mate a powerful Alpha heir, I had been injecting it into myself for three straight months.
My name is Chloe Baywood, the hidden Luna of the Black Moon pack.
Why hidden?
Because the pack could not accept an Omega as Luna, I had never been formally introduced to them.
But my mate, Alpha Greyson Maynard, had promised that as long as I gave birth to an heir, I would be officially presented to the pack.
"Hopefully tonight works..."
I cradled my feverish lower belly and went home, full of hope.
That day was the third anniversary of my bonding ceremony with Greyson.
I had personally baked his favorite red velvet cake and placed it at the center of the table.
The clock pointed to eight at night, and he still had not returned.
Unease quickly spread wildly in my chest like weeds. I picked up my phone, dialing the number I knew by heart.
After a long, drawn-out ring, the call connected.
"What is it?" Greyson's voice was cold, with noise in the background.
"Greyson, are you coming back to our territory tonight? I was hoping you'd come home early today."
There was a second of silence on the other end.
Then, a woman's voice came clearly through the speaker.
"Greyson, my foot really hurts... Can you give me a massage?"
Boom!
My body froze instantly.
That voice belonged to Tiffany Hutchinson, his first love, and the woman everyone in the pack believed was the most suitable Luna.
"Greyson?" My voice trembled.
"You called me over something this trivial?!" Greyson did not explain the voice at all, sounding impatient. "Tiffany was hurt, so I'm keeping her company. Go to sleep on your own."
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The call was mercilessly cut off.
My heart felt like it had been crushed by an invisible hand.
I stared at the exquisite cake on the table as tears silently slid down my face.
But he didn't say that he was not coming back, right?
Maybe he had just been taking her to the hospital. Maybe it had simply been an Alpha protecting the weak.
Mates were supposed to trust each other.
I wiped away my tears and continued preparing for the anniversary as if nothing had happened.
I changed into a thong and black silk sleepwear, sprayed on his favorite vanilla perfume, and lay on the bed like a sacrifice awaiting grace.
The effects of "Tears of the Moon Goddess" began to kick in.
My body grew hot, aching for an Alpha's touch.
One hour. Two hours.
Just as the pain of heat drove me to the point of wanting to reach for a toy...
Bang!
The bedroom door was shoved open.
An aggressive wave of icy cedar scent flooded the room. It was Greyson's scent.
"Greyson..."
I barely propped myself up when a scorching, powerful body pressed down on me.
"Mmph!"
His kiss was rough and feral, charged with an urgency I could not comprehend. It felt as if he wanted to devour me whole, right then and there.
"Baby, you're so beautiful tonight..."
He growled hoarsely, large hands tearing apart my expensive lace nightgown.
Between the drug and an Alpha's provocation, I melted instantly.
"Greyson, be gentle..."
"Harder, you mean?"
That night, he was unusually aggressive, borderline mad.
We tumbled across the bed, sweat mingling. Every thrust was striking straight into my soul, making me mistake them for an outpouring of love.
My wolf screamed in pleasure, believing we were deeply in love.
It was a wild, breathless night of sex.
Until the end, when he growled low in my ear as he released, then collapsed heavily to the side and fell into a deep sleep.
The room was thick with the scent of lust.
I turned onto my side and, by the moonlight, greedily traced his handsome profile.
See, he had come back! My trust had not been betrayed.
Just then...
Ding!
The phone on my nightstand suddenly lit up.
Who would send me a message at this hour?
Afraid of waking him, I carefully picked up the phone.
I tapped it, and there was only one photo.
It was a picture of Greyson holding a woman as they walked into a motel.
Boom!
The warmth still lingering in my body instantly plunged into icy hell.
It was Tiffany.
So, he did not go to the doctor with her.
He had been in bed with her!
And that frenzied taking of me just moments earlier, that desperate release...
Was it because he loved me? Or because he had treated me as a substitute for that woman?
Gag!
A violent wave of nausea surged up from my stomach.
The sweetness from moments ago turned into the sickening feeling of swallowing flies.
I looked at the man sleeping beside me and at the kiss mark on his neck.
My wolf let out a shrill, agonized howl.
"Fuck!"
With all my strength, I drove a vicious kick into the man beside me.
Thud!
Completely unprepared, Greyson was sent flying off the bed, slamming hard onto the floor.
"What the fuck?!"
