Chapter 1

Sylvia's POV

I was helping Lily with her reading when the commotion started outside. She'd been curled up in my lap, her small finger tracing the words in her favorite storybook, the one about the brave wolf who saved her pack.

"Mama, what's that noise?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"I don't know, baby." I kissed the top of her head and stood, smoothing down my dress. The voices outside were getting louder. Clara had been sitting across from us, pretending to read but really watching Ethan through the window as he trained the warriors. She did that a lot. Ethan's childhood friend, the Beta wolf who'd lost both her parents young and had nowhere else to go. That's what I told myself every time he dropped everything to check on her, every time he forgot about dinner with us because Clara needed something. She'd been through so much. I should be more understanding.

I'd been telling myself that for five years now.

"Clara, come with me. Something's happening." I looked at her, then at Lily. "We'll be right back, baby. Stay in the room, okay?"

Lily nodded, already turning back to her storybook. Clara rose quickly, and followed me out.

We headed toward the Great Hall, where I could hear raised voices. An unfamiliar wolf stood in the center of the room, and I knew immediately something was wrong. His scent carried the sharp edge of Crimson Valley Pack. In his hand he clutched a rolled parchment sealed with blood-red wax.

My pulse quickened. Nothing good ever came in sealed letters.

"Alpha Ethan," the messenger said, his voice cold and formal. "My Alpha demands answer for your theft."

Theft?

I looked at Ethan, searching his face for confusion, for denial, for anything that would explain this insanity. But his expression was carefully blank, which meant he knew exactly what this was about.

My stomach dropped.

"We stole nothing," Ethan said, his tone bored. "Your Alpha is mistaken."

"The Sacred Moon Stone was taken from our temple three nights ago." The messenger's eyes flashed gold. "Witnesses saw Silver Moon warriors leaving the scene."

The room erupted. Our pack members shouted denials but I barely heard them over the roaring in my ears. I stared at Ethan, willing him to look at me, to tell me this was a lie.

He didn't look at me.

Instead his hand reached out, not for mine, but for Clara's. She stood beside him, her fingers trembling as they wrapped around his. Her eyes were wide and glassy with unshed tears and she looked so small, so fragile, that everyone's protective instincts immediately kicked in.

Everyone except mine.

I'd seen that look before. I'd seen her use it a hundred times to get what she wanted, to make Ethan drop everything and rush to her side. And right now, while accusations of theft hung in the air and war threatened our borders, she was doing it again.

"Ethan," she whispered, "I'm scared."

"Don't be," he murmured, squeezing her hand. His voice was gentle in a way it never was with me anymore. "I'll protect you."

Something twisted in my chest but I pushed it down. There were more important things than my feelings right now.

"Ethan." I stepped forward, forcing my voice to stay steady. "They're saying we stole from them. Why would they say that? What's really going on?"

He finally looked at me and his eyes were ice. "This isn't your concern, Sylvia."

"I'm your Luna. Of course it's my concern."

"As Luna, your job is to protect the women and children when war comes." He turned back to the messenger, dismissing me like I was nothing more than a servant. "Tell your Alpha that Silver Moon Pack did not steal his precious stone. This accusation is an insult and we will defend our honor."

"Then you leave us no choice." The messenger dropped the parchment on the table. It rolled open, revealing a single word written in what looked like dried blood: War.

He left without another word.

The hall exploded into chaos. Warriors shouted about defenses and strategy. The women clutched their children closer. And I stood there frozen, watching Ethan comfort Clara while our world prepared to burn.

He knows something. He's hiding something.

But there was no time to push for answers. War was coming and ready or not, we had to face it.

Dawn broke red.

I'd always heard people describe sunrise as golden or beautiful or hopeful, but that morning the sky bled crimson across the horizon like an open wound. It felt like an omen.

The attack came with the first rays of light. No warning horns, no formal challenge, just the sudden eruption of snarls and screams as Crimson Valley warriors poured across our borders. A flood of teeth and fury.

I was in the Great Hall when it started, helping organize the evacuation. Clara was supposed to be leading the women and children to the shelters but she kept hovering near Ethan, her hand clutching his arm.

"Ethan, please," she begged. "Don't go out there. It's too dangerous."

"I have to." But his hand came up to cup her face, his thumb brushing her cheek in a gesture so tender it made my throat tight. "Take the others to safety. I'll come back to you, I promise."

"You better," she whispered.

He kissed her forehead.

I looked away, my hands clenching into fists.

"Sylvia." Ethan's voice cut through my thoughts, sharp and commanding. "You're staying here. Guard the hall in case any enemies break through."

"What? No." I stepped forward, already feeling my wolf rising beneath my skin. "I'm fighting with you. That's what a Luna does."

"You're staying here," he repeated, his Alpha command pressing down on me. "That's an order."

My wolf snarled in my mind, fighting against the compulsion, but I forced myself to nod. Arguing now would only waste time. Once he was gone I'd do what I needed to do.

Ethan shifted, a massive silver wolf stood where my husband had been. He was beautiful, powerful and deadly and everything an Alpha should be.

He should have been mine. My mate, my partner, my equal.

Instead he cast one last look at Clara before racing out the door toward the sound of battle.