Chapter 2

Seraphina's POV

I sat by the hotel window, watching the snow swirl into a violent frenzy outside.

My fingers mindlessly traced the wedding band on my left hand. The diamond caught the dim light, cold and hard—exactly like the day we made our deal three years ago.

The memories drifted back through the snow.

Mortimer and I were set up by my mentor, Alfie Bauer, the head of the Healing Department at Shadowfang Academy.

Professor Bauer was friends with Alpha Edwin of the Blade Pack, and when he heard Edwin was breathing down Mortimer's neck to find a mate, he thought of me.

I was his star pupil, after all.

As the daughter of the Silver Moon Alpha, my wolf is a rare, towering silver beast. I have the bloodline, the pedigree, and a healing gift that every werewolf envies.

I'd been trained since I was a pup in the most elite academies to be the perfect, poised Luna.

Everything about me—every ounce of my grace and power—was designed to be a perfect match for the golden heir of the Blade family.

But what no one knew was that our first meeting, orchestrated by our families, was a date I'd been mentally preparing for for ten years.

"Miss Hale, I don't care about werewolf traditions. Fate, fated mates—none of it matters to me. I'm only here because my grandfather is making my life a living hell."

Three years ago, even just sitting there casually, Mortimer radiated the suffocating power of a high-ranking Alpha. His golden eyes held zero warmth, only a cold, professional distance.

"I... feel the same way," I said, looking down to hide the fact that my heart was practically trying to punch its way out of my chest.

Inside my mind, Lily was doing laps. She felt the scent of our fated mate and was dying to let out a mating howl, wanting nothing more than to run over and nuzzle the side of his neck.

"Shut up, Lily," I snapped at her internally. "Don't let him know. Not yet."

"A contract mating of three years. Once he's satisfied, we dissolve the mating. What do you think?"

He reached out a hand. His fingers were long and elegant.

I shook his hand, feeling a spark of heat that could have brought any she-wolf to her knees.

I was naive enough to think that three years of living together would eventually turn the ice in that contract into something real.

But this freezing Alaskan wind just blew the last of my delusions away.

By evening, the moon was casting a bloody red glow over the snow. For someone whose heat had started early, this was a disaster.

My body felt like it was being eaten alive by a slow fire. The physical craving for my mate was shredding my self-control.

Lily was clawing at my mind, begging for that pine-scented wildness to just... take over.

I couldn't stay in that room. My pheromones would eventually leak out and call every crazed male within ten miles.

I threw on my hiking gear and stumbled out into the Glacier Forest, hoping the sub-zero temperatures would kill the burning, shameful heat rising inside me.

As I marched through the snow, I found myself opening my phone. It was like a reflex.

Vivian's I*******m story hit me like a heat-seeking missile, obliterating the last of my dignity.

It was a gallery of photos. The first was a selfie—she looked glowing, her eyes full of mischief. She didn't look like someone who'd just been "ambushed by rogues."

"To Morty, Vivi will always be priceless."

My eyes locked onto one photo in particular—a hand peeling an apple.

Long, powerful fingers, knuckles I knew by heart. And there, glinting in the light, was the wedding band that matched mine. It was a slap in my face.

The kidnapping was a lie.

The comments under the post felt like poisoned arrows.

"You're so spoiled, Vivi. Only you could get away with faking a rogue attack."

"Don't pull a stunt like that again," Mortimer had replied.

Vivian's response to him, "Morty, I'm sorry! I'll apologize to her when she gets back."

Other comments were even worse. "Alpha Mortimer should've just mated with Vivi from the start. Maybe her weak wolf spirit would be cured by now if he had."

"He's with her now, isn't he? Honestly, Vivi is obviously way more important to him than some 'high-blood' Luna."

They weren't even trying to hide it from me. And Mortimer hadn't deleted a single comment or defended me once.

Suddenly, I felt tired. Just... done.

"Lily... stop crying," I whispered, the taste of copper hitting the back of my throat.

Because of Lily's emotional collapse, my pheromones leaked out in an uncontrollable wave.

Almost immediately, I heard heavy breathing coming from the shadows.

Rogues. They were like starving hyenas, their eyes glowing crimson in the snowy dark, drawn by the scent of a female in heat.

"Get back!" I let out a low, ragged growl and sprinted deeper into the forest, trying to use the jagged terrain to lose them.

The snow was coming down harder now. The deep forest was a wall of deathly silence and white.

My breath came in thick clouds, my chest burning from the run.

Suddenly, the entire mountain began to rumble.

A deep, thundering roar echoed from the earth.

I looked up in horror. A wall of snow that had been building for decades on the peak was collapsing. A massive silver wave of destruction was screaming down the mountainside, blocking out the sky.

Fear, cold, and a crushing sense of finality filled my lungs.