Chapter 3

Ronan wouldn't let me end it. He doubled down.

He missed three morning council meetings in a row to bring me my medicine. He went down to the pack house kitchen himself and learned how to make plain broth.

When he saw the color coming back into my face, he couldn't hide the smile in his eyes.

"Charlotte feels terrible about the other night. She wants to throw a small party in the gardens and apologize to you in person."

I shook my head. "Tell her no."

Ronan tightened his hand on mine. "You used to call me Ronan, not 'the Alpha.' Are you angry I didn't believe you, or angry I lied to you?"

"Nora, I never forgot what we promised each other. Elder Whitmore's dying — he got fatal injury when he helped me to get the Alpha position. He's terrified Charlotte will be alone when he's gone. He asked me to take her in. I couldn't say no."

"I'm not taking Charlotte over you. I promise you that. When you're healed, I'll still mark you. You'll stay with me. You'll have everything she has. I'll love you the way I always have. The Luna title is just paper. Nothing changes between us."

I looked at Ronan — so sure of himself — and I finally understood.

He wasn't the Ronan from ten years ago, the one who told me there would only ever be one mate for him.

I pulled my wrist free. "If you love me, why fake a border war. Why lie to me for three years just to keep me out there."

"If you didn't want Charlotte as your Luna, why am I — half dead — the one who has to bend around her."

He had lied for exactly one reason. So he could take Charlotte as Luna without me in the way.

And I'd paid for that lie a hundred times over —

A thousand nights on the border. A body that doesn't work right anymore. Warriors who died for nothing.

I blinked and shoved the heat out of my eyes. "Don't. When I'm healed, I'm leaving Creed territory."

His face went white. "Leaving. Going where?"

"I lied to you, yes. But I offered you a place at my side. I never said I wouldn't mark you. Is a title really all you want?"

Ten years. And he thought I'd stayed for a title. Not for him.

The conversation ended in silence. I had nothing else to say to him.

I told Charlotte's people no. The day of the party, they came to my room and brought me to the gardens anyway.

Charlotte was in the middle of a circle of she-wolves. They parted when I came through. I didn't bother with any of it.

"Say what you brought me here for."

The garden went quiet.

Charlotte's eyes found mine and the sneer came out. "Gamma Ashford. No need to rush. This party is a bit boring. Why don't you shift and put on a combat show for us? Show us how you deal with those rogue wolves back at the border."

I didn't move. The she-wolves around her started laughing.

"Maybe Gamma Ashford can't fight at all. I heard she only secured her Gamma position by sleeping with an Alpha."

"Really? Look at those scars. If she ever actually slept with our Alpha, she'd scare him out of the bed."

"I heard you slept with every single one of the border warriors just to get them to follow your orders. Gamma, is that —"

Charlotte walked up close, eyes wide and mock-sympathetic. "No wonder the Alpha won't make you Luna. He thinks you're dirty."

I looked right at her. Calm. "Is that what happened to you? Is that why you think everyone else is the same?"

The smile froze on her face. Her eyes went black. "You bitch."

Her hand came up again. This time I caught her wrist, twisted it, and slapped her back.

She staggered two steps. Her face was wrecked.

I held her gaze. "That's for the one you gave me last time. Pull this again and it won't be just one."

Before I was done speaking, a guard called from the path. "Alpha."

Something ugly flickered at the corner of Charlotte's mouth. Then she turned and threw herself straight into the pool.

The gardens exploded. "Someone help! The Luna's in the water!"

Ronan was already running. He dove in without thinking.

When he came up holding Charlotte, her face dead white, his voice came out low and dangerous.

"Who did this."

Every she-wolf in the garden lifted a hand and pointed at me.

"Alpha, the Luna invited her in good faith. She slapped Luna, and then she pushed her into the pool."

Ronan paused. His voice softened. "Nora. Did you do it?"

He didn't wait for me to answer. Charlotte coughed against his chest, and his eyes dropped to her.

He saw the split, swollen corner of her mouth, and something in him went white hot.

"Nora. You have disappointed me."

"Lock her in the storeroom. Unless Luna orders her release, keep her locked up." He said to the guards.

He carried Charlotte away. He never looked back.

I was locked in the guest cell next to the Luna's wing for two days. No food. No water.

My wound was getting worse and worse. My throat felt like something was burning in it.

I was about to black out when I heard Charlotte's voice through the wall, low and playful.

"Ronan, gentle. Don't hurt our pup."