Chapter 1

For generations, every she-wolf born into the Frostmoon Pack has been an Omega.

We aren't fighters, but our bloodline can stabilize an Alpha's power and produce exceptionally strong heirs.

When I came of age, our pack's centuries-old tradition dictated that I should bond with Lucas Grant, the Alpha of the Blackstone Pack.

My parents had always put pack law above everything else. Yet for the first time, they urged me to defy tradition and refuse.

But I was already in love with Lucas. I ignored their warnings and bonded with him anyway.

On our tenth bonding anniversary, I came home to find another she-wolf in our bedroom. She lay in our bed, carrying the unmistakable scent of a pregnant she-wolf.

The same scent I carried.

But Lucas forcibly shut down the link between us and shielded her. "Evelyn, I'm sorry. Vivian just found out she's carrying my pup. Her wolf is restless, and she needs my scent to calm down. Sleep in another room tonight. If you're upset, I can apologize."

Even his apology sounded polite, as though he were simply telling me about a change in sleeping arrangements.

He probably expected me to cry and cause a scene like I used to, demanding to know why he kept bringing other she-wolves home.

But this time, I said nothing.

I was already exhausted.

What Lucas didn't know was that a mate bond without true love would eventually disappear.

Ten years was the limit.

At last, I was free to leave him.

Chapter 1

For generations, we she-wolves born into the Frostmoon Pack have never been free to choose whom we bond with.

When a Frostmoon Omega comes of age, the pack chooses the Alpha best suited to her based on bloodline, territory, and the interests of both packs.

The Alpha chosen for me was Lucas Grant, future Alpha of the Blackstone Pack.

According to our centuries-old tradition, I was expected to bond with him without question.

But my parents, who had always put pack duty above everything else, urged me for the first time to defy the arrangement.

My mother, Claire Reed, said, "I don't see any love in the way he looks at you. Not even a hint of affection. Even his wolf rejects you."

My father, Daniel Reed, was more blunt.

"Throughout the negotiations, Lucas only cared about what we could offer his pack. He never asked what you wanted."

At the final meeting before the bonding ceremony, my father even told me that if I refused the arrangement, he would accept whatever consequences came from breaking the alliance.

But I didn't refuse.

I'd fallen for Lucas during the few arranged meetings we'd had. I convinced myself my parents were simply reluctant to send me so far from home and were reading too much into his coldness.

I believed the arrangement only determined how a bond began. What came after was still ours to shape.

Lucas didn't love me yet, but I believed that one day, he would.

So in front of the elders of both packs, I signed the bonding agreement and declared that I was going through with the bonding ceremony of my own free will.

My father didn't try to stop me again. As we'd agreed beforehand, he froze my status in Frostmoon along with my inheritance account.

If I was so certain Lucas was worthy, then I would have to prove I'd made the right choice without the protection of my pack. It was my father's punishment—and, in his own way, his attempt to protect me.

And so I joined Blackstone.

On the day of our bonding ceremony, Lucas told me in front of the elders of both packs that he would honor the alliance, but he would never love me.

I was young and foolish enough to believe I could change his mind.

Ten years passed, and Lucas never once held a Luna ceremony for me.

To everyone in Blackstone, I remained nothing more than "the Alpha's mate."

I was allowed to live there and attend official pack banquets, but Lucas never let me stand beside him and receive the pack's allegiance as his Luna.

As for fidelity, that had never been part of our bonding agreement in the first place.

Over the years, I'd seen countless she-wolves come and go at his side.

None of them lasted long. Each time, I comforted myself with the thought that if I could just give Blackstone an heir, Lucas might finally accept this bond for real.

And now, after ten years, I was finally pregnant.

I spent the entire ride home from the hospital with one hand resting protectively over my belly.

I even found myself wondering if Lucas might smile at me for the first time when I told him.

But when I returned to the penthouse earlier than expected and opened the bedroom door, the first thing that hit me was the scent of another she-wolf.

Vivian Cole was lying in the middle of our bed, wrapped in the moonsilk quilt Lucas and I shared.

The sickly sweet scent of gardenia moonlure clung heavily to her body.

Lucas sat on the edge of the bed, using his scent to soothe her restless wolf.

He saw me but didn't bother to stand.

"Wasn't your follow-up scheduled for this afternoon?"

My fingers tightened around the door handle.

He wasn't asking why I'd come back early. He was asking why my appointment had been moved.

That could only mean this wasn't the first time he'd brought Vivian into our bedroom while I was away at the hospital.

He simply hadn't expected me back so soon.

