Chapter 1:The night he chose her

The night my mate promised to make me his queen, he marked another woman in front of our entire pack.

And I was expected to kneel and congratulate them.

The silver dress clung to my body as I stood beneath the enormous crystal chandeliers of Bloodfang’s grand hall. Red roses covered the tables, musicians played near the marble staircase, and hundreds of wolves had gathered to witness my coronation as Luna.

I had spent three years preparing for this night.

Three years standing beside Lucien Draven while he fought his enemies, negotiated alliances, and strengthened his claim as Alpha of Bloodfang.

Three years believing that when he finally placed the Luna crown upon my head, I would have everything I had ever wanted.

I should have known better than to trust a man who smiled so beautifully while making promises.

“You’re quiet tonight.”

Lucien’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.

He stood beside me in a black ceremonial suit, his dark hair neatly brushed away from his forehead. To everyone watching, he looked like the perfect Alpha—powerful, handsome, and completely devoted to his future Luna.

His fingers brushed mine.

“Are you nervous?”

I smiled faintly. “A little.”

He lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles.

“There’s nothing to fear, Seraphina. By the end of tonight, you’ll have everything you deserve.”

Something in his voice made my wolf stir uneasily.

Before I could question it, the enormous doors at the far end of the hall swung open.

The music stopped.

Every head turned.

A woman entered wearing a gown of white silk embroidered with gold. Her dark hair fell in elegant waves down her back, and a diamond necklace glittered against her throat.

Princess Isolde Ravaryn.

The only daughter of the king of the Eastern Territories.

I had heard rumors that she would attend the ceremony, but I hadn’t expected her to arrive so late. More importantly, I hadn’t expected Lucien to go completely still beside me.

His hand slipped from mine.

It was such a small movement.

Yet I felt it as sharply as a blade between my ribs.

“Lucien?”

He didn’t answer.

His gaze followed the princess as she crossed the hall. She moved with the confidence of someone who had never been refused anything in her life.

When she stopped before us, her lips curved into a knowing smile.

“Alpha Draven.”

Lucien bowed his head.

“Princess.”

She glanced at me.

“So this is the famous Seraphina Vale.”

I held her gaze. “And you must be the princess everyone has been whispering about.”

A few wolves nearby exchanged uncomfortable looks.

Isolde laughed softly.

“You’re even more beautiful than the rumors suggest.”

“How kind of you.”

Her smile widened, but there was no warmth in her eyes.

“I hope you won’t hate me for what happens tonight.”

My stomach tightened.

“What exactly is supposed to happen tonight?”

She didn’t answer.

Instead, she turned toward Lucien and extended her hand.

He stared at it for a moment.

Then he took it.

My wolf slammed against my ribs.

Mate.

The word echoed through my mind, followed by a sharp, instinctive growl.

Lucien was my mate. His scent had been the first thing I recognized when we met three years ago. His touch could calm my wolf, and his pain could reach me even when we were miles apart.

Our bond was not something either of us could simply pretend didn’t exist.

So why was he looking at another woman as though she were the only person in the room?

The master of ceremonies stepped onto the raised platform.

“Honored guests, we have gathered tonight to witness the crowning of Bloodfang’s Luna and the strengthening of our Alpha’s reign.”

Applause rose through the hall.

I tried to steady my breathing.

Everything was fine.

Whatever the princess wanted, Lucien would explain it to me. He had to.

The master of ceremonies lifted the silver crown from its velvet cushion.

“Alpha Lucien Draven, do you accept Seraphina Vale as your Luna, to stand beside you and share your throne?”

Silence fell.

Lucien released the princess’s hand.

For one foolish second, relief flooded my chest.

He turned toward the gathered wolves.

“I have made a decision concerning the future of Bloodfang.”

The words were not part of the ceremony.

My smile faded.

“Lucien?”

He looked at me then.

I searched his face for the man who had held me beneath the stars and promised that nothing in this world would ever come between us.

I couldn’t find him.

“Seraphina, you know how much I value you.”

My heart began to pound.

“Then tell them to finish the ceremony.”

His jaw tightened.

“I cannot.”

Two words.

That was all it took to turn my entire world upside down.

A murmur spread through the hall.

Lucien continued before anyone could interrupt.

“Bloodfang stands at a critical point in its history. Our enemies are growing stronger, and our borders need protection. A union with the Eastern Territories will secure our future for generations.”

I stared at him.

“No.”

He barely glanced at me.

“Princess Isolde has agreed to marry me. With her father’s armies behind us, Bloodfang will become the strongest pack in the Seven Territories.”

For a moment, I couldn’t hear anything.

The words reached me, but my mind refused to understand them.

Marry him?

The princess?

Tonight?

I grabbed his wrist.

“You cannot be serious.”

He looked down at my hand.

“Remove it, Seraphina.”

I had heard Lucien issue commands to warriors who had betrayed him. I had watched him sentence enemies without blinking.

He had never spoken to me like that.

Not once.

“Look at me,” I whispered.

He did.

“Tell me this is a joke.”

Something flickered in his eyes.

Then it disappeared.

“Our bond doesn’t change what must be done.”

My wolf whimpered.

I felt the sound inside my own chest.

“You promised me.”

