yah

lden warmth of the main house. It was where they let us live-

ecise. Using the hem of my dry undershirt, I wiped the rain from his f

r names and uses. It was the only legacy she'd left me. I crushed the feverfew and yarrow in a stone mortar, the familiar

round my neck. The pendant, a small, intricately carved wolf, rested in

clasped it around my neck himself, his fingers brushing my skin for a fleeting,

ure Alpha. I had a home. I didn't know that his mother was already negotiating with the Silver

w of the pack warriors cornering me behind the training grounds. He hadn't said a word to me, but he h

n while his mother laid out the terms of my future as his mistress. A cabin. An allowance. A life of grateful silence while Elara

the treacherous currents of the past. The good

ory of his coldness at the window was still fresh

t w

e had plucked it from my fingers with a delighted little gasp, declaring it far too fine for a "charity case." "When I'm Luna," she had said, turning the necklace in the light, "I'll have a dozen finer than this. But you won't be invited to see them." When I tried to take it back, she del

ty. His eyes were filled with a weary impatience, a deep-seated suspicion that cut me to the bone. "Apologize to E

cious to me in ways he couldn't begin to understand. He didn't believe me. He, my fated mate, thoug

by servants who knew better than to cross Elara. And Asher never mention

a shard of ic

on" weren't born of affection. They were the actions of an Alpha marking his territory, protecting his property. A property he intended to keep hidden i

form in my mind, growing stronger

av

we weren't charity cases. A place where I wasn't the future Alpha's dirty secr

bin. I started searching, desperately, for a

a few worn-out sets of clothes, my mothe

rapped bundle tucked away in the corner of th

p, vibrant green, carved into the shape of a blooming lotus. It was my mot

our onl

d, its smoothness a strange comfort

r as diamond. I would sell it. I woul

s and cruelty of the packs. I'd heard whispers of it from traveling merchan

tent it almost brought me to my knees,

k. The symbol of a broken promise. A cursed bond. The collar of a

didn't know I possessed, I

sna

't even look at it. I walked over to the cold, empty firep

as just a piece of met

ant n