The Merchant They All Betrayed , Now They're Begging

My brother was the kind of wolf who thought himself above the frost and snow. The Crown Alpha, the she-wolf every bloodline heir in the realm would kill to be mated to? He found the whole thing beneath him.

He rogue-bonded with a traveling performer from a wandering pack instead.

Me, though? I was the vulgar one.

After I mated into the Ashenveil Pack in my brother's place, I spent every waking hour tallying moon-coins and building trade routes.

In just one year, the Crown Alpha's territory overflowed with gold and resources, her trading packs spanning the entire Cindervane Realm.

Even the old gate-warden ate fresh meat three times a moon cycle.

The Crown Alpha declared before everyone:

"Meeting Ashton Duskborne was the greatest fortune of my life."

Trade was booming. Then my brother came back, alone, with nothing but a worn cloth bundle on his back. His scent hit me before I saw him jasmine oil and old vellum and something cloying underneath, like overripe plums left too long in the sun. Sweeter than I remembered. Sicker.

He jabbed a finger at my face:

"A wolf who reeks of commerce like you, and you think you deserve to be the Crown Alpha's consort?

"You've turned this entire territory into a den of greed! Have you given a single thought to the Crown Alpha's reputation?"

With that, he dropped to his knees before the Crown Alpha:

"My brother is crude and unworthy. He has tarnished Your Highness's good name! I am willing to take over the household and restore dignity to this territory!"

The Crown Alpha looked at my brother's refined, austere face. His wolf was striking in the way moon-singers always were lean and silver-pale, built for beauty rather than battle.

Her cheeks flushed.

"Granted."

A bond rejection decree landed on the table.

I became the laughingstock of Moonhaven.

I didn't argue. Didn't make a scene. I packed my things and left like I was told.

So why did they all come begging me to come back?

When Crown Alpha Rowena Ashenveil said "Granted,"

I was caught off guard.

I had rolled up my sleeves and poured myself into running her territory for an entire year.

She had praised me more than once in front of others.

She said I was the greatest fortune of her life.

And now, after one look at my brother's face,

she was ready to hand him everything?

Edric slid me a sidelong glance, dripping with contempt.

It was always like this.

He had been a prodigy with ceremonial howls and moon-verse since we were pups.

All I ever knew was arithmetic, the lowly craft of trade-route wolves.

Every time he dazzled a gathering with some effortless verse, he would turn and give me that same look. That quiet, cutting dismissal.

I always assumed he would stay up on that pedestal forever.

But now, staring at his threadbare bundle, catching the faint sourness beneath the jasmine the smell of a wolf who hadn't eaten well in a long time

I wasn't so sure.

The steward's seal passed into his hands.

He straightened his spine and swept an arm toward the carved beams and painted pillars I had commissioned for the den:

"Rosewood and gilded wolves! This kind of gaudy excess is exactly why the territory has gone to ruin! Tear it all down within three days!

"Replace every piece with jade panels, carved with cranes, to reflect the dignity befitting a Crown Alpha's household!"

I swallowed hard.

Swapping everything for jade would cost ten times what the rosewood and gold had.

The house steward winced:

"Sir, we don't have enough moon-coins for that."

"How can the Crown Alpha's territory not have enough!"

Edric Duskborne's brows drew together like a blade.

"Sir, the vault has always been managed by the consort. Everything was under his control."

"Ha."

Edric's expression shifted to one of grim understanding:

"The entire territory's wealth was in the hands of someone as base as Ashton? Ashton, you've treated the Crown Alpha like she doesn't exist!"

"Guards."

Rowena's voice was ice:

"Hand over the consort's vault keys to Edric Duskborne."

I stared at her.

I had thought this was a passing whim. I hadn't imagined she truly intended to give my brother everything I had built.

The gold and moon-coins I had earned for this territory over the past year filled the vault floor to ceiling.

The moment the doors swung open, the blinding glare of gold forced Edric back two steps.

Something flickered in his eyes. My wolf stirred, low and wary, pressing against the inside of my ribs. It had caught what I caught that flash of hunger beneath the performance.

He smothered it quickly, replacing it with disgust:

"So this is the source of the rot! This is what turned the Crown Alpha's territory into a den of vulgar excess!"

He spun around and threw himself to his knees before Rowena:

"Ashton hoarded all of this for his own indulgence, with no regard for the Crown Alpha's reputation or dignity! What kind of wolf does that?"

He was trembling with righteous fury.

That ethereal face of his, all sharp angles and cool detachment.

