Chapter 1

I was getting married in five days.

Rhydian Thorne,the ancient Alpha I had loved for a thousand years,had no idea.

To save him,I had once surrendered all nine Moon Marks of my Moonborn bloodline to the Moon Keeper for a hundred years.With my wolf reduced to a weak,nameless shadow of itself,I entered Nightfall Pack under the name Wren and followed him as a servant no one thought worth remembering.

Then he brought Seren Vale home as his ward.

He gave her the Moonroot elixir I had nearly died finding,then accused me of forgetting my place and locked me in the winter cells beneath Nightfall Keep.

When I finally woke after nearly freezing to death,I opened the scrying mirror and said through tears,“Aunt Maelis,I want to marry.”

Maelis looked happier than I was.

“You have chased that ancient Alpha for a thousand years.Do you remember how many times your father dragged you home for running after him?Have you finally come to your senses?”

“You are Moonwolf’s only heir,the youngest daughter of our ruling bloodline.You could have any wolf in the four territories,yet you wasted a thousand years on an Alpha old enough to be your ancestor.”

“I’ll speak to Ravenwing’s council tonight.Their heir has already agreed to the alliance.Five nights from now,you will be married.”

Silver ripples moved across the black surface of the scrying mirror,but they could not hide the joy in her voice.

So I had really been doing this foolish thing for a thousand years.

And for a thousand years,my family had worried about me.

I swallowed the ache in my chest and forced myself to smile.

“Then I’ll leave the arrangements to you.”

I did not hear Rhydian approach until his shadow fell across the floor behind me.

“When did I ever say we were marrying in five days?”he asked with a frown.“Stop making things up.And I thought you were an orphan.Since when do you have an aunt?”

He stepped closer,trying to see who was in the mirror.I cut the spell at once.As far as Nightfall knew,I was only Wren,a weak stray with no pack and no bloodline worth naming.

I lowered my eyes and decided to play stupid.

Rhydian sighed and lifted a hand as if to touch my hair,but before he could say anything,Seren rushed into his arms.

“Rhydian,I had the dream again.I saw Father on the battlefield.There was blood everywhere.”

The coldness in Rhydian’s face vanished at once.

“You’re safe here,”he said gently.“No one will hurt you.If you can’t sleep,I’ll stay outside your den tonight.”

He turned and left with her,forgetting once again that I was still there.

Forgetting that I had always been afraid of the dark too.

That was fine.

I watched their overlapping shadows disappear down the corridor and felt nothing rise inside me anymore.

Nightfall’s pack seer found me later that night.Elder Soren was the only wolf in the territory who knew who I really was.

I was sitting on the roof with a jar of peach wine between my knees when he climbed into the courtyard below.

“Little Luna,”he called carefully,“an alliance marriage is not something you announce on a whim.Your family and council should handle it properly.”

“I’m not marrying Rhydian.”

Soren went silent.

“Moonwolf and Ravenwing have exchanged marriage vows for generations,”I said.“This time,it falls to me.”

He stared at me for a moment,then hurried to speak.

“You have sacrificed too much for Rhydian.He is not completely without feeling for you.He has an entire territory on his shoulders.Perhaps I should remind him what you have done.”

The wine burned my throat so badly that tears sprang to my eyes.

“Remind him of what?”

“That you surrendered your Moon Marks for him.”

“And then?”

“That he owes you a place beside him.”

I laughed softly.

“A place beside him?Should I use a debt to make him love me?Or use Moonwolf’s bloodline to force him to marry me?”

Soren looked away.

“I followed him for a thousand years,”I continued.“Maybe all I ever did was make him tired.If I wait any longer,I’ll become the oldest unbonded Luna heir in all four territories.”

“You are still young by Moonborn standards.”

“Tell that to my aunt.”

By the time the moon reached its highest point,I was drunk enough to mistake the roof tiles for a river.

Soren had to help me back to my den.

We stopped outside my door just as two guards carried out the heated hearthstone that had warmed my bed for years.

Seren stood beside Rhydian,pressed close to his arm.

The moment Rhydian smelled the wine on me,his expression darkened.

Soren opened his mouth,but I stopped him with one look.

Rhydian glanced toward my bed.

“Seren’s lungs are still weak from the border fire.The eastern guest den is cold.She needs the hearthstone more than you do.”

I looked at the stone.

Rhydian had carved it himself during our first winter together.I had been too proud to admit that the cold made my bones ache,but he had noticed anyway.He spent a month shaping the stone until it held warmth like a sleeping heart.

He had once pressed it against my ribs and said,“You will never freeze while I am alive.”

Now he was giving it to someone else.

I nodded.

“Take it.”

Rhydian paused.

“You’re not going to argue?”

“It belongs to you.You can give it to whoever you want.”

The Moonroot elixir had been the same.

So was the hearthstone.

Soren looked at me with open disapproval.I knew he wanted to fight for me.

No one said anything until Seren’s attendant reminded her that it was time for her medicine.

Rhydian immediately started walking faster.

When he passed me,I dipped my head.

For the first time,I did not ask him to stay.

He looked surprised.I had always clung to him too tightly.

Seren,however,smiled.

I had smiled like that once too.

When I first came to Nightfall,Rhydian had treasured me the same way.Everyone in the pack had known I was the one he favored.

Soren’s voice turned bitter.

“At least tell him the truth.Tell him that in the Silver Rift,you traded away your Moon Marks to get him out alive.”

“Tell him the Moonroot elixir that suppressed his old wound cost you half your life.”

I lifted my head and looked at him.

“And then what?Do I demand love as repayment?Do I use Moonwolf’s name to force him into a bond?”

I had nearly died for that elixir.

And the medicine I had fought so hard to bring back had meant less to him than a few quiet words from Seren.

Why humiliate myself any further?

A Moonborn wolf could love deeply.

And she could let go.