Chapter 1
At the Mating Ball, Arcas Ashford, the newly crowned Alpha King, walked past every noble-blooded she-wolf in the room and took my hand.
He declared, "She is my fated mate."
The entire hall erupted in laughter.
Because I was Selene Hartwell, a wolfless nobody who couldn't even shift.
They didn't know.
The moment his fingers closed around mine, the blood that had lain dormant inside me for eighteen years turned scalding hot.
They knew even less about the truth.
He didn't choose me out of love.
He chose me because I was weak, obedient, and disposable.
*****
A woman shouted, "Get your filthy hands off Arcas!
"As a cripple who can't even catch a scent, you think you deserve to touch him?"
The oak doors of the bedchamber slammed open with a single kick.
Isabella Windsor stormed in, dressed head to toe in a crimson riding outfit.
Her whip cracked against the floor, and her eyes locked onto me.
She was the pack's most prized pure-blood noble and the Grand Elder Richard's handpicked future Luna.
I let go of Arcas instinctively.
The cold fabric of his sleeve still lingered on my fingertips.
Arcas didn't look at me.
He pulled off his gloves, unhurried, and tossed them onto the table.
"Isabella. This is my bedchamber." His tone was flat, tinged with a faint note of resignation.
Isabella crossed the room in three strides, threw an arm around his shoulder, and punched his chest like they were old war buddies. "Come on, Arcas. We grew up together, so you think I don't know you?"
She jerked her chin toward me, contempt written plainly across her face. "Even if you wanted to defy the Elder Council's match, you didn't have to dig this thing out of the trash as your shield.
"She is a loser who can't even sprout wolf ears. Aren't you embarrassed?"
I was only a shield.
I was a loser.
My nails dug into my palms. I lifted my head and looked at Arcas.
He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, backlit, his expression unreadable.
"She's perfect for the role," Arcas finally turned. Those ice-blue wolf eyes held no warmth at all, "No family. No allies. No wolf.
"She won't interfere with a single decision I make or try to control me the way those old bastards on the Council do."
He walked toward me, step by step, until his towering frame blocked out every bit of light. "Selene. Remember what you are.
"You are only my interim Luna in name.
"Beyond that title, don't expect a single thing from me."
My nails bit deeper. A sharp sting shot through my palm.
"If I'm only a shield, why did you announce at the ball that I was your fated mate?" That question cost me every ounce of courage I had.
Isabella let out a derisive laugh and answered before he could.
She strolled to the table and poured herself a glass of whiskey, "Because only 'fated mate' shuts the Council up for good, you idiot."
She threw back the drink in one gulp, bold and shameless.
Then she added, "Don't tell me you actually believe the great Alpha King would want a defect the Moon Goddess herself threw away?
"Keep dreaming."
She and Arcas slipped into easy conversation about tomorrow's hunt and the pure-blood circles I would never belong to.
I stood in his bedchamber like an outsider.
The heat in my blood drained away, degree by degree.
"If you're done, you can leave." I looked at Isabella, my voice dry and hollow.
Isabella threw her head back and laughed, "Did I hear that right? You're telling me to leave?"
She lunged forward. The dominance of a high-ranked wolf crashed over me like a tidal wave, "A bitch who isn't even fit to lie on this carpet dares bark at me?"
My knees buckled. The taste of blood rose in my throat, and I nearly collapsed.
"Isabella." Arcas frowned and finally spoke.
A flicker of hope sparked inside me because I thought he might step in.
But his next words shoved me straight into the abyss.
"Don't get her blood on my carpet," He turned away, voice utterly indifferent.
He added, "The side wing has been prepared. You'll live there from now on.
"Without my permission, don't set foot in the main hall."
It was the side wing.
It was where the lowest servants slept.
It was where sunlight never reached.
On our wedding night, the Alpha King banished his fated mate to the side wing where the servants slept.
The humiliation was absolute.
The entire pack would know what a joke I was.
I bit my lip and swallowed the blood pooling at the back of my throat, "Fine."
I turned and walked toward the door, one step at a time.
Isabella's mocking laughter followed me out, "Your little pet has some spine, Arcas. Wonder how many days it'll last."
I stopped but didn't turn around.
I whispered, "Your Majesty.
"Remember this day.
"Don't let the day come when you need something from this pet of yours."