The Alpha's bargain bride

dn't get fated mates. Not really. Not unless the gods

't feel lucky. I couldn't even breathe. It was like my ribs cr

ed on the stones. My father's head dropped, as if he had been waitin

oath tree, Alpha Cian Vale looked

nce. Pure. Hot. A

e seve

aid. Flat. Calm. Cruel wit

hat w

the outside. But inside? They didn't ju

ill glowing faintly like a brand. I

three d

d dull, the pain would soften. But rejection doesn't fade. It

ders. Into the neutral lands. Didn't

r. Different in a way that made

Paid with the silver coin I'd hidden in my boot since I wa

didn't have an

elwyn. Not to th

t L

ss. Ba

loth. I sat cross-legged, staring at the circle burned faint on my chest. Sometimes it pulsed.

ear him the way it tore me? Or was I nothing to him? Just a shadow to step past on his way to S

chose me.

that over in my head

. He

tic. Not

the knife under the pillow

yed at the edges. A scar slashed across his br

. He was something e

Lyra,"

nswer. Did

s coat and held it out. "My A

tened. "What k

n. Shelter

eady h

t shift. "And

hand... stayed. My fingers curled tighter a

ed it

without weight or warmth. "Read it. Burn it. Doesn't

gone. Swal

at the wax seal pressed against my skin. F

firelight. The crest stamped

rmv

ame once, whisp

with No Bond. The Alph

ned it without reading. But my han

was short. Sharp.

e mo

No claim

ly. A placeholder. Just long enough to sile

o title. Ju

ce. That's all I'd ever been. A mista

didn't feel like a mistak

s the back, darker

storm. Come before it

derstand. M

ot just in the packs. No

m

he window, fog pressing itself across the field

ght a mate would make

left? I d

tormveil wo

Cian Vale cut me open, I felt

val. Not

ng