“I promised to protect you.”

“By humiliating me in front of your entire pack?”

His expression hardened.

“Do not make this more difficult than it needs to be.”

A bitter laugh escaped me.

More difficult?

He was abandoning me on the night he had promised to make me his queen, and somehow I was the one making things difficult.

I turned toward the gathered wolves.

“Surely someone understands what this means.”

My gaze landed on Elder Marcus, the man who had taught me how to track rogues through winter forests. I looked at the warriors who had fought beside me, the women who had embraced me after I survived my first hunt, and the elders who had once welcomed me into Bloodfang as their future Luna.

I had bled for this pack.

I had dragged injured warriors out of burning forests. I had hunted rogue wolves threatening our borders. When disease swept through the southern villages, I had spent nights caring for the sick while Lucien attended council meetings.

These people had called me family.

Now they watched me as though I were a stranger.

Elder Marcus lowered his eyes.

Another elder cleared his throat.

“An alliance of this magnitude cannot be ignored,” he said. “The survival of Bloodfang must come first.”

“And what about the bond?” I demanded.

Nobody answered.

The silence was worse than an insult.

Lucien stepped onto the platform and held out his hand to Isolde.

She accepted.

Then, before the entire pack, he drew her close.

“Isolde Ravaryn,” he announced, “I choose you as my bride and future Luna of Bloodfang.”

My heart stopped.

The princess tilted her head, exposing the delicate curve of her neck.

Lucien leaned down.

His teeth pierced her skin.

A collective gasp swept through the hall.

The scent of blood and a newly established claim filled the air.

My wolf screamed.

Pain exploded through my chest, so sudden that my knees nearly buckled. The mate bond twisted violently, as though an invisible hand had seized it and begun tearing it apart.

I grabbed the edge of a table.

Someone cried out.

But I couldn’t look away.

Lucien lifted his head from Isolde’s neck. A thin line of blood stained his lips.

The princess rested against him, smiling.

He had marked her.

Not because she was his fated mate.

Not because the Moon Goddess had chosen her.

Because she could give him something I couldn’t.

An army.

A kingdom.

Power.

I straightened slowly.

My eyes burned, but I refused to let the tears fall.

“Why?” I asked.

Lucien’s expression changed.

For the first time that night, he looked almost uncomfortable.

“You know why.”

“No. I know you want her armies. I know you want her father’s influence. But I want to hear you say it.”

His gaze hardened.

“Because loving you isn’t enough to keep Bloodfang safe.”

I swallowed the pain rising in my throat.

“And what about loving me enough to tell me the truth before tonight?”

He said nothing.

That was my answer.

I looked at the princess.

She touched the fresh mark on her neck, then gave me a sympathetic smile that made my stomach turn.

“I’m sorry, Seraphina.”

“No, you’re not.”

Her smile disappeared.

I turned away before I did something reckless.

I could survive humiliation.

I could survive losing my crown.

But I would not stand in the middle of a hall full of people who had watched me be discarded and beg for scraps of a man’s affection.

I walked toward the doors.

“Where are you going?” Lucien called.

I kept walking.

“Seraphina, stop.”

His Alpha command struck the room like thunder.

Every wolf lowered their head.

My knees trembled under the force of it.

But I didn’t stop.

I had obeyed Lucien for three years because I trusted him, not because I feared him.

He had just given me a reason to do neither.

I reached the doors and pushed them open.

Cold night air swept across my face.

Behind me, the music began again.

They were celebrating.

My rejection had become nothing more than an inconvenience to the evening’s festivities.

I descended the marble steps, fighting the urge to run.

Then Lucien’s voice came from behind me.

“You cannot leave Bloodfang.”

I turned.

He stood at the top of the stairs with Isolde beside him. Several guards had followed them outside.

“Watch me.”

His jaw tightened.

“If you walk away tonight, you walk away from everything you have here.”

I looked at the man I had once believed was my forever.

“No, Lucien.”

I lifted my chin.

“You made that decision for me when you chose her.”

For a heartbeat, neither of us moved.

Then his gaze turned cold.

“You may regret this.”

I almost laughed.

Perhaps I would regret many things in my life.

But I would never regret refusing to be the second choice of a man who had once sworn I was his only one.

I turned toward the forest.

I had no crown, no place in the pack, and no idea where I would sleep that night.

But I still had my name.

My pride.

And a wolf who, despite the agony tearing through our bond, refused to bow.

I took my first step away from Bloodfang.

Then my second.

Behind me, Lucien spoke the words that would haunt me long after the night ended.

“If you leave, Seraphina, don’t expect me to welcome you back.”

I stopped for one brief moment.

Then I looked over my shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Alpha.”

My voice shook, but I forced the words out.

“When I return, it won’t be to ask for my place beside you.”

I held his gaze.

“It will be to show you what you lost.”

And I walked into the darkness.

I didn’t know that, somewhere beyond Bloodfang’s borders, another Alpha had already begun preparing for my arrival.

An Alpha whose curse had turned love into a death sentence.

An Alpha who would one day offer me his name, his throne, and a place beside him that no other woman had ever survived claiming.

Darius Veyr.

The most feared wolf in the Seven Territories.

My future husband.

And the one man I should never have fallen in love with.