C3

He felt guilty as hell, which was exactly what he was.

"I cannot face her yet," Riven Thornevale mutters to his reflection, splash-wetting his face with cold water inside the stone washroom of the Silver Fang Lodge.

He had track-scented Axista Briarwyn all the way to the Eclipse Moon Territory because he knew she would be alone. He had hunted her down, driven by a dark, volatile rage, intending to use her.

But how could he have guessed the twenty-three-year-old wolf was entirely untouched?

"She was virginal," he growls, his wolf shifting restlessly beneath his skin, claws nicking his palms. "And she was perfect."

The mating heat should have been mild with an unshifted, weak-wolf female, but it had nearly broken his control. He had taken her virginity, and her scent had flooded his senses, locking onto his soul.

He had claimed her hard, over and over, until she bled and whimpered under his weight, leaving him starving for more even as he filled her.

"Riven?" her soft, tentative voice calls from outside the heavy timber door. "I am leaving now."

"Fine, Axista," he barks back, his voice rough, refusing to open the door. "I will see you tomorrow."

He hears her soft, heavy sigh through the wood, followed by the quiet rustle of her leaving the chamber.

He had married her at the Moon Oath Sanctum just to tear out his ex-mate Calista’s heart, knowing Calista despised her quiet, invisible sister. Riven’s own mother, Lady Velastra, had always warned him against using pack politics to settle blood-debts, but his anger at Calista’s betrayal had blinded him.

Calista had been sharing her bed with Bastian Crowholt for four months while claiming the Thornevale pack-bond.

His phone buzzes on the stone counter, showing a fire-linked message from Calista: Where are you, my Alpha? I miss your touch. Please come home.

"Never again," Riven growls, crushing the device in his fist until the glass cracks.

"Lord Thornevale is in a closed high-council session, but he will be out shortly," Iskar Venn says, her voice dripping with cold disdain.

Axista stands in the grand corridor of the Ironmoon Keep, holding her worn leather satchel tightly against her chest.

She had decided not to wear the formal furs or silks of her family’s atelier, choosing instead a plain, oversized wool tunic and simple leather boots. She had called out from her duties at the Silver Pelt Atelier, unable to look at her mother Orielle or her sister Calista.

"Thank you, Iskar," Axista murmurs, keeping her eyes low.

Iskar Venn, a striking high-ranking beta female, had always treated Axista like dirt, mostly because she knew Axista’s father, Caelor, was just a low-ranking master-scribe for the Thornevale Relic Hall.

To the rest of the Black Hollow Dominion, Axista is just the weak, unshifted Briarwyn daughter—a placeholder who should not exist.

She walks toward the massive, arched glass windows overlooking the sprawling stone passages of the territory, trying to soothe the wild, erratic thumping of her heart.

The heavy silver band on her finger feels like a brand, burning against her skin with the memory of Riven’s touch, his thick knot stretching her, and the raw, heavy weight of his body pinning her down.

"What have I done?" she whispers, her fingers tracing the metal.

She had let her childhood crush blind her, taking advantage of a powerful, heartbroken Alpha who was half-crazed with rage and wolf-whiskey.

The door to the inner sanctum creaks open, and Riven steps out, his imposing, broad-shouldered frame filling the corridor, his silver eyes locking onto her with a fierce, predatory intensity.

"You must sign the dissolution papers," Axista whispers, her voice shaking as she stands in Riven's massive, stone-walled study inside the Ironmoon Keep. "My family will cast me out of the pack if they find out I took Calista’s fated Alpha."

Riven does not answer. He sits behind his heavy oak desk, his silver-gray eyes dark and unreadable as he stares at the parchment she laid out.

"Is that all you have to say to me after last night?" Riven asks, his deep voice carrying a low, dangerous rumble that makes her wolf tremble with a mix of fear and arousal.

"I... I was sober enough to know what I wanted," Axista confesses, her throat tight as she forces the words out. "I have loved you since I was a pup, Riven. Everyone in the Black Hollow Dominion knows it, and they all laughed at the weak, unshifted sister who made eyes at her sister's mate."

Riven’s hand clenches on the desk, his claws scraping against the dark wood. "You think I did not want you?"

"You wanted Calista," she chokes out, tears burning her eyes. "You were just out of your mind with wolf-whiskey. Now, please, sign the papers before my mother and sister find out. I cannot be left rogue. I have nowhere else to go."

Before Riven can reach for the quill, the heavy iron-bound doors of the study creak open. Iskar Venn steps inside, her face pale.

"Alpha," Iskar says, her eyes darting between Riven and Axista. "There is a leak from the Moon Oath Sanctum. The elder priests have already logged the blood bond, and the pack heralds are preparing to announce it to the entire territory."

Riven stands up slowly, his towering frame casting a long shadow over Axista. "When does the announcement break?"

"At sunrise tomorrow, Alpha," Iskar replies, bowing her head. "The high-ranking packs are already whispering. They know you did not mate with Calista."

Axista feels the blood drain from her face, her knees going weak as she grabs the edge of the desk for support. "No... no, this is a nightmare. My mother will strip me of my pack rights."

"We are not dissolving anything," Riven growls, stepping around the desk until he is inches from her, his raw, dominant scent of pine and heavy musk overwhelming her senses. "We are going to spin this. We will declare that Calista and I broke our bond weeks ago, and that the moon chose you."

"Are you insane?" Axista gasps, her heart hammering against her ribs as she looks up into his hard, uncompromising face. "Calista will never let me survive this, and you know it."

Riven reaches out, his large, warm hand cupping the back of her neck, his thumb tracing the sensitive skin where a mating mark should be. "She has no choice, Axista. You are my Luna now."