Chapter 001. Stolen Mate

Saeris couldn’t breathe.

The Great Hall of the Greenvale Pack was silent … eerily so. The kind of silence that hollowed your chest and made your ribs feel too tight for your lungs.

Hundreds of eyes were fixed on the stone dais at the front of the chamber, on the male standing tall beneath the ceremonial lights, Alpha Flynn Wolfgar. The male who’d once sworn the stars would never be bright enough to match the light she brought into his life.

And yet, his hand was not extended toward her.

It was Gemma Frost who stood there now. Smiling. Radiant. Her fiery russet hair…like red maple leaves in golden hour.

"Mate," Flynn breathed, that one word, quiet and reverent, split Saeris’ world in half.

‘Sirius,’ she called into the dark hollows of her mind, reaching for her wolf. But there was nothing.

For two years, they’d known Flynn was theirs. Felt it in their bones. Her twenty-first birthday had come and gone two weeks ago, and tonight, the sacred night of the Mating Ceremony, was supposed to seal that truth in front of their entire pack.

But he wasn’t looking at her.

“By the rise of the Moonmother and the howl of our first blood, I claim you as my true mate.”

Saeris could only watch as Flynn slid the moonstone band … her moonstone band … onto the other girl’s wrist.

The room erupted in cheers and howls of celebration. But it all sounded far away, muted and submerged.

Her knees buckled.

She might have collapsed if not for sheer pride holding her upright. Her chest burned, constricting around a scream that wouldn’t come.

This isn’t right.

Sirius?

Still no answer. No rage. No howling defiance. Only cold, echoing silence where her wolf should’ve been.

Something was wrong. Deeply, terribly wrong.

“Alpha Flynn Wolfgar has found his Luna!!" Delta Remus boomed, lifting his arms to the gathered pack members. "The Moon Goddess smiles on us tonight!"

No.

No no no!

Saeris stumbled forward, pushing through the crowd, their smiles and claps brushing past her. Her ceremonial dress, such a stupid dress now, was too restricting.

Please, she begged whatever force might still be listening. Let this be a nightmare.

She had to reach him. Had to look into his eyes and make him see. Their bond had been real. Their connection couldn't simply vanish.

“Flynn!"

He turned.

His eyes almost looked soft.

“Saeris?” he said, almost the same way he used to when it was just them. A voice from memory. From before. She might’ve clung to it, if not for the way his arm was still wrapped around her.

"This—this isn't right," she managed, her voice trembling but clear. “Flynn, you know this isn’t right. My wolf recognized you. You recognized me.”

Gemma’s eyes gleamed. Her smile was saccharine, cloying. “Oh, Saeris,” she cooed. “You poor thing. I know you admired Flynn, but surely you didn’t mistake yearning for a mate bond.”

Saeris shook her head. “No. That’s not what this is. You know that’s not what this is.” She looked to Flynn again, desperate now. “Tell her. Tell her what happened at the lake. How your wolf—how Slate recognized Sirius immediately.”

Flynn hesitated.

And in that moment, she saw it. The fear. The guilt.

“It was…” he faltered. “Slate might’ve mistaken our friendship, Saeris. A strong connection, yes. But it wasn’t a mate bond.” Then he looked down at Gemma like she was spun from starlight. “The moment I scented Gemma tonight, Slate knew. There was no question.”

Scented?

The word scraped across her skin.

“But—you’ve known her for years.” That was foolish of her to have let out.

“Wolves mature fully after twenty-one, Saeris. Her true scent emerged tonight. And so did the bond.” Yes, yes that happens to others at 21, but…

A sick, dizzying silence followed. They were all watching, all of them…watched her unravel with barely concealed intrigue. One or two smiled.

Saeris felt her world closing in, the walls pressing tighter and tighter around her.

“Flynn, please.” Her voice broke. “Something’s wrong. I can’t feel Siri—”

Gemma stepped forward, dared to place a hand on Saeris.

It burned.

“I know this must be difficult.” Her voice was soft and false as silk drawn over a blade. “We’ve been friends for so long, and I never wanted to hurt you. But the Moon Goddess has spoken. Flynn is my mate. My true mate. You’re not hoping he’ll reject me over some fleeting fling, are you?”

Saeris jerked away from her touch.

“Friends?” she hissed. “We haven’t been friends since your father clawed mine out of his place as Beta. Since you—”

“Saeris,” Flynn cut in, voice sharp now. “That’s enough. You’re embarrassing yourself and disrespecting a sacred ceremony.”

The rebuke stung.

That damn voice of command he’d always said he hated using on her.

He’d always been one to bow to duty. To the crown. And now he was doing it again. But this time, it was her he was sacrificing.

Mate bonds stand above all else, she reminded herself. It was the law, the unspoken truth every wolf knew by heart. But she wasn’t being foolish … Sirius’s silence screamed louder than any truth the Moon Goddess supposedly revealed tonight.

“Alpha Flynn.”

Delta Remus stepped forward. “Your wolf—did he recognize her as well?”

“No. We spent time together,” he said at last. “But not as mates. I’ve been waiting for my true bond to reveal itself. And now she has.”

Saeris could hardly breathe.

Liar. Her soul screamed it even if her lips wouldn’t.

Gemma’s smile stretched too wide and perfect. And just before she turned to face the crowd again, Saeris caught it. That flicker, just for her. A sharp gleam of triumph. A smirk.

“You’d be surprised what I can do.” Those were Gemma's words a week ago at the Clothier’s.

It hadn’t made sense then, and maybe not now but something about the memory rang sharp and wrong. “You did this,” she said under her breath, too low for the crowd to hear. Her fingers trembled. “What did you do to my wolf?”

The question was a snarl by the end, rising from the hollow place Sirius used to fill.

But before she could demand more, a growl split the air.

“Enough!” Flynn’s voice roared across the hall, laced with fury—and—

Saeris froze.

His eyes were glowing. Not gray-blue. But red.

Slate’s eyes glowed so. And that hurt even more.

She didn’t even get to say his name before another figure emerged. “Alpha,” came the deep, polished voice of Beta Frost, Gemma’s father. “Perhaps Miss Windemere needs some air. This must be… overwhelming.”

Saeris recognized the dismissal for what it was.

Once, her father had stood where Frost now did. A Beta honored and loved by the pack. Until grief took him and the power with it. Saeris felt the weight of that loss now more than ever.

“Yes,” Flynn agreed. He didn’t look at her when he said it. “She should retire for the evening.”

It wasn't a suggestion. It was a command, softened only slightly out of whatever remnants of affection he might still harbor.

“Flynn,” she whispered. And for the briefest moment, something did flicker in his expression. But Gemma was already at his side. Pressing into him.

His gaze shifted. Hardened. “I have my mate now,” he said, with finality. “Whatever was between us is over.”

Something in Saeris fractured.

Flynn turned, ascending the steps to the dais. To seal his bond. To be Gemma’s—officially, and her, his Luna.

Gemma glanced back and locked eyes with Saeris … her smug, emerald gaze whispered it all: I won. He’s mine now.