Like some exiled wolf-spirit descended from the moon itself.

Rowena couldn't look away.

"From this day forward, everything in this territory falls under your authority."

Rowena helped Edric to his feet with her own hands.

"The moon-coins, the staff, the land, and every trade route. All of it goes to Edric."

Everything I had built.

One sentence from the Crown Alpha, and it all belonged to Edric Duskborne.

I dropped to my knees.

"Your Highness, I request a bond rejection."

Rowena stiffened.

She was about to speak, but Edric tugged gently at her sleeve.

"Your Highness, if my brother stays any longer, he'll only taint the dignity of your pack. Better to grant him what he asks."

Rowena swallowed whatever she'd been about to say.

"Granted."

When I walked out of the Crown Alpha's territory with the rejection decree in hand, the wolves on the street all stopped to stare.

Some speculated about what I'd done wrong.

Others said I deserved it.

That my head was full of nothing but trade routes and moon-coins, nothing like my brother and his lofty moon-singer principles.

I ignored every last one of them.

The truth was, mating with the Crown Alpha had never been entirely about honoring my brother's arranged mating pact.

As a member of the ruling pack, Rowena could secure an Alpha Trade Seal with almost no effort.

With that seal, I could send caravans as far as the Western Reaches and no pack would interfere.

Now that the Crown Alpha had cast me aside, the seal was gone with her.

My gaze drifted toward another estate on the west side of Moonhaven.

The younger Alpha daughter. Rowena's sister.

In truth, she was the one I'd been meant to mate with in the first place.

My brother and I had each been matched to one of the two Ashenveil daughters.

But Edric ran off on his own, and to save face with Rowena, who held the greater power, the family had no choice but to send me in his place.

In the year since, Elara Ashenveil had remained unbonded.

The door opened, and I looked at her.

"Princess Elara. The old mating pact between us. Does it still stand?"

I had prepared myself.

If she refused,

I would bow and leave without another word.

After all, it was the Duskborne bloodline that had slighted her first.

Elara studied me for a long time.

"It stands."

On the first day of our mating bond, I secured the Alpha Trade Seal.

To repay Elara's trust, I threw myself into the work with even more drive than I'd had at the Crown Alpha's territory.

She told me that every moon-coin the territory earned would be recorded under my name.

"Princess, could it be that you actually like me?"

I was genuinely curious.

She only smiled and said nothing.

Elara was a pack princess who had never been favored by the High Council.

But I would make sure every she-wolf in Moonhaven envied mine.

Before long, Princess Elara's territory, once half in ruins, had a brand-new timber-and-stone wing rising above its walls.

Things at the Crown Alpha's territory, however, had taken a different turn.

Edric declared that the stench of commerce would no longer be allowed to corrupt any wolf's spirit.

Every servant's monthly wage was slashed to a single copper moon-coin.

Only without the temptation of wealth, he reasoned, could wolves stop obsessing over profit.

Only then could they preserve their noble integrity.

My portrait was even turned into a cautionary display.

The entire household was made to remember how vulgar and base life had been when I was in charge.

The Crown Alpha's territory was renovated from top to bottom.

Crane motifs carved in moonstone and ceremonial howl-scrolls adorned every wall and corridor.

The place looked like something out of an old moon-singer's ballad.

You could smell the night-blooming flowers from halfway down the path.

Wolves passing by marveled: "The elder Duskborne truly is remarkable. Look how refined he's made the Crown Alpha's territory!"

Even the Supreme Alpha heard about it and brought the Supreme Alpha Female for a personal tour.

But nobody seemed to realize

that all this elegance

had been bought with the fortune I'd built for the Crown Alpha's territory.

It wasn't long before the territory ground to a halt.

A crowd gathered at the front gates.

They were demanding their back pay.

Edric had burned through nearly every moon-coin in the pack vault on his little vanity project.

And even if there had been moon-coins left, it wouldn't have mattered. Edric had already decreed: one copper coin per wolf, per moon cycle.

Enough to kill any illusion that work here would ever pay.

The territory guards didn't truly try to stop the crowd.

After all, with no wages of their own, they could barely feed themselves.

Edric's voice cracked with fury:

"Is money all you people care about?!"

Someone pointed at the moonstone pendant hanging from his belt:

"That gold-inlaid moonstone alone could cover every last one of our back wages! What right do you have to lecture us?!"

"Pay us! Yeah! Pay us what we're owed!"

The crowd surged forward. Edric's face went white.

"These ungrateful wretches! That bastard Ashton must have spoiled them rotten!"

