Chapter One

Chapter 1

"Celeste, your resignation has been approved, but... are you certain about this? Alpha Marcus seemed surprised when he signed it. Perhaps you should reconsider?"

Celeste kept her eyes fixed on the resignation letter, her fingers tracing the familiar signature at the bottom. She shook her head slowly. "No need to reconsider. He's made his choice."

The HR manager shifted uncomfortably. "But Celeste, everyone knows how much the Alpha—"

"How much he what?" Celeste's laugh was hollow. "Cares about me? Values me? Loves me?"

What the HR manager didn't know was that Celeste wasn't just another pack member leaving the company. She was Marcus Sterling's mate—had been for four years. Their mating bond was a secret, buried beneath pack politics and his personal shame.

But love and mating were two very different things, as she'd learned six weeks ago.

The night she miscarried their first pup—alone in a hospital room at 2 AM, bleeding and terrified—she'd called him seventeen times through their mate bond. When he finally answered, his voice was thick with sleep and irritation.

"Celeste, it's the middle of the night. Can't this wait until morning?"

"Marcus, I'm losing the pup. I need you here. The doctors need consent for—"

"Look, I'm sure it's just cramping. She-wolves go through this all the time. Take some painkillers and call me in the morning."

The line went dead, and with it, something in their mate bond snapped forever.

She'd signed her own consent forms while hemorrhaging, her hands shaking so badly she could barely hold the pen. Her wolf whimpered in pain, calling for her mate, but he never came.

When the doctor told her the pup was gone, she was still alone.

Marcus showed up three days later—not to comfort his grieving mate, but to drag her back to work because his assistant had accidentally deleted important files and he needed Celeste to recover them.

He had been with Raven.Raven. Her younger sister. The woman who'd been warming his bed while his mate was losing their pup.

"People change," Celeste said quietly to the HR manager. "I've given him four years of my life. That's enough."

The irony wasn't lost on her. Marcus had claimed her as his mate because she was useful—the brilliant daughter of a neighboring pack's Beta who could make his company profitable. But he'd never wanted a true mate. He'd wanted a business partner who occasionally warmed his bed.

Now that Raven was back from her Europe, he had what he'd always really wanted.

Before she left, though, Celeste had one final gift for her Alpha. Something that would set them both free.

The elevator to the executive floor felt like a countdown to her execution. Celeste clutched her bag, feeling the weight of the rejection papers inside—documents that would officially sever their mate bond.

She found Marcus in his office, arranging red roses in a crystal vase. Her chest tightened—in four years of being mated, he'd never once bought her flowers. He'd said they were a "wasteful gesture" when she'd hinted about wanting them on their mating anniversary.

But these weren't for her. Red roses were Raven's favorite.

"You're back early," he said without looking up. "How are you feeling?"

Such casual concern, as if she'd just had a cold instead of losing their pup.

"I'm fine." The lie came easily now.

He finally glanced at her, and for a moment, something flickered in his eyes. "About what happened... I know I should have been there. But you know how I am with hospitals. All that medical stuff makes me queasy."

Celeste almost laughed. He could handle brutal pack politics, territorial disputes, and corporate warfare, but couldn't handle being present when his mate lost their pup.

"Besides," he continued, turning back to the roses, "it's probably for the best. We're both too busy for a pup right now. These early miscarriages happen for a reason."

The casual cruelty of his words hit her like a physical blow. Their pup—their child—dismissed as an inconvenience that worked out well for his schedule.

He walked toward her, holding up the roses like a trophy. "What do you think? Beautiful, right?"

As the flowers came closer, Celeste's throat began to close. She'd developed a severe allergy to roses after the miscarriage—the pack doctor said trauma could trigger new allergies in wolves. She'd tried to tell Marcus, but he'd been too busy to listen.

She turned away, coughing violently. Instead of concern, he shoved her aside, protective of his precious flowers.

Her shoulder slammed into the corner of his desk. The impact sent waves of pain through her still-healing body, and she felt something tear inside.

