Chapter 1 – Broken Oath, Savage Reign

Chapter 1 – Broken Oath, Savage Reign

Vesper’s POV

The scent of crushed pine needles and fresh silver-bloom filled the Sacred Den.

Around the stone amphitheater, hundreds of wolves from the Bloodmoon Pack stood shoulder to shoulder, their golden eyes reflecting the full moon burning directly overhead. Their quiet rumbles of excitement vibrated through the ground, shaking the soles of my bare feet.

I stood at the blood-stone altar, wrapped in woven white silk, my wrist burning with the faint, warm pulse of a preliminary mate-mark.

In less than a minute, Alpha Kaelen of the Bloodmoon Pack—the most ruthless warrior in the southern territories—would bite into my shoulder, seal our bond, and make me his Luna.

My voice would unite our territories.

My oath would secure our pack's future.

And I would finally step out from the long, suffocating shadow of my half-sister, Sienna.

"Vesper Vale," the Pack Elder growled, his voice deep and echoing against the cavern walls. "Step forward and offer your throat to your Alpha."

I took a breath and stepped toward Kaelen. His dark gray eyes locked onto mine, hard and unreadable. He looked at me the way he looked at a newly conquered territory—valuable, but easily replaced.

"I, Vesper," I began, my voice steady, "pledge my blood and bone—"

CRACK.

The massive wooden doors of the Sacred Den splintered open.

A bloodied scout tumbled into the central ring, gasping for air, the sharp stench of fear pouring off his skin. "Alpha! Rogue attack at the eastern border!"

The pack erupted into frantic growls. Snouts twitched, fur bristled, and ears went flat.

"Who was patrolling the eastern line?" Kaelen demanded, his voice dropping into a suffocating Alpha Command that forced half the lower-ranking wolves in the room to drop to their knees.

"Lady... Lady Sienna," the scout choked out, clutching a torn shoulder. "She went to pick moonlight herbs... the rogues trapped her in the old ruins! She's bleeding out!"

The whole cavern went dead silent.

Beside me, Kaelen's posture shattered. His pupils dilated, and the dark fur along his forearms burst through his skin in a partial shift.

"Kaelen?" I whispered, reaching for his wrist. "The moon is at its peak. If you break the ritual circle before the bite, the goddess revokes the bond. You know this."

He snapped his arm back, tearing away from my touch as if my hand burned him. "Sienna can't fight off a pack of rogues, Vesper! She doesn't have your training. She's a healer, not a warrior!"

A healer.

A healer who conveniently went "herb picking" near rogue territory ten minutes before my Luna coronation.

"She went out there on purpose, Kaelen," I said coldly, stepping directly into his path. "If you walk past those doors right now, do not expect me to be waiting here when you get back."

Kaelen's jaw clenched, his upper lip pulling back to expose razor-sharp fangs. "Do not try to command me, Vesper. She is dying. You are just being jealous!"

Jealousy.

Always that word. When he spent our mating anniversary comforting her after a nightmare. When he gave her the silver dagger that belonged to his mother. When he looked past me in every room just to see if she was smiling.

"Alpha, if you leave the circle—" the Elder warned, his voice shaking.

"I don't give a damn about the circle!" Kaelen roared, his Alpha voice booming off the cavern walls. "I won't let Sienna die!"

He turned, dropped into a full, massive midnight-black wolf mid-stride, and tore out of the Sacred Den, leaving a trail of ruined silk behind him.

One by one, his enforcers and warriors shifted and bounded after him, leaving the den in absolute ruin.

The sacred moonfire sputtered out. The pack elders lowered their heads, muttering in hushed, pitying whispers:

"Abandoned before the bite..."

"She isn't strong enough to hold an Alpha's heart..."

"Sienna was always his real choice..."

On my wrist, the faint warmth of the mate-mark turned icy cold, fading into nothing.

I didn't cry. I didn't shift. I just slowly reached into the pocket of my silk dress and pulled out my communication slate. A single link-message sat on the screen, sent right before the scout burst in:

"He'll always run to me, sister. Enjoy your empty throne."

I let out a slow, quiet breath, letting the pain harden into something sharp and lethal inside my chest.

Then, I looked up toward the high shadows of the upper gallery—where a massive, scarred Lycan with blood-red eyes sat on the stone railing, silently watching me with a slow, dangerous grin.

King Lucian of the Northern Savage Pack. The Lycan King every Alpha in the south feared.

He raised a clawed finger to his lips, mocking the silence of the room.

I looked him straight in the eye, tore the white ceremonial silk off my shoulders, and tossed it into the dead ashes of the moonfire.

Kaelen wanted his fragile healer? He could keep her.

I was about to walk out the back door and hand the Northern Territory keys to a real monster.