"Luna, Alpha Ravyn has sent another divorce agreement." Beta Corvine's voice was careful, almost brittle, as if a single wrong word might shatter the air between them.

"He said he would reconsider if you agreed to accept Daisy as your co-Luna. He's been telling the pack you'll accept it anyway, that you love him too much to go through with a divorce and…"

Corvine froze, the rest of his sentence died in his throat. Luna Seraphine sat upright on the hospital bed, pale fingers steady as she signed her name at the bottom of the document. No hesitation or trembling. Just the quiet scratch of pen against paper.

For three months, this room had been her world. Sterile white walls, the low hum of healing machines. The sharp scent of antiseptic clinging to everything, and this was the seventh time divorce papers had found their way into her hands.

The first had come before Ravyn traveled to the Grimroot Pack with a suspicious condition. Either she allowed him to become the sole signatory to the pack's accounts, or she signed the divorce.

The second arrived on their seventh wedding anniversary. He wanted Daisy, her former nanny's daughter, to move into the pack house like when they were little.

The third came on Seraphine's birthday. Daisy should become their son Bryan's nanny, Ravyn said, so Seraphine could 'focus on pack duties.'

The fourth arrived on Alpha Ravyn's own birthday, requesting Daisy as his personal assistant.

The fifth came after Daisy publicly humiliated her before the pack. Ravyn sent the papers and demanded Seraphine overlook the disrespect or accept the divorce.

The sixth arrived on their son, Bryan's sixth birthday. Daisy should move into the Luna's chamber, since Seraphine "never used it anyway."

Each time, Seraphine had torn the papers apart in front of the beta, her expression calm even as her heart cracked a little more.

When she had nearly lost her life saving the pack, exposed to a chemical attack that destroyed her health, she had expected some form of care, concern, or even pity.

Instead, she received the seventh divorce agreement and this time with a new condition. Accept Daisy as co-Luna, and that was the last straw for the camel's back, an insult to her dignity.

That was when Seraphine finally understood that this marriage had been dead long before today.

Six chances, all wasted. Whatever remained was no longer worth saving. She would take her son and leave the pack for good.

"Luna…" Corvine finally breathed, eyes wide as he stared at the signed document. "Why did you sign this time?"

Seraphine looked up at him and smiled faintly. "My mother once told me that seven is the number of perfection," she said quietly. "If something can't be saved six times, it won't be saved on the seventh."

The world had changed. Packs were no longer isolated from humans. Werewolves blended in, worked among them, built corporations and empires in their cities.

Technology made shifting in public impossible, so the pack was still needed.

New moon festivals were also celebrated only within pack borders and was a time when all werewolves far and near would converge together, except those married to humans.

Every pack member worked outside the territory now. Only the omegas, Lunas, and betas remained permanently behind, tasked with guarding the land and maintaining the heart of the pack.

Alpha Ravyn was the second-richest man in New York City. Few knew that much of that success rested on Luna Seraphine's shoulders. Her strategies, negotiations, secret abilities, strengthened its administration, making it the second largest to the Grimroot pack.

And yet, all she had ever received from him was indifference, a punishment for a mistake in the past which was not even her fault.

She was tired of fighting for his attention, begging for his care, and waiting for affection that never came.

This time, it would be just her and her son. After all, Bryan was the reason this marriage had existed in the first place.

Seraphine peeled the sheet away and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

Corvine gasped. "Luna! You can walk?"

The chemical exposure had left her paralyzed, even doctors had written her off as a lost cause.

Pain flared with her every step she took, sharp and warning, but she only endured it. After spending two months bedridden, she welcomed pain that came from walking on her own two feet.

Her lips curled into a smirk, but she said nothing. Two months confined to a bed and one month of slow recovery had given her more than enough time to think, and the realization was simple.

A broken marriage was like a cracked egg. No matter how carefully you tried, it could never be put back together.

No one knew or cared about her condition, leaving her to rot, but she lived by her own medical skills. "Tell Ravyn," she said calmly, "that a co-Luna won't be necessary. He should just make her Luna once the divorce is finalized."

Corvine didn't argue. Secretly, he was happy to see her resolve in walking away from the people unworthy of her sacrifice.

Luna Seraphine had been the most powerful Luna the pack had ever known, except her own husband had never acknowledged it. Their union had been a mistake from the very beginning.

Years ago, watching humans freely choose who they loved, the packs had envied them. The elders had begged the Moon Goddess to free them from the mate bond.

Their wish was granted, and with it came lust, infidelity, and fractured loyalties.

Men like Alpha Ravyn had no idea how complicated human love truly was, like the freedom to desire many, yet commit to one. Instead, he despised being bound to Seraphine. If that night had never happened, he would never have married her at all.

