Chapter 1

I never thought the first one I’d see after four years would be Kian. My blood. My brother.

“Look over there! That’s the envoy from the Northern Alliance! What an entrance!”

The spice vendor grabbed my arm.

She pointed to a heavily armored convoy at the end of the market. “I heard he’s here to negotiate with our Alpha. Did you see the welcome ceremony? It was live-streamed! My god, every she-wolf who’s seen him has a crush on him!”

I looked down, packing the last of my homemade herbal salves into my bag. My voice was flat. “Didn’t see it. And I don’t know any envoy.”

The vendor’s eyes widened. “How could you not! It’s Kian! Do you live under a rock?”

I just smiled and didn’t explain.

I took my daughter Lily’s small hand. “Come on, baby. Let’s go get your favorite strawberry cake.”

We hadn’t gone far when a familiar voice cut through the air.

“Cora!”

The wolf inside me flinched.

“Mommy, I think someone’s calling you,” four-year-old Lily said, her fingers tightening around mine.

“He’s got the wrong person. Let’s walk faster.”

I pulled Lily toward the dessert shop at the intersection.

Before I could push open the glass door, a blast of icy air washed over me.

A hand clamped down on my arm like a vise.

“What are you running from?”

Kian’s eyes were red as he stared me down.

“Four years. You’re actually alive?”

His eyes raked over my faded linen dress. They landed on my mud-caked boots. Disgust twisted his features.

“Why the hell are you dressed like this?” he blurted out.

That sentence, that look of entitled disgust, threw me right back to that freezing night four years ago.

The Crescent Moon pack was about to hold its “Beta Elite Trials.”

To get him a nomination, I stood outside the camp for a whole night in forty-below weather. My legs nearly froze solid.

But when he came out of his tent, he looked at me like I was a piece of rotting garbage.

“You disgust me,” Kian had sneered in that same tone. “Stop using me to get at Morgana. She’s my family. You? You’re just the shameless thief who stole her life.”

Right. The Alliance wars mixed everything up. If it weren't for that, Morgana wouldn’t have been his sister for a decade.

And I wouldn’t have been branded the “fake princess” and despised by the whole pack after the truth came out.

To him, Morgana was untouchable.

Everything I did for him was just a sick joke.

I took a deep breath and gently pushed Lily toward the dessert shop door. “Sweetie, go inside and pick the biggest cake. Mommy will be right in.”

As she trotted inside, the warmth vanished from my face.

I turned to face the man who shared my blood.

“Not only dressed like a beggar, but you don’t even have a car? You’re walking around in a dump like this?” Kian glanced with disgust at the omegas passing by. He spoke in a commanding tone. “Get in my car. Take me to your place.”

“Not happening.” I ripped my arm from his grasp.

Kian's mouth twitched. He wasn't used to being rejected in public.

His eyes darted to Lily, who was looking at cakes inside the shop. A cold smirk appeared.

“I get it. Is that your trump card? That’s Blake’s cub, isn’t it?”

He stepped closer, looming over me, his eyes full of contempt.

“You’d rather hide out in the Southern Alliance doing odd jobs just to have that mutt? You think keeping this kid will make Blake mate with you again? Cora, you’re pathetic!”

SLAP!

I didn’t hesitate. I struck him hard across the face.

The crisp sound silenced the air around us.

The northern envoy’s guards drew their weapons in unison.

Kian’s head was knocked to the side. He stood frozen, utterly stunned.

“Shut up,” I said, looking him dead in the eye, my voice ice. “First, she is my cub. Not a bargaining chip.”

I stared at his perfect, hateful face. "Second," I said, each word a chip of ice. "I want nothing to do with Silvercrest. Or Blake. Or your precious sister Morgana. I walked away from all of you. I'm not here to take anything back.”

I took a step back, putting distance between us.

“And last, remember what you said to me. We’re just strangers who happen to share blood. So drop the disgusting, superior act. And stay out of my life.”

Without another glance, I turned and walked toward the dessert shop.

I didn’t get two steps before Kian grabbed me from behind again.

"Wait. Why did you just leave like that? You were raised like a princess, how can you stand this life? You..."

He trailed off. I could feel his hand trembling.

I followed his gaze down and saw my right wrist, which had slipped out of my sleeve.

It was covered in the gnarled, ruined flesh and scars from where Morgana burned me with poison four years ago.

Panic flashed in the arrogant envoy's eyes. It was undeniable.

He swallowed, his voice cracking. “How have you been… surviving?”