Chapter 3

Same as always.

Damien hadn't changed at all.

He mocked me in public and shielded Heidi in private.

After he became Alpha, he put Heidi on an even higher pedestal.

One year, the Northern Pack came to visit.

Damien threw a banquet. Their Alpha got drunk and started eyeing me in a way I didn't like.

"The Luna's fur is white as snow, and there's a full moon tonight. I wonder if the Luna would honor me with a dance."

At a banquet there were dancers for that sort of entertainment. It should never have fallen to me, the Luna.

I looked instinctively to Damien. He smiled at me and said softly, "Go on and dance. You come from a smaller pack, after all. No one expects much."

One sentence, and he'd cleared himself of all of it.

If I danced well, everyone wins.

If I danced badly, that was my breeding, nothing to do with his Silver Moon Pack.

All the risk landed on me. None of the stain could splash onto him.

Face cold, I danced in the moonlight.

My dancing was stunning. The whole room stared.

The Northern Alpha was thrilled, and for years afterward he bragged to anyone who'd listen that the Luna of Silver Moon had danced for him herself.

After the banquet, Damien gave me a lot of jewelry.

Later, tangled up together, he bit gently at my earlobe and said my name, over and over.

He praised me for being so sensible, for thinking of the bigger picture, for helping him seal the alliance with the North.

And I, like a fool, was happy about it for a long time.

Until the Northern Alpha visited again.

He'd probably heard the gossip that Heidi was Damien's mistress.

This time, he set his sights on Heidi, seated among the guests.

Heidi was lazy to a fault and had never learned to dance.

Panicked, she kept shooting Damien pleading looks.

I despised Heidi, but in a setting like that, she was the face of Silver Moon too.

I was about to step in for her when I heard Damien say, lightly, "She's pregnant. She can't dance."

I went still.

Heidi wasn't pregnant at all. It was just an excuse he'd come up with.

So he'd always had a way to say no. He just hadn't wanted to use it for me.

My blood was pure, my abilities outstanding—so Damien needed me.

Heidi was lazy, stupid, small-minded.

Everyone said I was the finest Luna there'd ever been.

But Damien had never once turned anyone down for my sake.

Not once.