Chapter 1

In five years, my fated mate had chosen Ivy over me eighty-six times.

The eighty-seventh time, he left me at our mating altar.

In front of the entire pack.

The sacred Moon Fire burned behind us. Hundreds of wolves filled the temple, waiting for Damon to mark my neck and make me his Luna.

I had spent months preparing for tonight.

The dress. The ceremony. The vows.

For once, there was nowhere more important he needed to be.

Then the temple doors burst open.

Ivy’s maid stumbled inside.

"Alpha Damon," she cried. "Ivy shifted for the first time. The doctor is with her, but she keeps asking for you."

The entire temple went silent.

Damon did not ask whether Ivy was injured.

He immediately reached for the clasp of his ceremonial cloak.

My stomach dropped.

I knew that movement.

I had watched it eighty-six times before.

I caught his wrist.

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

"She is terrified, Serena."

"And our Moon Fire is burning."

His jaw tightened.

Everyone in the temple knew the rule. If the sacred flame died before the mating was completed, this altar could not be used again for a year.

Damon pulled his wrist from my hand anyway.

"This is her first shift. She needs someone she trusts."

I stared at him.

The first time Damon left me for Ivy, she had woken from a nightmare.

The seventeenth time, she twisted her ankle during training.

The forty-third time, she called during our anniversary dinner because she thought someone was outside her window.

The seventy-second time was my mother’s memorial.

Ivy said she could not sleep.

Damon left before I finished my speech.

Every time, I told myself the same thing.

Her brother died protecting Damon.

He felt responsible for her.

I should understand.

Eighty-six times, I understood.

Tonight, something inside me refused.

I looked at the man the Moon Goddess had chosen for me.

"For once, choose me."

The temple went so quiet I could hear the Moon Fire crackle.

Damon glanced at the watching guests, and irritation crossed his face.

"You’re about to become Luna. You cannot fall apart whenever 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.

"If you leave this altar, don’t assume I’ll still be here when you return."

Damon finally looked directly at me.

For a heartbeat, I thought he understood.

Then he smiled.

"You are my fated mate, Serena."

He folded his cloak over one arm.

"Of course you’ll wait."

Then he walked out.

The doors slammed shut behind him.

Pain ripped through the mate bond. My inner wolf surged toward him on instinct, desperate to follow.

I gripped the edge of the altar until the urge passed.

The High Priestess approached me carefully.

"Serena. Should I extinguish the Moon Fire?"

I looked at the silver flames.

Damon expected to return and find me here.

Just like the other eighty-six times.

Waiting.

Forgiving.

Ready to hear why Ivy had needed him more.

"No."I said."Leave it burning."

I turned and walked into the private waiting chamber.

My ceremonial jewelry sat inside a carved wooden box. On top was the Luna necklace Damon was supposed to place around my neck tonight.

I lifted it.

Then I pulled back the velvet lining beneath it.

A dark silver moonstone lay hidden there, engraved with the crest of a black wolf.

The Wolfe Pack.

Cassian Wolfe.

Damon’s greatest rival.

Two years ago, Cassian had placed that stone in my hand.

"Until another Alpha marks you, my offer stands."

I had tried to return it twice.

Both times, he sent it back unopened.

Until tonight, I had believed I would never touch it again.

Now I closed my fingers around the stone.

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

His eyes dropped to my hand."Serena."

I placed the moonstone in his palm.

"Send your fastest messenger to the Wolfe Pack."

Beyond the temple walls, Damon was running toward Ivy, certain that fate had made me permanent.

I looked at the Moon Fire.

"Tell him the altar is ready," I said, my voice steady and cold. "And tell him if his offer still stands, he has until the fire dies."

For one heartbeat, no one moved.

Then my father handed the moonstone to our fastest warrior.

He ran from the temple.

I returned to the altar.

For eighty-six times, Damon had left me waiting.

Tonight made eighty-seven.

But this time, when he came back—

I would not be waiting for him.