Chapter 1

At twenty-nine, the mate bond I'd spent seven years building with Ethan Moonshadow finally became a joke.

We fought our way from the house to the edge of pack territory and ended up facing each other by the cliffs. My wolf thrashed inside me, desperate to tear apart the man standing in front of me.

"Ethan!" I jabbed my finger at his chest. "Do you even deserve to be Alpha? I was seventeen when I let you mark me. I helped you build this pack from nothing when you were just a rogue, and now what? You turn around and chase after some Omega who just had her presentation? Does your wolf even recognize me as your Luna anymore?"

His eyes flashed gold. I knew that look. It meant his wolf was surfacing. I used to love those eyes when they lit up for me. Now they were cold as ice.

"Elowen Silvertail, stop the act." His voice dropped to a low, dangerous tone. "You're the one who wanted to run away back then. You were seventeen and crawling into my bed, begging me to mark you. And now you want to play the victim?"

Something sharp tore through my chest.

"What did you just say?" My voice shook, but not from fear. From pure rage. "I begged you? Ethan, you were the one who said forever. You said I was your only mate."

"That was before." He looked away. "People change, Elowen. I'm an Alpha now. I have a whole pack to run. I'm not that rogue who only had you anymore."

I laughed. The sound came out bitter and broken, and tears burned my eyes.

"So now that you've made it, you want to break the mate bond? You want a more obedient Luna instead?"

"Yes." He turned back to face me, and his eyes were ice. "I'm breaking the bond."

My wolf screamed inside me, and I lunged at him. We collided hard, clawing and snarling at each other. But the cliff edge was slick from rain, and our feet slipped. We both went over.

Pain exploded through my body. And then there was nothing.

When I woke up, the stench of dried sweat hit me hard and made me wrinkle my nose.

I opened my eyes and saw sunlight streaming through a broken window. I was in some rundown shack deep in the forest, surrounded by rusted traps hanging on the walls and animal pelts that had seen better days. The narrow bed underneath me had a moldy blanket full of holes.

I froze and lifted my hand to touch my face.

My skin was smooth and soft, and even my scent was that light, milky sweetness of someone who hadn't presented yet.

I was seventeen again, back before my presentation.

Back then, I thought this place was heaven, our little love nest. Ethan and I against the world.

Now I could see it for what it really was. A glorified dump.

I had no idea what possessed me back then to leave my family's Alpha estate in Silver Moon Pack to rough it in the woods with a rogue.

My family was a solid Beta bloodline in Silver Moon Pack, and my parents treated me like their little princess. They had my whole life perfectly mapped out. Present as something decent, marry the Alpha heir, and become a respectable Luna.

Someone like me and someone like Ethan, a rogue with nothing to his name, we should never have crossed paths.

But then came that day in the snow.

I was doing border patrol training and passed by an abandoned factory. That's when I saw Ethan getting jumped by a bunch of guys from Crimson Claw Pack.

After they finally left, I found him lying in the snow wearing nothing but a torn hoodie. Blood pooled underneath him, and his eyes were half open with his wolf flashing gold in his pupils. He was seconds away from losing control and shifting right there.

I was so stupid back then, too soft-hearted for my own good. I should have run, but my feet wouldn't listen.

Like an idiot, I called the pack medical team and draped my own coat over him.

"Hey, are you okay?"

The boy forced his eyes open, and they were wild and dangerous. "You're not scared of a rogue?"

My voice shook when I answered. "Fighting is bad. You shouldn't mess with Crimson Claw anymore."

He let out a harsh laugh and closed his eyes, playing dead.

I crouched there like an idiot, blocking the wind and snow for him until the medical team arrived. I even slipped some cash to cover his hospital bills when no one was looking.

I thought that was the end of it.

But a few days later, Ethan showed up at the edge of the training grounds like he owned the place.