Chapter 1

My fingers trembled as I smoothed the white silk of my ceremonial gown one last time. Three years. Three years I'd spent designing every detail of this dress, from the silver moon embroidery cascading down the bodice to the delicate wolf prints hidden in the lace hem. Today was supposed to be perfect.

I lifted the twin mate pendants from their velvet box, watching them catch the morning light streaming through my bedroom window. The intertwined wolves I'd carved seemed to dance, their eyes set with matching sapphires that Ethan had helped me choose on my eighteenth birthday. "One for you, one for me," he'd whispered then, pressing his lips to my temple. "When we complete our bond, we'll never be apart."

My wolf, Luna, stirred weakly within me. She'd been quiet since the binding ceremony three months ago, still adjusting to the foreign essence that now mingled with our own. *We're stronger now,* I reminded her, though the words felt hollow. *Strong enough to be his Luna.*

The Silver Moon Packhouse loomed before me, its massive oak doors thrown wide in welcome. Pack members lined the entrance, their excited whispers following my steps. I forced my shoulders back, channeling my mother's grace, my father's strength. Beta Marcus Montgomery's daughter would not show weakness, not today.

But the grand foyer stood empty.

I circled the space, my heels clicking against marble that had been polished to mirror-brightness for the occasion. The ceremonial altar waited, draped in white silk and moonflowers. Everything was ready. Everything except my Alpha.

"He's probably just running late from morning patrol," I murmured, though my stomach twisted. Ethan was never late. Not for pack meetings, not for training, and certainly not for something as sacred as our mate-claiming ceremony.

Minutes stretched into an hour. The whispers from outside grew louder, more concerned. My carefully styled hair began to wilt in the summer heat, and the bodice of my gown felt suddenly too tight. Where was he?

When I couldn't bear the empty altar's accusation any longer, I sought out Elder Thornton. I found him in the archive room, his weathered hands sorting through ancient scrolls.

"Elder Thornton?" My voice came out smaller than intended. "Have you seen Alpha Ethan? The ceremony was supposed to begin an hour ago."

The old wolf's eyes flickered with something I couldn't name. Pity? Guilt? He set down his scrolls with deliberate slowness.

"Child," he began, then stopped, shaking his grizzled head. "Perhaps you should speak with your father."

"My father?" Confusion sharpened into dread. "Elder Thornton, what's wrong? Where is Ethan?"

He moved to a locked cabinet, producing an ornate key from around his neck. The mate registry. My heart hammered against my ribs as he withdrew the leather-bound tome, its pages yellowed with age and sacred significance.

"I cannot lie to a Beta's daughter," he said quietly, opening the book with reverent care. "Though I wish to the Moon Goddess I could."

His gnarled finger traced down the recent entries. Past the Williams pairing from last month. Past the Hendersons from spring. And there—

The words swam before my eyes. I blinked, certain I was misreading.

*Alpha Ethan Blake – Luna Grace Wilson*

The date beside it sent ice through my veins. Two weeks. Two weeks after my wolf-binding ceremony, while I was still recovering, still weak from absorbing another wolf's essence.

"No." The pendant slipped from my numb fingers, sapphires shattering against stone. "There must be a mistake. Check again."

But Elder Thornton's sorrowful gaze held all the confirmation I needed.

I don't remember leaving the archive room or crossing the packhouse grounds. One moment I was staring at those impossible words, the next I was pounding on the Alpha's den door, my carefully manicured nails splitting against the wood.

"Ethan!" My voice cracked, raw and desperate. "Open this door! Now!"

The door swung open, and there he stood. My promised mate. My Alpha. The man who'd held my hand through the wolf-binding, who'd sworn to claim me under the next full moon.

His dark eyes were cold as winter frost.

"Olivia." Just my name. No explanation. No apology. As if I were a stranger interrupting his day.

"Tell me it's not true." I pushed past him into the den that should have been ours. "Tell me you didn't—"

The words died as I caught her scent. Honeysuckle and rain. It clung to everything—the leather chairs, the silk curtains, even the air itself. And there, on the mantle where our portrait should have hung, rested two mate pendants.

My design. My three years of work. But the names engraved in the silver read *Ethan & Grace.*

"It was temporary," he said, his tone as casual as if discussing weather. "Grace's sister died saving your wolf. It was her dying wish that I protect Grace, give her status in the pack. The mate bond was a formality, nothing more."

"A formality?" My voice climbed, hysteria creeping in. "You gave her my pendants! You claimed another woman while I was fighting to survive!"

"You're being dramatic." He turned away, dismissing me with the gesture. "It means nothing. Once Grace is settled, we can dissolve it quietly. The pack doesn't need to know."

I stared at his back, at the powerful shoulders I'd once traced with loving fingers, at the Alpha who'd just shattered everything I'd believed in.

"The pack already knows," I whispered. "It's in the registry. In sacred ink that can never be erased."

For the first time, something flickered across his face. Not guilt. Not regret.

Annoyance.

And in that moment, I understood. I wasn't his mate anymore. I was an inconvenience.