My Mate Lied About My Death to Steal My Pack

The rain hammered down like the Moon Goddess herself was weeping.

I stood at the Silver Moon territory borders, water streaming down my face as I punched in my Alpha clearance code for the third time. The gate's scanner blinked red. Access denied.

My wolf, Aurora, snarled in my mind. *They revoked our codes.*

*I noticed,* I thought back, jaw clenched.

Three years. I'd been gone three years training with the Northern Territories' elite Gamma warriors, becoming something more than just the Alpha's daughter. I'd left believing Xavier would honor our bond, protect my father's legacy. The cold knot in my stomach told me I'd been a fool.

I pressed my nose to the gate's bars, inhaling deeply. The scent markers were wrong—stale, unwashed, reeking of negligence. Where there should have been crisp patrol rotations, I smelled only laziness and fear. The distress markers were weeks old, unanswered.

*What has he done to our pack?*

Aurora's rage matched my own, but I forced myself to breathe. Northern training had taught me patience, strategy. I melted into the treeline, my specialized tracker skills making me nearly invisible as I circled the perimeter. The sentries were a joke—two Delta warriors huddled under a makeshift shelter, passing a flask between them instead of watching the borders.

I slipped past them like smoke.

The pack house grounds made my heart sink. My father's carefully maintained gardens were overgrown, choked with weeds. The security lights flickered erratically. Everything screamed of a pack in decline, of leadership that didn't care.

But I wasn't here for the gardens.

I moved through the shadows toward the east wing, toward the Luna's quarters. My parents' sanctuary. The trellis my father had built for my mother's climbing roses was still there, though the roses had died. I scaled it silently, my fingers finding familiar handholds even in the dark.

The window to the Luna's quarters was unlocked. Of course it was. Xavier had always been arrogant about security.

I slipped inside and froze.

The room was… wrong. Everything was wrong. The elegant cream and silver décor my mother had chosen was gone, replaced by gaudy gold furniture and hot pink curtains that looked like they belonged in a cheap motel. The air reeked of perfume so strong it made my eyes water, mixed with the unmistakable musk of sex.

And there, on my mother's bed—on the sacred bed where generations of Silver Moon Lunas had slept—lay Xavier Reynolds and a young woman I didn't recognize.

She was wearing the ceremonial Luna robes.

The robes were sacred. They were only supposed to be worn during high rituals, during the most important pack ceremonies. My grandmother had been wrapped in those robes when she passed. My mother had worn them on her mating day.

This stranger was sleeping in them like they were pajamas.

Something cold and terrible settled in my chest. Not the hot rage I'd expected. Something far more dangerous.

Aurora's voice in my mind was pure ice. *He has