Greyson jolted awake, scrambling up from the floor. His golden eyes were blazing with rage.
"Chloe! Have you lost your mind?!"
I stood barefoot on the bed, clutching my phone tightly. Even though I was crying, my voice was icy cold.
"I'd lost my mind?"
I hurled the phone hard into his naked chest.
"Greyson, you disgust me.
"You crawled into my bed right after getting out of hers!
"You touched me with the hands that had held her, kissed me with the mouth that had kissed her, and used what you put into her to put into me!"
Greyson caught the phone, and the moment he saw the photo, his pupils shrank sharply.
But there was no guilt.
Instead, his expression hardened instantly. "You had someone follow me? How dare you stalk me? Tiffany wasn't well, so we rested for a bit.
"Nothing happened?"
I pointed at the red mark on his neck. "Then what's that? A mosquito bite? Or had you not gotten enough release with her, so you came back to use me, a free whore, to make up the difference?"
"Shut up!" Greyson roared. "Stop projecting your filthy thoughts onto Tiffany. She was pure. Not like you, a broodmare who'd do anything to get pregnant and even monitored her mate."
I guess enduring pain and injecting myself for him had been 'doing anything.'
But Tiffany, who had barged into someone else's bond, had been 'pure.'
My heart died completely in that moment.
I looked at the man I had loved for ten years, and suddenly, he felt like a stranger. He's filthy.
So filthy that just looking at him made me want to vomit.
"Get out."
I looked at him coldly.
Maybe my gaze had been too desperate, because Greyson froze for a moment.
"Chloe, stop making a scene. Go to sleep. We'll talk about this tomorrow..."
"There will be no tomorrow."
I cut him off.
I took a deep breath and, right in front of him, slowly removed the ring from my ring finger.
"If you wouldn't leave, I would."
"What nonsense were you talking about?" He frowned, clearly not believing that I would ever leave him.
I let out a cold laugh, straightened my spine, and met his gaze.
"I, Chloe Baywood, an Omega of the Maplewood pack," I said as I enunciated every word.
"By the name of the Moon Goddess, I reject you, Greyson Maynard. Let this be my witness. The bond is now severed."
Chapter 2 — I'm Free Now
Chloe's POV:
The moment the vow fell, the air seemed to tear apart.
A violent pain struck, like a red-hot brand being pressed straight into my soul.
"Ugh!"
Greyson clutched his chest. His tall body swayed violently, and he nearly dropped to his knees.
This was the price of a severed mate bond.
I was in just as much pain. I had cold sweat pouring down my back, but I bit down hard and said nothing, straightening my spine as I looked at him.
I was waiting.
I was waiting for him to regret it, and waiting for his wolf to beg me to stay.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
A sharp, piercing, exclusive ringtone shattered the frozen silence.
It came from Tiffany.
Greyson's expression changed instantly.
He did not even spare a thought for the soul-ripping pain as he answered the call with trembling hands.
"What's wrong?"
His voice was so anxious that it made my heart go cold.
A soft, tearful cry came from the other end of the line.
"Don't be scared. I'm coming right now."
Greyson hung up, panic filling his golden eyes.
He did not look at me anymore after that.
Not even as my face went deathly pale from the pain.
Not even after I had just said the word "reject."
He rushed out of the bedroom without turning back.
Bang!
The front door slammed shut.
Hmph.
So this was my mate.
In his eyes, my suffering was worth less than a single tear from that woman.
The last spark in my heart went out completely.
...
Half an hour later...
I stood at the edge of the Black Moon pack's territory with a small suitcase behind me.
A wild red Jeep Wrangler roared to a stop in front of me.
The window rolled down, revealing Roxanne Kipper's signature short red hair.
Roxanne was my best friend. She had no werewolf blood and was pure human, yet she was stronger than most werewolves.
She took off her sunglasses, stared at the pitiful little suitcase in my hand, and nearly dropped her jaw.
"You're kidding me, Chloe. That's all you brought? You were a pack's Luna!"
"A Luna the pack never acknowledged," I said with a mocking smile, tossing the suitcase into the trunk.
I looked toward the distant forest and took a deep breath of air beyond the territory.
Freedom.
"It's all over now. I'm free."
I smiled faintly and got into the passenger seat.
"You really rejected him? You loved him so much that you even used Tears of the Moon Goddess for him," Roxanne said as she drove.