As Seraphine reached the door, music crashed into her ears, loud, celebratory, mocking. "What's going on?" she asked.

Corvine lowered his head. "The coronation ceremony. Alpha Ravyn is announcing Daisy as co-Luna. Alphas from other packs were invited without their Lunas. He said you wouldn't dare refuse."

Seraphine smiled, but her eyes were empty. She knew the Lunas would have stood against such injustice.

She took back the divorce papers she had just signed and walked out of the pack hospital, still dressed in her thin hospital gown.

Corvine opened his mouth to stop her, but she was already gone. From a distance, the music grew louder. Pack members she had bled for stared as she passed, their eyes filled with confusion, curiosity, and disbelief.

When she entered the ceremonial hall, the room fell apart. Gasps rippled through the crowd.

"Luna Seraphine?"

"She's alive?"

"She's walking, no wheelchair, no crutches…" they were too shocked to say anymore.

Alpha Ravyn, handsome, composed, powerful, froze mid-speech. "Sera," he said, voice soft but eyes glacial. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be recovering?"

Yes, that was Ravyn. Keeping up his appearance among guests and pack members with gentle words wrapped in a frozen gaze. Never once had he looked at her the way he looked at Daisy.

"Is that Luna Seraphine?" One of the guests whispered. "She looks… diminished."

Her hair was dull from weeks without proper care. Her skin pale from medication. The hospital gown clung awkwardly to her frame, painfully out of place among silk and jewels.

Seraphine ignored them all. Before Ravyn could reach her, she stepped forward and pressed the papers into his chest.

"There's no need to crown her co-Luna," she said clearly. "You're free to make her Luna instead. I've already signed the divorce papers."

Her words detonated across the hall, and for the first time, Alpha Ravyn's perfect composure shattered.

...

No one believed it. Six times, six separate divorce agreements had crossed Luna Seraphine's hands, and six times she had refused to sign.

She had endured the humiliation of watching her former nanny's daughter move freely through her home, issuing orders like she owned the place.

The pack had whispered, sneered, pitied her. To them, it all pointed to one thing, weakness.

So when the words finally left her lips, they landed like a blade dropped into silence.

"It can't be true, right?" a pack member murmured from the crowd. "She'll crawl back. She always does."

"Yes," another chimed in confidently. "Luna Seraphine can never leave Alpha Ravyn. She cares too much about her position."

Alpha Ravyn stood at the center of it all, tall and immaculate, his cream-colored suit tailored to perfection. For a brief moment, his hardened expression faltered.

This had to be another trick. He was the second most powerful Alpha in the entire community, second only in strength and wealth across all of New York.

With a single command, he could ruin her. Laws protected Lunas, yes, but laws could bend. And more than anything, this was humiliating, especially after everything he had said so publicly before her arrival.

This gathering had been carefully planned, invitations sent out ahead of time. Alphas had abandoned packed schedules and city obligations to witness this very moment.

Ravyn had been absolutely certain that Seraphine would give in again, just like before, but this sudden change in her attitude stunned him.

Most of the prominent Alphas were present. Only a few were absent. His closest friend, Alpha Voren Ashkael of the Grimroot Pack, for instance, had been unable to attend.

"You didn't think this through," Ravyn said at last, his voice steady, confident. His gaze locked onto Seraphine, sharp and assessing. "You know divorcing an Alpha means you can never marry another Alpha again."

The Alphas around them nodded in agreement, murmurs of approval rippling through the crowd.

Ravyn straightened, his pride swelling. "There is an oath among us. We don't take each other's exes. You won't even be able to marry a beta, only a low-ranking pack member."

The scorn in his eyes was unmistakable. He meant every word, but Seraphine didn't flinch. She had grown used to that look.

Standing there in her plain hospital gown, her posture remained firm, her spine straight, her chin lifted.

Ravyn, in all his polished charm, looked just as he had the first night she declared her love to him, back when she had stood on a hill during the Moon Festival on her eighteenth birthday.

Heart racing, she boldly declared to the world, "Alpha Ravyn is mine."

Back then, everyone had turned to him, waiting for his response. He had dismissed it casually. "Daisy is the one I want," he had said later, without shame. "Unlike Sera, she's humble."

Because Seraphine was raised as a beta's daughter, they had labeled her spoiled. A pampered brat. Daisy, on the other hand, cried easily, spoke softly, and played the victim perfectly.

She accused Seraphine of bullying, winning sympathy from the pack, and from Ravyn. Even from Seraphine's own parents.

Everyone had fallen for Daisy's act. Seraphine hadn't defended herself. She had believed the truth would eventually rise on its own.

