Sierra: Lucas says he’ll call Aria ‘Mum’ and me ‘Mummy.’ What will you call me, my love? Thorne: Mate. The word slices into me like a blade. My knees buckle. I collapse into the armchair beside me, hand gripping my chest where the bond throbs painfully. I scroll through the hundreds of messages, my stomach turning. He started this when Lucas was born. Five whole years of betrayal! All while he kissed me and whispered words of love and devotion every night. While he praised me in front of the pack, making me look like the adored, powerful Luna… and I believed him. My thoughts turn to my son. My precious little boy, who is about to be caught up in this mess. He doesn’t deserve this, especially today. The school is holding a family day, and he’s been looking forward to it all week. I’ll be damned if I miss it and let her take this from me too. He’s my son. Not hers! I grab my keys and rush toward the stairs, but I freeze when voices drift through the open door of my private rooms. “Oh, Goddess, what’s this trash doing in Luna’s closet? Surely this torn-up lingerie doesn’t count as clothing?” “Shhh! That’s hers,” another maid hushes. “Whatever. Toss it into her room. Our Luna deserves better, and the alpha’s little whore will get what’s coming to her one day.” I don’t move. I don’t blink. My heart pounds loudly enough to drown out their laughter. Even the staff knew. I was the only fool still clinging to a fantasy.

The Hillbrook family had two daughters, but only one was truly acknowledged. My sister, Danielle, was raised as the heiress of the pack, molded under our parents’ harsh expectations. I was wolfless, always referred to as the other daughter since birth. Yet I fell for Alpha Sebastian, Danielle’s sworn enemy. I believed our love was a secret, ours alone. Until the day I went to tell him I was carrying his twin pups, and an unknown sender texed me a photo — Sebastian’s marriage certificate, with another woman’s name. She looked too much like my sister. Same body type. Same hair. In Sebastian twisted mind, since he couldn't have my sister Dani, he would marry the closest Imitation. It was like he’s playing build-a-bitch, and my sister was the prototype. And then there was me... I looked nothing like the original model he desired, which was why I didn't seem to qualify enough for more than a mistress. I was just a weapon of revenge. He must have been looking forward to ruining me, getting back at my Alpha female sister for rejecting him, and tearing down my family and pack. But I wouldn't allow such a thing to happen. I made this mess, and I would clean it up. He enjoyed playing his games and made me believe we could be something more than a dirty secret, that there was love between us. Fine, then I would make him truly fall in love with me, and then abandon him at the wedding. I’d make him choke on the same pain I felt. And when I was done, his name would be the one whispered with mockery and sharp laughter in every corner of the pack.