Chapter 3

The name hung in the air like a ghost. No one had spoken it in ten years.

Elias Voss. The fifth heir. My true fated mate.

Ten years ago, his mother had died of a mysterious illness.

A seer had claimed that her spirit had cursed the pack, and that Elias must be sent to the remote, secluded mountain wolf retreat to atone for her sins. He had been twelve years old.

No one had seen him since.

No one but me.

In my last life, I had never met him until the day I died.

He had descended from the mountains, his robes soaked in blood, his wolf form still half-shifted, and had torn through half the pack to avenge me.

He had held my burning body in his arms, and I had felt his tears fall on my skin—hot, and alive, and full of a love I had never known.

He had been the only one who had ever cared.

I left the fortress at dawn.

The snow was deep, and the wind howled through the mountains, but I didn’t feel the cold. I walked for hours, until I reached the hermitage, hidden in a valley surrounded by pine trees.

I pushed open the door of the small cottage.

A tall figure stood by the window, his back to me. He was wearing a simple gray robe, his hair long and black, tied back with a leather cord.

It was Elias Voss.

He didn’t turn around.

“I knew you would come,” he said.

His voice was deep and rough from disuse, but it sent a shiver down my spine. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Tears blurred my vision. I had dreamed of this moment a hundred times.

“I’m here,” I said, my voice breaking. “Mate me.”

He froze.

He turned around.

His eyes were silver. The same silver as the moonstone. The same silver as my eyes.

He looked at me, and I could see everything in his gaze.

The loneliness of ten years in the mountains. The pain of losing his mother. The love he had carried for me, all this time, without ever meeting me.

He reached out and brushed a strand of hair from my face. His hand was warm, and calloused from years of work.

“Yes,” he said.

I smiled through my tears.

We walked back to the fortress together.

The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink. Elias walked beside me, silent but steady, his hand brushing mine every few steps.

As we entered the courtyard, we ran into Kael.

He was leaning against a stone wall, waiting for me. Lila was nowhere to be seen.

When he saw Elias, his eyes narrowed.

“What is he doing here?” he sneered. “Did you drag him down from his mountain to make me jealous? It won’t work, Nova.”

“I’m not trying to make you jealous,” I said flatly. “I’m mating him.”

Kael laughed. A loud, mocking laugh.

“Mating him? A hermit who hasn’t seen another wolf in ten years? You’re pathetic. You’d rather mate a nobody than admit you still love me.”

He stepped closer, his voice dropping to a low, threatening growl.

“Listen to me, Nova. You will mate me. You will be my lesser mate. And you will serve Lila. If you don’t, I will make you regret it. I will destroy everything you love.”

I remembered the silver chains. The burning pain. The way he had laughed as I screamed.

I stepped back, and Elias moved in front of me, shielding me from Kael.

“Touch her,” Elias said, his voice cold as ice, “and I will kill you.”

Kael’s eyes widened. No one had ever dared speak to him like that.

He bared his fangs. “You dare threaten me? I am the future Alpha!”

“No,” Elias said. “You are not.”