Chapter 1

Six years into our mate bond, just as Beta Liam Reed and I were discussing the Moonstone Ceremony—a sacred ritual among werewolves to solidify our union—Alpha Damien Blackwood dropped a bombshell.

He needed to postpone our ceremony.

Why?

He had to first hold a grand Moonlit Pledge with his former flame, Lilith Ravenscroft—all because it was her mother’s dying wish.

As the alpha of a small tribe, Damien claimed he couldn’t bear to let the elderly rogue, Morgana Thorn, pass without fulfilling her last request.

He’d sworn on her hospital bed, voice trembling with false remorse, that he’d give Lilith a place in his pack.

But he forgot my mother, a gentle omega who’d longed to see me marked as a luna.

Her frail heart had clung to the hope of my ceremony for years.

I stood frozen, my wolf snarling beneath my skin. “And what about me? Our mate bond?”

Damien exhaled sharply, his alpha aura flaring in irritation. “Can’t you sense empathy, Arabelle? It’s a mere two-month delay. Are you so starved for the ceremony that you’d ignore a dying wolf’s plea?”

His words sliced through me like a silver blade. I swallowed, steadying my voice. “Damien… my mother’s heart weakens by the moon cycle. She’s waited—”

He cut me off, pulling out his phone to book a Mate Registration with Lilith right before my eyes.

The scent of betrayal—bitter, acrid—lingered in the air as his thumb slammed the confirm button.

Blood drained from my face. No hesitation. No regard for the bond we’d forged.

“Lilith will be the pledge bride,” he said coldly. “Your mother can wait, even if she howls at the moon itself.”

I stared at the alpha before me, a stranger in the guise of my once-beloved. The same Damien who’d nuzzled my neck, vowing to mark me as his luna, now treated me like a disposable omega.

As he turned, my resolve snapped. I dialed Liam, my beta brother, whose loyalty to our family pack was unwavering.

“Liam,” I said, voice steady despite the storm in my chest, “I need a new pledge partner for the ceremony in ten days. Can you help me find one?”

Silence. Then, his startled growl. “Arabelle, what madness is this? Swapping mates? The Moonstone Ceremony is sacred! Mother will lose her bond if she learns of this!”

Precisely why I couldn’t risk it. Damien had never met our parents, avoiding the pack’s elder rituals.

Mother knew of our bond, but had never smelled his scent on me.

“I can’t bond with him, Liam. Not after this.”

I braced for his lecture, but instead, he sighed heavily.

“I warned you when he courted you behind my back. If you hadn’t been blinded by his alpha charm, I’d never have tolerated him. But perhaps the Moon Goddess has other plans… Did you know Mother and Father chose a suitor for you years ago? That true alpha who’s always watched you? Ethan Hawthorne. He’s been waiting for you to break the bond. Just last moon, he joked about crashing your ceremony if Damien proved unworthy…”

Memories flickered: Ethan’s calm gaze, his respect for our pack’s traditions.

Back then, Damien’s possessive bites and heated vows had convinced me he was my only mate.

I still remembered the night I’d mentioned the suitor.

Damien had pinned me to an oak tree, his teeth grazing my unmarked neck.

“You’re my luna, Arabelle. No other alpha will ever scent you as theirs.”

His voice had been raw, eyes glowing with primal fear.

That night, he’d finally announced our bond to Liam, promising a lifetime of devotion.

Now, Lilith’s voice pierced my thoughts, sickly sweet as she clung to Damien’s arm.

“Arabelle, please! I never meant to disrupt your bond. Mother’s so frail—she needed this pledge to rest. Don’t hate Jonah… I mean, Damien!”

She stumbled, pretending to trip, and Damien caught her effortlessly, his arms lingering around her waist.

His alpha scent, once comforting, now mingled with her rogue musk—a foul blend of deceit.

“Enough,” Damien snapped, though his tone lacked conviction. “Arabelle, from now until the pledge, you’ll stay in the pack house.

I’ll assign a guard to ensure you don’t… embarrass yourself.”

His command—alpha authority—hung in the air. But I wasn’t some omega to be leashed.