Now, that silence tasted bitter. "You don't think," Seraphine said calmly, her voice slicing cleanly through the murmurs, "that as a Luna I'm unaware of the consequences of signing a divorce agreement, do you?"

Her eyes were empty, cold. For the first time, Ravyn felt unsettled. There was no desperation like before, no pleading. Just a stillness that made him uneasy.

"You are shameless," he spat. "You tricked me. You forced my parents into pressuring me to marry you, and now you stand here acting like the victim?"

"Take it." Seraphine cut him off mid-sentence, extending her hand, with the signed papers resting neatly in her palm.

Ravyn stared at them, unmoving, until Daisy stepped beside him. She slipped to his side effortlessly, her gown shimmering under the ceremonial lights. Gold threads sparkled against the fabric, blending with her blonde hair until she looked radiant, like sunlight wrapped in silk.

A subtle smile tugged at her lips. "Luna Sera," Daisy said sweetly, her voice soft enough to sound sincere. "Alpha Ravyn only needed my help because you were unwell. Now that you're awake, the ceremony will be canceled. There's no need for a divorce."

Seraphine smiled in response, but her eyes remained distant. She wanted to speak, wanted to tear apart the lie right there. But with so many watching, she swallowed the words.

Instead, she looked around. "Where is Bryan?" Her heart tightened when she didn't see him.

"At the academy," Ravyn answered, unease creeping into his tone.

"He's all I want after the divorce," Seraphine said simply.

"Never!" Both Ravyn and Daisy spoke at the same time.

Seraphine lifted a brow, her expression composed. She didn't need a crown or a title to prove her worth. Even dressed in a hospital gown, stripped of ceremony, she still carried herself with undeniable grace.

"You didn't expect me to leave my son behind, did you?"

Ravyn exchanged a quick glance with Daisy before gripping Seraphine's arm and pulling her aside.

"Don't make a scene," he hissed under his breath. "I'll explain everything when I get back."

She said nothing, simply turned and walked away.

The academy wasn't far from the pack house. The thirty-minute walk felt longer than it should have, each step pressing against her chest. Her body was still weak, but she pushed through it.

When Bryan spotted her, his face darkened. "What are you doing here?"

Her heart cracked, but she smiled anyway, grabbing his little arm gently. "I'm sorry I've been away so long. Let's go home and talk."

"I don't want to go home with you," Bryan snapped, pulling his hand away. "I hate you."

The words stopped her cold. She had expected joy, excitement, of finally seeing her again but not this. Not from her own son.

"Bryan," she said carefully, her voice steady despite the pain creeping in, "I'm your mother. I'm leaving this pack, and you're coming with me."

She reached out to grab his arm again but he avoided her touch like it burned him. "No!" he shouted. "You're not my mother. Leave me alone!"

Heads began to turn. Seraphine forced a gentle smile, lowering her voice. "It's okay to be upset, but don't say things like that."

Before she could say more, an instructor stepped outside. "Luna," he said, surprised. "You're well? Daisy said you would never recover."

Seraphine ignored him. Her focus stayed on her son. "I'm taking Bryan home."

The instructor moved to block her path. "I'm sorry, Luna, but Alpha Ravyn has stated that only Daisy has authority over Bryan."

Seraphine's breath caught. "In fact," the man added hesitantly, "he said Daisy is Bryan's biological mother."

Something inside her snapped. "Are you out of your mind?" Seraphine demanded.

The instructor shook his head. "I said the same until I was shown the maternity test results." He handed her a document.

Her vision blurred as she read. Her knees weakened. "No…" her voice broke. "This is fake. Bryan is my…" the world tilted beneath her feet.

...

"Mom, I'm glad you're back," a child's voice rang out, sharp with relief and fear. "This vile woman wanted to take me away."

"Don't worry, little champ," another voice answered gently, firm with authority. "No one can take you away from us. Your father would never allow it."

The voices reached Luna Seraphine long before she could open her eyes.

They drifted in and out of her consciousness, echoing through her mind like fragments of a dream she did not want to remember.

When her lashes finally fluttered open, the familiar wooden beams of the pack house ceiling came into view, recognizable, yet distant, as though she were seeing them through water.

How she had gotten here, she had no idea. The last clear memory burned vividly in her mind: her knees giving way, her body collapsing as the maternity test result slipped from her trembling fingers and hit the floor.

But that made no sense. No, her heart thundered painfully against her ribs. She had been pregnant after that night. The night Ravyn forced himself on her.

The night that bound her to him in a marriage she always desired.

She carried that pregnancy for nine long months, enduring the pain, the nausea, the exhaustion, and every other discomfort that came with it.

