Chapter 1

My cousin stole my fiancé's suppressant on the night of the full moon, then locked me in a room with Adrian while he was barely conscious.

His eyes blazed crimson, fixed on me through a haze of pain.

"Yara…"

I was the mate his father, Alpha Alaric, had chosen for him — guided by the Moon Goddess. His fated mate.

But he didn't love me. He'd always been in love with my cousin, Vivienne.

He'd been cursed by a witch as a child. If he didn't mark his mate after turning eighteen, the full moon would drive him feral.

Until Vivienne gained Alpha Alaric's approval, Adrian refused to mark her by force. So to survive this unbearable night, he'd chosen to use me instead.

I truly loved him. In my past life, I'd followed my heart and given in.

When Adrian recovered, Vivienne saw the mark on my neck and fell apart. She screamed that she'd leave the pack and go rogue.

Even after they talked her down, she married the Alpha of the neighboring pack out of sheer spite. The news of her death came not long after. She'd lasted no longer than that pack's previous Luna — less than three years.

Soon after, they discovered I was pregnant. To make amends, Adrian declared me his only Luna once he succeeded his father as Alpha.

But in five years of marriage, my son and I were invisible to him. He couldn't even bring himself to look at us.

He hated me — hated that I hadn't agreed to undo the mark while he was still lucid. If I had, Vivienne would never have found out he'd betrayed her, and she wouldn't have married that monster.

My wolf, Ivory, howled inside me.

[Yara, don't go soft. Don't make the same mistake twice.]

So Ivory remembered everything too.

I pulled myself out of the memories, took out the suppressant, and injected it into Adrian's arm.

Whatever else he'd done, he had died saving me in my past life. I owed him that much.

The suppressant worked fast. He calmed down and slowly shifted back to human form. His face was still deathly pale, the pain not fully gone — but his first thought was still about her.

"Where's Vivienne? Was she scared?"

I shook my head, keeping my voice even. "She's fine. She went home hours ago."

Adrian exhaled in relief. "Good…"

He looked at me uneasily. "About what just happened—"

I cut him off gently. "She won't find out. Besides… nothing happened between us."

He stared at me, caught off guard. He hadn't expected me to say that so calmly.

After all, every wolf in the pack knew how I felt about him.

From the moment Alpha Alaric chose me as his son's mate, I'd never hidden my love.

I followed Adrian everywhere, and no matter how hard he tried to keep his distance, I never gave up.

He'd assumed I'd never let tonight's opportunity slip.

He didn't expect indifference. He certainly didn't expect cold.

He studied me for a long moment. When my expression didn't waver — not a trace of the desperate devotion he was used to — he turned and left the room without a word.

I found his captain of the guard and asked him to look after Adrian. Then I went home alone.

The moment I walked into the living room, I saw Vivienne trying on new jewelry, completely absorbed.

She heard me and glanced back with a careless look. Her eyes swept over my unmarked neck, and a smug grin spread across her face.

"So — Adrian was in that much pain, and he still refused to mark you? Oh, my dear… sister."

I gave her a flat look. "I don't have a sister."

Ivory snorted.

[You interloper wolf who stole another’s place, pretending we're family.]

Vivienne scoffed. "Drop the act. You're a motherless nobody — nothing but a burden in your own father's eyes. You don't measure up to me in any way."

"So what if you're his real daughter? I'm the one he adores. Adrian loves me too. Even out of his mind, he wouldn't mark you."

"You have no right to talk to me like that."

Ivory seethed. [How dare she? Everything she has, she stole from you!]

I soothed Ivory quietly, feeling nothing.

Then came a noise from outside the door.

Vivienne moved fast. She swept all the jewelry off the table onto the floor, grabbed the coffee and splashed it over herself, then dropped to the ground with a pitiful, tearful expression.

My father opened the door to find me standing over Vivienne while she wept on the floor.

He was furious. He helped Vivienne up with one hand and jabbed a finger at me with the other.

"Yara! You're bullying Vivienne again? When will you ever grow up?"

I looked at him. "The day you chose her and her mother — the day you stood by while rogues threw my mother off a cliff and left nothing to bury — that's when I learned that being 'good' only gets you killed."

Ivory's teeth clenched. [All because of a promise to look after his brother's widow. He traded his own mate's life for it. He doesn't deserve to call himself a wolf!]

My father ignored the pain on my face and turned to comfort Vivienne.

I sighed and handed him the documents I'd brought.

"I'll take Vivienne's place. I'll marry the Alpha of Silver Moon Pack, Damien."

"Here's my file. You can hand it over. No need to keep trying to talk me into it."

His eyes lit up with undisguised relief.

My uncle had once promised Vivienne to Damien in exchange for an alliance.

After my uncle's death, my father had done everything he could to cancel the arrangement.

But Silver Moon was the most powerful pack in the kingdom. Even appealing to Alpha Alaric hadn't worked.

With the deadline looming, my father couldn't bear to send his beloved Vivienne to a wolf with a reputation for brutality — so he'd turned his sights on me.

But there was no relief in Vivienne's eyes. Only hatred.

She wanted the title of Luna of the Silver Moon Pack, but not the risk of being killed for it. Now that I was taking what she considered hers, her loathing only deepened.

"Uncle, Yara's just throwing a tantrum. She actually stole Adrian's suppressant earlier tonight — she was probably trying to get him to mark her while he was out of it—"

Before she finished, my father slapped me hard across the face.

I didn't even get a chance to defend myself.

He glared at me, his face like thunder. "Shameless. Adrian's made it clear he loves Vivienne. How dare you try to steal her mate!"

Ivory roared inside me.

[Yara is Adrian's fated mate! Who's stealing from whom?]

Vivienne smirked, watching me like I was entertainment.

My father ordered the guards to drag me outside. "I have no daughter this shameless. Twenty lashes. Maybe that'll teach her."

Fire tore across my back. I bit down hard and refused to make a sound.

The sky turned black with clouds. Rain poured down.

After the lashing, they dragged me to the center of the courtyard. My father's voice thundered overhead: "Ask her if she knows what she did wrong. If she doesn't — she stays in the rain!"

Just as I was about to collapse, Adrian's figure passed in front of me.

He glanced at me once, then walked inside.

A long time later, he came back out smiling, and strolled over to where I knelt.

"Yara, I know you're my fated mate, but I really can't mark you right now. If I did, Vivienne would have to marry that brutal wolf."

Ivory laughed coldly.

[Does he not realize — if Vivienne doesn't go, the one marrying Damien is you?]