Chapter 1
"Let's hold our mating ceremony next month at the Full Moon Festival."
At the Silver Moon Pack's hunting banquet, my fiancé Caden suddenly threw his arm around my shoulders and announced it to the crowd.
I froze.
Over the past seven years, I had asked to mate seven times. He had brushed me off seven times with excuses ranging from pack territory expansion to winter hunts.
The pack erupted into cheers, raising their glasses.
But Caden's eyes avoided mine.
He guided me through the noisy crowd to a quiet corner of the hall.
"Lila, the rogue Omega, is two months pregnant. She's going to show soon," he muttered, keeping his voice low.
I stared at him.
"She's pregnant. What does that have to do with us mating?"
He swallowed hard, struggling to get the words out.
"The pup... is mine. During the Full Moon Tide, I drank too much hard liquor. I thought she was you."
"The pack healer checked her. The pup has rare Alpha genes."
He grabbed my shoulders, his grip tight. "After we mate, you'll announce you're pregnant. When the pup is born, we claim it as ours."
"I'll ship her off to some small pack on the far northern border. She'll never come back."
I looked at the man I had loved for seven years. I felt like I was looking at a stranger.
"Caden, we're breaking the engagement."
~~~~~
The color drained from his face.
"Impossible."
"You forgot our Temporary Bond is tied to the pack's interests?"
I clenched my fists, forcing down the sting in my eyes.
"Fine. I'll give you a choice."
"One: we break the engagement, you mate with her, and according to pack law, you compensate me with triple the resources."
"Two: she drinks Moon-tea to abort. The mating ceremony proceeds, but we forge a new Mate Bond—one bound with a death curse for betrayal."
Caden stared at me.
He looked at me like he didn't even know who I was.
"Elara, what are you saying?" his voice dropped, thick with incredulous anger.
"How can you be so cold-blooded?"
"Lila is barely twenty. If you force her to abort a pup with Alpha genes, what is she supposed to do with the rest of her life?"
I looked back at him. There was nothing left in my eyes but exhaustion.
"Caden. You're asking me to raise another woman's bastard for you. And because I refuse, I'm the cold-blooded one?"
He took a step forward, reaching for my hand.
"Elara, I love you. You know I do."
"She was an accident. I only have a responsibility to settle her somewhere safe. I have absolutely no feelings for her."
I stepped sideways, dodging his touch.
His hand hovered in the empty air. His voice softened, pleading.
"Seven years together, Elara. You're going to destroy our bond over this?"
I leaned back against the trunk of a pine tree, suddenly feeling incredibly tired.
"Do you remember pack law? A pup born with Alpha genes inherently possesses the right to challenge for the Alpha position."
"You want me to claim this child. Tell me, when he grows up, is he going to step on me and my future children?"
The words hit him like a physical blow.
Caden went completely pale.
He scrambled for a solution. "I can have the healer place a binding spell on the pup. He'll forfeit his right to challenge forever. He won't threaten our kids..."
"I don't believe you."
I said it quietly, but it left no room for negotiation.
Caden fell silent.
He probably never imagined a day would come when I would say those words to him.
For seven years, I had never doubted a single word Caden said. Until tonight.
On my eighteenth birthday, we stood before the altar and formed our Temporary Bond. My palms were sweating, but Caden held my hand and whispered, "Don't be afraid. I'm right here."
During the two brutal winters when food was scarce, we trekked deep into the mountains foraging for herbs. He shoved his last piece of dried meat into my mouth.
When Caden was severely injured and burning with a fever, I stayed awake for seven days and seven nights, using every ounce of my medical knowledge to drag him back from death's door.
I thought everything would naturally fall into place. I asked him for the mating ceremony the first time.
He told me he had just been made Vice Alpha. Pack duties came first.
The second time, he said we needed to wait until they drove off the rogue wolves on our borders.
The third time, the fourth time, the fifth time... the excuses grew flimsier.
The seventh time was during the first snow last year. He kissed my forehead and said, "Wait just a little longer. I want to give you the grandest ceremony."
Instead, I waited long enough for him to knock up a rogue Omega with an Alpha pup.
Caden suddenly broke the silence, his voice ragged.
"Give me one week. I'll handle her and the pup. Just give me one more chance. Please?"
I looked at him.
His eyes were rimmed with red, his heavy breaths turning into white mist in the freezing air.
But looking at that face, I felt nothing but a hollow detachment.
"Fine. One week."
I turned and walked toward the apothecary cabin.
"Elara!"
Caden called after me, but I didn't look back.
I looked down, tracing the Temporary Bond mark that had rested on my wrist for seven years.
The mark that was supposed to symbolize loyalty and love now felt like a branding iron.
For the first time, it burned me to the bone.