Chapter 2

Three years ago, my parents died saving Adrian’s parents during a rogue ambush.

After that, the relatives who had circled my family for years took what they could and scattered. I had no rank, no strong wolf, and nowhere safe to go. The old Alpha of Frostpine Pack took me in.

Not out of pity alone.

The mate bond between Adrian and me had already been confirmed.

The old Alpha said no one in Frostpine would dare mistreat the Alpha heir’s fated mate, even if she was only a weak Omega. He announced that once Adrian inherited the pack, we would complete the bonding ceremony.

From then on, I belonged to Adrian in everyone’s eyes.

But Adrian was the future Alpha. Strong, admired, impossible to ignore. She-wolves followed him with their eyes wherever he went. Compared with them, I was nothing special. I had no powerful family left, no impressive wolf, no place beside him except the one the Moon Goddess had given me.

So the pack decided I was clinging too hard.

If I looked upset when Adrian ignored me, they called me dramatic. If I objected when Celia crossed a line, they called me jealous. Every time I tried to defend myself, the story twisted before it reached Adrian.

By the end, Frostpine had already chosen what kind of Omega I was supposed to be.

Jealous. Unstable. Desperate.

None of it was true, but Adrian believed it.

Back then, I thought love meant guarding what was mine.

Now, facing Adrian’s punishment, I only lowered my head and said, “I understand.”

Adrian went still.

In the past, I would have cried, begged, grabbed his sleeve, and asked him not to cancel the bonding ceremony. Now I gave him exactly what he always claimed to want.

Obedience.

Yet he looked unsettled.

“Elena,” he said, frowning, “think carefully. If you admit what you did and apologize to Celia, I might—”

“I’ve thought carefully.”

My voice was calm.

The ceremony would never belong to me now. When the next full moon rose, I would forget him, forget the bond, and leave Frostpine Pack with whatever remained of myself.

Before Adrian could answer, the patrol lifted me onto a stretcher.

Only then did they see how bad my injuries were.

My ankle had frozen nearly black beneath the torn leather of my boot. The wound from the fall had split open again and again during those seven days, and the blood had dried into the fabric until it looked like part of my skin.

My wolf gave no sound when the healer pressed two fingers to my pulse.

The healer’s face changed.

“Alpha,” he said, “her wolf is barely responding.”

Adrian’s anger faltered.

He stepped closer. “Can she recover?”

“I don’t know,” the healer said. “We need to get her to the pack infirmary. Now.”

For a moment, Adrian looked at me the way he used to when we were younger, before every word between us turned into suspicion. His hand lifted, as if he wanted to touch my frozen fingers.

Then Celia made a soft sound behind him.

“My arm…”

Adrian turned at once.

Celia’s eyes were wet, her injured forearm held carefully against her chest. “I’m fine,” she whispered. “Really. You should look after Elena first. She was out there so long because of me…”

Adrian’s face softened.

“You should have stayed in the healer’s ward,” he said, already moving to support her. “You’re hurt and still worrying about her?”

His voice was gentle in a way I had not heard in days.

He wrapped his cloak around Celia and lifted her into the lead snow vehicle himself. Only after she was settled did he glance back at me.

“Take Elena to the infirmary,” he ordered.

Then he climbed in beside Celia.

The vehicle pulled away first, carrying them through the snow.

My stretcher was loaded into the second one.

As the cold wind cut across my face, I stared at the fading tracks ahead and felt the mate bond give one last dull ache.

My wolf stayed silent.