Chapter 1

Silas grabbed my hand, a bitter smile tugging at his lips. "I protected you for five years, and now you're handing me over to someone else? Seraphina, are you really going to send me to her?"

Even with my memories back, fragments of those five tender years kept surfacing, whether I wanted them to or not.

I'd seen Silas sitting by my bed late into the night.

I'd seen him stand between me and the pack's condemnation.

He always remembered which foods I couldn't eat and saved the tenderest meat for me. On freezing winter nights, he'd shift into his wolf and curl his body around me to shield me from the bitter wind.

In this strange land, I had no one.

Through countless days and nights together, I watched him compromise for me again and again and carry us through every storm.

Of course I fell in love with him.

But if we truly loved each other, what was he doing with Lyla Reed?

Lyla stopped short, her smile freezing in place.

She must have sensed Silas's unease too, because she stepped forward, her voice sharp.

"Who are you trying to fool with that high-and-mighty act?

"You're just some amnesiac who doesn't even know where she came from.

"I'm carrying his heir, and you don't even dare object. It's pathetic that the Alpha ever marked you."

Her nails nearly grazed my skin. I shifted aside before she could touch me.

Lyla lost her balance, stumbled forward, and landed hard on her knees on the marble floor.

I looked down at her.

"Lyla, attacking the Luna is punishable by exile. But today's your lucky day. I don't feel like getting blood on the carpet."

Silas rushed over, helped Lyla to her feet, and instinctively put her behind him.

After five years together, he was protecting her from me. "Enough! She's carrying my child. Can't you be the bigger person? Do you have to keep pushing like this?"

The irony was bitter. I ignored him and held Lyla's gaze, tilting my head just enough to expose the deep bite mark on my neck.

"I have a mate mark witnessed by the Moon Goddess. Crawl into his bed as many times as you like.

"Under pack law, you'll never be anything but a breeding machine with no official standing."

Lyla's face darkened.

I glanced at the ruby necklace around her neck. "And another thing. The genuine carved-bone necklace can only be worn by the mates of this pack's Alphas. The stones in that fake around your neck are so cheap that even the pack's blacksmith would turn up his nose at them."

Lyla's hand flew to her throat as a jealous yellow light flared in her eyes.

"And most importantly..."

I leaned in a little and looked at her belly.

"Silas told me himself that he couldn't bear to share a mate's pain in childbirth.

"So I suppose he thought... maybe some lowborn she-wolf could do the breeding in my place?"

A few warriors hurried forward to try to calm things down.

"Luna, please be careful. Lyla is unstable. If she shifts, she could hurt you..."

I laughed softly, ignored the warriors, and kept my eyes locked on Lyla. "But fine. I'll give Silas to you."

I drew a pure silver dagger. "In exchange, once that pup is born, it belongs to me."

That set Lyla off. She let out a low growl and lunged at my throat with sharp claws. "I'll rip you apart!"

Everyone gasped. They were certain a frail amnesiac like me was as good as dead.

They had no idea my wolf was already awake.

The instant Lyla lunged, my dagger was already pressed against her rounded belly. The silver alone made her skin sizzle.

Lyla froze. Sweat ran down her forehead, and she couldn't stop shaking.

Just as I was about to pull the blade back, a violent wave of Alpha power swept through the hall like a hurricane.

Silas seized the dagger in his bare hand and threw his massive body in front of Lyla, shielding her behind him.

A sharp hiss split the air. The reek of seared flesh spread through the hall, but he did not even flinch.

The sight of him burning himself to shield Lyla stopped me cold.

He used to protect me like that.

But now, the one he was shielding was Lyla.

I'd never meant to stab her. I only wanted to see what he would do. He'd protected Lyla without a second's hesitation.

My doubts deepened. Just how far did his love go? It was strong enough to make him trap and destroy me so he could possess me, yet shallow enough for him to cast me aside the moment another woman and child appeared.

"Take her away so she can rest," Silas ordered quietly.

Two high-ranking guards stepped forward at once and helped the shaken Lyla out of the hall.

Leaning on a guard's shoulder, Lyla kept her hateful, triumphant glare fixed on me.

The violence in Silas's aura vanished the moment Lyla was gone.

He tossed the dagger to the floor and reached for my cheek with his good hand, his eyes soft.

"Stop this, Seraphina.

"She's only a vessel for an heir. You don't need to get your hands dirty over this. Feel better now?"

The coaxing tone was painfully familiar. He had used it countless times over the past five years to make me give in.

Habit pulled me toward him. After every fight, he had held me, kissed me, and made me feel sheltered from the world.

But now, he belonged to another woman too.

I fought to keep my emotions in check, looked at his outstretched hand, and took half a step back.

"I'm not making a scene."

Those same hands had served me black tea laced with small doses of wolfsbane every day during my amnesia to suppress my memories and power.

Now my memories were back.

Before I came to this run-down pack, my true mate had been the Alpha who ruled the Northern Kingdom.

He was powerful and ruthless, yet utterly loyal to me.

I knew him too well.

From the moment I vanished, he would have torn the world apart to find me, no matter the cost.

If he hadn't found me in five years, someone must have sent him in the wrong direction, or something must have gone wrong in the kingdom.

I had to recover as quickly as possible and find a way to contact him.