chapter 1

Until they found Lillian Crawford’s claw marks in my little brother’s remains—along with the scent signatures of twenty other wolves.

I changed every way to reach me, took my mother’s and my brother’s ashes, and disappeared off the map.

Five years later, at a charity gala in Zurich, I saw Lucas Black again.

A few old-money girls drifting past whispered under their breath,

“Dr. Aeliana, the forensic Luna—you’ve been gone all these years, and Black Alpha has been waiting for you.”

“He never took Lillian as his mate, and he turned down every single pursuer.”

The words had barely left their mouths when Lucas Black walked in.

Five years hadn’t shaved off a single ounce of his presence. As the Alpha of Oakpelt Pack, he was still tall, broad-shouldered—only now there was more weight in his gaze, a colder kind of calm.

His eyes searched the crowd like he’d been doing it for years, like he had a thousand things to say—until they shrank into one restrained greeting:

“Aeliana. Long time no see.”

“Mm. Long time,” I answered flatly, not a ripple of reunion on my face.

Right then, I saw it—his eyes going red at the edges, his mouth twitching like he wanted to speak, and then… nothing.

Because in my last life, on the anniversary of the day we sealed our mating bond,

I held a pregnancy confirmation report in my hands and waited at home for ten hours.

What I got instead was my brother Aiden—covered in wounds, already gone.

And at the hearing before the Elders’ Council, my Alpha, Lucas, committing perjury to protect the real killer and bury the truth.

I screamed at him until my throat tore raw—only for him to crush me with an Alpha command and lock me inside Oakpelt Pack’s manor ice cellar, the one they used to store rare medicinal herbs.

“Aeliana, are you done making a scene? Aiden has already returned to the Moon Goddess.”

“Lillian is still so young. Her future can’t be destroyed. Sign this statement—waive your right to pursue this—and admit it was… ‘an accident that got out of control.’ Then I’ll let you out.”

Later, he left me alone in that ice cellar for twelve hours, and the cold stole my life.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day he tried to force that signature out of me.

……

Lucas grabbed my hand and shoved a document into my palm, his voice laced with that Alpha tone—pressure you couldn’t ignore:

“Aeliana, grow up. Sign it. Let Aiden rest. Lillian’s life is just getting started.”

“When you face the media later, you’ll say it was an unfortunate accident at a young wolves’ party. Aiden joined willingly…”

“Smack!”

The sharp crack of a slap cut him off.

“Lucas! Where the hell is your wolf? Your honor?!” I stared him down, my voice shaking with fury, “Don’t forget you’re still alive because of Aiden! Half the blood in your veins came from his donation!”

Lucas’s head snapped to the side. He froze for a beat, then turned back with irritation he was trying to swallow:

“Aeliana, that was the past. The living have to move forward.”

“Move forward?” I looked at him like he’d grown fangs in the wrong place, “Your ‘moving forward’ is stomping on every law we live by and shielding a murderer?!”

“There were dozens of tearing wounds on Aiden’s remains—plus silver wounds! And you’re telling me that was ‘willing’?! ”

I ripped the statement into shreds and threw it in his face. “I won’t settle. I won’t make peace. I’m going to make the killer pay under moonlight!”

I turned to leave—then Lillian Crawford dropped to her knees with a thud, grabbed my skirt, and looked up with red, watery eyes:

“Aeliana… I just… we just took the joke too far. We didn’t know his wolf was that weak. He couldn’t handle it…”

“A joke?” I kicked her hands off my clothes, the sweet, sticky Omega scent rolling off her making my stomach twist, “Fine. I’ll round up twenty Rogues and let you ‘experience’ that kind of joke. See how funny it feels.”

Lucas instantly pulled her into his arms like she was breakable glass, glaring at me. “Aeliana! Do you really have to be this ruthless?”

“Ruthless?” I laughed coldly, the wolf in my chest snarling, “This isn’t even one ten-thousandth of what Aiden went through. I’m filing with the Elders’ Council. I’m getting justice for my brother!”

I took two steps—and Lucas’s voice hit my back like ice wrapped in Alpha pressure:

“Aeliana, if you insist, don’t blame me when I stop being nice.”

“All I have to do is speak. As the Alpha of Oakpelt Pack, I can make it so no lawyer in North America dares to take your case.”

I clenched my teeth. I hadn’t believed he’d go that far.

But I’d already come back, and I was done kneeling.

I didn’t turn around. My voice cut clean through his Alpha pressure, steady and clear:

“I told you. The truth is coming. By the Moon Goddess.”