Chapter 1

Smoke filled my lungs—thick, black, choking.

Five months pregnant, I woke to the scent of burning pine and sacred oak smoldering.

Through the haze, I saw her: Eira, my fated mate’s foster sister, his “little sister of the pack,” pouring accelerant on our den threshold.

I didn’t call him.

Last life, I screamed through our bond.

Cassian—my fated mate, my Alpha, the wolf I’d loved since we were six—came for me. Pulled me from the flames while Eira burned to charcoal behind us.

For the remaining months of my pregnancy, he played the perfect expectant father, arranging the finest care, attending every checkup, his devotion unwavering.

But on the fourth night after our daughter was born, he dragged us to the Blood Moon altar. He stood on the High Rock and gave the order.

Pin me to the pyre. Light the flame beneath our daughter’s body first, then mine.“You let Eira burn,” he’d said, while smoke choked my lungs. “So you burn with what you loved.”

When I opened my eyes, I was back on the floor of our burning den.

This time, I pressed wet moss to my muzzle and dialed the public emergency channel. Let him choose her again. But in front of everyone.

The roof beam fell at minute three. Wood cracked across my shoulder—bone snapped, I screamed, smoke swallowed the sound. Another beam caught my thighs. Blood pooled fast, soaking the nest I’d built for her. My daughter—still safe in my womb, five months along—kicked once, weak, then went still.

I felt him through the wood. Massive paws hitting earth. His silver wolf tearing through brush.

Cassian had arrived.

I heard Eira first. “Cassian—I can’t breathe—”

Fur to skin. Him lifting her. Her face pressed to his neck. “I’ve got you. Always.”

He walked past the burning entrance. Past the threshold. Past his fated mate and his pup dying in the smoke.

I turned my head. Smoke burned my eyes. I couldn’t stop coughing.

A boot caught my ribs. Casual. Like checking dead prey. His second, Bryn. “Jealous enough to burn your own den. Too bad the Alpha isn’t watching.”

I crawled forward, nails breaking on stone. My pelt was singed, skin blistering. The cooling salves—the ones that could have saved her—were being applied to Eira’s unburned wrists three miles away.

I begged them, voice raw. “Please... the pup...”

Bryn looked down. His lip curled. “Don’t play that game, Luna. Everyone knows you hate Eira. Setting fire to your own den? That’s desperate. Even for you.”

He kicked my flank. Light. Dismissive. “The Alpha’s already claimed her. You’re embarrassing yourself. Keep performing, and he’ll dissolve the bond before moonrise.”

I couldn’t speak. My womb contracted, sharp and violent. I tasted copper. Blood on my teeth.

The warriors moved around me, extinguishing the sacred flames, not one glance cast my way.

A voice cut through the chaos. “Blood! By the Moon, she’s bleeding!”

“Probably faking,” Bryn called back. “Eira said she’d use pig’s blood if she had to. Five months? That pup’s not going anywhere. Let her play her games.”

Darkness crept at the edges of my vision.

I saw Cassian’s boots stop at the edge of my sight. He crouched again. His glove—leather, scented of Eira’s perfume—gripped my chin. He turned my face toward him.

“Wake up, Asha ,” he snarled. “Stop performing. I’m here.”

He shook me. Hard.

“Did you think I wouldn’t see through this? Burning your own den to frame her? Pathetic.”

His hand left my face. Dropped to my belly.Pressed down.Hard.

I arched, screaming, but no sound came.

“Nice try,” he murmured. “But I know you, Asha . You always did know how to get what you want. Even if you have to burn your own den to get my attention.”

“Cassian—” I grabbed his sleeve. My grip was weak. Blood on my fingers. “The pup—stopped kicking—”

He looked at my belly. Five months. The small swell.

Then he looked back at the doorway. Where Eira’s voice was calling for him. Weak. Practiced. Perfect.

His jaw tightened. He peeled my fingers off his sleeve. One by one.

“Convincing. If Eira hadn’t warned me you’d pretend after setting the blaze, I might have believed you.”

He stood. Turned. Walked away without looking back.

The darkness took me.