Chapter 1

Oak logs crackled in the fireplace.

Kyle stood beside the long table and pushed the bottle of faintly glowing sleeping potion toward me.

He was the ruler of these lands, the mighty Alpha.

Even as he handed me the potion that would send me to my death, his voice stayed perfectly gentle.

"The potion lasts three hours. That's long enough for a whole funeral."

Kyle slid a sealed sheet of parchment beneath the bottle. "The cabin in the southern lands is ready. When you wake up, your name will be Lila. You'll have a large, fertile farm and a fresh start."

I looked up at Kyle. For a moment, he sounded uneasy, as if even he wasn't used to saying out loud that he was sending me away.

Then he buried that unease.

He had a maid bring in a dish of honeyed wild berries.

The berries on the silver plate smelled sharp and tart.

I recognized the honey. Kyle kept it on a shelf in his study and never let anyone else touch it.

He still remembered what I liked.

I looked down at the potion and the papers, my emotions churning.

For two years, he'd let me go back to my old pack regularly.

When the backlash left me unconscious with a high fever, he'd sat by my fireplace through the long nights.

Once the fevers broke and left me weak and aching, he'd quietly ask the kitchen to make my favorite stew and send it to my room.

After being cared for like that day after day, I'd fallen for him.

Even now, knowing I was bait to fool his enemies, I wanted to believe he loved me.

I couldn't help thinking that even if it had started as a scheme, he must have felt something real for me after all our time together.

Maybe I didn't have to be so sad. As he said, I could live freely as Lila on my own land in the south, forget this place, and spend the rest of my life in peace.

Just then, heels clicked against the stone floor outside. Without waiting to be announced, Sera Vale pushed open the door and walked in.

She wore her long hair up, with a silver leaf clip at her temple. I'd once heard Kyle talk about it.

It was a gift he'd been saving for his fated mate since he was a boy.

She held a smooth, polished wooden token between her fingers, turning it idly.

The moment I saw the token, my breath caught.

"Lila."

Sera spoke the new name softly. Her voice was sweet, but I heard the contempt beneath it. "It's a lovely name. Too bad all the special treatment you've had here was meant for me.

"This hearth hall, his company late at night, these honeyed berries, even the orchard. All of it belongs to me.

"You only took my place for the two years the rogues held me captive."

I stared at the token for a long time and remembered that snowy evening.

Kyle had held my hand and helped me carve it.

The fire had roared in the hearth, the logs popping now and then. His warm fingers had rested over mine.

He'd said the carving was mine and no one else's.

But now he'd given it to someone else and let her deface it.

I snapped back to the present. I was shaking, my nails digging into my palms. My voice rose before I could stop it. "Give me the token. It's mine."

"She's only taking back what was always hers." Kyle's voice came from behind me.

He stepped forward and casually slipped an arm around Sera's shoulders.

When he turned to me, he looked me over coolly, like a ruler sizing up a subject.

"Gwen, this token, along with all the protection and honor I've given you these past few years, was meant for Sera from the start."

His voice was even. I couldn't hear any guilt in it.

"I kept your pack safe and let you live in peace. You should be grateful. Don't go wanting things you shouldn't."

Wanting things I shouldn't.

I stared at the recarved token on the table, unable to hold back my tears. The carving that had once made my heart race was gone.

The love I thought I'd had was only ever borrowed.

I'd been a stand-in all along, a pawn to be discarded when they no longer needed me.

Stiffly, I picked up the bottle of dark blue sleeping potion.

The fire still burned, but I felt cold to the bone.