Chapter 1

After the Silvermoon pack lost the war, the vampire prince demanded a noble she-wolf as the price of peace.

Everyone knew what that meant. No she-wolf sent to the Blood Court had ever been allowed to return to her pack.

Our Alpha had no daughter, so he ordered his Beta’s two daughters Evelyn and me to draw lots.

Before the draw, my fiancé Rowan whispered to me,

“I marked the safe parchment with a crescent moon. Choose that one.”

I trusted him and I chose the crescent.

But when I unfolded the parchment, two words stared back at me:

VAMPIRE BRIDE.

My mother pulled Evelyn into her arms in relief. “Thank the Goddess it wasn’t Evelyn.”

My father showed no sympathy. “You’re the eldest. Protecting the pack is your duty.”

Rowan wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“You saved the Alpha’s life once. If anything happens, he’ll bring you home. Evelyn has no such protection.”

They all thought I had a way back.

They didn’t know I had already used the Alpha’s life debt three years ago to save Rowan from execution.

The draw had never been fair.

They had chosen me to be the daughter who never came home.

Fine. I would leave and never return.

Chapter 1

When I returned to the Beta’s manor with the Blood Court’s betrothal scroll, Evelyn’s chambers were already in chaos.

The pack healer had been summoned. Maids hurried through the halls carrying herbal sedatives, thick blankets, and trays of food she had not touched.

Father stood outside her door, giving orders.

“No one is to mention the Blood Court in front of Evelyn. Her wolf is already distressed.”

I stopped at the end of the hall, still holding the scroll that would bind me to the vampire prince.

I was the one being sent away. But Evelyn was the only one they cared about.

That night, when Mother finally came to my room, for one foolish moment, I thought she had come to ask if I was afraid..

Instead, she said, “Evelyn has been crying all afternoon. She won’t eat or take her medicine. Her wolf is so agitated that the healer can barely calm her.”

She sat beside me.

“Elara, talk to her tomorrow. Tell her you don’t blame her. She already feels guilty enough.”

I looked at her.

“What about me, Mother?”

She froze. It was as if she had never considered that I might be frightened too.

After a long silence, she sighed.

“Elara, you grew up with all the privileges of a Beta’s daughter. You’ve always been protected.”

“Evelyn is different. She spent years lost among the rogues. We only just got her back. We can’t let her lose everything again.”

Evelyn had been fourteen when our warriors found her near the eastern border.

She returned half-starved, terrified of unfamiliar scents, and unable to shift without panicking.

Mother stayed beside her every night.

Father brought healers and witches from distant packs to strengthen her wolf. My brother guarded her door whenever she woke screaming beneath the full moon.

From then on, Evelyn always came first.

Even my bonding ceremony with Rowan had been postponed for three months because Evelyn fell ill.

Every time, Mother told me the same thing.

“You already have so much, Elara. Let your sister have this.”

But what had ever truly belonged to me? Everything was mine only until Evelyn wanted it.

After Mother left, I couldn’t sleep.

When a maid told me Evelyn was still crying, I wrapped a cloak around my shoulders and went to see her.

I only wanted to tell her she didn’t need to feel guilty.

But as I reached her room, I heard voices through the half-open door.

Evelyn was curled against Rowan’s chest.

Mother sat beside her, stroking her hair. Father and my brother stood nearby, watching her as though she might shatter.

“I’ve heard stories about the vampire prince.” Evelyn whispered.

“They say he’s ruthless and cruel. Five brides have died on their wedding nights, even his own kind fears him.” She lowered her voice. “And vampires are fiercely possessive of their mates. Once he marks Elara, he’ll never allow her to leave his territory.”

Her voice trembled. “Does Elara know?”

The room went quiet. Evelyn looked at Father.

“Does she know you asked the Alpha to put her name in the draw?”

My fingers tightened around the edge of my cloak.

Father had done what?

Evelyn continued, “The Alpha originally chose me because Elara was already promised to Rowan. But you told him Elara would be safer because she had strengths.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. All this time, I had blamed the Alpha for putting my name in the draw. I never imagined it had been my father’s idea.

Father hesitated. Guilt flickered across his face, but he quickly looked away.

“You would never survive at the Blood Court. Elara is stronger.”

My brother nodded.

“She has enjoyed the privileges of being the Beta’s daughter all her life. She received the best training, sat beside Father at pack feasts, and was promised to our strongest warrior. It’s time she did something for the family.”

Mother wiped the tears from Evelyn’s cheeks.

“Don’t upset yourself. If the vampire prince mistreat Elara, she can present the Alpha’s moonstone and demand his protection. The Alpha owe her a life debt, he’ll bring her home. We’ll make it up to her then.”

