Chapter 1

The night before our mating ceremony, my Alpha boyfriend was tangled up with my brother's fiancée.

He was my brother's ride-or-die companion, and the son-in-law our pack cherished most.

My brother was devastated by this betrayal and charged toward the border that very day, never to return.

Yet everyone kept urging me to forgive them.

His comrade pleaded: "Kael knows he messed up. For the sake of all these years of brotherhood, just give him another chance."

The Elder advised: "I know you're angry, but he's now our pack's Alpha. Making things too bitter won't be good for your future either. Elara, let it go."

Even the usually fair Council Chief was persuading me: "Elara, he's a war hero. It's not easy for a pack to cultivate an Alpha... some things... require considering the bigger picture."

I stopped arguing and simply knelt before my brother's grave for an entire night.

Then I submitted my severance application and moved to new territory with my parents, who had gone white-haired overnight.

Before leaving, Kael blocked my path with reddened eyes: "Elara, do you hate me this much? Won't you even give me a chance to atone?"

I looked at him calmly: "Your sin, like my brother's life, can never be repaid."

After that day, he continued rising through the pack ranks, earning honors, as if nothing had ever happened.

While our family stayed away for three whole years.

I thought I'd never have any connection with Kael again in this lifetime.

Until a recall order brought him back before me once more.

"Elara, long time no see."

...

The small wooden box sat right in the center of my kitchen table. It didn't belong in my safe house.

I flipped the lid open. My breath caught in my throat.

Resting on the black velvet was a silver moon necklace. The metal was tarnished, crusted with dark, dried brown flakes. Blood. Liam’s blood. It was the amulet my brother wore the night he was slaughtered.

My claws pierced my palms. The scent of pine and heavy rain clung to the box—Kael’s scent.

"Is that from him?" Maya asked. My mercenary partner stood in the doorway, staring at the bloody silver.

"The Alpha of Bloodmoon found me," I snarled, slamming the box shut. The sound cracked through the quiet apartment like a gunshot. "He actually sent me my dead brother’s blood."

Maya stepped fully into the room, her expression grim. "It's worse than a sick gift, Elara. Word on the mercenary network just dropped. Kael took it to the Supernatural Council. He filed a Mate Recall Order."

My golden wolf eyes flashed. I shoved the chair aside. "He can't do that."

"He can," Maya said, crossing her arms. "Your mate mark was never officially severed by a high priestess. By Pack law, he has the right to drag you back. They’ll enforce it, Elara."

A feral growl ripped from my chest. "I’d rather die than go back to that traitor."

"It’s been three years." Maya sighed, stepping closer. "Can't you just let the anger go? For your own sake? Claim your place, take his power, and find your own happiness."

I grabbed the box, my knuckles turning white. "Happiness? He owes my brother a life. He will never pay that off. Never."

Maya shook her head, turning away. "The Council doesn't care about your brother. They only care about the bond."

She walked out, leaving me alone with the suffocating stench of Kael’s arrogance. The walls of the safe house suddenly felt like a cage. I needed air. I needed to move before my wolf tore the room apart.

The damp Portland air usually calmed my nerves, but today, every shadow felt like a threat. I pushed through the glass doors of my usual downtown coffee shop, desperate for a bitter shot of espresso to ground me.

"You're a hard woman to track down, Elara."

I froze. The voice belonged to Elder Marcus.

He sat in the corner booth, sipping tea as if he hadn't just ambushed me in human territory. This wasn't a coffee run. It was a trap.

I marched straight to his table, slamming both hands on the wood. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't rip your throat out right here."

Marcus didn't flinch. He looked at me with cold, calculating eyes. "Because you have seven days, Elara. The Alpha Recall has been activated. You will return to Bloodmoon, or the Council will drag you back in silver chains."

"I am a free mercenary," I spat, leaning in. "I don't belong to Kael."

