Chapter 1

Cole climbed up from the foot of my bed, caught my ankle, and pressed his lips to my calf.

His collar hung open under the moonlight.

“You saved my life, Evelyn,” he said softly. “So tonight, let me serve you.”

Just as his kiss moved higher, footsteps sounded in the corridor.

My heart jumped.

I kicked him off the bed.

“Go. Now.”

Cole hit the floor and looked up at me, resentful and unwilling.

I shoved him toward the window.

He gave me one last bitter look, then disappeared into the night.

The next second, the door was kicked open.

Damon stood outside, eyes bloodshot.

His gaze swept over my loose robe, the open window, and the messy bed.

Then his face darkened.

“Who is he?”

I pulled the blanket over myself and smiled.

“In what identity are you asking?”

“As my brother-in-law, Rowan, or as my dead husband, Damon?”

Damon’s eyes went darker.

......

I was the human girl Luna Maren brought back to Nightfall Pack.

When I turned eighteen, the Luna who loved matchmaking married me to Damon Blackthorne, Nightfall’s strongest warrior.

After the ceremony, Luna Maren and the old Alpha left Nightfall to travel, while Damon became the new Alpha.

But I did not become his Luna.

Because Damon never gave me his mark.

He said my human body was too weak for an Alpha’s bite.

I believed him. So I was his mate in name only.

A year and a half after our mating ceremony, rogues invaded the northern border.

Damon led Nightfall’s warriors to drive them back.

But he had died in that war.

Then his younger twin brother, Rowan Blackthorne, though I had never met him, stood before me with Damon’s Alpha badge in his hand and red-rimmed eyes.

“Evelyn, I’m sorry... I failed to bring my brother home whole. Curse me, hit me. I’ll take it.”

I breathed in once.

Pine, smoke, and cold rain.

I knew Damon’s scent by heart.

I was very sure the man standing before me was my dead husband.

But since he had chosen to die as Damon and live as Rowan, fine.

From that day on, he was only Rowan to me.

After that, he became the new Alpha of Nightfall Pack.

I moved to the Moon temple, far from the Alpha estate.

But after thinking about it, being rich, free, and widowed did not sound terrible.

In those two years, he took his childhood sweetheart as his mate and Luna.

And I lived in the Moon temple for two full years.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Everyone was happy.

Until I got tired of playing outside and returned to the Alpha estate.

The moment I stepped into the main hall, Damon sat in the chair, staring at me with a face dark enough to summon a storm.

His voice was ice-cold.

“Evelyn, impressive. You haven’t even returned home, and another man’s bonding gifts arrived before you.”

My gaze swept over the boxes piled across the hall.

Silks. Jewelry. Rare herbs. A chest of perfect moon pearls.

I suddenly remembered the poor rogue I had left behind, baring his teeth as he growled.

“You touch me and run, Evelyn? Let’s see where you hide.”

Wasn’t it supposed to be a one-night stand?

Why did he come all the way to my home?

I rubbed my cheek, not knowing what to say.

Damon sat above me, his face black as burnt coal.

He gripped his teacup for a long while before forcing out a sentence through his teeth.

“Don’t you owe me an explanation?”

I turned to look at him, perfectly calm.

A “brother-in-law” had no right to control me.

I leaned back in my chair, picked up the tea, and took a slow sip.

“Pack law never said a widow couldn’t accept bonding gifts.”

“You!”

Damon shot to his feet.

When he met my calm eyes, he took a deep breath, but the fist at his side clenched even tighter.

I blinked.

Well.

Still such a temper.

He said word by word, “The Blackthorne family has no precedent for a widow taking another mate.”

I laughed.

Then I said slowly, “Then I’ll be the precedent.”

“Someone has to be the first, don’t they?”

“And.”

The teacup in my hand landed on the table with a soft click.

“Damon never marked me, and he is dead.”

“You are only his brother. Who are you to control me?”

“I’m a twenty-year-old widow.”

“Am I supposed to guard a dead male for the rest of my life?”

“Evelyn Hart!”

He slammed the table.

I slammed the table too, stood up, pointed at him, and spoke clearly.

“After your brother died, the Pack did not fall apart, the border stayed stable, and the Council remained at peace.”

“So in the end, only I, the supposed victim, should live like a corpse?”

Damon’s jaw locked, and a vein pulsed hard in his neck.

His fists cracked with tension.

But he could not explode.

He could only swallow his rage.

Looking at his miserable expression, I felt extremely pleased.

When he faked his death, he should have known this would happen.

Why did he think I would guard him forever?

Why did he think I would waste my youth until my hair turned white?

He was far too arrogant.

“Enough.”

I brushed my skirt and spoke with perfect grace.

“Since the Blackthorne family can’t tolerate me, I’ll return to my own home. Anyway—”

I deliberately paused and gave him a bright smile.

“My mate is dead.”

“I have no pup.”

“Nothing ties me here.”

After that, I turned to leave.

Before I could take one step, my wrist tightened.

The world spun, and he dragged me straight into his arms.

The moment my back hit his chest, I smelled that familiar scent again.

Pine, smoke, and cold rain.

The scent that belonged only to Damon Blackthorne.

Still the same scent from back then.

But the man in front of me had changed his identity and become my husband’s younger brother.

“Evelyn.”

He lowered his head and stared at me, his voice pressed very low.

“Don’t push me too far.”

His arm locked around me like an iron band.

I could not break free.

“Too far?”

I laughed.

“Rowan, what identity are you using to say that to me?”

His body went stiff.

His eyes began to dodge mine.

“You are my brother-in-law.”

“Whether I choose another mate has nothing to do with you.”

His breathing grew rough.

His throat moved.

His mouth pressed into a hard line.

Fury swept through his eyes.

He closed his eyes.

As if the truth would spill out in the next second.

Just then, a sweet, delicate voice sounded outside the door.

“Darling, I heard Evelyn came home?”

—