"Rush him! Strip the clothes off his back and sell them for what we're owed!"

"Go!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

Edric staggered as hands grabbed at him from every direction, barely keeping his footing. The cloying sweetness of his scent soured with panic, jasmine oil turning acrid.

"Decree from the Supreme Alpha!"

A column of pack soldiers marched through the gates, hauling chest after chest of royal tribute into the territory grounds.

It turned out that Supreme Alpha Wolfram Cindervane had visited the Crown Alpha's territory recently and taken a great liking to Edric's renovations.

These were his rewards.

Edric sank to his knees, trembling:

"I humbly thank the Supreme Alpha for this gracious bounty!"

The workers who had been seconds from rioting dropped to their knees as well, faces drained of color.

None of them had expected this.

The Supreme Alpha himself was backing Edric.

Edric reached into one of the chests and pulled out a gold ingot at random.

He tossed it at their feet:

"Take it. That's enough to cover several moon cycles of your wages.

"And if you don't get back to work and end up disrupting the territory's operations, don't be surprised when your heads roll!"

They had their money.

And the Supreme Alpha had made his position clear.

Everyone scrambled to bow their thanks and scattered.

Edric surveyed the chests of royal tribute filling the courtyard.

A cold smile spread across his face:

"Just as I thought. My approach was right all along.

"If that bastard Ashton hadn't thrown so much money at these ungrateful wretches before, they'd never have developed such an insatiable greed."

His handmaid kneaded his shoulders. "The Supreme Alpha himself admires your integrity, my lord.

"The Duskborne bloodline has always been a house of moon-singers. That Ashton is a disgrace to the family name!"

Edric's smile turned sharper:

"Starting today, one copper coin per moon cycle becomes one copper coin every two moon cycles."

The handmaid froze.

Edric's voice was ice. "Ashton spoiled these workers. I'll train it out of them."

It didn't take long. Within weeks, even more workers walked off the job.

Edric, furious, dragged several of them before the Pack Council magistrate.

He charged them with "willful negligence," "inciting unrest," and "disturbing the territory's order."

But even with wolves thrown in the silver cells, the rest still refused to lift a finger.

My side of things was a different story entirely.

Business grew by the day, profits climbing steadily, and I paid the highest wages in all of Moonhaven.

The wolves working for me were terrified of not doing enough.

Edric seemed to think he'd found the root of the problem.

I was directing my crew to hang the sign above our new trading post when Edric's men shoved their way forward.

One of them swung and knocked the signboard clean off its hooks.

It hit the ground and split in two.

The leader glanced at the moonstone bracelet on my temp worker's wrist and sneered:

"So it's true. You're the one corrupting wolves' hearts with money."

I stared at the shattered signboard. My voice was flat:

"What exactly do you think you're doing?"

"Take your wolves and get lost! Stop spreading this filth! It's because of coin-poisoned vermin like you that everyone's heads are full of nothing but profit!

"You call yourself a Duskborne? Our bloodline is a house of moon-singers! And you drag our name through the mud like this!"

I said nothing.

I just looked past him at the men he'd brought along.

My temp workers could afford moonstone bracelets.

His wolves still had patches sewn onto their trousers.

I clapped my hands together.

"New trading post opening! Five den-cooks, ten clerks, one pack manager needed! Three moon-coins a month, plus commission! Sign the blood-oath and get territory shares!"

The wolves standing behind Edric visibly froze.

From the moment they'd arrived, their eyes had been drifting over to my people. Every few seconds, a flash of envy crossed their faces.

"Me!"

Someone was the first to throw down his club.

"Me too! Me too!"

"You!"

One by one, the wolves around Edric bolted toward me.

I waved them off with a laugh. "Too many, too many."

"I'm strong! Pick me!"

"I'll work part-time! I don't need the shares!"

Edric's teeth ground together.

"You worthless dogs! Ungrateful scum!"

I looked up.

"Fine. I'll take all of you. Now, escort the consort back to his territory nice and safe. And while you're there, tell your packmates at the estate that I'm hiring."

"Yes, sir!"

Edric was dragged toward the obsidian carriage by his own wolves. He stared back at me, seething.

"You bastards! How dare you betray me! I'm the one who hired you! Let go of me!"

"Stop!"

A hand shot out, grabbed him, and pulled him behind her.

Before I could even register what was happening.

A slap cracked across my face.

Elara stared at me.

"You lowlife. How dare you."

I looked at her in disbelief.

