My husband thought I was his doormat Luna until I became his ruin.
…
I was the Goldbane heiress. Gideon Vexwood was the lowborn wolf I married for love. I thought we were building a kingdom; I didn’t realize he was building my coffin.

In one night, my world shattered. A tragic accident claimed my father’s life and stole my unborn child, leaving my body permanently broken. With the Pack Council threatening to strip my title unless I produce an heir, I was forced into a desperate gamble.

I trusted my husband. I trusted my loyal maid. Together, we struck a secret surrogate deal to save the Goldbane’s right to the Alpha seat. I thought it was our salvation. I didn't know it was a trap.

While I drowned in grief, Gideon and his mistress were celebrating my downfall, manipulating the very contracts meant to save me to turn me into a servant in my own home.

They called it strategy. I called it war.

For seven years, I played the victim. I endured their cruelty, letting them think they’d won while I forged a secret alliance with the only man they truly fear: Jarek Ashthorne. The infamous Rogue King. A man who rules the underworld with an iron fist and holds a debt to my father that he has never forgotten.

He was supposed to be my weapon of revenge. I didn't expect him to be my salvation. Now, as the secrets of that fatal night emerge, the long game is finally over.

They took my child. They stole my life. Now, I’m coming for their crowns.
____

Jarek hauled me forward until my chest collided with the rigid planes of his torso. “You have no idea, Elowen. Everything about you... every tear you shed for a man who doesn't deserve you… It’s all my business.”

I shivered, but I clamped down on the sensation instantly.  “Get your hands off me! I know what you’re doing. I’ve heard the stories, Jarek. Stay away from my marriage, stay away from my pack. And you better stay away from my life!”

Yet, he pressed his face into the crook of my neck, inhaling deeply. “Is that what you call it, Elowen? I call it a wake-up call. But if you’d rather go back to your ‘Alpha’ and pretend that the walls aren’t closing in, be my guest.”

I collapsed onto the cold floor of my bedroom after spending the most of the noon doing chores that gave me no chance to mourn my newest loss. The door clicked shut behind me like the lid of a casket. The silk of my grey dress—the servant's uniform they'd forced me into—felt like sandpaper against my skin.


I leaned my head against the wood and let out a sound that wasn't a sob, but a hollow, rattling exhale.


"He is a parasite. He didn't just take the gold, Elowen. He took the ground we stand on. We should go back there. We should show him what a Goldbane wolf does to a thief." Nyla hissed angrily and I wished it were that easy.


"With what, Nyla?" I whispered into the empty room. "I have nothing. No money, no title, no pack. I am a ghost in a house my father built with his own sweat."


Chapter 66 - _ Not Gonna Settle