Chapter One

IVARA

The white silk of my wedding dress felt like a shroud, cinched so tight I could barely draw enough oxygen to say 'I do' I stood at the altar of the Lunar Cathedral, my palms slick against the stems of white lillies that somehow smelled suspiciously like a funeral.

Standing in front of me, Lucian, the golden boy Alpha with a smile as straight as his moral compass, he looked at me like I was a rare steak he couldn't wait to consume.

This wasn't about love.

It was an acquisition.

My pack was drowning in debt and a plague that turned our strongest warriors into wheezing shadows and I was the payment.

A white wolf who's also a blood healer.

Quite the fancy catch.

"You look breathtaking, Ivara," Lucian whispered, his hand reaching for mine.

I didn't smile back. "It's the corset, Lucian. I'm literally not breathing at all," My eyes scanned the crowd, searching for one person. "Where's my father?"

"He's out in his study," Lucian replies, "he sends his apology, but promised to be here for the evening ball."

"Typical of him."

He can't even look me in the eye on the day of my wedding.

The priest began the rites, his voice sounded like a monotonous drone that competed with the frantic drumming of my heart. I wasn't just marrying a man, I was sealing a deal. The Lunar pack had promised the rogues a tribute to keep them from our borders, a deal my father had said was handled.

But he lied.

Because just as the priest was about to finish the final words of the traditional ancient rites, the stained glass windows vaporized. A shockwave of raw, unfiltered power ripped through the cathedral, slamming the heavy oak doors off their hinges with the force of a thousand men. The scream that tore from the guests was cut short by a silence so heavy it felt like lead in my lungs.

Thump. Thump.

I stood there frozen in horror as rogue wolves circled around us, overpowering the guards. But that wasn't what made me grow cold, my eyes widened in horror as the wolves cleared a path for a man. He wasn't wearing a suit, he wore a heavy tactical leather, a coat stained with the grit of the outlands, and an aura that made every Alpha in the room instinctively drop their gaze.

My heart didn't just skip, it stopped. I knew that silhouette, I knew the way he carried his shoulders- like he was perpetually bracing for a war he'd already won.

The way the rogues parted for him, the way they all bowed in respect as he strode in....it couldn't be...he couldn't be...

He couldn't be the Alpha of the rogues.

A dead man can't be the Alpha of one of the most feared rogue packs to ever exist.

"Silas."

The name fell from my lips, a ghost of a memory from ten years ago. The man who had married my mother in a frantic whispered ceremony while my father bailed on us, the same man who vanished into the night, leaving nothing but a cold bed and a hole in my heart.

Ten years had only sharpened him, trading his youth for a rugged, lethal handsomeness that made my throat tight. His hair was a dark, unruly mess, a stark contrast to those piercing blue eyes that still held the power to strip me bare. The jagged scar cutting through his right eyebrow only added to his dangerous edge. My gaze dipped to the firm set of his lips before tracing down, he was broader now, a masterpiece of solid muscle and a raw heat that made my skin itch.

I can't be doing this, seriously?

We are under attack and I'm here gawking at a crush I couldn't get rid of?

A wicked grin tugged on his lips as he stood in the center of the Hall. "A wedding? And I wasn't invited?"

"You bastard rogue!" Lucian yelled as he stepped in front of me, ten guards circling around us to protect us from the rogues who were snarling at us ready to attack.

"The ceremony is over," Silas said, his voice didn't just fill the room, it commanded the very air we were breathing. It was deeper than I remembered, a tectonic rumble that vibrated in my very narrow. "The lunar pack defaulted on their debt. I've come to collect the interest."

"This is a sacred Union, Rogue, leave now, or-" Before Lucian could finish, Silas with lightening speed towards us. Just as he reached forward, the hall tightened into a fist of fury- rogues and wolfen brutes collided with the pack's guards, a tangle of teeth, claws and steel. I watched in horror as guests screamed and scattered, some were cut down as claws raked through silk and bone. I staggered back, the lilies in my hand clenched so hard my knuckles paled. I gasped as Lucian shattered the nearest guard that was shielding Lucian and I away from him, with a swift movement before Lucian could launch an attack on him, he flung Lucian aside like a rag and grabbed my arm before I could run away.

A cruel, amused smile curbed his lips as he tightened his grip on me. From the side of my eye, a guard was about to launch a surprise on him. A scream tore from my throat when he flung the guard aside with his free hand without breaking eye contact with me.

"Go to sleep, little one," he murmured. "This will be over quickly. Soon, you'll be where you rightfully belong. With me, by my side. As my mate."

I tried to answer, to shove him back, but just as those words rolled off his lips, it felt like I was being hypnotized, slowly, the color leeched from the world and my vision went hazy, the last thing I saw was Lucian trying to run towards me before I blacked out.

But Silas's words remained deeply engraved in my head even as I was slowly losing consciousness.

What did he mean mate?

There was no way in the world my step father could ever be my mate.

Because I already had one.

And it wasn't Lucian.

Or Silas either.​