Chapter 1

As the words left my mouth, I felt a dull, tearing ache deep in my soul.

It was the physical backlash from forcibly severing a mate bond.

But the pain in my body was nothing next to the agony tearing through my heart.

I wasn’t just breaking a bond. I was cutting away more than ten years of love and dreams.

Elias’s tall frame lurched. The color drained from his face, and his hand flew to his chest.

“Chloe, what the hell is wrong with you?”

He set his champagne glass down on the bar.

“Since you heard it all, there’s no point hiding it.

“Mia’s an ordinary werewolf whose wolf hasn’t even awakened yet. She can’t handle the cold up north.

“But you’re strong. Even alone on the border, you’ll do just fine.”

My eyes swept over the forged border transfer orders on the coffee table. My voice was calm. “So to protect her, you all forged the transfer orders together?”

Elias admitted it without blinking. “It was my idea.

“If we hadn’t forged the orders, you never would have signed that blood oath.”

Her eyes red, Mia suddenly grabbed for the communicator in Holden’s hand.

“This is all my fault. I’ll withdraw the request from the Elder Council right now. I’ll go north instead of Chloe...”

The two men immediately closed in around her protectively.

Holden snatched the communicator away, frowning as he snapped, “Going north would kill you!”

“But what about Chloe?” Mia cried, her slight frame trembling. “She’ll be all alone out on those faraway ice fields. She’ll be so miserable.”

Elias pulled out a tissue and tenderly wiped away her tears.

He used to be that gentle with me. Now all his tenderness was for someone else.

It wasn’t that they didn’t know how harsh life in the north was. It just didn’t matter, as long as Mia wasn’t the one who had to suffer.

“She’s been independent since she was a kid, and her wolf is strong enough. She’ll be fine anywhere. Don’t risk your life to prove a point.”

I stood across from them and watched it all.

So that was all there was to it.

Mia could go north. They just couldn’t bear the thought of her suffering there, but they had no problem sacrificing me.

My fingertips trembled slightly, and the last of my hope died.

Holden adjusted his silver-rimmed glasses and spoke calmly. “Chloe, look at it this way. Everyone wins. The Far North Line is the best place for you to train, and we get to stay in Central City to protect Mia. Nobody’s future suffers.”

I was so angry I laughed. “By that logic, I should be thanking you?”

Holden’s face darkened. “Haven’t you always wanted to go north and see real combat? We just helped you make up your mind.”

I did want to go. I’d wanted to study and train there for a long time.

Whenever other wolves bullied me, Elias and Holden stood in front of me and took all the abuse for me.

When I hit a wall in training and frustration ate away at me, they patiently helped me work through it, bit by bit. They stuck with me through the hardest stretches.

Every holiday, they remembered what I liked and showed up with gifts they’d picked out. They cared about me.

All those little acts of kindness moved me time and again. Before I knew it, I’d grown attached to them.

Because of everything we’d shared, I’d turned down the border legion’s call-up twice.

I’d even been willing to be an ordinary wolf and stay in safe, comfortable Central City, just to be with them.

But there was no point saying any of that now.

I headed toward the door.

Elias grabbed my wrist without thinking. “Where are you going?”

“Back to my apartment.”

“And what about us?”

I turned back to him, my expression cold. “What do you mean, us?”

His face stiffened, and he lowered his voice. “Chloe, don’t say things you don’t mean. I agreed to the mate bond to get you to sign the blood oath, but it wasn’t all fake.

“I’ll stay with you until the full moon, and I’ll come visit you up north later.

“I’ve already made the promise you wanted.”

I gave a mocking smile. So in his eyes, swallowing his disgust to put on a show with me for a few days was some huge favor.

I didn’t need his fake affection.

I yanked off my moonstone necklace. It was the token we’d shared as kids, the one that meant “we’re in this together.”

I tossed it on the coffee table with a sharp clink.

“You want Mia to feel like one of us, don’t you? Then give her this too.”

As I left the apartment, the communicator in my pocket buzzed.

It was an encrypted message from Rowan Hale, the legion commander of the Far North Line.

“Armored escort arrives at the boundary marker in 48 hours. Please confirm whether you plan to leave the city early.”

I hit confirm without a second’s hesitation.

Going north used to be my dream. Now I’d been tricked into it.

But with no one left in Central City worth staying for, maybe heading north wasn’t such a bad idea after all.