Prologue

Silvercrest Territory, Canopy of Betrayal

The night was too quiet.

So quiet it felt deliberate, as though even the wind feared to breathe.

I moved through the corridors of the Alpha’s mansion on bare feet, each step careful, instinct guiding me more than sight. Clay had been gone for three days. Another strategic meeting with a neighbouring pack, or so he said. I had nodded, as I always did, trusting, waiting, and believing.

But today, something felt different. He was gone, yet his scent lingered.

It was fresh, sharp, and so wrong.

My wolf stirred uneasily inside my chest, pacing and warning. I knew that something was off. Clay’s presence clung to the air as though he had never truly left, as though his body had brushed these halls only hours ago.

I followed the scent without meaning to. It pulled me west, toward the wing he had forbidden me to enter. The place, he said, was sealed for council matters. I have always been to every council meeting except for this place. I obeyed. The place I respected, only because I respected him.

The door was slightly ajar.

A sound slipped through the crack. It was low, broken and intimate. A soft moan, followed by a deep, guttural growl, I knew better than my own breath.

My heart stopped.

No!

 It couldn’t be.

I pushed the door open.

Moonlight spilled across white sheets and tangled limbs, cruel in its clarity. Clay’s broad back rose and fell in a brutal rhythm, his hand twisted in another woman’s hair. Selene. The Beta’s widow. My own best friend. My sister by choice.

Their scents hit me all at once. It was hot, heavy and indisputable. The scent of mating flooded my senses like poison, burning my lungs, my heart and my soul.

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t scream.

I couldn’t breathe.

Something inside me cracked so sharply I almost heard it.

Clay turned. His grey eyes met mine, wild and dark. For the briefest second, something flickered there. Guilt, perhaps, regret.

It vanished instantly.

“Zanny,” he said, rough and irritated, as if I were the one intruding. I couldn't believe his tone.

I stumbled back, my throat closing. I fell on the door and went straight to the floor. “After everything… after I—” My voice broke. I was screaming, but only I could hear my words; it was just a loud whisper. “I almost died carrying your child, Clay.”

Behind him, Selene smiled. Her lips were swollen, her expression victorious. “Maybe if you’d been enough,” she said smoothly, “he wouldn’t need someone else.” 

I could only whisper, "Selene." I could see her wicked smile right from where I lay, scattered on the floor.

My wolf roared inside me, but no sound escaped. Every strength I had poured into loving them, protecting them, holding this family together drained away in seconds, leaving me hollow.

I ran.

Out of the mansion.

Out of the Silvercrest walls.

Into the forest where the moon burned red above the treetops.

I collapsed beneath it, my body folding in on itself, tears soaking the earth. The bond I had clung to for years shattered in silence, leaving only pain and disbelief behind.

That was when a voice rose from the shadows.

“Zanny.”

I lifted my head.

Krager stepped into the moonlight, crimson eyes glowing, his presence heavy and dangerous. The scent of the Dark Breed wrapped around him like fire and night.

“I told you he would break you,” he said quietly. “Now let me be the one to help you stand.”

The moon flared brighter, bearing witness.

That was the night my love died.

 And something far darker, far stronger, stirred in its place.

Still, reason returned before emotion could consume me. Krager had no right to be here.

“You know I could get you killed for trespassing,” I said, forcing my face into calm. “No Dark Breed should be seen within these walls.”

He smiled, and though it was dark, I heard it in his voice. “I am not the one who needs saving. You are. Your heart is bleeding everywhere.”

In a single motion, I had my short knife at his throat.

“I am sure you wish to die,” I said coldly.

For the first time, I felt how solid he was beneath my grip. Powerful yet warm. It startled me how long it had been since I’d been touched, truly touched, by someone who desired me.

“I don’t think the queen of Silvercrest needs a knife to end my life,” Krager said calmly, though his breath hitched. “One strike of your claws would do.”

“I wouldn’t waste that energy on you,” I replied firmly.

“You are hurting,” he said softly. “Your bed has been taken. Your mate wants you but cannot have you. Let me help you.”

“Stop speaking in riddles. You know nothing about me.”

By this time, I was so close to him that though he could barely breathe, his breath was on me that I could have sworn I tasted it,

My grip brought me so close that I could feel every muscle underneath his robe. The gods must have smoothly carved him.

Our lips met by accident. Or maybe fate was cruel enough to call it that.

At first, the kiss was hesitant, uncertain. Then something snapped. Desire surged where grief had been, raw and desperate. My knife slipped away as his hands found me, steady and certain. It found its way to one of my breasts as he tugged my nipple, reminding me that I was still alive and still wanted.

Suddenly, the wind carried my name.

“Zanny! Zanny! Zanny!”

My heart slammed violently against my ribs.

Clay,  I nearly missed a breath.

I pulled away instantly, the warmth of Krager’s hands leaving my skin too quickly. I adjusted my clothing with shaking fingers, forcing composure into my bones even as my pulse raged.

Krager lingered only a moment, his eyes dark, unreadable. Then he vanished into the shadows, leaving only a faint trace of his scent behind.

Clay emerged from the trees moments later. The moonlight revealed tension carved into his posture, questions burning behind his eyes. He scanned the woods, sensing what he had interrupted, even if he could not see it.

I straightened. Calm settled over me, not guilt, but resolve. Krager’s kiss still burned on my lips, not as shame, but as awakening.

Clay studied me like a stranger.

And perhaps I was at this very moment.

The silence between us stretched; it was heavy and dangerous.

Then Selene appeared with the guards, her voice sharp and triumphant. “Tell her, Clay. Tell her you don’t love her anymore. Tell her it’s me you love. Tell her I have come to stay.”

Clay turned to Selene, his voice cutting. “You can never be Luna.”

“I don’t want your damn Luna!” she screamed. “All I ever wanted was you!”

My heart twisted, but my voice was steady. “I trusted you. You were my best friend. Why would you do this to me after everything I did for you? I took you in as a sister.”

“I am not your sister!” Selene snapped. "You don't deserve him."

Something ancient rose inside me.

“Selene!” I shouted, my wolf voice tearing through the night. “I, Zanara Valour, vow this day to hunt your clan until you beg for mercy and cry for me to stop.”

Selene only smiled. “Your royalty exceeds you, spoilt brat. You are just a Luna Clay married out of pity and relevance. Not a warrior.”

The moon burned brighter above us.

And I knew, with terrifying clarity, that this was no longer a story of love lost.

It was the beginning of a war.