Claimed as the Ruthless Alpha's Fake Luna

phin

nt banquet, I found my fian

ed me down the corridor, drifting from a suite registered under the Price pack's name. I

betrayal before I even saw it. My hand was steady as I raised the keycard. It had been given to m

n was tangled together with a half-undressed Isabelle, his hand resting possessively on he

her chest. Hayden, however, just looked irritated. His expr

d his head back against the sofa and re

ke," I said. My voice came out

ha in that ballroom knows what this engagement is. Border routes. Patrol rights. A bloodline worth merging. The Mating is a contract, Sera, and you are its s

lt," I r

e tone of a man discussing an appetizer. "She kn

ar. He came to my room the night you signed the contracts. Ask yourself why he never once came to yo

descended over me. I raised my phone. The camer

for the phone. I sides

e low and venomous. "Come near me again, a

face went white anyway

open for anyone to see. The sounds of their fra

ds bent together over champagne like two merchants closing a deal on livestock. Which, in

ile my father called it a defect. The entire pack treated me as someone of no consequence. The only things that truly belonged to me were th

ished carefully, then paraded onto

ed straight to the stage, ascending the steps with a predatory grace I did

out with perfect clarity. "I apologize for the

"The Mating between the Foster and

rectly at the ballroom entrance, where Hayden and a hast

d a more... enthusiastic partner

The image of their tawdry embrace, ten feet high, filled the screen. Chaos erupted. Sh

tage, the sound a final, definitive punctuation mark. I

e steps down f

ha Arthur's face was the color of old wine, a vein jumping at his temple. Three hundred pair

said, very quietly, "what y

ose to her feet with fluid, delighted grace, one hand pressed to her mouth in perfect maternal horror - and behind her Isabelle was

want to act like a stray? Then be one. I, Arthur Foster, Alpha of the Foster Pack, cast you out. Yo

for twenty-one years, who had just sold me and then burned me for objec

ou just made it very ea

e chasing me out of the ballroom. For

r. Instead, I slipped into a small corri

t the far end was thrown

owerful hand grabbed my arm and drag

k of the lock echoed like a jail cell closing. A man's harsh, ragged breathi

vibrating through the hand on my arm and int

in