Evelyn lifted her eyes to Rowan. “But what about the draw?”

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

“Elara trusted you. What if she finds out the crescent moon was never the safe parchment?”

Rowan said nothing for a long moment.

Then he tightened his arm around her.

“She won’t hate me.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Elara has loved me since our wolves first awakened.” His voice was calm and certain. “She always listens to me. She may be angry for a while, but she’ll forgive me.”

He brushed a tear from Evelyn’s cheek.

“Don’t ever offer to go in her place again. Your wolf couldn’t bear that kind of life, and I would never let them take you.”

Cold spread through my veins.

So Father had placed my name in the draw.

Rowan had marked the losing parchment for me.

And every person I loved had let me believe it was fate.

But none of it was. This was what they had wanted and planned all along.

I stepped away, my cloak slipped from my shoulders and fell onto the stone floor.

I left it there. I wanted nothing they had given me—not even its warmth.

Back in my room, I opened the wooden box beside my bed.

The Alpha’s moonstone should have been inside.

He had given it to me after I pulled him from a silver trap during a rogue ambush. With that moonstone, I could ask him to grant me one favor.

But the moonstone was gone.

All that remained was the broken chain the moonstone had once hung from, and a court record.

Three years ago, Rowan abandoned his post during a rogue attack to protect Evelyn. The breach cost the pack six warriors, and the Alpha ordered his execution.

I had knelt before the Alpha and surrendered the moonstone in exchange for Rowan’s life.

I placed the crescent parchment inside the box and closed the lid.

For years, my family had asked me to surrender my dresses, my parents’ attention, and even the date of my bonding ceremony.

This time, they had asked me to give Evelyn my freedom.

Fine. I would leave, and this time, I would never come back.

Chapter 2

The next morning, the Blood Court sent a seamstress to measure me for my bridal gown.

On my way downstairs, I passed Mother’s room and saw Evelyn standing before the mirror.

She was wearing the gown I had made for my bonding ceremony with Rowan.

The ivory silk shimmered like moonlight, and the thread formed two wolves beneath a crescent moon. I had spent three winters embroidering it by hand.

When Evelyn saw me, her eyes immediately filled with tears.

“I only wanted to see what it looked like on me,” she said. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Before I could answer, Mother frowned.

“You’re marrying the vampire prince now. You won’t need a wolf bonding gown.”

She adjusted the clasp at Evelyn’s waist. “If your sister likes it, let her wear it.”

Then Mother opened a small wooden chest and took out a moon-blessed pendant.

I had knelt at the Moon Goddess’s temple through an entire winter night to receive it. I had planned to wear it when I crossed into vampire territory.

Mother placed it around Evelyn’s neck.

“She had nightmares again last night. This may calm her wolf.”

I stared at the pendant. “What about me?”

Mother’s hands stilled.

“I’m the one leaving the pack.” I reminded her.

Her gaze shifted away.

“You have the Alpha’s moonstone. If anything happens, he’ll protect you.”

Then she drew Evelyn closer. “Your sister only has me.”

A bitter laugh nearly escaped me.

I had called her Mother all my life.

I hadn’t realized that word belonged only to Evelyn.

I found Rowan in the warriors’ hall, preparing the list of guards who would escort me to the Blood Court.

When he saw me, guilt flickered across his face.

“The moonstone is gone.” I put it straight, watching him for a reaction.

To my surprise, he frowned instead of asking what I meant.

“Elara, don’t start this.” He spoke as if I had invented the whole thing just to make his life difficult. “This is not funny.”

“I used the Alpha’s favor three years ago. ” I repeated. “He owes me nothing now, he has no reason to bring me home.”

Rowan set down his pen. There was no shock or guilt in his eyes, only disappointment.

“Enough, Elara. Don’t lie to me just because you’re afraid to leave. You’ve always understood your duty to the pack. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

“I’m telling you that once I cross the border, I may never come back.”

Before he could answer, a sob came from behind the divider.

Evelyn stumbled into the room, still wearing my bonding gown.

“If Elara blames me, I’ll go to the Blood Court myself,” she cried. “I don’t want you two fighting because of me.”

Rowan reached her before I could move.

“Evelyn, don’t say that.”

Mother rushed in moments later. When she saw Evelyn trembling in Rowan’s arms, she turned on me.

“You know how fragile her wolf is. Why would you frighten her like this?”

By the time Father heard what had happened, he decided I had disgraced our family by questioning the peace agreement in front of the pack warriors.

He ordered two guards to take me to the great hall. A vampire etiquette tutor was waiting there.

“If you are going to represent the Silvermoon Pack before the vampire prince,” Father said, “you will learn to behave like a proper royal bride.”