"I'm sorry, Evelyn." Vivian shrank back, her eyes red. "I only found out today that I'm pregnant. My wolf keeps trembling. The doctor said only the pup's father's scent can calm it."

She took Lucas's hand and pressed it to her belly.

"The pup is the Alpha's."

My fingers curled around the pregnancy report in my pocket, crumpling the paper.

My wolf picked up Vivian's scent and began whimpering restlessly inside me.

Lucas immediately released his Alpha dominance, forcing my wolf into submission.

A crushing pressure slammed into my chest. I grabbed the doorframe to keep myself from falling to my knees.

Lucas looked at me with nothing but warning in his eyes.

"Vivian can't handle stress right now. If you're going to cry or break things, leave first."

"I can go," Vivian said in a small voice. "This is Evelyn's room, after all."

"No need."

Lucas pulled his jacket around her shoulders again.

"From today, Vivian stays here. You'll move to the east guest room.

"You're still my mate, Blackstone will keep providing for you. But Vivian is carrying my pup. Her needs come first. Evelyn, don't make things ugly for everyone."

Just like that, he threw me out of the bedroom I'd called mine for ten years. He didn't even bother asking my opinion.

In the past, I would have stormed up to him and demanded to know why ten years together hadn't earned me even a shred of dignity.

This time, I simply nodded.

"Fine."

My answer came so quickly that Lucas gave me a second look. He probably thought I'd finally learned to accept my place.

I didn't even bother opening the closet.

Every expensive dress and piece of jewelry inside belonged to Blackstone. I wanted none of it.

Instead, I walked into the adjoining study and opened the wall safe. I took only my passport, birth certificate, and the severance agreement I'd prepared long ago.

At the bottom of the safe lay the application for my Luna ceremony. It had never taken effect.

During our first year together, I'd prepared it according to Blackstone tradition and asked Lucas to submit it to the Council.

He never signed it.

For nine years, that dead application had sat untouched in the safe, its edges faded.

I left it exactly where it was and closed the safe.

If Lucas hadn't been willing to acknowledge me for nine years, I no longer needed his acknowledgment.

I returned to the bedroom and placed the severance agreement in front of him.

"Since Vivian can give you the heir you want, there's no reason left to keep our bond going."

"Lucas, I want to sever our bond."

Chapter 2

Lucas didn't even open the severance agreement.

I'd threatened to leave before, but I had always been the one to back down. Clearly, Lucas expected this time to be no different.

"Have you forgotten? This isn't an ordinary bond between two werewolves."

He picked up the severance agreement and tapped it against his palm.

"Frostmoon gives Blackstone access to its medical resources, and Blackstone protects Frostmoon's northern shipping routes. More than a dozen elders from both packs signed the alliance pact. You can't end it just because you want to."

"I'm ending our bond," I said. "The Councils can renegotiate the alliance themselves."

Lucas gave a short laugh.

"The Frostmoon Council?"

He approached me, bringing Vivian's scent with him.

My stomach lurched. I turned and pushed open the balcony door.

Cold air rushed into the room, clearing away some of the sickly sweet gardenia scent.

I'd barely caught my breath when Lucas reached past me and shut the door again.

"Can't stand her scent?"

The door clicked shut in front of me.

"Haven't you spent the past ten years getting very good at pretending not to see?"

My throat tightened again. I gripped the doorframe and fought the urge to throw up.

"Vivian is pregnant. Her scent will be around from now on, so you'd better get used to it."

He thought I was jealous.

He had no idea I was pregnant too.

Between the nausea from my own pregnancy and the overpowering moonlure scent, I could barely keep myself from vomiting.

But now, I had no intention of telling him about the pup.

"Sign it," I said.

The faint smile disappeared from Lucas's face.

"Who was it who signed the bonding confirmation knowing full well her parents objected?

"Frostmoon gave you one last chance to refuse before the bonding ceremony. You stood before the elders of both packs and said no one had forced you. You said you would accept whatever came from your decision."

He stepped closer, staring down at me.

"And now that the outcome isn't to your liking, you plan to just walk away?

"Evelyn, I didn't choose this bond either. As Blackstone's heir, I had no right to refuse the alliance. You did. You had every chance to walk away, and you chose not to.

"Now you're tired of the life you chose, and you expect me to clean up the mess for you?"

He spoke as though every word were undeniable fact. As though our ten years together had nothing to do with him. As though choosing the wrong man meant I deserved to suffer the consequences alone.

"So you won't sign the severance agreement?"

"No."

Lucas's claws extended from his fingertips.

