Ashes of a Vow

The Alpha who swore a life-and-death bond with me betrayed me, and now his pregnant little mistress is here to rub it in my face.I let out a cold laugh and tossed the mate bond dissolution papers on the desk. "Sign it, or die.""Do you know how deep his mark on me is?"I looked up to see a young human girl standing in my office doorway. Her hand was caressing her neck, right over a fresh bite mark."He said you're too cold." She walked in, closing the door behind her. "Kaelen said being with you is like hugging a block of ice."My hands froze over my keyboard. The girl couldn't have been more than nineteen. Blonde, blue-eyed, with a small, yet noticeable baby bump."What else did he say?"She smiled and pulled a tablet from her purse. "Why don't you see for yourself?"A video started to play. Kaelen’s face filled the screen, his eyes holding a tenderness he’d never once shown me."Sera," he whispered in the video, "I'll protect you. I won't let anyone hurt you. Not even my Luna."My b

Moonlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows, stretching across the marble floor. I knelt on the balcony, applying a special herbal balm to the skin beneath my ribs—to the scars left by silver weapons thirteen years ago. They still ached.The scars always ached under the full moon, a cruel reminder of a past I fought to forget."You're still using that balm."I didn't turn around. Kaelen's footsteps were loud on the cold marble."I thought you'd forgotten that pain," he said. The anger was gone from his voice, replaced by something I couldn't quite place.I kept rubbing the balm onto my skin. The silver scars looked ghastly in the moonlight."Seraphina’s hand is badly injured. The healers say she may never use that hand again."He added, "That was cruel, Elara."I stopped, setting the jar down before rising to face him. "Cruel?""She's just a nineteen-year-old girl!""She had a memory crystal of my greatest shame!" My voice started to shake. "Those images, Kaelen! Those damn

A dead silence fell over the ceremony.Kaelen looked around at the warriors who had once fought and died for him. Now, their guns were all pointed at him.Thomas, Ryan, Derek… men who had followed him for over a decade. Not a trace of guilt on their faces, only cold indifference."No! No! This can't be happening!" Seraphina's shriek cut through the silence. She hid behind Kaelen, her body shaking violently.Kaelen looked at Marcus. "Why?""Tell him, Marcus," I said, my voice echoing through the hall as I ascended the stage.Marcus lowered his gun but kept his eyes locked on Kaelen. "After you became Alpha, all you cared about was your business empire and expanding your power. Do you even remember any of us, the brothers who fought to put you there?""Thomas's father was dying, and his medical bills were a million dollars. Did you know that?" I took over. "Ryan's daughter was born with a heart defect and needed surgery. Did you know that? Derek lost his right arm for you and can barely

Thinking back on it now, I let out a bitter laugh. "Kaelen, you fought him the moment he called me tainted, the moment he said I was soiled.""You already knew, didn't you?" I asked softly. "Or at least, you suspected."Kaelen shook his head frantically, trying to look innocent. "No, I had no idea…"I closed my eyes, letting the memories wash over me again.Thirteen years ago, the day the old Alpha died.Kaelen received a distress call from his father.But he just sat by my bed, unmoving.After a moment, he looked up, his eyes a mix of pain, guilt, and a strange relief I couldn't understand. "Elara, once my father is gone, we can be together. No one will ever be able to stop us…"I was shocked and deeply moved. "Kaelen, he's still your father.""That doesn't matter!" He pulled me into a crushing hug, as if trying to merge our bodies into one. "All I want is you. All I have is you."For me, Kaelen had indirectly killed his own father.So I looked into his eyes and made that fatal promis