C1

Axista Briarwyn stares at the heavy silver band on her left ring finger, the metal still humming with a faint spark of moon magic. Next to her, Alpha Riven Thornevale sleeps on his stomach in the massive bed of their suite at the Silver Fang Lodge.

"What did we just do?" she whispers to the shadows of the room.

Her voice is barely a breath, but it trembles with a mix of terror and disbelief.

She pulls the silk sheet up to her chin, her body aching in places she did not know could ache.

Just hours ago, they were both out in the wild woods of the Eclipse Moon Territory. Riven was half-crazed with wolf-whiskey, and she was tipsy on fermented moonberries.

"Marry me, Axista," Riven had growled, his silver-gray eyes wild and bloodshot as he dragged her toward the Moon Oath Sanctum. "My heart is ripped out. Fix me, little wolf."

She should have run away right then. She should have remembered that he was the Alpha of the Thornevale Pack, a man far out of her reach.

More than that, she should have remembered he belonged to her sister.

Riven had been mated to Calista for three long years. Their bond was a tempest of heat and anger, breaking and binding over and over until Calista finally walked away a month ago.

Now, Axista looks at the sleeping warrior beside her, his olive skin glowing under the pale moonlight filtering through the heavy drapes.

"You foolish girl," she mutters to herself, her hand creeping down to touch her own belly.

She is the invisible sister, the weak-wolf Briarwyn who could barely shift. While Calista and their mother Orielle ran the Silver Pelt Atelier, catering to the high-ranking Lunas of the Black Hollow Dominion, Axista was kept in the back rooms.

She was only sent to the Eclipse Moon Territory to secure a trade deal for rare silver-leaf silk with the local merchants. She never expected to run into Riven.

"Axista," Riven grunts in his sleep, his hand reaching out to grip the empty space beside him.

His fingers twitch, his thick claws extending slightly against the dark sheets before he relaxes again.

Her heart hammers against her ribs. Last night, those same hands had held her down, claiming her in a way she never thought possible.

She was a virgin. A twenty-three-year-old wolf who had never felt the pull of a mate bond.

When Riven touched her, her wolf had howled to life, demanding submission.

"Please," she had gasped last night as he stripped her plain linen dress away.

He did not care that she was flat-chested compared to Calista. He did not care that she lacked the seductive curves of a true Luna.

"You are so hot, Axista," Riven had growled, his breath smelling of rich liquor and pine. "So tight for me."

"I have never done this," she whispered, her thighs shaking as he parted them.

He had stopped then, staring down at her with a dark, intense gaze that made her want to crawl into a hole.

"A virgin?" he asked, his voice dropping to a dangerous register. "Calista said you were a tease."

"She lied," Axista whimpered, tears pricking her eyes.

Riven did not speak another word. He simply knelt between her legs, his massive erection pressing against her wet center.

"Birth control?" he asked, his fingers slicking her folds with her own juices.

"My healer gave me a moon-blessed draft for my weak cycles," she gasped out. "I am safe."

"Good," he growled, and then he kissed her.

It was not a gentle kiss. It was the possessive claim of an Alpha wolf taking what he wanted.

He tasted like smoke and raw power, his tongue invading her mouth while his fingers drove deep into her core.

She screamed into his mouth, her hips jerking upward as the first wave of pleasure crashed through her.

"Stay still, Axista," he commanded, his Alpha tone sending a jolt of pure obedience down her spine. "Let me feel how much you want me."

He pumped his fingers inside her, stretching her until she sobbed from the sheer intensity of it.

"I want you, Riven," she cried out, her claws digging into his broad, scarred shoulders. "I want you inside me."

He did not hesitate. He aligned his thick shaft with her opening and pushed, burying himself to the hilt in one slow, agonizingly perfect thrust.

The pain was sharp, but the heat of his wolf immediately flooded her, turning the ache into a throbbing, desperate hunger.

"Look at me," Riven ordered, his face strained as he began to move. "Look at the man taking your innocence."

She looked. She watched his silver eyes glow in the dark, saw the absolute possessiveness in his gaze as he claimed her body.

He rode her hard, his heavy weight pinning her to the mattress while his knot began to swell slightly at her entrance.

"You are mine now," he whispered against her neck, his teeth grazing her pulsing vein. "Forget Calista. Forget everything."

She believed him. In that moment of pure, blinding ecstasy, she believed she could be his Luna.

Now, in the cold light of dawn, the reality of what they did weighs heavy on her chest.

She slips out of the bed, her legs trembling as she gathers her discarded clothes from the floor.

The silver ring on her finger catches the light, a mocking reminder of a drunken moon oath.

"What are you doing?" Riven's deep, gravelly voice cuts through the quiet room.

Axista freezes, her breath catching in her throat as she turns slowly to face her new husband.

Riven is sitting up, the sheets pooling around his muscular waist, his silver eyes fixed on her with a cold, sober glare.

"I was just getting dressed," she says, her voice small.

He looks at her, then down at the ring on his own finger, his jaw clenching tightly.

"Take it off," Riven says, his voice devoid of any of the warmth from the night before.

Axista stares at him, her heart dropping into her stomach. "What?"

"The ring, Axista," he says, stepping out of bed naked, his powerful form radiating a sudden, suffocating dominance. "We are going to find a High Council Advocate and dissolve this before anyone finds out."