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Chapter 1

The moment I opened the doors to the full-moon banquet hall, a glass of icy laurel wine hit me in the face.The room exploded with laughter.Sienna Blake sat on the arm of a leather chair near the fireplace, her phone pointed at me. She looked as pleased as if she had just won a trophy.“I told you she’d come,” she said. “Pay up, Callum.”Pale gold wine slid into my lashes and down my chin, staining the black satin dress I had spent all afternoon choosing.Callum Thorne walked over with the same soft smile that had persuaded me to forgive him too many times. He dabbed my cheek with a napkin.“God, Tessa. You really dressed up.”He looked almost sorry.For the dress. Not for me.“What is she talking about?”“We made a bet,” Callum said, as if it were harmless. “I said you wouldn’t come tonight. If I won, I was going to announce you as the future Luna of Black Hollow at tomorrow’s council meeting.”Sienna waved her phone. “But you came, so he lost.”Callum gave me an apologetic shrug.“L

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Chapter 2

Six years ago, Callum asked me to be with him on the stone steps behind that same banquet hall.Back then, everyone in Black Hollow knew me as Tessa Reed. No one knew I was Tessa Valeborn, the Alpha King’s only daughter and heir.The Valeborn name came with territory, influence, and men who became painfully respectful as soon as they recognized me. They saw royal protection and power gained through a mating bond, not a woman they loved.I wanted to be chosen when I had nothing to offer except myself.So I took my mother’s maiden name, wore a moonstone pendant that suppressed my royal aura, and rented a small apartment near the edge of Black Hollow territory.That was where Callum found me.He had recently inherited the pack. He was young and ambitious, with a warm smile that made ordinary life feel safe. He brought me coffee after work, waited with me for cars on rainy nights, and remembered things I had forgotten telling him.I turned him down five times.The sixth time, a drunken rog

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Chapter 3

I shoved Callum away and slapped him.The crack echoed through the living room.Sienna came off the sofa so quickly that I wondered how drunk she had ever been.“Who the hell do you think you are?”She charged at me and struck my cheek. Pain exploded across my face, filling my mouth with the metallic taste of blood.I raised my hand to hit her back, but Callum caught my wrist.Sienna continued lunging at me, forcing him to hold her back with one arm while pushing me away with the other. My lower back struck the metal door handle, sending pain up my spine.Callum loosened his grip when he heard me gasp, but he remained between us, shielding Sienna.“She’s drunk,” he said. “Are you seriously going to fight someone who can barely control herself?”“She hit me.”“I’m trying to stop this before one of you gets seriously hurt.”Sienna clutched his shirt and looked directly at me.“Let her leave. Plenty of women would be grateful to become your Luna. You’re not going to end up alone because o

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Chapter 4

I woke in the Black Hollow medical center with gauze covering my chin and pain throbbing through my cheekbone.The healer said I had needed stitches but was no longer in danger. My moonstone pendant still suppressed my scent, slowing my wolf’s healing and leaving her weak beneath the restraint.Callum sat beside the bed with dried blood on his sleeve and exhaustion shadowing his face. As soon as I opened my eyes, he grabbed my hand.“Thank the Moon Goddess. You terrified me.”For a moment, I almost believed he understood what he had nearly lost.Then he said, “Sienna didn’t mean for you to fall. She thought the apology party would make you laugh. Her wolf has been unstable all night, and you know how she gets during the full moon.”“She invited people into your house to film me being humiliated again.”“She didn’t know you would slip.”“She poured wine across the floor.”Callum’s jaw tightened.“I’m not saying what she did was right. She feels terrible. She cried all night.”I lay in a

