The divorce papers landed on my desk at 3:47 PM, right on top of the quarterly budget report I'd spent six hours preparing for the pack council. Derek didn't even have the decency to hand them to me himself. His Beta, Marcus, stood in the doorway of what used to be the Luna's office—my office for three years—looking everywhere except at my face. "He wants you gone by tonight," Marcus said, his voice flat. Professional. Like he was discussing a supply order instead of dismantling my entire existence. I stared at the papers. My name—Maya Thorne—looked wrong next to Derek's bold signature, already dried and official. He'd signed them hours ago. Maybe even yesterday. "Tonight?" My voice came out steady. I'd gotten good at that over three years of being the unwanted Luna. The placeholder. The wife he never touched. Marcus shifted his weight. "Alpha's orders." Alpha. Not Derek. Not your husband. Just Alpha. I picked up the papers with hands that didn't shake—I was proud of that—and flipped through them. Standard dissolution. No contest. Division of assets heavily weighted in his favor, naturally. I got nothing except what I'd brought into the marriage: my veterinary degree, my healing skills, and apparently my freedom. "The pack school curriculum I designed?" I asked. "The new medical wing I fundraised for? The alliance I negotiated with the Silver Creek pack?" Marcus's jaw tightened. "Remain pack property." Of course they did. I signed my name across from Derek's. The pen bit into the paper like claws. "Done. I'll be out in an hour." "Maya—" Marcus started, something almost human flickering in his eyes. "Tell your Alpha he can have his office back." I stood, gathering the few personal items scattered across the desk. A photo of my parents, both gone now. My mother's moonstone pendant. The leather journal where I'd tracked every pack member's medical history, every child's progress in school, every elder's dietary needs. I left the journal. Let Derek figure out that Mrs. Patterson needs her arthritis medication adjusted every full moon, or that little Tommy is allergic to silver-laced fabric. The pack house felt different as I walked through it one last time. Colder. Or maybe I was just finally feeling what it had always been—a beautiful prison where I'd played house with a husband who couldn't bear my touch. Three years. Three years of him flinching away when I reached for his hand. Three years of separate bedrooms, separate lives, separate everything except the title. Luna in name only. Never marked. Never claimed. Never wanted. The rejection had stopped hurting around month six. After that, it was just... existence. I made it to the stairs before I heard her laugh. Vanessa Cross stood in the grand foyer, and she was wearing my crown. Not metaphorically. Literally wearing the Luna's ceremonial crown—white gold and moonstones, sized specifically for my head when Derek and I married. It sat slightly crooked on her perfect blonde waves. She saw me and smiled. Radiant. Glowing. Pregnant. The word hit me like a physical blow. Her hand rested on the small but unmistakable swell of her stomach, and the gesture was so proprietary, so intimate, that I finally understood. Derek hadn't touched me in three years because he'd been touching her. "Maya!" Vanessa's voice dripped with false sweetness. "I hope there are no hard feelings. Derek and I tried to fight the mate bond, truly we did, but—" She shrugged delicately. "You can't fight fate." Mate bond. The words echoed in my head. Derek had a true mate. Had always had a true mate. And it wasn't me. I'd been the political arrangement. The alliance marriage to strengthen pack borders. The placeholder Luna who did all the work while he played Alpha and apparently built a whole secret life with his actual fated mate. "How long?" I asked. Vanessa tilted her head, playing innocent. "How long what?" "How long has he been sleeping with you? How long have you been pregnant? How long has the entire pack known I was just the unwanted wife?" Her smile sharpened. "Does it matter? You were never really his Luna. Everyone knew. You must have known." She stepped closer, and I caught Derek's scent all over her. Fresh. Recent. "He could barely stand to be in the same room as you. Did you really think that would last forever?" I wanted to say something cutting. Something that would wipe that smug expression off her face. But the truth was, she was right. I had known. On some level, I'd always known Derek was waiting for an excuse to get rid of me. Apparently, that excuse was now four months along and wearing my crown. "Congratulations," I said, and meant it. "I hope you enjoy managing the pack finances, mediating territory disputes at 2 AM, and explaining to the council why their Alpha is too busy to attend meetings." I walked past her, head high, and made it all the way to my car before the shaking started.