3. Scandal

Elle

The answer should have terrified me. Instead, it cleared my head. If the mate bond was gone, Soren no longer had even that lie between us. All he had was a ring, a room full of witnesses, and the nerve to look wounded after paying to have me murdered.

Around us, the Moonlight pack house had gone silent. Most evenings, elders claimed the couches, warriors raided the kitchen after patrol, and unmated wolves lingered near the fire. My parents lived there, but it was also our council hall and the heart of pack life.

Tonight, blue ribbons hung from the beams and champagne waited on silver trays. Moonlight’s senior families had come to watch their Alpha’s daughter accept her fated mate. Ordinary couples broke up every day. Refusing a bond believed to come from the Moon Goddess was a scandal.

Soren slowly rose from one knee. "Elle, you woke up terrified and came downstairs looking like you’d seen a ghost. You’re not thinking clearly."

He sounded patient. Soren had always been good at giving people the version of himself they expected.

Every face in the room was turned toward me. I wanted to expose him, but someone had arranged the truck and hired the rogues. I still did not know whether Soren had help inside Moonlight. If I told the truth now, I would warn every bastard involved.

"I’m anxious, and I need time to think," I said. It was safer than shoving the ring down his throat.

Soren closed the box, gritting his teeth. "We’ve had months to think."

"You asked me tonight. I’m answering tonight."

"No, you’re panicking." He slipped one arm around my waist, making it a gentle half embrace for everyone watching. "Come outside with me. I’ll calm you down, and then we’ll come back in."

His hand tightened at my hip. My wolf gave me no warmth, no instinct to move closer. She was alert and confused, but she didn’t recognize him as ours. I recognized the man who had left my family to burn and called it an accident.

I flattened my palm against his chest before I did something satisfying and stupid. "Take your hands off me."

His smile held for the crowd. "People are watching."

"You proposed in the middle of the pack house. That’s your problem."

Dad caught Soren’s wrist and removed it from my waist with controlled force. Tell me what happened, he said through our private family link, the mental channel connecting close relatives.

Soren has been unfaithful. It was too small for what I had seen behind the church, but enough. Gold flooded Dad’s eyes, Alpha authority rolling through the pack link. Two younger wolves lowered their heads, Kevin moved closer, and Soren stepped back.

I caught Dad’s forearm. Don’t. Not yet. I need evidence. If Soren knows what I remember, anyone helping him will disappear before we find them.

Dad stared at Soren until his eyes returned to gray. "The celebration is over. Kevin, see everyone out." His command rolled through the pack link. Kevin opened the doors, and Valerie stared at me as though I had lost my mind.

Soren stayed where he was. "Eleanor and I need to settle this."

"My daughter asked for time," Dad said. "You’ll give it to her."

"She’s my mate."

The word made my stomach turn. "Not anymore."

For a second, his face changed. The patient man disappeared, and I saw the same cold calculation he had worn with Rosalie. Then someone glanced back from the doorway, and his wounded expression returned.

I had made Moonlight treat Soren like its future Alpha, but he had no legal authority until the Crown approved Dad’s request. He knew better than to challenge Mason Whitmore in front of the pack warriors.

"We’ll talk tomorrow," Soren said.

"You’ll leave now," Dad replied.

Soren gave him a shallow bow and walked out. The warning in his eyes should have frightened me. It didn’t. I cared what he did when he believed no one was watching, and now I knew to watch.

Once the doors closed, Mom took my hand. "Elle, what on earth is happening?"

I looked away. I remembered her hand hanging beside my face in the wreck, blood sliding over the wedding ring she wore now. My knees weakened, but she was alive and waiting for an answer.

"I need to tell you both something," I said. "Please let me finish before you decide I’ve lost my mind."

Dad locked us inside his study, where territory maps covered one wall and pack records filled the cabinets. Moonlight handled its own affairs; disputed borders and changes of leadership belonged to the Lycan Crown.

"On September twelfth, the three of us die." Mom’s hand flew to her mouth. Dad did not move at all.

I told them about the truck, the poisoned coffee, and the three rogues waiting near the road. By the time I reached the church, my voice shook, but I forced myself to repeat Soren’s words.

"He asked if all three of us were dead," I said. "Then he said, ’Good. All three. That’s what I paid for.’"

"Elle," Mom whispered. "You were asleep upstairs for less than an hour. A nightmare can feel real after you wake up."

"Nightmares fade." I gripped the edge of Dad’s desk. "I remember the gasoline. I remember holding your hand after your neck broke. I remember Dad telling me to run before the car exploded, and I remember a rogue tearing out my throat. None of that is fading."

Mom went pale. Dad came around the desk, but I held up a hand. I couldn’t let him comfort me until they understood the danger.

"After I died, I followed Soren. He met Princess Rosalie behind the church. She already knew we were dead, and he told her he had our pack now."

Mom stared at me. "The king’s daughter?"

"Yes."

Dad could investigate Soren under pack law, but Rosalie answered to the Crown. Accusing a princess without proof could bring royal enforcers into Moonlight, and the king could remove any Alpha who threatened the peace.

"You understand what you’re alleging," Dad said carefully.

"I understand what she did." Hatred steadied me. The man I had loved had never existed, and I would not mourn him. "Don’t accuse them yet. Check Soren’s calls and accounts. Find out who has access to your food. Have Kevin review any rogue scent near the northern road. Do it quietly."

Dad studied me. "I won’t force you to marry anyone. But a nightmare isn’t enough to break this engagement or condemn a pack member for murders that haven’t happened."

"Then don’t believe the rebirth yet. Believe that your daughter is terrified for a reason and help me prove it."

Mom touched my arm. "What about the mate bond?"

"It’s gone."

Wolves recognized fated mates through scent and instinct. Rejection could damage a bond and death sever it, but it did not vanish while both mates lived. That certainty was why my parents had accepted Soren despite Dad’s doubts.

"Did you reject him through the bond?" Dad asked.

"No. My wolf searched for him downstairs and found nothing." I looked toward the closed door. "Whatever connected us was wrong from the beginning. I don’t know how he did it or who helped him, but I’m going to find out."

Dad still did not believe I had died, but the missing bond was a danger he could test. He returned to his desk and opened the top drawer. "There’s another problem."

The folder carried Moonlight’s silver crescent and the Royal Registry seal. Soren’s name appeared beneath Proposed Transfer of Alpha Authority. A disputed Alpha title could start a war, so every transfer outside a bloodline required the king’s approval.

I was Dad’s only known child and natural heir, but I had never wanted Moonlight. Once I believed Soren was my mate, I pushed Dad to name him. Apparently, Soren had not needed to steal our pack. I had gift-wrapped it for him.

Dad tapped his signature at the bottom of the petition. "I submitted this to the royal office this morning, exactly as you asked me to."

My mouth went dry. "Can you withdraw it?"

"Before approval, yes. After the king seals it, only he can revoke it."

"And if he approves it first?"

"Soren becomes Moonlight’s legal next Alpha, and the elders can’t overturn it. If anything happens to me, the title passes to him immediately."

The crash had not only removed three inconvenient people. It had cleared the path to an Alpha title already waiting for Soren. He had never needed to marry me—only convince me he deserved Moonlight.

"Call the royal office," I said.

"It’s late, and the king’s court does not take unscheduled visitors."

"Then wake up whoever answers after hours." I pushed the petition back across the desk. "Get me in front of the Lycan King. I died once because I trusted Soren. I’m not letting a fucking royal seal finish the job."