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Chapter 5

The royal plane landed shortly after dawn.By the time the wheels touched the runway, the wound beneath my bandage had begun to itch. Without the moonstone pendant suppressing my royal blood, my wolf was already healing me properly again.Marcus waited until the plane stopped before standing.“Your parents are at the palace.”Royal guards lined the private runway, each wearing the silver-wolf crest of House Valeborn. For six years, I had hidden the identity that crest represented. Now I was returning without a disguise.The moment I stepped from the plane, every guard lowered to one knee.“Welcome home, Your Highness.”My wolf stirred as the aura I had buried for years spread through the cold morning air.Marcus studied my face.“How quickly are you healing?”“The wound is already closing.”“And the scar?”“I’ll survive it.”His expression remained calm, but his jaw tightened.“Your father may not be as restrained.”The drive to the palace took less than twenty minutes. New watchtowers

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Chapter 6

By sunrise, every recognized pack in the northern territories knew I had returned.Messages crowded the royal communications office. Some Alphas welcomed me home, while others requested confirmation that I would reclaim my council seat. A few carefully worded letters questioned whether someone who had lived outside royal territory for six years was qualified to become the next Alpha Queen.My father placed those letters at the top of the stack on my desk.“You could have given me one quiet morning,” I said.“You have already had six quiet years.”I opened the first report. Three eastern packs were disputing access to a winter hunting route. Two southern Alphas wanted royal support for a trade agreement. Black Hollow had submitted a formal petition requesting an audience.I left that document unopened.My father noticed. “Avoiding it will not make it disappear.”“I’m prioritizing matters that affect more than one Alpha’s pride.”A brief smile touched his face. “Good answer.”The prelimi

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Chapter 7

Callum entered the royal audience chamber at nine the next morning.He wore the black uniform of Black Hollow’s Alpha, but the journey had left shadows beneath his eyes. Marcus stood at my right, while two guards remained beside the doors.Callum stopped before the raised platform and bowed.“Your Highness.”It was the first time he had addressed me by my rank.“Alpha Thorne,” I replied. “You requested an audience concerning Sienna Blake. You may begin.”His gaze moved toward Marcus.“I asked to speak with you alone.”“Your request was denied.”“Tessa, please.”The guards shifted at the sound of my name.I kept my voice even. “You are addressing the royal heir in an official audience. Follow court protocol.”Pain crossed his face, but he lowered his head.“Yes, Your Highness.”He placed a folder on the table between us. Inside were printed messages, witness statements, and security reports from Black Hollow.“The evidence shows that Sienna arranged several incidents involving you,” he

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Chapter 8

The palace search continued through the afternoon without finding Sienna.Every vehicle inside the walls was inspected, and the guards checked the guest residences twice. No one matching her description had entered under her own name.At sunset, Darius found me in the strategy room studying a map of the western district.“If she wanted to attack you, she would have chosen an easier place than the royal palace,” he said.“She wants an audience.”“Then why hide?”“Because she wants to control when it happens.”Marcus entered with a sealed invitation.“Elder Corbin has requested a special hearing tonight. He claims a witness has provided evidence concerning your conduct in Black Hollow.”Darius’s expression hardened. “Corbin found her.”“Or she found him,” I said.The hearing began an hour later.Seven council members had assembled in the tribunal chamber. My parents sat at the head of the table, with Darius and two visiting Alphas behind them. Callum had also been summoned because the ev

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Chapter 9

Elder Corbin’s secretary was captured before dawn at the eastern border. Over the next five days, the documents in his vehicle confirmed that Corbin had monitored me since the year I left Valeborn. He had expected my absence to become permanent, allowing the council to replace me with an heir chosen from another royal branch.My return threatened six years of preparation.Sienna had simply given him a convenient weapon.On the morning of the restoration vote, Corbin remained suspended from the council and under guard. His secretary had confessed to sending Sienna the forged authorization after seeing the announcement of my return.Sienna would remain in royal custody until her trial. The charges against her included falsifying medical records, altering evidence, and entering royal territory under a false seal. An independent investigator had already left for Black Hollow.Callum accepted the investigation without objection.The council chamber was full when I entered.Representatives f

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