For the rest of the day, I practiced the Blood Court’s bridal oath.

It was called the Surrender of the Vein. Every bride offered by a defeated kingdom was required to perform it before the court.

I was expected to sink onto one knee, place one hand over my heart, and swear loyalty to the prince.

Only after the oath was spoken would I bare the side of my throat—the final sign that the bride came without hostility.

Every instinct inside me resisted. A wolf knelt to no one but her Alpha, and she exposed her throat only in complete surrender.

My inner wolf snarled each time I lowered myself.

But when I hesitated, the tutor struck the stone floor with her cane.

“Again.”

I knelt, recited the oath, rose, and knelt again.

By midday, my knees were bruised. By sunset, the skin had split against the bare stone. Blood seeped through my pale skirts.

But the tutor looked down at me without sympathy.

“At court, you will have only one chance to do this correctly,” she said. “If you stumble before His Highness, the Blood Court will consider it an insult.”

From the other side of the hall came the sound of hurried footsteps.

Evelyn had coughed twice.

Mother immediately sent for the healer, along with the moonflower incense to soothe her wolf.

My brother passed through the great hall and saw me shaking on my knees.

He didn’t stop.

“Evelyn is upset enough already,” he said coldly. “Don’t cause another scene.”

The tutor did not dismiss me until nightfall. By then, my legs could barely hold me.

Rowan came after everyone else had gone. He didn’t come closer or ask about my bleeding knees.

“Elara, don’t hate me,” he said quietly. “When the Alpha brings you home, we’ll hold our bonding ceremony as planned.”

I sank against a stone pillar, too exhausted to stand.

Only I knew the truth.

The Alpha would never bring me home.

Chapter 3

My mother began sorting the possessions I would take to the Blood Court.

She sat at the long table with my bridal inventory and crossed out one item after another.

My share of the southern hunting grounds.

The woodland estate Grandmother had left me.

My jewelry and the ceremonial gold ornaments passed down through our family.

By the time she finished, only a few chests of winter clothing, healing herbs, and old books remained.

“The journey north is dangerous,” Mother said. “Traveling with gold and jewels will only make you a target.”

I watched the list grow shorter.

“Who will receive everything you removed from the list?”

Mother said nothing. I didn’t ask again because I already knew.

Everything would eventually find its way into Evelyn’s rooms.

Just like my bonding gown, my moon-blessed pendant and my chambers.

And everything else Mother had taken from me with the same words:

Let your sister have it.

That afternoon, Evelyn appeared at my door with swollen eyes.

“I had another nightmare,” she whispered. “I dreamed I was trapped in the Blood Court’s royal palace.I couldn’t feel the moon, and my wolf couldn’t hear me.”

Her gaze fell on the wooden music box beside my bed.

“Could I keep Grandmother’s music box in my room for the next few nights?” Evelyn asked. “Its song might help me sleep.”

I closed the lid.

“No.”

Grandmother had given it to me shortly after Evelyn returned to our family. While everyone else devoted themselves to making Evelyn feel loved, Grandmother was the only one who noticed that I had become invisible.

Whenever I woke from a nightmare, she would wind the key and hold me until the melody ended.

She had been the only person in this family who never asked me to give Evelyn whatever she wanted.

On her deathbed, she had handed the music box to me.

“Never let anyone convince you that you deserve less love,” she had told me.

Now that she was gone, the music box was the only thing that made me feel close to her, and remember what it was like to be loved.

Evelyn’s lips trembled.

“I only want it for a few nights. You’ve always been stronger than me, Elara. I thought you would understand why I need it.”

“It isn’t yours to take.”

Mother immediately wrapped an arm around her.

“It’s only a music box, Elara. Must you make your sister beg for everything?”

My brother frowned.

“You’re leaving. Let Evelyn keep it if it helps her sleep.”

I stared at them.

“I’m being sent into enemy territory to marry a vampire prince I’ve never met. Doesn’t anyone care that I might be afraid too?”

I held the music box tighter against my chest.

“Grandmother left this to me. When I’m afraid, its song is the only thing that still makes me feel safe. Why must I give Evelyn even that?”

Evelyn’s eyes filled with tears.

“I knew you blamed me. Fine. I don’t want it.”

But her fingers reached for the music box.

“Let go, Evelyn.”

She pulled even harder. I caught her wrist and took the music box back.

Evelyn stumbled backward and fell against the foot of the bed.

“Evelyn!” Mother rushed to her side.

“She pushed me,” Evelyn sobbed. “I only asked to borrow it. I didn’t mean to upset her.”

My brother seized my shoulder and shoved me away.

