Chapter 1

Kyle’s favorite phrase was always“when the time is right.”

When his position as Alpha was secure,he would place the Moonstone on me,making me his one and only Luna.I waited for two years.

When his mother accepted my low birth,we would hold our formal bonding ceremony.I waited another three years.

In the fifth year,at the victory banquet celebrating Kyle’s consolidation of all his territories,his mother,the proud former Luna,publicly unclasped the Moonstone from her neck.

It was a relic passed down through generations of the pack,bestowed upon the future Luna as a sign of acceptance into the bloodline.

This time,I thought,I wouldn't have to wait anymore.

“Come,child.”

However,holding the softly glowing stone,she walked past me and placed it securely around the neck of Layla,who was sitting beside me.

The entire long table of werewolves fell silent.

The former Luna patted Layla’s hand.“Layla grew up with Kyle.Her parents died protecting the pack,so she is family to us.”

My hand was still on the table,my claws digging into my palm,my fingertips ice-cold.

Someone whispered,“Then what about Ila…”

Kyle leaned in,his voice low enough for only me to hear.“My mother is just feeling sentimental about old friends.Don't take it to heart.”

“Next month,I'll conquer the Black Rock tribe and bring you their chieftain's skull as a wine cup.Be good,just wait a little longer.”

Layla held up the Moonstone on her chest and smirked at me,her smile a taunt.“Isn't it beautiful,sister Ila?The former Luna said it's a sacred object that has absorbed a hundred years of moonlight.”

I said it was beautiful.

Just then,the communication crystal hidden in my leather armor vibrated.

“Have you made up your mind?When are you coming to the Land of the Elders?”

…

“Why aren't you talking?”

In the off-road vehicle on the way back,Kyle,steering with one hand,glanced at me.

The moonlight cast hard shadows on his statuesque profile.

I pulled my gaze back from the forest outside the window.“There's nothing to say.”

Kyle sighed and stopped the car by a small stream.

He freed his right hand and reached across the center console,habitually trying to stroke the back of my neck—a gesture of comfort among werewolves for their mates.

I tilted my head slightly,avoiding his touch.

His hand froze in mid-air for a moment.

He then smoothly retracted it,placing it back on the steering wheel.“Still sulking about the Moonstone?”

His tone held the weary condescension one uses with a misbehaving cub.

“You know my mother's temperament.She values ancient bloodlines above all else.”

“Layla's parents died in battle.She grew up in our home,and my mother has always felt indebted to her.”

“It's just a stone.So she gave it to her.Did you really have to give me a long face in front of the entire pack?”

I hadn't said a word.I had just quietly torn into my piece of roasted meat.

But in his eyes,my failure to smile and flatter Layla's gloating was a breach of decorum.

“Kyle,”I said his name calmly.

“Hm?”

“You promised me that Moonstone five years ago.”