Chapter 2

On the auction block sat a stone ring.

The work was rough. The thing looked ugly.

Every she-wolf in the room lowered her paddle. Who would spend gold on something that plain?

Arthur squinted at it. Something stirred behind his bloodshot eyes.

"Oh. Isn't that the ring you gave me? The one I threw away? You actually crawled back and picked it up. That's pathetic, Selene."

Something lurched in my chest.

Yes. The one he threw away.

How could I forget.

That ring was my mother's gift on my mating day. She picked the stone herself. My father shaped it by hand.

It was no plain stone. It was raw moonstone, formed deep under the mountain over a thousand years. Hard enough to shatter Alpha bone. Strong enough to break any Rogue who came at me.

My parents gave me that ring so I could protect myself. They were telling me they would always be with me, no matter what.

Then Arthur, the mate I had chosen so foolishly, was cornered by Rogues in the northern ice.

Stupid me. I slid the matching moonstone charm from my own neck onto his palm. I begged the Moon Goddess to take all my luck and give it to him. Just let him live.

He lived.

When I found him in the snow and dragged his body toward the rescue line, my legs gave out.

I fell hard. My chest hit the charm in his fist.

The stone tore my chest open. The shards sank in.

"You don't get it, do you?" Arthur said, voice thick. "I did it on purpose. I drove that charm into your chest myself. I needed an excuse to be rid of it. An ugly trinket from you. Why would I keep it?"

My eyes burned.

My chest went hollow.

I heard my own voice, flat and dead. "I bid."

"Whatever it costs. I'll pay."

A few of Arthur's noble friends ran the price up to three million just to watch me suffer.

That was every coin I had.

Mia raised her paddle to push it higher. Pure spite.

Arthur reached out and stopped her without thinking.

He looked at me with eyes that once held real warmth. He looked at the wreck I had become.

A cruel smile pulled at his mouth.

"You think my trash is treasure? You really are loyal, aren't you?"

"Fine. Three million. Take it."

He paused. His voice went colder.

"Remember this, Selene. Remember how the great Luna of Silver Moon ended up begging me for a single ring. I never loved you. You were the one with no pride, crawling to me again and again. You have no shame."

He lost interest after that. He walked out with his pack of she-wolves at his heels.

I held my mother's moonstone ring in both hands. My ring and my charm — one lost in the snow with my dignity, one returned to me now. I smiled.

Father gone. Mother gone. Sister gone.

But this ring came back.

Were they protecting me, in the only way left?

I had three days.

The smile froze on my face. My chest seized. The world went black and I hit the floor.

...

The pack healer told me to lie still. No sudden moves.

The moonstone shard in my heart could shift if I pushed too hard.

He said I might get a few extra days.

A few extra days.

I shook my head and dragged myself back to Arthur's fortress. A few extra days just meant more of his cruelty. Better to go now. Better to go meet my family.

When I returned, the dining hall was full. His she-wolves circled him at a long table covered in food. There was no place set for me.

Of course there wasn't.

Arthur turned and saw me. "You came back? Chloe was hungry. You weren't here to cook. Punishment. You don't eat tonight."

I didn't even look at him. I walked past.

"Whatever," I said.

His face darkened.

He lunged. He grabbed my wrist and slammed me against the wall.

My chest convulsed. Pain lit every nerve in my body. I almost vomited.

He was about to snarl at me when his eyes dropped to my wrist.

It was covered in scratches. Some deep. Some shallow.

I had been digging into my own skin during the worst spikes from the shard. I hadn't even noticed.

"You dare hurt yourself?" Arthur shoved his face into mine. His grey eyes burned. "I waited three years to take my revenge. You suffer one night and you pull this? You think you're the victim?"

"Let me make this clear, Selene. Your pack is finished. Your life is mine now. I took it. You die when I say. Not before. I will make sure you wish you were dead every single day."

I looked at this Alpha I had loved for almost ten years.

The longer I looked, the less I knew him.

I used the last of what I had. Flat. Empty.

"Whatever."

He went feral.

He tore my dress open. In front of every she-wolf in the hall, he scooped me up and threw me onto the couch.

I should have felt humiliated.

Or felt something, anything, about giving myself to the man I had once loved.

But the pain in my chest was too much.

It wanted to tear me apart from the inside.

I felt nothing.

Before I lost consciousness, I only thought: this all hurts so much.