"Of course." I shrugged and looked out at the scenery flashing past the window. "I wasn't going to be his free nanny and prostitute anymore."
Roxanne jerked the steering wheel and burst out swearing.
"That bastard Greyson! He actually treated you like an unpaid nanny?! Damn it, if you split up, you should've at least taken tens of billions in assets!"
"We had a blood pact," I said, watching my own cold reflection in the window. "As long as I didn't give the Black Moon pack an heir, I couldn't take a single cent of their assets."
"These big packs really know how to exploit people. They freeloaded off you for years," Roxanne slammed the steering wheel angrily. "It's fine. We can support ourselves. L.MOON Studio has been receiving a ton of new orders lately. We all need you."
L.MOON was the haute couture studio Roxanne, and I ran together.
Everyone thought I was just an invisible Luna living off an Alpha, but in truth, I had another identity.
I was the most mysterious ace designer in the werewolf world—"Vesper."
Countless nobles chased after my designs and threw obscene amounts of money at custom orders.
Yet, no one had ever seen my real face. Not even Greyson knew that the Alpha coronation suit he was so proud of had been designed by my own hands.
These past years, I had neglected my friends and wasted my talent for a man who never loved me. Thankfully, Roxanne had held onto our dream and waited for me, giving me somewhere to land after I left the pack.
"Thank you, Roxanne, for keeping my dream alive..." I looked at her.
"It's my dream too, sweetheart. You deserve everything better, not some trash man."
Greyson's merciless retreating figure surfaced in my mind.
I let out a cold laugh. "Yeah. I'm free now."
...
L.MOON Studio was located in the bustling Neutral Zone.
It was a gray area where humans and werewolves lived together, and it was also my new battlefield.
Roxanne dropped me off and hurried off to catch a flight for the next deal.
After seeing her off, I went straight up to the second-floor lounge.
After unilaterally severing the mate bond, I had no money on me at all and could only stay at the studio for now.
But that was fine, as this was exactly what I wanted.
I turned on my computer, looked at the mountain of orders, and quickly slipped into work mode.
For two full days, I worked nonstop, sketching, drafting patterns, and selecting fabrics.
After finally rushing out several urgent gowns, I was just about to lie down and rest.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
My assistant, Maya Adams, rushed in frantically, her face ghost-white.
"Vesper, this is bad!"
"What happened?" I sat up, rubbing my temples.
Maya's voice was shaky. She was clearly terrified.
"There's ... there's a client downstairs demanding to see the chief designer. If you don't go down, she says she'll have the Black Moon pack destroy our studio!"
"The Black Moon pack? Who is it?"
Maya swallowed hard and said the name that made my blood freeze instantly.
"She's called Tiffany Hutchinson. She says she's the future Luna of the Black Moon pack."
Chapter 3 — Moonlight Devotion
Chloe's POV:
I had barely moved out of the manor, and he already couldn't wait to introduce a new Luna to the pack?
Greyson, you really are a b*stard.
I took a deep breath and forced down the sour ache surging in my chest.
"Don't be afraid. I'll be right down."
I walked to the mirror and looked at my slightly haggard reflection.
No.
Right now, I was not the abandoned, resentful Chloe. I was Vesper, chief designer of L.MOON.
I moved quickly, putting on a sharp red lip to cover the dark circles under my eyes.
I changed into a fitted black suit and stepped into a pair of 4-inch, red-soled heels—like a warrior heading into battle.
Pushing open the door to the lounge, I walked down the spiral staircase step by step.
Two interwoven scents filled the air.
One was the cold cedarwood I had been obsessed with for ten years.
The other was the rotten peach stench that made me want to gag.
From a distance, I saw two intimate figures on the leather sofa in the VIP lounge.
Greyson had his head lowered as he was gently massaging Tiffany's ankle. It was a tenderness I had never once been given.
My steps faltered, and the professional smile on my face vanished instantly.
At that moment, Greyson seemed to catch my scent.
He snapped his head up, and his golden pupils contracted sharply.
The next second, he suddenly stood and flashed in front of me. "Chloe, how dare you follow me again?!"
Hmph. Follow him?
How ridiculous. This was my ex-mate, someone who was confident to the point of clownishness.
"Let go."
I looked at him coldly and forcefully shook off his hand.
"Mr. Maynard, I am currently working. Please conduct yourself properly."
