Chapter 1

On the day I was supposed to become Damon’s Luna, my fated mate left me at the altar for another woman.

The sacred Moon Fire burned behind me.

Hundreds of pack members filled the temple, waiting for Damon to place his mark on my neck and complete the bond the Moon Goddess had chosen for us.

I had waited five years for this moment.

Five years of standing beside him during border wars, council disputes, and every crisis that came with becoming Alpha.

Five years of believing that one day, when I finally became his Luna, I would no longer have to wonder whether I came first.

The High Priestess lifted the ceremonial blade.

Then the temple doors burst open.

Ivy’s maid stumbled inside, breathless and pale.

"Alpha Damon," she cried. "It’s Ivy. She shifted for the first time. The doctor is with her, but she refuses to let him help. She is crying and asking for you."

The entire temple went silent.

Damon did not ask whether Ivy was injured.

He did not look at the High Priestess or the Moon Fire.

He immediately reached for the clasp of his ceremonial cloak.

My heart sank.

Not today.

I caught his wrist before he could remove it.

For one humiliating second, my fingers refused to let go.

"The pack doctor is already with her," I said. "She is not alone."

"She is terrified, Serena."

His tone was already impatient, as if I were deliberately delaying him.

I looked at the silver flames burning beside us.

"If you leave now, the Moon Fire may die before you return."

Once the sacred flame went out, another mating ceremony could not be held for an entire year.

Damon knew that.

Every person in the temple knew that.

Still, he pulled his wrist from my hand.

"This is Ivy’s first shift. She needs someone she trusts."

"And I need my mate."

The words escaped before I could stop them.

A flicker of embarrassment passed through me, but I forced myself to meet his eyes.

For years, I had never asked him to choose.

Not when Ivy called him away from pack dinners because she had suffered a nightmare.

Not when he abandoned council meetings because she had injured herself during training.

Not even when he missed my mother’s memorial because Ivy claimed she could not sleep without him nearby.

Her older brother had died protecting Damon.

I understood his guilt.

I had spent five years understanding it.

But this was our mating ceremony.

The doctor was already beside her.

Her life was not in danger.

I tightened my hands around the fabric of my white mating dress.

"For once," I said quietly, "choose me."

Something in Damon’s expression hardened.

He glanced toward the watching guests, as though my request had embarrassed him.

"You are going to be Luna," he said. "You cannot fall apart every time someone else needs me."

A few people lowered their eyes.

Others stared at me with open pity.

Damon leaned closer, keeping his voice low.

"Stop acting jealous. Keep the guests calm until I return."

Until he returned.

As though the sacred ceremony, the waiting pack, and the woman standing before him were all things he could pause and resume whenever it suited him.

My inner wolf trembled inside my chest.

She had waited for him too.

She had believed that once Damon marked us, the restless ache between our souls would finally become something safe.

Instead, our mate was preparing to walk away.

Again.

I slowly released his cloak.

"If you leave this altar," I said, "do not assume I will still be standing here when you come back."

Damon finally looked directly at me.

For a heartbeat, I thought he understood.

I thought he might see that this was not another argument I would eventually forgive.

Then he smiled.

It was not a loving smile.

It was the calm, indulgent smile of a man who believed he already knew how the story would end.

"You are my fated mate, Serena."

He fastened his cloak over his arm.

"Of course you will wait."

Then he turned his back on me.

The temple doors slammed shut behind him.

Pain tore through my chest.

The mate bond stretched between us like a chain being dragged across broken glass. My inner wolf clawed at my ribs, howling after the Alpha who had abandoned us.

I pressed one hand over my heart.

Around me, the guests began to whisper.

"He will come back."

"She should be more understanding."

"Ivy cannot control her first shift."

"She is still his fated mate. Where else would she go?"

Their voices blurred together.

I stared at the closed doors.

For several seconds, some foolish part of me still expected them to open again.

I imagined Damon stopping outside.

I imagined him remembering the Moon Fire, the vows, and the five years I had spent preparing to stand beside him.

I imagined him returning, taking my hand, and telling the entire pack he had made a mistake.

The doors remained closed.

That hurt more than watching him leave.

Because in that silence, I finally understood.

Damon had not chosen Ivy because she needed him more.

He had chosen her because he believed choosing against me carried no consequences.

He believed the mate bond would keep me obedient.

He believed I could be humiliated, abandoned, and ordered to wait—and I would still be grateful when he returned.

To him, fate was not a promise.

It was a chain around my throat.

The High Priestess approached me carefully.

Her face was filled with sympathy.

"Serena," she whispered, "should I extinguish the Moon Fire?"

I looked at the silver flames.

They were still burning.

The altar was still prepared.

Hundreds of witnesses were still gathered.

Only the Alpha was missing.

My inner wolf stopped howling.

Slowly, she lifted her head.

A low growl rolled through my chest.

"No," I said.

The High Priestess blinked.

"Leave it burning."

I turned away from the altar and walked into the private waiting chamber.

My ceremonial jewelry lay inside a carved wooden box.

The Luna necklace Damon was supposed to place around my neck rested on top of the white velvet.

I moved it aside.

Beneath the lining was a hidden compartment.

Inside lay a dark silver moonstone engraved with the crest of a black wolf.

The Wolfe Pack.

Alpha Cassian Wolfe’s crest.

Two years ago, Cassian had asked me to become his Luna.

He was the most feared Alpha in the western territories.

He was also Damon’s greatest rival.

I had rejected him without hesitation.

At the time, I believed accepting anyone other than my fated mate would be a betrayal of the Moon Goddess herself.

Cassian had not argued.

He had simply placed the moonstone in my hand.

"Until another Alpha marks you," he had said, "my offer stands."

I had tried to return it twice.

Both times, Cassian sent it back unopened.

After that, I buried it beneath my jewelry and never touched it again.

Until tonight, I had believed I never would.

My fingers closed around the cold stone.

It would have been easier to remain where Damon had left me.

To cry quietly, forgive him when he returned, and tell myself that fate required patience.

That was the woman he expected to find.

I no longer wanted to be her.

When I returned to the temple, my father was waiting beside the altar.

His gaze fell to the black wolf crest in my hand.

His expression changed immediately.

"Serena."

I placed the moonstone in his palm.

"Send your fastest messenger to the Wolfe Pack."

My father stared at me.

He was the Alpha of the Hale Pack. He understood exactly what that message would mean.

Once it was sent, this would no longer be a private argument between two mates.

It would become a declaration before every pack in the western territories.

"Are you certain?" he asked.

My chest still ached.

Somewhere beyond the temple walls, Damon was running toward another woman, completely certain that I would remain where he had left me.

I looked at the Moon Fire.

"Yes."

"Serena, what is your message?"

I looked out at the burning Moon Fire.

"Tell him the altar is ready," I said, my voice steady and cold. "Tell him to come claim me as his Luna before the fire dies."

For one second, nobody moved.

Then my father handed the moonstone to the fastest warrior in the Hale Pack.

The Wolfe Pack’s eastern border lay less than an hour from the temple.

If Cassian was still attending the western council gathering nearby, the messenger could reach him before the Moon Fire died.

The messenger ran from the temple.

I returned to the altar and stood beneath the silver flames in the mating dress Damon had abandoned me in.

He believed I was waiting for him.

He was right.

I was waiting.

Just not for Damon.