He pinned the agreement against the wooden cabinet at the foot of the bed and drove his claws straight through the signature page. Both the paper and the folder tore, and four deep gouges scored the wood.

"Put it away."

The force of his Alpha command crashed down on me.

My shoulders buckled beneath the pressure, and a sharp cramp seized my abdomen.

As an Omega, my wolf instinctively wanted to submit. It cowered inside me, trembling beneath his dominance and urging me to bow before the Alpha standing in front of me.

I bit the tip of my tongue until I tasted blood and used the pain to keep myself standing.

Lucas frowned.

"If you leave Blackstone, where exactly do you think you can go?"

He picked up the comm device beside the bed, opened my profile, and turned the screen toward Vivian and me.

The Frostmoon crest was gray.

Membership: frozen.

Inheritance account: frozen.

Position at Frostmoon Medical Group: revoked.

Under Blackstone, there was only one line: Alpha's bonded mate.

"You gave up everything in Frostmoon to bond with me. You've been cut off from your pack for ten years."

With Vivian watching, Lucas slowly scrolled through every privilege Frostmoon had taken from me.

"Your pack link with Frostmoon has been closed for ten years. Without Blackstone, you can't even access your own accounts.

"Do you really think your father will suddenly forgive you and welcome you back?"

At that, Vivian released her grip on the quilt and relaxed against the pillows.

She no longer offered to leave or apologize to me.

Lucas switched off the terminal.

"Go to the east guest room. By tomorrow morning, we can forget this ever happened."

Just then, the clock on the wall passed midnight.

Deep within my mind, the Frostmoon pack link that had been silent for ten years suddenly came alive.

The familiar presence of Frostmoon's wolves flooded my mind, followed by two notifications.

"Frostmoon Pack membership restored."

"Inheritance rights pending confirmation upon return."

When I'd left Frostmoon ten years ago, my father had given me exactly ten years.

If I could prove that choosing Lucas had been worth it, he would acknowledge our bond and accept the alliance.

If I failed, I would return to Frostmoon, admit that I'd been wrong, resume the duties I'd abandoned, and accept whatever new bond the pack arranged for me.

During those ten years, my father would offer me no protection, money, or help of any kind.

But once the ten years were over, no matter how things ended, Frostmoon would open its doors to me again.

And tonight, those ten years had finally come to an end.

I had failed.

But my father had kept his word.

I suppressed my wolf's reaction, careful not to let Lucas sense it.

He still thought he held all the cards—that I had nowhere else to go.

Chapter 3

I pulled the claw-pierced severance agreement from the cabinet and slipped it back into the folder.

As long as my signature remained intact, the agreement was still valid.

I turned toward the door.

"Drop the wounded martyr act."

Lucas's voice followed me.

"This bond between us has always been an exchange. Frostmoon gives Blackstone stronger pups and medical resources. Blackstone gives you status and protection. What made you think bonding with you meant I had to love you?"

I'd almost reached the door when Lucas spoke again.

"An arranged bond doesn't mean I have to love you. And it certainly doesn't mean I have to be faithful."

I gripped the folder until its edge dug into my palm.

I'd heard those words in one form or another countless times over the past ten years.

But never had he said them so plainly.

"Why are you acting like you've been wronged?" he continued. "I told you before we bonded that I didn't want a mate who spent all her time following me around.

"When I had Council meetings, you'd wait outside until dawn. When I inspected the border, you'd follow me from one outpost to the next. Even after I banned you from the training grounds, you'd still show up under the pretense of bringing medicine to the wounded."

During the first year of our bond, Lucas disappeared for three days without coming home.

Terrified that he'd been injured at the border, I searched one outpost after another for him in the rain all night. All I got in the end was one line. "Who told you to come?"

In our third year together, his wolf became dangerously restless during a full moon, and Lucas locked himself inside the training grounds.

The pack doctor had said the scent of a familiar Omega might calm an agitated Alpha, so I sat outside the door until sunrise.

When Lucas finally came out and found me there, he ordered the guards never to let me near the training grounds again.

Back then, I convinced myself he simply wasn't used to anyone caring about him.

I thought I was taking care of him, but to him, I was simply a nuisance who repeatedly defied his orders.

"And then there's your scent."

Lucas no longer bothered hiding his irritation.

"Every time you come near me, my wolf reacts to you. It stirs like something inside it is being awakened. You know how uncomfortable that makes me, yet you keep showing up wherever I am.

"You even convinced yourself it meant I was starting to accept you."

Frostmoon had only ever revealed one part of the truth about our bloodline: bonding with a Frostmoon Omega could stabilize an Alpha's power and produce exceptionally strong pups.

