CHAPTER ONE

The Night My Mate Asked for Freedom

Lyra’s POV

The paper lay on the table and I kept looking at it, hoping the words would change but they did not.

My name sat at the bottom and a space waited beside it for my signature but my hand did not move and then I raised my eyes.

“Alpha… what is this?”

My voice came out low and I tried to keep it steady and across the table sat my mate.

Alpha Kael Ravenwood.

The man I called husband, the man the entire pack bowed to, did not look at me right away and his fingers tapped once on the table and then he pushed the paper closer to me.

“Sign it, Lyra.”

Just like that, my heart gave a heavy beat.

“Sign… what?”

“You know what it is.”

His voice held no emotion.

“Rejection papers.”

The room went silent and I heard someone shift behind me, pack elders stood along the wall and the Beta stood beside Kael and everyone watched and then I swallowed.

“Rejection?”

My wolf moved inside me, she did not like that word and Kael finally looked at me but his face showed nothing.

“I need you to step down as Luna.”

The words landed like a hit and my hand gripped the edge of the table.

“Step down?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

He did not answer.

Three years ago, I stood in this same hall and that night the elders joined our hands together.

Two packs became one, my pack needed protection and hid pack needed alliance and that was why we mate.

There was no love, no promise, just duty.

I knew that from the start.

But after the ceremony… things changed.

At least I thought they did and Kael never let me walk alone during pack meetings.

“Stay beside me,” he always said.

When the elders talked, he looked at me first and when food was served, he asked one question every night.

“Lyra, have you eaten?”

Sometimes I laughed.

“Alpha, you ask this every day.”

He only shrugged and when my wolf fell sick last winter, I shook with fever, the healer said my wolf was weak.

And that night I woke up many times and each time I opened my eyes, Kael sat beside the bed.

“Sleep,” he told me.

“You should rest too,” I whispered.

“I will stay.”

He stayed until morning and after that night… I started believing something. Maybe our marriage was not only a duty, maybe he cared.

I then blinked and the memory faded and now the same man sat before me with rejection papers.

“Kael,” I said slowly.

“You never talked about this before.”

He stayed silent.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No.”

“Then why?”

His Beta suddenly stepped closer and whispered into his ear and I saw Kael’s body go still and then he lifted his head and his eyes looked deeper now and then he spoke.

“My first mate has returned.”

For a moment I did not understand and the words floated in the air and they sank into my chest.

First mate.

My fingers loosened on the table.

“You mean…”

My voice broke.

“The one from before?”

Kael nodded once.

“Yes.”

A name rose in my mind.

Serena Vale.

The woman Kael loved before our marriage, the woman everyone said died three years ago and then my chest felt tight.

“She… she is alive?”

“Yes.”

The Beta spoke this time.

“She arrived at the pack border this evening.”

I then stared at Kael.

“And because she came back… You want to reject me?”

He answered without delay.

“Yes.”

The hall then became silent again and my wolf shifted inside me and she whimpered.

Kael continued.

“When Serena left, I believed she was gone forever.”

His eyes lowered for a second.

“But now she is back.”

He looked at me again.

“She is still my true mate.”

The word cut deep and I tried to breathe.

“So the past three years mean nothing?”

He did not answer that but instead he pushed the paper closer.

“Sign it.”

My heart then beat louder.

“You will leave the pack tomorrow.”

Someone then gasped behind me but I did not look back and my eyes stayed on Kael.

“You want me gone that fast?”

“It is better this way.”

“For who?”

“For everyone.”

I laughed once but it did not sound like my voice.

“Everyone?”

My hand lifted the paper and the words blurred for a moment.

Three years, three years in this pack, three years beside this man and all of it ended with one signature.

I then raised my head again.

“Does Serena know about this?”

“Yes.”

“What did she say?”

Kael answered with no pause.

“She wants her place back.”

Her place, the Luna seat, my seat.

The hall was smaller and I pressed my lips together and my wolf moved again.

She did not want this, but she also knew the truth.

A true mate bond was stronger than anything and I could not fight it, if Serena was his true mate… then I was only a mistake.

I then reached for the pen and the Beta watched closely.

Kael’s eyes then followed my hand.

“Lyra,” he said and I paused and for a moment I thought he would change his mind but he only said one thing.

“Do not make this difficult.”

My chest ached.

“I am not.”

The pen then touched the paper and my hand moved.

Lyra Ashwood.

My name appeared at the bottom and I placed the pen down.

“There.”

My voice stayed calm.

“It is done.”

Kael then looked at the signature and something moved in his eyes but it disappeared fast.

I then pushed the paper back to him.

“I will pack my things tonight.”

No one spoke and I turned around, the doors of the Alpha hall stood ahead and each step was heavy but my wolf stayed silent now, maybe she understood, maybe she was also tired.

I then reached the middle of the hall and then it happened.

Pain, a sharp pain shot through my chest and I stopped walking and then my breath caught.

My wolf suddenly cried inside my head.

No!

The pain grew stronger and it spread through my body like fire and I grabbed the edge of a pillar.

“What…?”

My knees weakened and behind me I heard voices.

“Alpha!”

“What is happening?”

The bond, the mate bond.

It felt like something tore it apart and my wolf howled in pain.

The sound echoed inside my miwhich pressed my hand to my chest and this hurt more than anything.

“Lyra,” someone said and I heard Kael’s voice behind me.

“Look at me.”

I tried to turn but then the pain stopped, just like that and the hall became silent and I breathed hard.

Did the bond break?

Did the rejection finally happen?

But something was wrong, very wrong, because the pain I felt did not feel like a bond breaking, it felt like something else, something stronger and someone near the elders whispered and his voice shook.

“Impossible…”

Another elder spoke.

“That cannot be true.”

My heart beat fast and then I heard the words that froze the entire hall.

“Impossible… the Alpha has two mates.”