Chapter 1

Every five years, Blackridge Pack received one place at the royal academy for combat, leadership, and wolf-control training. The opportunity could shape a young wolf’s future.

Iris had trained before sunrise for a month and ranked near the top of her group. Cora wanted the place too, so Ethan brought out the bowl he used whenever both girls wanted the same thing.

“We only have one nomination,” he said. “A draw is the fairest way.”

Iris nodded. She had learned what Ethan called fairness. Cora had already won Iris’s bedroom, her favorite moon-rabbit doll, and the evening Ethan had promised her on her thirteenth birthday.

After every loss, Ethan offered another gift or promise, and Iris kept believing him.

The academy draw was scheduled for after dinner. That afternoon, I entered Ethan’s study to collect Iris’s training records and found a stack of folded slips beside the bowl.

I opened them one by one. All twelve carried Cora’s name.

Our mate bond carried the guilt Ethan had felt while preparing them. He knew exactly what he was doing.

I folded the slips again and returned them to the drawer. By dinner, Ethan had placed the bowl in the center of the table. Vivian sat beside Cora, while Iris took her usual seat next to me.

“Who wants to draw first?” Ethan asked.

Cora smiled at Iris. “She can. She’s older.”

Iris reached toward the bowl, but I caught her wrist. “There is no need. Give the place to Cora.”

Ethan frowned. “Mara, we agreed on this.”

“The registration deadline is close. We should not waste time.”

He searched my emotions through our bond, but I had already locked away my anger. When he warned me not to accuse him of favoritism later, I calmly agreed.

Before Ethan could remove the bowl, Iris opened one slip, then another. Both showed Cora’s name. She emptied the bowl onto the table and continued until all twelve slips lay open.

“Where is my name?” she asked.

Ethan’s jaw tightened. “Cora’s father died protecting this pack. She needs the opportunity.”

“Then you could have given it to her. Why did you make me draw?”

“I wanted to spare your feelings.”

“You gave me no chance.”

Guilt crossed his face. Ethan had once lit every moon lantern in the pack when Iris first called him Papa. Yet whenever Cora stood between them, he expected his daughter to step aside.

“The nomination has already been submitted,” he said more gently. “I will make this up to you.”

He brought out a silver-blue moon-silk cloak embroidered with the Blackridge wolf crest. Hope returned cautiously to Iris’s eyes.

“Is it mine?”

“Of course. Tomorrow, I will take you to the northern training grounds, and you can choose a dagger from the armory. Your mother will come too.”

Ethan rested a hand on my shoulder and reminded me that Gareth had placed Vivian and Cora in his care. Then he promised to clear the southern garden for my moonbells, believing another promise could replace what he had taken.

Vivian’s maid rushed into the room before I answered. “Alpha, Cora’s wolf is losing control.”

Cora pressed a hand to her chest and collapsed against her mother. Ethan immediately summoned the pack healer and ordered a carriage prepared for the healing lodge.

When Cora began to shiver, he took Iris’s new cloak and wrapped it around her.

“Papa, that is mine,” Iris said.

“She cannot be exposed to the cold. She will only borrow it tonight.”

“What about the training grounds?”

“We will go another day.”

“You promised.”

Ethan frowned. “Her wolf may be injured. This is hardly the time to argue about a cloak and a dagger.”

Iris lowered her eyes and said she understood. Ethan sent me an apology through the bond before leaving with Vivian and Cora.

After the carriage disappeared, Iris arranged the twelve slips in a row and asked whether her father truly loved her.

“He does,” I said. “He simply chooses Cora first every time.”

Iris returned with the moon portrait taken on the night she was born. Ethan held her against his chest and smiled as though she were the most precious thing in his world. She tore the portrait in half, kept her side, and dropped his into the fire.

“Mom, can we stop choosing him?”

I thought of the healer’s license I had surrendered after becoming Luna and took her hand.

“Yes. From tonight on, we stop waiting for him.”