Few outsiders knew the true extent of our bloodline's power. Even without a formal bond, a Frostmoon Omega's scent and blood could awaken an Alpha's wolf and strengthen it.

Lucas had felt that effect himself, but instead of understanding it, he believed I was deliberately using my scent to manipulate him.

"I never made your wolf react to me on purpose," I said.

"But you enjoyed knowing what your scent did to me."

Lucas didn't believe me.

"You gave up your pack status, quit your position, threw your whole life away, and made me the center of your entire existence.

"And you call that love?

"Evelyn, this is exactly what I can't stand about you. You chose to give everything up, yet you act as if I owe you for your sacrifices. Like I'm obligated to love you exactly the way you want me to."

I couldn't say he was entirely wrong.

For ten years, I really had made Lucas the center of my life.

If he came home for dinner, I convinced myself things between us were finally changing for the better.

If his wolf calmed for even a moment because of my scent, I clung to that tiny scrap of hope for another year.

I'd reduced my entire life to loving him and kept believing that one day, my devotion would finally move him.

"Vivian is pregnant now. At least she's fulfilled the most basic duty of an Omega."

Lucas looked at me, his voice so calm that his words sounded even crueler.

"And you've held the position of my mate for ten years without leaving Blackstone so much as one heir."

My fingers brushed against the pregnancy report inside my pocket.

All I had to do was pull it out. One piece of paper was enough to prove that I was carrying his pup too.

But suddenly, I didn't want to prove anything to him.

My pup wasn't something I would use to bargain for Lucas's love.

And I certainly wouldn't use it as another excuse to stay and endure his humiliation.

"You don't have to love me." I turned back to face him. "But don't pretend your betrayal is a punishment I deserve."

Chapter 4

Lucas released his Alpha dominance again, the crushing force rolling over me.

"If you'd accepted from the beginning that I never wanted you, none of this would have happened."

"Shut up."

Before he could say another word, I spun around and slapped him across the face.

Lucas didn't dodge. His head snapped to the side from the force of the blow. For a moment, he remained perfectly still before slowly turning back to me.

Vivian rushed off the bed the next second.

"How dare you hurt the Alpha!"

She rushed between us, blocking Lucas from seeing me.

She raised her hands as if she meant to shove me away. Instead, she drove her knee straight into my belly.

Agony tore through my abdomen, folding me in half.

Before I could recover, Vivian grabbed my shoulders and shoved me out of the bedroom with all her strength.

Lucas's Alpha dominance was still weighing heavily on my body, leaving my legs too weak to steady myself.

My lower back slammed into the sharp corner of the stone console in the hallway, and I heard the faintest snap from somewhere deep in my body.

I hit the floor, and the impact knocked the breath from my lungs.

Within seconds, warm blood began soaking through my skirt.

Lucas caught Vivian as she stumbled back into his arms.

His wolf seemed to catch the scent of blood. He had just started to turn toward me when Vivian grabbed his hand and pressed it against her belly.

"Lucas, my pup suddenly stopped responding."

She looked up at him as the gardenia moonlure scent around her grew even stronger.

The overpowering perfume filled the hallway, drowning out the metallic scent of my blood.

Lucas immediately stopped turning toward me.

He focused on soothing Vivian's wolf first, then carefully checked her for injuries.

"You're just shaken up." His voice softened. "I'll take you back to your room."

"But your mate is still bleeding..."

Vivian sounded worried, but her arms remained firmly wrapped around Lucas.

Lucas gave me a brief glance.

"She's a werewolf. A knock like that won't seriously hurt her. I'll have someone call a doctor."

He scooped Vivian into his arms and carried her past me. From over his shoulder, she looked down at the hand I had pressed protectively over my belly.

"So you have one too," she whispered against his shoulder.

A chill swept through my body.

She had caught the scent of my pregnancy from the start.

That blow had never been about protecting Lucas.

The door at the end of the hallway shut behind them.

Lucas didn't look back once.

Out of instinct, I reached for Lucas through our private mind-link and sent a distress call.

But the private channel controlled by the Alpha had been closed to me long ago. My desperate call disappeared into silence.

The bleeding wouldn't stop. My wolf curled into itself deep inside me, its whimpers growing weaker with every passing second.

Using the wall for support, I forced myself to my feet and stumbled into the nearest empty guest room.

By the time the door closed behind me, I could already feel the tiny spark of life fading fast.

I pressed both hands against my belly, desperately trying to hold on to something I could already feel slipping away.

Just before darkness swallowed me, my wolf let out a long, anguished howl deep inside my mind.