For ten years, I was a peace offering to Alpha Kane. And he chose his adopted sister, Fiona, over me 77 times.
He planned my birthday around her tastes.
At the Hunters Moon festival, she stood beside him in the Lunas ceremonial gown. My gown.
Even on our mating night, he left me. Fiona faked a panic attack, claiming her wolf was losing control. He spent the night coddling her.
I forgave him the first 76 times.
Because hed saved my life once, even if he didnt remember.
But when I was kidnapped, he had to choose: trade the pack's sacred artifact for my life, or stay with Fiona and her latest self-made drama. He chose her.
The kidnappers injected me with a lethal dose of wolfsbane. I felt it tearing my wolf apart, devouring my life force from the inside out.
The 77th time. I was finally ready to give up.
But I was saved.
By Drake, Alpha of the Nightfall Pack. The one who'd been watching over me for fifteen years..
Thats when I learned the truth. Id been thanking the wrong man. The one who saved me was always Drake. Never Kane.
So I went back. I filed to sever our mate bond with the Elders.
In four days, I'll be free. And Kane can be with his precious Fiona forever.
So why, now that its all over, is he on his knees, begging for me back and crying that he always loved me?
Chapter 1
The 77th time my mate, Alpha Kane, abandoned me for his adopted sister, Fiona, I filed to sever our bond.
I was digging at the spiderweb of black veins the wolfsbane had left in my arm when Kane came home. The tip of my tweezers sizzled against raw flesh.
He frowned the moment he stepped through the door, his body flinching back a half-step. He didnt even try to hide his disgust. He looked at me like I was something filthy.
But I could smell her on him.
The scent of white moonflower incense that always burned in Fionas room, clinging to his trench coat.
Hed just come from her.
"Explain Drake," he said from the doorway, his voice clipped with impatience. "Why would he save you?"
I didn't look up. I fought back the burn in my throat and kept cleaning the wound.
Yesterday, I was kidnapped by a pack of masked wolves.
They shot me up with wolfsbane, tortured me, left me for dead. The kidnappers told Kane to bring the pack's sacred relic to save me. But he never came.
Fiona had a "mental breakdown," so he chose her instead.
We've been mated for ten years. This was the 77th time he'd abandoned me for her.
And now, after I escaped on my own, he wasn't asking if I was okay. He was interrogating me about the Alpha who saved my life.
His eyes landed on my mangled arm, and the hard line of his jaw softenedjust a little. He crossed the room to my side.
"Look, I know you're in pain. I told the kidnappers I was coming for you. I just... I had to delay an hour. Fiona's mind was shattering. You're my mate, Elara. Of course I was coming for you."
He glanced at my arm.
"Damn it. I warned them not to touch a single hair on your head. How dare they!"
He looked so furious now, as if my pain actually bothered him.
He reached out, his hand aiming for my cheek in a hollow gesture of comfort.
Just then, his communicator buzzed in his pocket.
It was just a soft hum, but his hand froze in mid-air.
He answered. The mask of the loving mate hed worn for me shattered, replaced by raw panic.
"What? Still crying? Hyperventilating?"
"Don't worry. Tell Fiona I'm on my way. Right now."
He hung up. Without another glance at my bleeding arm, he turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" I asked, though I already knew. My voice was ice.
"Fiona had a nightmare," he said, tugging his collar straight. His tone was dismissive. "She dreamt that you died, and she can't breathe. The healers say she's unstable. I have to be there. Elara, you're a healer yourself. Its just a scratch. Patch yourself up and stop being so dramatic."
Dramatic.
Me almost dying was dramatic. Fiona having a bad dream was a crisis.
The door slammed shut.
This time, I didn't cry. I didn't even feel the ache in my chest. I was just numb.
I bandaged my arm, pulled on a long-sleeved robe to hide the wound, and walked straight to the Elder's Hall.
If he wouldn't give me respect, I would take back my freedom.
Inside the hall, the five Elders sat on their high stone chairs, looking down at me.
"You want what? To sever the mate bond?" The Head Elder scoffed as if Id told a joke. "Elara, what is this nonsense?"
"It's not nonsense." I stood straight. "Kane abandoned me when my life was on the line. He broke the mate's vow. I have the right to request a severance."
"Abandonment? Kane acted for the greater good!" another elder snapped. "Fiona's power was spiraling out of control. If he hadn't contained her, she could have leveled half our territory! He was protecting the pack!"
"By sacrificing his Luna?" I shot back.
"Watch your place!" The Head Elder slammed his staff on the floor. "Elara, do not forget your place. You are a treaty bride, a living sacrifice! Your purpose is to secure this alliance, not throw a tantrum over petty jealousy!"
"As long as Kane doesn't publicly reject you, you will always be his Luna. An Alphas favor is a privilege, not a right."
"Go home. Don't let us hear this foolishness again. Or we will make sure your birth pack hears of this humiliation."
I was "escorted" out of the hall.
Standing on the steps, I looked up at the almost-full moon and felt a chill cut straight through me.
To them, I was just a thing. An object used to secure a treaty. Not Kane, not the Eldersno one had ever seen me as a wolf with dignity.
If they wouldn't grant me justice, I would have to claim it myself.
Back in my room, I pulled a battered, ancient book from a hidden compartment under the bed. I remembered seeing a passage when I was restoring it. A ritual for a Blood Severance.
It was a brutal, forbidden magic. A ritual to unilaterally sever a bond that had been corrupted.
"On the night of the blood moon, take the blood of the betrayer. With your own spirit as the key, you can defy fate and break the pact."
The blood moon was in four days. It was when our power as wolves would be at its peak.