Chapter 1

Calder wasn't my fated mate. We were a chosen pair — common enough in the city packs. No bond didn't mean no feelings, or so I thought back then.

That day was my mating ceremony.

Calder said Blackbriar Pack was remote, but the mountains were beautiful and the people were warm. He wanted to hold the ceremony where he was born.

I believed him.

He said Blackbriar was a small pack, and bringing too many outside Alphas along would make things hard for him there. I didn't think much of it. I left my cousins at home and brought only my best friend, Willa, as my maid of honor. We rode into the mountains in an ordinary wedding car.

The car pulled up outside the Blackbriar pack hall.

No flowers. No red carpet. Not even music.

Dozens of people in worn-out leather stood lined up on either side, staring straight at the car.

Someone jammed thick logs against the doors from outside.

I frowned, and before I could say anything, Calder's mother came walking over, surrounded by a crowd.

She was Blackbriar's Elder. Nobody in the pack crossed her.

She wore a strange smile and carried a black wooden tray.

Two things sat on it.

A dull gray silver collar, the inside studded with sharp silver spikes. Next to it, a rusted iron pincer, dark with dried blood.

Willa sucked in a breath beside me. "Maren, what is that?"

I rolled down the window and looked at Calder's mother.

She pushed the tray toward the window and raised her voice, making sure the whole pack could hear.

"Maren. Now that you're in Blackbriar, you follow Blackbriar's rules."

"Once you're through our doors, you're the Luna here. A Luna puts away that wildness and gives her Alpha children, nice and obedient. Come on. Neck out. Put this on."

She leaned in closer, the pincer nearly touching the window.

"And open your mouth. Let me pull that sharpest fang of yours. After that, you'll belong to our Calder, body and soul."

I looked at the rusted pincer, the blood on it gone black.

Pulling a wolf's fang. Locking on a silver collar to choke down her strength. Centuries ago, that was what the Alliance did to prisoners of war and slaves.

And they called this a rule?

I turned to look at Calder, standing off to the side.

This was the man who wore tailored suits in the city, who never once raised his voice at me. Now he stood there with his hands behind his back, looking at me like this was all perfectly normal.

"Calder. You're on board with this too?"

He stepped forward, his face arranging itself into something pained and tender.

"Maren, don't make a scene. It's just a formality. My mother went through the same thing."

"A formality?" I pointed at the spikes lining the inside of the collar. "This goes on, it tears through the skin of my neck, and it locks down my bloodline strength. You call that a formality?"

Calder's expression darkened. Impatience crept into his voice.

"Maren, don't be difficult. The whole pack's watching. Do you want to embarrass me in front of everyone?"

I didn't move.

He stared at me for a moment, then dropped his voice.

"Don't push me on this. You came here alone. This is deep in the mountains. Making a scene won't do either of us any good."

Willa went cold beside me. She grabbed my sleeve. "Maren, he's threatening you."

Calder glanced at her, ignored her, and kept his eyes on me.

"We've already taken the dowry. The house in the Alliance district too. The car's parked outside the pack hall and you still want to back out?"

That was the moment everything clicked.

He wanted my money. He wanted my bloodline. The collar and the pincer weren't about tradition — they were about breaking me in front of the whole pack and turning me into nothing but something to breed from.

If I hadn't seen him running all over the city buying me cake just yesterday, maybe his act would've actually worked on me.

"Calder. You think that out here, on your own turf, I've got no choice but to let you do whatever you want?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" He frowned.

I didn't answer. I reached over and hit the window button.

"The ceremony's off. Willa, tell the driver to turn around. We're going back to the city."

I didn't say it loud, but everyone outside heard it clearly.

Calder's face went white, then dark. He slammed a hand down on the rising window, and something ugly flashed in his eyes.

"The dowry's gone. The house is gone. You're not leaving this place alive today!"

He spun around and threw up a hand at the crowd.

"Get that door open. Now!"