She went into labor, screamed, bled. She heard the sharp, unmistakable cry of a newborn before the world went black and exhaustion dragged her under. She had given birth so what exactly was going on?

Alpha Ravyn's cold, merciless eyes were the first thing she saw clearly. They bored into hers with unrestrained fury. "How dare you try to steal my son from me?" he growled. "Do you have a death wish?"

Seraphine's face remained eerily calm as Beta Corvine stepped forward, helping her sit upright. Every muscle in her body ached, but she ignored it, her mind already racing.

Across the room, Daisy stood quietly. A sly, victorious smirk tugged at the corner of her lips, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction she did not bother to hide.

"Ravyn," Seraphine said slowly, her voice steady despite the storm tearing through her chest. "I had a son that night. If Bryan isn't mine, then where is my son?"

A harsh scoff escaped Ravyn's lips, but the coldness in his eyes deepened, turning lethal. "You really think," he said cruelly, "that after tricking me into bed that night, I would allow you to keep my child?"

His words struck with surgical precision, slow, deliberate, deadly. "Daisy was also in labor that night," he continued, his tone devoid of emotion. "I made sure we got rid of yours."

Something inside Seraphine shattered. With a feral cry, she lunged at him, her restraint snapping. Her hands clutched his neck, her fangs elongating instinctively, ready to sink into flesh.

But Ravyn was faster, stronger. With brutal ease, he flipped her off him and slammed her to the ground.

She hit the floor hard, the impact rattling her bones as pain exploded through her body.

"You might be strong," Ravyn said coldly, towering over her, "but don't forget I am still the Alpha. My strength is unmatched."

Seraphine pushed herself up slowly, her limbs trembling, her mind mercilessly blank. "No," she whispered hoarsely. "Where is my son?"

"You mean your daughter," Ravyn corrected without hesitation. "I made sure she never saw the light of day. Her ashes were used to lay the foundation of this pack house."

The room tilted, her knees buckled beneath her weight, her vision blurring as the meaning of his words sank in. All this time, she had been raising a child who was never hers.

She had given up everything for Bryan, including the antidote to his rare congenital condition.

She had sacrificed it without hesitation for a child whose parents had murdered her own.

Understanding crashed into her with devastating clarity. If she had accepted the divorce earlier, this truth would have stayed buried forever. Ravyn would never have told her.

"I never tricked you," she said, her voice breaking for the first time. It was unusual for her to defend herself, but she thought that maybe, that was the reason she was going through all this. "You forced yourself on me that night."

"Liar," Ravyn snapped. "There's proof. You paid a waiter to spike my drink. If not for you, Daisy would have been Luna. You should have known better than to cross me."

Seraphine's face drained of all color. She regretted trying to explain it. Ravyn's mind had been carved with what he chose to believe, and Seraphine's words were never a part of it.

It was one thing to lose the man you loved, and another to discover that the same man had murdered your child. There were no words for that kind of pain.

"Even if I did everything you accuse me of," she said faintly, tears finally shining in her eyes, "that child was still your blood. How heartless can you be?"

Ravyn's gaze remained glacial, unmoved. "Yes," he replied flatly. "My blood, and that is exactly why she should never have been born. Why do you think I never touched you again after that night? You are naïve, Seraphine."

She had endured the political marriage in silence. There had been no affection, no warmth, but every single day, she tried. She tried to become what he needed, what the pack demanded.

And she had refused the divorce six times because of their son. Single parenting wasn't something she cherished.

Now that everything had been a lie, she no longer knew how to gather the shattered remnants of her heart.

Daisy finally spoke, her tone deceptively gentle. "Luna Sera, it's alright. I'm not complaining. You can continue raising Bryan as your son. After all, you've taken such good care of him all these years, even with his rare condition."

Her words sounded kind, but beneath them lay poison. 'Even as I killed your child, you are still saving mine. And I still have the antidote you gave.'

What Daisy did not know, just like everyone else, was that the medicine was not permanent. It was not a cure. It was a tether.

As long as Bryan took it, he would live like any other child, running, laughing, growing strong. But if he missed even a single dose, the illness would return without mercy.

That was why Seraphine had tried to take him away. Now that the truth had surfaced, she no longer cared.

A strange calm washed over her, fueled by raw adrenaline. She lifted her head and met Ravyn's eyes without fear.

"Even as you killed my child," she said quietly, "I gave life to yours. May the Moon Goddess judge between you and me."

She turned and walked past him, each step heavy but resolute, desperate to escape the suffocating weight of the pack house.

But just as she reached the entrance, she collided with someone solid, muscular, immovable, radiating lethal authority.

As she looked up, cold, ruthless eyes met hers. Eyes sharp enough to kill. Seraphine froze where she stood.