Selene’s POV

“Wear this tonight”

My husband had not touched me in three years, so when he gave me a red lingerie set on our fifth anniversary and told me to wear it for him, I believed he wanted me back.

I spent the rest of the evening getting ready for him, choosing the perfume he once loved and preparing the dinner he used to ask for whenever we had a special occasion. I even changed the sheets because I wanted everything to be perfect. It felt foolish now, but after three years of being treated like a stranger in my own marriage, I was willing to believe that one night could change everything.

Kane was supposed to come home at ten but he arrived at ten thirty.

I heard the front door open and waited in the bedroom, expecting him to walk in alone. Instead, he walked in with the Lycan King behind him.

I knew him immediately, everyone did. Adrian Blackthorn ruled the Lycan kingdom, and even the most powerful Alphas thought twice before crossing him. He was not supposed to be in my bedroom, especially not on my wedding anniversary.

Kane closed the door behind them.

”Why is he here?” Kane did not answer when I asked him. He simply stood there with the same cold expression he had worn for most of our marriage.

Adrian’s attention moved around the room before settling on me. There was no warmth in his face, and he did not look surprised to see me dressed the way I was, that was when I knew something was wrong.

Kane finally told me that the deal he had been working on for months had been completed. He had secured the eastern territories for the Blackthorn Pack, along with the shipping routes his family had been trying to control for years.

I congratulated him, but he did not smile.

He then told me the deal had come with a condition.

I asked what condition could possibly require the Lycan King to be standing in our bedroom.

Kane’s answer left me speechless. Me, I was the condition.

He had promised me to Adrian in exchange for the territories.

For a moment, I genuinely thought I had misunderstood him. I asked him to repeat what he had said, but he did not need to. The look on his face told me that he meant every word.

He had traded his wife, on our fifth anniversary.

The red lingerie suddenly made sense.

Kane had not bought it because he wanted me. He had bought it because he wanted me dressed for the man he was giving me to.

I could not understand how the man I had loved for five years could stand in front of me and say something like that without even looking ashamed.

When I reminded him that I was his wife, he told me the deal was bigger than our marriage. His pack needed the territory, his family needed the money and his people needed the protection.

There was always a reason why I had to come second.

I asked him if he had ever loved me but he did not answer and that hurt more than anything else.

For three years, I had blamed myself for the distance between us. I had wondered if I was no longer attractive enough or if I had done something to make him hate me. I had spent countless nights lying beside him while he slept on the other side of the bed, trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

Now I knew

He had already decided what I was worth, a business deal.

Adrian finally spoke and confirmed that Kane had promised to hand me over willingly, but I refused.

Kane told me that I did not have a choice, I then reminded him that I was not property, but he told me that the agreement had already been signed.

That was when he placed the divorce papers in front of me.

He had prepared everything: the divorce, the transfer of his Luna, the agreement with the Lycan King, and even the witnesses waiting outside.

He had planned the end of our marriage long before I knew there was a problem.

I read through the papers and every page made it clearer that he had already moved on with his life. There was nothing in those documents about the years we had spent together. There was nothing about our vows or the promises he had made when he put the wedding ring on my finger.

It was simply a transaction.

I signed the papers and took off my wedding ring and placed it on top of the papers.

Kane’s eyes moved to it, but he said nothing, I then told him that he could have his marriage back.

Then he told me he was rejecting our mate bond, he did it in front of the other Alphas who had been waiting outside the room and those words hurt more than I expected.

Kane Blackthorn rejected me as his mate and released me from my position as his Luna.

I waited for the bond to disappear but it didn’t, instead a strange silver mark appeared on my wrist, and Adrian noticed it before anyone else.

He moved closer and asked what the mark was.

Kane said he did not know, and that was when Adrian’s expression changed. He looked at Kane as though he had suddenly realized that something was wrong with the agreement.

I demanded an explanation but neither men gave me one.

Then a warrior came running into the room, he was covered in blood and could barely stand.

Adrian immediately asked what had happened, and the warrior said the palace had been attacked. Not by enemies trying to take the territory, also not by a rival Alpha, but they had come for me.

I asked who they were.

The warrior looked directly at me before giving me an answer.

The Crimson Moon.

Adrian asked him why he had never mentioned them but Kane remained silent.

That was when I realized there was something else he had been hiding from me.

Something much bigger than the divorce, which had nothing to do with the business deal.

The warrior tried to speak again, but he was already feeling weak due to the attack.

He managed to whisper that the people who attacked the palace had been searching for one person, me

I asked him why.

He looked at me for several seconds before saying a name I had never heard before.

Elara.

I told him that was not my name.

Then he whispered that it was.

Before I could ask another question, his eyes moved toward Kane and he looked terrified.

The warrior’s final words were barely loud enough for me to hear.

They know she is alive.

Adrian turned toward Kane.

“You told me she was dead.”

Kane did not answer and he finally looked at me.

For five years, I had known my husband as a cold man who rarely showed emotion.

But the expression on his face at that moment was different, he was afraid, and for the first time, I realized that whatever Kane had been hiding from me was not about our marriage, but about who I really was.

Before anyone could explain, another sound came from outside, a deep growl echoed through the palace.

Then several warriors screamed, Adrian immediately moved toward the door but Kane grabbed my arm.

“Stay here.”

I pulled away from him “You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.”

He looked at me, but before he could respond, the door burst open.

A warrior barged into the room and his face was covered in blood.

“They are here.”

Adrian reached for his weapon “How many?”

The warrior struggled to breathe “There’s too many of them”

“Who?” Adrian asked

The warrior’s eyes moved to me and said “They called her by her real name.”

Kane’s grip tightened around his weapon.

The warrior said the name again “Elara” before he died.

I stood there, unable to understand why a name I had never heard before had turned the strongest men in the room into scared people.

Kane finally spoke “Selene, you need to come with me.”

“Why?”

“Because if they find you, they will kill everyone in this palace to get to you.”

Before I could answer, a voice came from the hallway “Find the princess, and do not let her escape.”

I turned toward Kane “Who am I?”

He did not answer.

Adrian looked at me, and something in his expression told me that he knew the truth.

Then the palace doors broke open.

And the first thing I saw through the smoke was a man with the same silver mark that had appeared on my wrist.