Chapter 1

The day before my wedding, I walked into my bedroom and found my fiancé, Julian, tangled up with my bridesmaid. And the worst part? I might not even be able to call off the wedding, no matter how furious I was.

“If you don’t marry me tomorrow, you lose your right to inherit. Who else could possibly meet the requirements to marry you in time?” he said.

I’m the Alpha’s daughter—the heir. For the sake of my pack, I should admit he’s right.

But finally, I don’t hesitate anymore.

“We’re done.”

My voice was a thousand shards of ice as my gaze swept across Julian tangled in the sheets, desperate for him to get out of my sight.

I was the alpha daughter at just nineteen, still so young with so much to learn. I was never supposed to take over the Nightwind Pack this early.

But fate had other plans when it took my parents just a few weeks ago in a sudden rogue attack.

One moment they were there, and the next, vanished from this world. Taken from me far too soon, leaving me swirling in an all consuming grief, my youth brought to a staggering halt.

Among all that grief, I had to plan both a funeral and a coronation. The rules of that coronation were painfully clear:

I had to be mated - married - before I could officially become alpha. And tomorrow was the deadline.

Julian didn’t even flinch. Lying there naked with nothing but a lazy smirk on his lips, he was betrayal incarnate.

I blinked back the tears that threatened to fall, an ache building in my throat.

The wolf in me was snarling, howling in fury, begging me to rip Julian’s throat out.

But all I did was glance at my maid of honor, once one of my best friends, now his beta, a dead look in my eyes. When I spoke, my voice was calmer than I expected, almost chilling me with its lack of emotion.

“Get yourselves presentable before you leave.”

As much as it hurt to admit, Julian wasn’t wrong. His question haunted me.

Like Julian had said, if I wasn’t married by then, I lost the right to inherit my pack. Nightwind had been my whole life, and I’d be damned if I let it slip through my fingers.

Julian casually pulled on his robe and strolled towards me, brushing his fingers along my cheek like nothing had happened.

It was all I could do not to cringe, shove him away from me, but I didn’t want him to know just how much I was hurting.

Or how terrified I was about the deadline being tomorrow.

“You’re too young, Sea. You don’t understand this yet - no one cares if an alpha is faithful.” He winked at me, his thumb sliding across my bottom lip like he owned me.

I slapped his hand away, resisting the urge to snarl. “Don’t touch me.”

It was hard to look at him. If I did, I’d be swallowed with regret and temptation to just let this go. After all, that would be the easy way out.

Julian Nightfall. My fated mate. A powerful, well-known alpha whose pack bordered my own, second only in power to the leading pack of the region.

I’d stupidly believed that being bonded by the Moon Goddess meant we would never betray each other. That even in the ruins of my parents’ death, I’d always have him, no matter what.

I had been so horribly wrong.

Be strong, I whispered to myself, my fists clenching.

In the end, it was just one man. A man that brought not one, but two betrayals.

I couldn’t even glance in the direction of my ex-best-friend again, and it was clear she wasn’t going to apologize. From my peripheral, I could tell her eyes were cast down, shame wafting off her.

What a disgrace.

“What you really want is to absorb my pack,” I said to Julian, more as a statement than a question, fighting to keep my voice steady. I wasn’t going to play nice anymore.

Julian had been acting the part of the perfect fiancé up until today, when he’d finally shown his true colors. He’d been so sure of me having no other options, believing the Nightwind pack was already his for the taking.

After all, if he could merge my pack with his own, he’d become the most powerful alpha in the region. That’s all he’d ever wanted.

“The rules say I can marry a beta, or a gamma. I’m sure plenty of men would be more than happy to become my mate. It doesn’t have to be you.” My voice cracked, rather embarrassingly, with quiet pain - but not because I still loved him.

It was because I was starting to realize that maybe I never had.

Maybe this was what fate intended. To free me, just in time, from a mate that would only ever disappoint me.

“You won’t do that,” Julian smiled cockily, thinking he was so secure in his place as my mate.

Now it was my turn to smile.

Without another word, I rejected him.

The bond shattered, and that smug expression of his broke with it.

I was free.

My wolf, overwhelmed by the pain, the lack of a mate, withdrew into utter silence.

But it wouldn’t stay silent for long. I was going to fix this by tomorrow.

The first step to fixing it was to turn my back on those two, leaving them in the shadows of my past. Nightwind would never belong to Julian.

As the door slammed shut behind me, I knew I’d made the right decision.

Later that night, I sat in a nearby bar, avoiding the countless flirtatious glances from strangers. Any one of them could be the solution to tomorrow’s deadline, but who could I really trust?

Marrying a stranger now might just bring me another Julian.

I was at yet another crossroads in my life - and one wrong move could ruin everything. Strip me of my place, my pack. I couldn’t let that happen.

Worst of all, my wolf was gone. One of the most integral parts of me, silenced from this betrayal.

My choice was one I would never regret, but the fact that I only had a matter of hours to solidify a mate was starting to weigh on me.

I’d been given one final chance to make this right.

Just then, like a whisper from fate, he walked in.

My eyes instantly snagged on him, finding it nearly impossible to look away. I was a moth to his flame, achingly drawn to his heat.

Sandy blond hair. Deep blue eyes. Strikingly handsome in his entirety.

I vaguely remembered seeing him before - he was a gamma. I was surprised he didn’t hold a permanent spot in the back of my mind with the way he looked.

The moment he stepped into the bar, the energy shifted - like the entire room instinctively turned toward him.

And it wasn’t just because of how remarkably good looking he was.

You won’t do that, Julian had smirked at me when I said I could marry a beta or even a gamma.

Oh, but I would.