Chapter 1

Thinking back on it, I should have noticed something was wrong long before.

For the two years I couldn't see, "Lucian" had grown colder and colder with me.

He rarely spoke. There was something like distance between us whenever we were together.

I was blind, and no matter how much helplessness I carried, the shame pressing on my chest kept me from ever asking.

I was still working out what to do next when the door opened.

Behind me came Silas's voice, doing Lucian's.

"Leona, I'm home."

I had to admit, Silas was good at it. No wonder I had never suspected a thing.

I lifted my eyes slowly, my blank, unfocused gaze landing on the hard rise and fall of Silas's chest.

The best body in the werewolf world, everyone said. They were not wrong.

The cold, untouchable god of a man the whole kingdom knew about, always wild, never tamed.

Nobody understood why he would let Lucian order him around, why he would keep up a fake performance with me for two whole years, why he would go so far as to form a mate bond with me.

I couldn't figure it out either. But if they loved acting so much, then I would play along to the very end.

I pretended I couldn't see, threw my arms open, and fell into Silas's chest, wrapping them around his waist.

"Honey, you're home."

His scent filled my nose, rich and thick with wolf, and while I was there I ran a hand over the muscle hidden under his shirt.

In the two years I was blind, Silas had always kept his distance from me.

Even when the mate bond stirred something between us, he had never crossed the line.

Silas's hands suddenly pulled back, as though all that warmth from me had startled him.

"Leona, what's wrong?"

I squeezed out a few tears and made my voice small and hurt.

"Ever since I went blind two years ago you haven't touched me. Is it because you think a blind woman isn't good enough for you?"

Silas's brows drew together. He pulled back all that coldness of his and softened his voice to soothe me.

"Of course not. Your eyes were hit by a silver bullet two years ago and your body has never been the same. I was afraid you couldn't take it."

"My body is fine now. I can take it."

I reached up and started on his shirt buttons, sliding my palm around to the broad plane of his back.

"Honey, you've been holding your wolf down for two years. Doesn't that get exhausting?"

Silas's throat worked. His voice dropped low, and it did something to me.

"It's fine..."

I rose onto my toes, hooked both hands behind his neck to pull him down, and breathed against his throat.

"Then should we..."

Before I could finish, the phone on the sofa rang.

"Let me take this."

Silas's whole body finally came loose. He grabbed the phone and stepped out onto the balcony.

I hid behind the curtain, and through the phone I heard Lucian's lazy voice.

"Silas, tomorrow is the Alpha King's birthday, if I remember right. I'll trade with you for the day."

The light in Silas's eyes went out.

"Fine."

"It's been months since we traded. Fill me in on what's been going on with you and Leona so I don't slip up."

The other end of the line got loud all of a sudden, a whole crowd of men ribbing Lucian.

"Alpha, you're dating Thea and juggling Leona at the same time. Which one of them actually matters more to you?"

Lucian's face was full of scorn, his voice dismissive.

"How could Leona ever compare to Thea! She's been throwing herself at me since we were kids. If fate hadn't picked Leona for me, I never would have marked her. Thea is the woman I actually want."

I froze, then lowered my head and laughed at myself.

It was true. I had loved Lucian once. I was a pureblood Alpha myself, and I still chose to be his shadow.

From eighteen to twenty-eight. A full ten years.

It wasn't until after he marked me and made me his Luna that I lost my sight.

What I got in return, though, was Silas at my side, day after day, night after night.

For two years, my life had been nothing but a farce from beginning to end.