Prologue.

Iris

Blue Lake Town, Colorado. December, 2022.

He's kissing me. I'm kissing him.

The air is thick with heat and extreme devotion, his breath mingling with mine as Patrick kisses me again and again. My husband, my secret, my sin. The man I just sacrificed everything for. Regret gnaws, but I push it back.

We married only hours ago in a hidden chapel just outside Silvaton Ridge. The rings we exchanged gleam in the poor motel lamplight, proof of our vow against everything in our lives. Proof of our true love. Our devotion to one another forever. I recall his vow.

'I, Patrick take you forever as my wife. My life. No one separates us from now till eternity.'

Those words filter in now. Echoing in this intimate moment between Patrick and I.

My heart thunders beneath his touch as his fingers trace the lines of my bare skin. His touch is slow and reverent. He moves inside me, deep and gentle, as if memorizing the rhythm of my entire body. The rhythm of my soul. I’m his, completely. Finally, and I don’t care about the war we started by loving each other.

I’m an eighteen year old Luna. The daughter of a fallen Alpha from the Silver Wolf Pack. Killed under mysterious orders. I was promised to Alpha Gerald Ford, my fated mate, the pack’s leader. But I ran. Fled Silvaton Ridge. Crossed the border to be with the one I chose, Patrick, a Blue Wolf. An enemy. A rival. A forbidden love entanglement.

I broke my mother’s heart. Broke all our ancient laws. All for love for Patrick. All for the love of this werewolf, who promises me a life filled with passion and adventure and not duty and ancient mate bonds, like my parents shared.

‘You’re being naive, Iris…listening to Patrick’s human imbibed charm filled tongue…’ My mum’s argument days ago, after I told her I went to reject my Alpha, Gerald. I told him he wasn't passionate. I needed passion.

‘Nothing like passion and adventure. Your bond with your mate is most important. Fulfilling the ancient rituals…’

My heated argument with mum days ago, threatens to shatter me. But I push the memory and accompanying guilt back.

“I... I can’t hold on anymore, Patrick...” I whisper, the pleasure unbearable.

“C*me for me, my love,” he murmurs, his voice wrecked with devotion.

I’m seconds away, when the door blasts open.

I scream. Patrick grabs me, shielding my body with his. Red eyes gleam in the dark. A monstrous shadow stands in the doorway, towering, snarling, terrifying me. Eriana. I know those eyes. I know that rage. Leader of the female betas. Patrick’s mate by law, not love. Sister to Gerald.

Patrick shifts instantly, covering me. “Eriana…” his voice trembles.

She doesn’t speak. She growls. Two wolves flank her. Betrayal screams in the air. Her fury is ancient. Righteous. And terrifying. She lunges for me. Patrick meets her midair, fur and fangs colliding, snarls tearing through the room.

“Patrick!” I cry, as their wolves crash and twist across the room. But she’s stronger. Her rage is a weapon. She pins him.

“No!” I scream, struggling to rise.

Patrick’s eyes find mine one last time. Bleeding. Loving.

“I love you, Iris… Always,” he rasps.

Then Eriana rips out his throat.

Blood floods the room.

The scent hits me hard like fire. My wolf howls from within, erupting, trembling, but I’m too slow. Too weak. I charge her, but Eriana flings me like I’m nothing. My body hits the wall. My vision swims randomly. Pain rips through my side. My wolf fights to take over but I’m drowning in grief, in rage, in helplessness.

She comes for me again, and I know death is next.

The next I hear,

“Eriana! Enough!”

A voice. Cold. Commanding.

Everything freezes around me.

Alpha Gerald. He's here.

He steps into the room, his wolf form immense, his power suffocating. His eyes lock on mine, burning, emotionless. I choke on my own breath.

“You’re going to spare her?” Eriana snarls. “After what she did to you? She rejected you. Took my mate.”

“She betrayed me,” Gerald replies, voice low and deadly. “But I won’t kill her.”

He picks me up like I weigh nothing. My blood drips down his arms. I can’t move. Can’t speak. The world spins.

“You killed your betrayer. Let me punish mine as I deem fit.”

“What punishment?” Eriana growls.

Silence.

I pass out.

***

I wake up in a room. It’s warm. My throat burns. My neck stings like it’s been scorched. Burns like alcohol against my skin.

Muffled voices come up.

“What would you have me do, Alpha?”

Pause.

“I fell in love with her…Not just the ancient connection…Not just the duty... It would kill me if I kill her…” He pauses. Heavy. Pain etched in his silence. Then his voice cones up. Stronger. Colder.

“Erase her. Her memory. Her face. Her past. Make her someone else.”

A sharp gasp. “The ancient punishment fit for only Lunas…The one metted by only Alpha's when their hearts have been betrayed…But she’s your Luna.”

“Correction, she's my sinful Luna!” His voice is sharp. Raw with pain. “She was mine by fate. She left by choice. Broke our fated bond. Rejected me, because she hated the pack rules. Because she was afraid of ending up in a passionless bond like her parents shared. Because she allowed her heart choose Patrick…”

Something suddenly shifts in the air. In his tone.

“I have erased her by pain. She died the moment she let another man touch her.”

I try to cry out. I can’t. My mouth won’t move. My limbs won’t obey. They’re binding me with something stronger than rope. A strong ancient magic. One I recognize even in my sleep.

“She was fated to me,” Gerald continues, “but she made her choice. Patrick was to marry Eriana and unite our packs. She shattered that with her selfish love. With her love for reckless abandon and human ideas of passion…”

Pain stabs my chest. I can’t breathe. I need to breathe.

No, Gerald.

“If I ever see Iris Herewit again,” Gerald says, voice slicing the air, “I’ll rip her heart out myself.”