“A scentless woman will never be my Luna.”
“A scentless woman will never be my Luna.”
Damian ripped the silver pendant from my neck in front of the entire pack.
Then he gave my place to another woman.
He had no idea that one touch of that pendant could bring an army to his gates.
The ceremonial hall went silent.
Every adult member of the Cross territory stood beneath the chandeliers, watching their Alpha publicly humiliate the woman he had promised for six years would someday stand beside him.
Damian let my pendant fall at my feet.
Then he turned to Serena Blake.
She was already wearing the crimson gown reserved for the future Luna.
And judging by the smile on her face, she had known exactly what Damian planned to do.
He lifted the ruby bond necklace.
Then he fastened it around her throat.
Applause exploded through the hall.
Serena looked down at me from the raised platform.
“Leave before the pack smells your shame.”
Laughter followed.
I didn't move.
For years, they had called me defective because I carried no scent any of them could recognize.
Damian had hidden me whenever powerful leaders visited the territory.
To outsiders, I was merely an abandoned girl their generous Alpha had allowed to stay.
He never told them what he had once promised me.
And he never bothered asking the one question that actually mattered.
Where had I come from?
He had also never questioned the strange silver pendant I had worn since childhood.
Or why the crest engraved into it was older than the Cross territory itself.
I slowly bent down and picked it up.
Damian's expression hardened.
“Don't make this more humiliating than it already is.”
I looked at the man I had spent six years believing would eventually choose me.
Then something inside me finally went quiet.
“You're right.”
Damian frowned.
“I've begged enough.”
I turned the pendant over.
My thumb pressed against the tiny mark carved into the back.
Once.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Serena laughed under her breath.
Then—
A deep rumble rolled through the mountain estate.
The glasses on the banquet tables began trembling.
People turned toward the windows.
White headlights suddenly swept across the towering glass.
One black armored SUV appeared beyond the gates.
Then another.
Then five more.
Within moments, an entire convoy was moving through Damian's territory.
Vehicles blocked the northern road.
Another team secured the river bridge.
More armored SUVs sealed every service exit Damian controlled.
The applause was gone.
So was Serena's smile.
Damian's security chief came running into the hall.
His face had lost all color.
“Alpha.”
Damian turned sharply.
“What?”
“Our communications are down.”
The security chief swallowed.
“Their people have taken the gates.”
Damian's eyes began to glow.
“Who entered my territory?”
Before anyone could answer, the massive double doors opened.
Cold mountain air swept through the ceremonial hall.
Outside, armed guards formed two perfectly straight lines.
Then an elegant silver-haired woman stepped from the lead vehicle.
She wore a dark tailored coat.
And pinned above her heart was an ancient crest.
The exact same crest engraved into the pendant in my hand.
Damian stared at it.
Only minutes earlier, he had mocked that symbol.
Now his own guards were lowering their heads.
One by one.
Until they were kneeling.
Serena clutched the ruby necklace around her throat.
“Who is she?”
I didn't answer.
I couldn't.
Because I was staring at the woman I had spent years refusing to call.
My mother.
She stopped at the threshold.
Her eyes moved across the room.
Across Serena.
Across the discarded ceremonial decorations.
And finally—
To Damian.
Her expression became ice.
“You called my daughter scentless.”
Nobody moved.
Then my mother's gaze shifted toward the guards kneeling outside.
“Now explain why your guards are kneeling to her family.”
Damian slowly turned toward me.
And for the first time in six years—
May you like
The Alpha who had made me feel worthless looked afraid.
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