The warmth and affection that once filled Elara's eyes when she looked at me were gone. Replaced by nothing but cold indifference. Her scent hit me then, green tea and rain-dampened linen, and there was nothing in it. No warmth. No recognition. As if I were a stranger she'd found trespassing on her territory.

She turned and bowed her head to Edric, baring the side of her throat in deference.

"He was never properly disciplined. Offending you like this is unforgivable."

Edric steadied her by the arm.

He cast me a single frigid glance.

Elara spoke again.

"Everything Ashton just offered is void. All of you still work under Edric Duskborne. Anyone who tried to sign on with Ashton just now

"Stay behind. Thirty lashes each."

My eyes went wide.

"Elara!"

Even Edric clearly hadn't expected it.

After a beat of surprise, he turned to me with that trademark sneer of contempt.

"Then I thank the Alpha Heir for her kindness."

Edric climbed into the carriage and left.

The wolves were forced to the ground.

Elara's own guards administered the lashes. Not a shred of mercy. Within minutes the entire street echoed with screams. The scent of blood rose thick and coppery into the air, and my wolf threw itself against my ribs, snarling, clawing to get out.

"Your Highness, have mercy! We'll never work for the consort again!"

"Never in this lifetime! Please, mercy!"

"Elara!"

I lunged forward, half out of my mind with fury.

A maidservant caught my arm and held me back.

"Your Highness, please don't make things worse for yourself. Surely you know. The Alpha Heir has been in love with your brother since they were pups."

The air left my lungs.

I remembered asking her once whether she truly had feelings for me. That smile she gave. Saying nothing.

In that moment.

I understood.

I understood everything.

My wolf went still inside me. Not growling, not pacing. Just still. The kind of still that comes when something breaks so cleanly there's nothing left to fight.

Elara's gaze settled on me.

"You could have gone after anyone. But not him."

Her voice was ice.

"As of today, you and I are no longer mates."

Because I'd poached her beloved's wolves, she'd sentenced our bond to death.

I laughed. Bitter and hollow.

"Good. I didn't want to be your mate anyway."

In the span of half a year.

I'd endured two bond rejections.

Everything I'd earned through my own trade routes. By pack law, it all belonged to the Alpha Heir's household.

Elara tossed me half without a second thought.

She was just like my brother.

She looked down on every moon-coin I'd made.

I secured an Alpha Trade Seal for a river route. And started a trading operation along the Riverbend Territories.

After that public beating in broad daylight, almost no wolf in Moonhaven dared work for me anymore.

I had no choice but to hire workers from beyond the territory borders.

Edric, on the other hand, had it easy. With a pack princess backing him up, he had leverage I didn't. Workers were conscripted from the lower dens and forced to labor under his command. But at two moon-coins a month, people started fleeing before long. Some masked their scents, disguised themselves as outsiders, and came to work on my supply caravan instead.

With no one left at the estate, the businesses under Pack Princess Elara's name had no goods to move. Edric couldn't even put food on the table.

That was the day he showed up with soldiers. All of them under Elara's authority.

He stared at my massive trade convoy, loaded and ready for the southern route, a sneer curling his lips.

"Seize it."

I stepped in front of him.

"Brother, how can you be so unreasonable?"

He scoffed.

"If you hadn't been out here throwing moon-coins around and disrupting the market, the princess's businesses would never have failed! Buying loyalty with coin. You've dragged the Duskborne name through the mud! The only way to stop you from lining your own pockets is to hand all this cargo over to me."

He was about to give the order again. I blocked his path.

"Brother, this is my cargo. My business. You ran yours into the ground, so now you come to steal mine?"

"Steal?" He sneered. "I'm simply purifying your soul, little brother. Do it."

"No!"

I scrambled to stop them.

Elara's voice cut through the air.

"Hold him down."

My men and I were slammed to the ground at the same time. The impact drove the breath from my lungs, and I felt my wolf surge against my ribs, snarling, clawing to get out. I forced it down. Not yet.

Every last crate of goods I'd hauled all the way from the Riverbend Territories was seized under Edric's name.

He looked at the emptied convoy and smiled coldly.

"Brother, why must you insist on working against me?"

I said nothing.

"Men, burn this convoy. Make sure Ashton Duskborne never trades again."

"Yes, sir!"

"I dare you."

I smiled. "Raise the banner."

A crewman yanked the cover off the standard mounted on the lead wagon.

Four words blazed in the sunlight: ROYAL TRIBUTE GOODS.

I rose to my feet.

Looked straight at Edric's bloodless face.

"What nerve you have, brother. Stealing from the Supreme Alpha himself."