C2

Lamia Blackmoor POV

“You met her very briefly at Ethan Silverfang's party,” Rham says. He looks at the floor because he cannot look at me. “It is Jasmine's friend, Christine.”

“Christine Thornfield?” I say.

My heart hits my ribs very hard. My mouth feels dry like dirt.

“Yes,” Rham says.

“You are a fool!” I yell at him. “She is a nobody wolf from the low ranks! She has no ancient wolf legacy. She works for me at the Silvermoon Herald Agency! I am the golden girl of the Blackmoor Moonfang Pack. I made the Mooncrest Artisan Hall famous across the whole territory! You are throwing away our fated moonmate alliance for a low wolf?”

“She is not a gold digger,” Rham says. His voice gets tight, and his eyes flash green for a second. “She does not care about pack resources. My father, King Aldric, just cut me off anyway. I have no title. I am no longer the Chosen Alpha Candidate for your family.”

“I do not care about love!” I scream. “This is pack business! You do not walk away from a covenant that took thirty years to make just because your wolf is scared!”

“It is not fear, Lamia,” he says, sounding like a proud prince. It makes me want to claw his face. “I want a real mate bond. Not a fake deal made by our parents when we were little pups. You are beautiful and a great leader. You deserve an Alpha who wants only you.”

“Do not wish me well!” I shout. “The Grand Wolf Assembly will laugh at me! The newspapers in Silvercrest Capital will call me a joke! I made this Blood Moon Celebration my whole life!”

I feel so much hot shame on my skin. It burns me. All the female wolves who hate me will smile now. They will see me get left behind. I will be the girl who lost the Silverclaw Throne.

“I can tell the pack elders it was your choice,” Rham says, trying to be nice.

“Shut your mouth and let me think!” I scream.

He stops talking. His mouth stays open. He looks shocked because I never yell. I always act like a perfect future Luna. I always keep my fur smooth and my voice soft.

I start to pace around the big room of the Blackmoor Grove manor. My mind is spinning fast. If we say he left me, I look weak. If we say I left him, the pack will think I am a bad person who does not care about the covenant. There is no good way to fix this mess.

“Do you care what the low wolves think?” Rham asks.

“Of course I care!” I yell. “Perception is everything in the Moonshadow Dominion! You are ruining my life!”

A big tear falls down my face. I wipe it fast because I hate that he sees me cry.

“A ceremony is not a real marriage,” Rham says, putting his hands in his pockets. “We would be sad together, Lamia. It is better this way.”

He is wrong. We would be powerful. I did everything right. I went to the best training grounds. I learned the pack laws perfectly. I never looked away from the prize of the Silverclaw Throne. If I wanted to just be happy, I would have let his dangerous brother Clay sleep with me years ago. Clay is the true wildcard of the family—a playboy prince who breaks every rule and walks with a lethal, dark aura that makes everyone look away in fear. But getting close to Clay Jasperfang only brings trouble.

“You are a coward, Rham,” I say. “Go find my parents and get out of my sight.”

I pull the heavy silver band off my finger. It has a huge, perfect moonstone on it. I throw it hard at his chest.

“Take your family heirloom,” I spit. “Give it to your precious Christine.”

I run up the stairs to my old bedroom. I close the wooden door very quietly. I do not want my mother, Eleanor or my father, Marcus, to hear me.

As soon as the door locks, I drop to the floor. I fall onto the soft fur rug by my bed. My body feels so tight, I think I will pop. My ears are ringing. Rham is downstairs right now telling my parents that I am not good enough for him.

I grab the thick blanket from my bed and stuff it into my mouth. I bite down hard. I want to howl and scream like a wild rogue, but I cannot let anyone hear me. The cloth tastes like dust.

You do not even love him, the voice in my head says. You are a proud Blackmoor wolf. Stand up.

But I cannot stand up. My legs are like water. The pain in my chest feels real, like a silver blade sticking into my heart. Every breath hurts my lungs. I followed every single rule of the pack. I made myself the perfect wolf for him. I am smart, I am pretty, and I run the Lunar Craft Hall perfectly.

And he threw me away like trash. He changed the rules without telling me. He chose a girl who does not even know how to lead a pack. It is not fair. It is not fair.

I feel like a little twelve-year-old pup who got lost in the dark woods.

I bite the blanket harder. I can only breathe through my nose. My inside parts feel like they are breaking from the sadness.

Everyone in the Silvercrest territory will whisper about me. They will make jokes about the golden girl who got dumped before the Blood Moon Celebration. And there is so much work to undo. The big moon ceremony is written on a huge scroll that Celia Moonblossom and I made. It has hundreds of names and jobs on it. It feels like a giant tangled ball of vines that I can never fix.

I feel like I am drowning under a huge wave in the Moonwave Shore. I cannot find any air. I know I need to stop crying. I need to find my scroll and start fixing the plans.

But I do not move. I just stay in a small pile on the floor, biting the cloth hard. The words keep running around in my brain over and over again.

I am broken.

I am not enough.

He saw right through me.

Now the whole world will see that I am nothing.