"You belong to the Moon Goddess's will," Marcus replied smoothly. "And for the good of the Pack, you must return. Kael’s wolf is unstable. He needs an anchor. He needs your healing abilities. The Pack’s stability requires its true Luna."

My blood boiled. "He didn't need me when he was parading Selene around. He didn't need me when my brother was being torn to pieces on the border!"

Marcus slammed his cup down. "Your personal grudges cannot override Pack law. If you resist, the Council will strip your werewolf status. You will be branded a rogue. A pariah. You will have nothing."

"I already have nothing," I whispered, my voice dripping with pure venom.

I turned my back on the Elder and walked out. The threat hung in the air behind me, heavy and suffocating.

The walk back to my apartment was a blur of hyper-vigilance. My senses flared. The faint rustle of a jacket. The heavy footfalls half a block away. The distinct, musky scent of Bloodmoon enforcers.

Kael had sent his dogs to watch me. They were making sure I couldn't run.

I shoved the anger down, forcing my breathing to steady. I couldn't fight them in the middle of a human street. I gripped my keys, took the stairs two at a time, and pushed my apartment door open.

The smell of roasted chicken and warm bread hit me instantly.

"Elara!"

Three-year-old Mia bolted down the hallway and crashed into my legs. She was a half-blood pup, the daughter of my human roommate, Sarah.

I forced my claws to retract and knelt, pasting a fragile smile on my face. "Hey, little wolf."

Mia reached up, her tiny thumbs brushing under my eyes. "Elara auntie, why are you always crying?"

I hadn't realized the tears had fallen. I wiped my face quickly. "Just allergies, sweetie."

Mia beamed, holding up a messy string of macaroni shells painted in bright, uneven blue. "Look! I made a necklace for Uncle Liam! When he comes back, I’m going to give it to him!"

A jagged piece of glass twisted directly into my heart.

I stood up, my throat tight. Sarah gave me a sympathetic look from the stove. I walked over to the small dining table. There were four chairs. One was always empty.

I carefully set a plate of food at the empty spot. Right next to it sat a folded piece of dark fabric. It was the only piece of Liam’s warrior uniform I had managed to pull from the mud three years ago. It was stiff with his dried blood, slashed entirely to ribbons by rogue claws.

We sat down to eat in crushing silence.

Mia kicked her legs under the table, staring at the empty chair. "Uncle Liam never comes back. The other uncles at the park say he went really, really far away." She looked up at me, her big eyes watering. "Did he abandon us? Doesn't he want us anymore?"

The fork snapped in my grip.

I looked up at the wall. A framed photo of Liam smiled back at me. He looked so bright, so full of life, his arm slung over my shoulder.

But that wasn't the face I saw in my head.

"Maybe..." Sarah started softly, reaching across the table to touch my arm. "Maybe it's time to let it go, Elara. For your own sake. For Mia. You can't keep living with ghosts."

I pulled my arm away.

The memory hit me with the force of a freight train. The mud. The rain. The deafening silence in the mind-link when Kael cut me off. I remembered screaming through the bond, begging Kael for backup. I remembered the sickening rip of flesh.

I remembered Liam pushing me behind him. I remembered the massive rogue wolf sinking its jaws into my brother's throat.

His blood had sprayed across my face, warm and sticky. His intestines spilled onto the wet earth. He couldn't even speak. He just looked at me, his eyes wide with agony, mouthing the words: Live.

Every night for three years, I woke up screaming. Every night, my brother asked me why his killer was still sleeping comfortably in a massive bed while his bones rotted in the dirt.

And now, Kael dared to send me Liam's bloody necklace as a peace offering. He dared to use the Council to force me back into his bed. He thought a Mate Recall could erase murder.

I looked down at my hands. They were shaking, but not from fear.

They want me back?

My lips curled into a vicious sneer. Fine.

If they wanted to force me back to Bloodmoon, I would go. But I wasn't returning as their Luna, and I certainly wasn't returning to heal Kael’s broken wolf.