Chapter 1

The night I learned I was carrying Alpha Darius Thorne's twins, he named another woman's son as his heir.

I stood at the back of Blackridge Hall with the healer's report hidden inside my coat. On the raised platform, Darius fastened the black and silver heir's sash around twelve-year-old Leo Voss.

Beside them, Leo's mother wore the white ceremonial gown reserved for a Luna.

That morning, I had watched two tiny heartbeats flicker on a healer's screen. I had spent the afternoon imagining Darius's face when I told him.

We had found each other four years ago, and although he kept postponing our bonding ceremony, he always promised I was his future.

I had believed every delay. After the war, I rebuilt his records, negotiated food shipments, and sat beside his bed through his silver poisoning.

Each time I asked about our ceremony, he kissed my forehead and said Blackridge needed more time.

I never demanded a title. I only wanted the truth. The report against my heart had made me believe the waiting was finally over. Our children would give him the future he claimed he was protecting.

Now he lifted a silver cup to the gathered pack.

"At the next full moon, Seraphine Voss will become my Luna. Her son, Leo, will be my legal heir."

The hall erupted in applause.

Darius spotted me making my way through the crowd, and his smile vanished.

"Lyra. You weren't supposed to be here."

"I can see that," I said.

Seraphine rested a protective hand on Leo's shoulder. "This is a family ceremony."

I met her gaze. "Then why did Darius spend the last four years promising we'd build one together?"

Silence fell over the hall.

Darius stepped down from the platform. "We will discuss this privately."

"You chose your Luna publicly. Why should your fated mate be dismissed in private?"

Whispers moved through the crowd.

His jaw tightened. "Seraphine's husband died defending our eastern border. Marrying her preserves the alliance. Leo needs a father, and Blackridge needs an heir the council can see."

My fingers closed around the report.

An heir the council could see.

Our children were eight weeks old. Invisible, unannounced, and already replaced.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you would react emotionally."

Seraphine studied the hand pressed against my coat. "Whatever arrangement you had with Darius ends tonight. Leo has already lost one father. I won't let him lose another."

"Seraphine," Darius warned.

"Tell her," she said.

Darius looked at me without tenderness.

"Lyra Gray, I reject you as my mate."

Pain ripped through my chest. My wolf threw herself against the sudden tear in our bond, but I locked my knees and remained standing.

Darius flinched. He felt it too, yet he did not take the words back.

"Don't make this uglier than it has to be," he said.

I pulled the healer's envelope halfway from my coat. His gaze dropped to it.

For one heartbeat, I almost handed it to him.

Then I looked at Leo's heir sash and put it away.

"Congratulations on your new family, Alpha."

I left before anyone saw me shake.

At home, I opened the iron box my mother had left me. Inside lay a signet ring, an old territorial deed, and a letter addressed to the last surviving heir of House Vale.

Blackridge had grown rich from Vale moonstone for sixteen years. Darius believed Lyra Gray owned nothing because he did not know Gray was my mother's name.

I pressed the Vale signet into black wax and sealed a notice to the Northern Court.

Darius had chosen the family he wanted.

By sunrise, the court would have my claim.