Chapter 1

Alpha Riven was my fated mate. I had forged his failing pack into a powerhouse. Our victory was supposed to be a new beginning. Instead, at the celebration feast, he rejected me for another she-wolf—one carrying his pup.

"Tonight, we celebrate the glory of the Blackmoon Pack!"

The bonfire roared. Riven stood on a high platform, raising his silver goblet.

His handsome face glowed in the firelight, his deep eyes sweeping over every pack member.

"Tomorrow, we leave this barren, snowy wasteland and move to the rich lands at the heart of the Alliance!"

A thunderous cheer erupted.

Pack members raised their goblets, a primal energy crackled through the camp.

I stood in the shadows, watching my creation. The Alpha I had built from nothing.

Five years. I’d taken a pathetic pack of a dozen wolves and forged them into a force worthy of the Alliance’s heartlands.

I had made this happen.

But my father’s warnings about the treachery of power always echoed in my mind.

With every alliance I forged, with every strategy I devised, I created a shadow copy, a hidden ledger of proof.

I called it my “dowry insurance,” praying to the Goddess I would never need it.

But yes, I still held one secret close to my heart.

Once we were in the Alliance, I would reveal my true self.

And I would offer him a throne.

"Mark, give the moonstones to our warriors," Riven's voice called out.

I looked eagerly at the Beta, Mark.

My heart hammered. Moonstones. The highest honor in the pack, reserved for its greatest heroes.

Mark held a silver platter loaded with the glowing stones and began to hand them out.

"Erik, for your bravery at Ice Bear Valley."

"Lisa, for your work during the food crisis."

"Tom, for your brilliant negotiations."

One by one, pack members received their honor.

Mark walked up to me… and then walked right past me, handing a moonstone to the wolf behind me.

I froze.

"What?" I reached out and stopped him. "Mark, where's my moonstone?"

Mark met my gaze, his eyes cold. Filled with a disgust that shocked me to my core. "What moonstone? What gives you the right?"

"What gives me the right?" I couldn't believe my ears. "For the last five years—"

"For the last five years, what?" A sharp female voice cut me off.

Jenna sauntered over, a cruel smirk twisting her pretty face.

"Just how have you been 'contributing' to the pack?" she sneered, drawing out the word.

The pack members around us started whispering.

I felt their stares turn strange.

"Jenna, what are you talking about?" I frowned.

"What am I talking about?" Jenna laughed. "Get out of the way, you filthy she-wolf!"

She pulled a document from her dress and slapped it against my face.

"What is this?" I grabbed it.

Scrawled in blood-red ink across the silver parchment were two words that shattered my world: MATE REJECTION.

At the bottom was Riven's clear signature.

"Impossible!" My head snapped up to Riven on the platform.

He was watching me, his eyes empty and cold.

"Riven!" I ran for the platform. "What is going on?!"

"Stop!" Mark blocked my path. "You're not worthy of approaching the Alpha!"

"Not worthy? I'm his fated mate!"

"Mate?" Jenna let out a piercing laugh. "You?"

She clapped her hands.

The magic crystal in the center of the camp lit up, projecting a massive vision.

The crystal projected scenes of me. Laughing with other Alphas. Letting them hold my waist, caress my cheek, even press a kiss to my forehead.

"What is this?" I stared at the images, horrified.

"This," Jenna said viciously, "is your 'hard work' for the past five years! You sold your body for their support!"

The pack erupted. Gasps of fury. Roars of outrage.

"So that's how!"

"No wonder we got so much help from other packs!"

"Filthy she-wolf!"

"She's disgraced our pack!"

Riven slowly walked down from the platform and stood before me.

"Renata," his voice was ice. "Do you have anything to say?"

"Riven, you have to believe me!" I grabbed his arm. "These visions are fake! Otherwise, why didn't you sense it?"

"Fake?" He shoved my hand away. “Jenna said that you have a drug that can temporarily block the connection between us. You hang out with these people every day. It's not hard to get it, right?”

"Then explain it. Why did the Shadow Pack help us? Why did the Storm Pack lend us warriors? Why did the Bloodfang Pack share their hunting grounds?"

"Because of my strategies! My diplomacy!" I cried out in desperation.

"Strategies? Diplomacy?" Riven spat. "Or was it just a warm bed you offered?"

He held up the rejection letter, its silver edge glinting in the firelight.

"I, Riven, Alpha of the Blackmoon Pack, hereby reject Renata as my mate!"

The edge of the letter sliced across my cheek. The silver burned like fire.

Blood dripped down my face.

A searing agony ripped through my soul. The mate bond was shattering. I couldn't breathe.

"From this moment on, you are nothing to me!"

I clutched my cheek, enduring the pain as I stared at the visions.

Suddenly, I froze.

In one of the images, the man holding me, the one who'd saved me from a pack of rogues… he had golden hair and eyes as dark and deep as a starless night.

I knew that face.

Damien.

My brother. Crown Prince Damien.

In an instant, everything clicked into place.

Riven's coldness, Jenna's smirks, Mark's hostility, the pack's distance.

It was all a setup.

They waited for this moment, right before we moved to the central territories, to completely erase me.

So Riven could take all the glory for himself.

I stared at the vision, and a hollow laugh escaped my lips.