"Working?" Greyson sounded as if he had heard a joke.
He looked me up and down, mockery filling his eyes. "What, the villa I gave you wasn't big enough, so that's why you have to come out and work?"
Clearly, he didn't know I was a designer. He assumed I was just a staff member here.
In truth, I had never hidden my ability to draw designs from him, but he had never once cared.
Perhaps, in his eyes, I was just a useless Omega who could only become a service worker once I left him.
"Greyson." I lifted my chin and met his gaze. "We already severed the bond. Even if I were scrubbing toilets here, it would have nothing to do with a noble Alpha like you."
Greyson flushed with anger. "What severed bond? You knew I wouldn't agree, so you deliberately said that to provoke me!
"Chloe, the Luna of the Black Moon pack should be dignified, not making big scenes like this!"
I froze for a moment, unable to understand why he still thought we were connected.
Then, I remembered.
That night, he had been too busy taking care of the 'injured' Tiffany and had never clearly responded to my rejection.
An Alpha's arrogance had made him believe it was nothing more than a lovers' quarrel.
"Since it has now become a unilateral rejection, please make it official with a signature."
I smoothed the sleeve he had wrinkled and smiled politely. "Alpha Greyson, the Moon-Phase Separation auxiliary documents will be drafted tomorrow and sent to the council's werewolf mate division."
Moon-Phase Separation was the formal werewolf bond-termination process. If a mated pair could not swear together under moonlight to dissolve the bond, the procedure could be initiated instead.
After one full moon cycle, the mate bond would automatically dissolve.
Greyson's face reddened as he glared at me, humiliated, but footsteps suddenly sounded behind him.
"Greyson, what's wrong?" Tiffany walked over.
His expression softened at once. "Nothing. Why did you come over? Does your foot still hurt?"
Tiffany pressed her ample chest against his arm and said sweetly, "You were gone so long, so I came to check on you."
Then her gaze slid over me like a venomous snake, lingering on my face. "Greyson, do you know this shop assistant?"
"No," Greyson replied coldly. "I mistook her for someone else."
It's been three years. For the sake of the woman he was cheating with, he had not hesitated to pretend he didn't know me.
"You don't know her..." Tiffany said with a smile, "But since we ran into her, let her serve us."
She turned and pointed at the most prominent bulletproof glass display case in the center of the hall.
"I heard the mysterious designer Vesper's most prized work is here! Greyson, I want that one!"
I followed her finger, and my breathing stopped instantly.
It was Moonlit Devotion, Vesper's debut masterpiece.
It was also a wedding gown I had spent three full years creating, stitch by stitch, using the most expensive moonlight silk and werewolf blessing crystals.
It was supposed to be mine.
I had imagined countless times that one day, I would wear it, hold Greyson's hand, and tell the world at his coronation that I was his Luna.
But now, my ex was going to buy it for his current lover.
"Greyson, what you said before still counts, right? Then, I want this one!" Tiffany clung to his arm and said coquettishly.
He didn't hesitate. "Fine. Go try it on."
"Why should it be sold to his mistress?" My wolf roared in fury.
My assistant Maya sensed my emotional fluctuation and rushed forward to stop them.
"I'm sorry, sir! That wedding dress is not for sale. That's our designer's..."
"Sell it."
I cut Maya off.
I stepped forward and stood before the dazzling wedding gown.
I looked at Tiffany's greedy gaze.
And then I looked at Greyson's indifferent expression.
Something inside my heart emptied completely.
Since this gown had lost its meaning, why not sell it?
I would let the wedding dress I made with my own hands realize its final value.
"It is for sale." I turned around, smiling at the despicable man and woman before me, my eyes devoid of warmth. "But can you afford the price?"
Tiffany looked at me provocatively. "How much is it? No matter what you ask, Alpha Greyson can afford it!"
I raised my long fingers and named a number.
"Ten million. And I don't accept checks. Cash transfer only."
If I were going to sell it, I would sell it for an astronomical price.
I would treat it as a bit of interest on my youth.
Tiffany's smile froze. "Ten million? Are you trying to rob us?"
I shrugged, my gaze locked firmly onto Greyson.
"Alpha Greyson, this is Vesper's most precious work. Of course, it's worth the price. What? The Alpha of the Black Moon pack can't even afford this much?"
His expression darkened.
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