"Careful!" he snapped. "Do you know how much these cost? They're specially imported for—"

He stopped himself, but they both knew he was going to say Raven's name.

Celeste straightened, tasting blood in her mouth. She pulled out the rejection papers with steady hands.

"I need your signature on something."

Marcus barely looked at her as he carefully placed the roses back in the vase. "What is it now? Another vendor contract?"

Just as he reached for the papers, his phone buzzed. The screen lit up with a photo—Raven in a bikini, the contact name reading "My Darling."

Celeste's contact name was still just "Celeste."

He answered immediately, his voice transforming into something warm and tender—a tone she'd never heard him use with her.

"Hey, beautiful. I was just thinking about you."

While he walked to the window, lost in conversation, Celeste flipped to the signature page and held out a pen.

"Sign here," she said when he ended the call.

His brows furrowed. Marcus never signed anything without reading it first. But his phone buzzed again—a text from Raven with a photo that made him smile.

Without even glancing at the document, he scrawled his signature.

"There. Happy now? I need to go. Raven's waiting."

She looked at the signature—his name next to hers on the mate bond rejection papers. "Yes. Now you're free."

As he grabbed his coat, he tossed over his shoulder, "The office is a mess. Clean it up before you go."

The door slammed behind him, leaving her alone with the roses and the echo of his indifference.

Celeste walked to his desk, where a silver picture frame held Raven's smiling face. She remembered when her photo had been there—on their mating ceremony day, when she'd still believed in happily ever after.

She opened the desk drawer and found it—her mating ceremony photo, torn in half. Her face had been cut out, leaving only Marcus standing alone in his ceremonial robes.

Next to it was a small velvet box. Her heart stopped as she opened it.

Inside was the Luna ring she'd helped him pick out four years ago. The one he'd claimed was "being resized" but had somehow never made it to her finger.

It was sized for Raven.

He'd always planned to give it to her sister. Celeste had just been the placeholder until Raven was ready to come home.

The memories came flooding back like a cruel movie reel, blurring her vision with unshed tears.

Marcus had never loved her. He'd loved Raven since they were children—the adopted daughter who'd stolen everyone's heart, including his.

Celeste was the biological daughter of the Moonrise Pack's Beta, but when she was three, a rogue attack had killed their parents. The Sterling pack took her in, but they'd already fallen in love with Raven, the orphaned girl they'd been fostering.

To the world, Raven was the Sterling heiress—beloved, spoiled, and destined to be Marcus's mate. Celeste was just the "family friend" they'd graciously raised.

Marcus and Raven had been inseparable growing up. Everyone expected them to mate after college. But a week before their mating ceremony, Raven disappeared to Europe with a French Alpha, claiming she needed to "find herself."

The Sterling pack was devastated. The alliance with Marcus's pack would fall through without the mating bond.

That's when they offered Celeste as a substitute.

"You love him anyway," Marcus's mother had said. "And he needs a Luna who understands business. You're perfect for each other."

Marcus had been broken, drunk, and desperate to spite Raven. He'd agreed to mate with Celeste—but only in secret. "I won't humiliate myself with a public ceremony to a replacement," he'd said.

For four years, she'd believed she could make him love her. She'd run his company, managed his pack duties, and even lost their pup—all while hoping he'd see her as more than just a stand-in.

But when Raven returned last month, everything became clear. The secret mating was just another business arrangement. The moment his real love came back, Celeste became invisible.

She wiped a tear from her cheek and pulled out a small leather journal from her bag. Inside were pressed flowers from their mating ceremony and a list of dates—every time he'd chosen Raven over her, every disappointment, every moment she'd foolishly hoped things would change.

The miscarriage was number 99 on her list.

She'd promised herself that if she reached 100 disappointments, she'd leave and find her second chance mate.

Tonight, watching him arrange roses for another woman while dismissing their dead pup as "for the best," she'd reached her limit.

With shaking hands, she pulled out her phone and made a call.

"Damien? It's Celeste. Yes, I know it's been four years... I'm ready to accept you as my second chance mate now. The rejection period ends in a month. Come back for me then."