Chapter 3

I turned to leave the sickening celebration.

"Stop!" Mark's voice shouted from behind me.

I didn't turn around.

"I said, stop!" He strode forward to block my path. "You think you can just walk away?"

"Move," I said coldly.

"Move?" Mark snarled. "You know too much. You really think we're just going to let you walk away?"

Several large wolves closed in, surrounding me.

"What are you doing?"

"Make a blood oath!" Mark pulled a silver dagger from his belt. "Swear you'll never reveal any of the Blackmoon Pack's strategies or secrets!"

The silver blade gleamed.

"In your dreams," I said, taking a step back.

"Then don't blame us for being rough!" Mark lunged at me.

I dodged, but another wolf grabbed my arm.

"Let her go!"

Everyone froze.

Not because someone was defending me. But because the person who spoke was Riven.

He strode over, his eyes burning with fury.

But the fury wasn't for Mark. It was for me.

"What are you all doing?" Jenna followed him. "Just get rid of her already."

"Wait," Jenna said. Her eyes locked on the faint glow at my chest. "What is that?"

I looked down. A delicate crystal pendant was glowing faintly.

"A communication crystal?" Mark narrowed his eyes. "You've been wearing this the whole time?"

"So what if I have?"

"What's on it?" Jenna shrieked. "Filthy little secrets with all your other Alphas? You're disgusting!"

"Get it!" Riven ordered.

Mark reached for it, but I clutched the crystal to my chest.

"It's private!"

In the struggle, the crystal was ripped from my neck.

Riven took it and tried to activate it.

Nothing happened.

"What's wrong with it?" he scowled.

"It's sealed," I said, my voice ice. "It requires a key. A memory only we should share."

"What memory?"

"You've forgotten?" A hollow, cruel laugh escaped my lips. "The first words you ever spoke to me. The moment our bond snapped into place."

Riven froze.

He struggled to remember, sweat beading on his forehead.

The pack members started whispering.

"What's wrong with the Alpha?"

"He can't remember that?"

"Did he really forget?"

Riven's face flushed a deep, ugly red. He couldn't remember. In front of his entire pack, he couldn't remember his first meeting with his fated mate.

"I remember!" he suddenly shouted. "You said—no, I said—"

The crystal remained dark.

"Wrong," I said flatly.

The whispers grew louder.

"He doesn't even know his own mate?"

"Are they really fated?"

"The Alpha wouldn't..."

"Enough!" Riven roared, snatching the crystal.

He forced his own energy into it.

The crystal finally lit up, projecting a memory.

But it wasn't a vision of me with another Alpha.

It was a vision of me fighting alongside Damien.

The golden-haired Prince wielded the Royal Sword while I unleashed powerful psychic energy beside him.

We moved in perfect sync, like partners who had faced death together countless times.

"What is this?" Riven's eyes went wide.

"That was two years ago," I said, my voice dangerously calm. "My brother and I were hunting rogues."

"Brother? That man really is—"

"The Crown Prince Damien," I snatched the crystal back. "And I really am a princess."

The color drained from Riven's face.

If I was truly a princess, then everything he had just done...

"No!" he suddenly exploded with rage. "Impossible! You're lying!"

He grabbed the crystal again.

"If you were a princess, why would you come here? Why would you suffer through all this?"

"Because I loved you!" The words finally tore out of me. "I wanted to prove myself! I wanted to build something with you!"

Riven froze.

But a second later, an even more insane fury lit his eyes.

"Lies! It's all lies!"

With a guttural roar, Riven snatched the crystal from my hand. He smashed it on the frozen ground. The goddess-blessed artifact shattered into a thousand glittering shards.