Chapter 6

Morning came too soon.

A knock at my door had me jerking awake, my heart immediately racing. It was a servant bringing breakfast.

“The Alpha requests you present yourself to the pack this afternoon,” she said. “As is tradition after a Luna’s bonding.”

Right. The formal introduction to the pack. The part where I had to stand beside Zane and pretend we were a mated pair.

I picked at the food and tried not to think about last night. About what I’d seen. About the fact that my husband couldn’t even bear to touch me but apparently had no problem touching himself while thinking of… someone else.

Because that’s what it had to be, right? He was thinking of one of his beautiful she-wolves. Imagining someone slim and perfect beneath him instead of—

Stop it, I told myself firmly. Stop torturing yourself.

But the thoughts wouldn’t stop.

They plagued me through getting dressed in the formal Luna attire the servants laid out. Through having my hair styled in an elaborate updo that felt like it was pulling my scalp. Through the walk to the main courtyard where the pack had gathered.

Zane was already there, standing on the raised platform like the king he was. When I approached, he didn’t offer his hand. Didn’t acknowledge me at all until I stood beside him.

Then, for the benefit of the watching pack, he placed a hand on the small of my back.

The touch burned through the fabric of my dress. The mate bond, unwanted as it was, sang at the contact. It was the first time he’d voluntarily touched me since the forced marking.

“Pack members of Fangstain,” Beta Ezra announced, his voice carrying across the courtyard. “I present to you Alpha Zane and Luna Tiana, bonded under the full moon.”

The pack responded with the traditional howl of acceptance, though I noticed several wolves barely opened their mouths.

I tried to stand tall and look like I belonged at Zane’s side.

But I could feel their judgment. Could practically hear their thoughts:

That’s his Luna? The fat servant girl?

No wonder he looks miserable.

How long before he takes a chosen mate and discards her?

The ceremony was mercifully brief. Zane made a short speech about strength and unity. Then we were dismissed, and he removed his hand from my back so quickly.

“Return to your chambers,” he said quietly, not looking at me. “I have pack business to attend to.”

Always somewhere else to be because my presence irritated him.

I nodded and turned to go, my throat tight with unshed tears.

“Tiana.”

I stopped, my heart lurching stupidly at the sound of my name from his lips.

When I looked back, his expression was unreadable. “The healers will begin your treatments tomorrow. Be prepared.”

Treatments. Right.

He had mentioned it in the contract. The injections and potions designed to prepare my body to carry his heir.

Because that’s all I was. A womb with legs.

“Yes, Alpha,” I said quietly.

I spent the rest of the day alone in my chambers, staring at the glass wall and wondering how long I could survive this.

That evening, as the sun set and shadows filled my room, I heard raised voices from Zane’s chambers but I could not see the faces.

Zane’s voice was clear, sharp with anger. And another voice I recognized after a moment—

Kaius. His nephew.

I shouldn’t have eavesdropped. But the glass wall conducted sound better than I’d realized, and I couldn’t help but hear fragments:

“—not right, Uncle. It’s obvious the way you are treating her and there’s already gossip around the packs”

“Since when did my business become yours?”

“She’s your mate. Your Luna. Not some—”

“Exactly. My Luna, so I decide what to do with her and how to do it.”

“But uncle, she…”

“Enough.” Zane’s voice cracked like a whip. “I don’t care about your concern or what anybody is saying.

I only care about securing my legacy, and she is the unfortunate vessel the Moon Goddess saw fit to curse me with. End of discussion.”

Silence fell.

Then I heard footsteps, and a door slamming.

Wow!

He had made it clear to me, but he could not just hide his disgust at least?

Why the moon goddess had chosen to mock me this way, turning my little wishes to a curse, I was not sure.

I lay back against the pillows and stared at the glass until the room blurred.

I pressed a finger to the pulsing mark at my throat and felt the sudden, hot, smallness of panic. Then the panic narrowed into something else.

Two years. I would survive. I would learn where his power lived, and I would use it to my advantage.

I would redeem myself.