“Are you satisfied now?”

I fell onto the stone steps. My injured knees struck the edge, tearing the wounds from yesterday.

Blood seeped through my skirts. No one came to help me.

They were too busy surrounding Evelyn, who was crying in my mother’s arms.

When Rowan arrived, I thought he would ask what had happened.

Instead, he looked at Evelyn’s tear-streaked face and frowned at me.

“You’re frightened, Elara. I understand that. But taking it out on Evelyn won’t change the agreement.”

“I didn’t push her.”

“Then why is she on the floor?”

His disappointment hurt more than my bleeding knees.

“Because she tried to take the only thing Grandmother left me.”

Rowan’s expression softened, but only slightly.

“It’s just a music box. Is it really worth hurting your sister over?”

My lips parted. Before I could answer, Father stormed into the room.

“What is all this noise?”

Everyone began speaking at once.

Evelyn cried. Mother defended her. My brother accused me of losing control.

Father snatched the music box from my hands.

“Enough. This family will not tear itself apart over some worthless old toy.”

Father turned toward the fireplace with the music box in his hand.

I lunged for it, but my brother caught me around the waist and dragged me back.

“Please, Father, don’t do this!” I struggled against my brother’s hold. “It’s the only thing Grandmother left me. You’ve already taken everything else. Please, just let me keep one thing to take with me.”

I looked desperately at Mother, then at Rowan.

Neither of them moved.

Father hurled the music box into the fireplace.

The wooden box struck the stone and broke apart. Its tiny mechanism gave one broken note before falling silent.

“There,” Father said. “Now neither of you has it.”

My brother finally released me. I crawled toward the fireplace and gathered the broken pieces with trembling fingers.

One jagged edge sliced my palm, but I barely felt it.

By the time I pulled the last piece from the flames, Grandmother’s music box had fallen silent forever.

They had taken my gown, my bonding ceremony, and my future.

Now they had destroyed the last thing that reminded me I had once been loved.

Father thought he had ended an argument.

Instead, he had crushed the last bit of hope I still held for this family.

When I returned to my room, a box bearing Rowan’s family crest sat on my bed.

Inside was a notice dissolving my engagement to Rowan.

His family had already reclaimed their copy of our engagement agreement.

A maid lowered her head.

“Lord Rowan said that since you are to marry the vampire prince, it would be improper for your engagement to remain.”

Beside the box lay the handfasting ribbon I had made for our bonding ceremony.

Two wolves were embroidered beneath a crescent moon. I had planned to bind it around our joined hands while we spoke our vows.

Now there would be no vows. I cut the ribbon in half.

There was no one left in Silvermoon for me to miss.

I wasn’t coming back.

Chapter 4

The day before my departure, Father placed a sheet of parchment in front of me.

“Write a declaration.”

I looked up at him.

“The agreement has already been signed. Why does anyone need my declaration?”

“If you state that you offered yourself willingly, the other packs will honor the Ashford family for its sacrifice.”

A laugh escaped me.

“You forced me into a rigged draw, and now you want me to tell everyone I was willing?”

Father’s expression darkened.

“You are not being forced out. You are protecting the Silvermoon Pack and fulfilling your duty as my daughter.”

Mother added. “We raised you, Elara. You grew up with every privilege a Beta’s daughter could have. Is it so wrong to ask you to give something back?”

I looked at her. “If Evelyn were the one leaving tomorrow, would you say the same thing to her?”

Mother fell silent. It lasted only a heartbeat, but that was answer enough.

Evelyn suddenly burst into tears.

“If Elara hates me this much, I’ll go in her place.”

She began coughing before she finished. Her body swayed, and the entire family rushed toward her.

Mother screamed for the healer while my brother turned on me.

“Will you be satisfied only when her wolf collapses?”

I stood beside the unsigned declaration, watching them gather around Evelyn.

Then the vampire etiquette tutor arrived for my final rehearsal.

Once again, I was made to kneel on the stone floor, held out my joined hands, and bow my head as I recited the oath of submission.

The first kneeling split open the wounds on my knees. By the tenth, blood had soaked through my skirts.

Rowan stood beneath the archway, watching me.

More than once, his lips parted as if he wanted to stop them.

He never did.

That night, Rowan came to my room.

“Elara, you cannot stand before the vampire prince wearing another wolf’s pledge.”

He wanted the wolf-fang pendant resting against my chest.

Rowan had given it to me when we became engaged. The fang had come from his first shift, and I had worn it over my heart ever since.

I removed the fang and placed it in his palm. His fingers closed around it, brushing mine.

“This is only temporary,” he said. “When the Alpha brings you home, I’ll give it back. We’ll renew our engagement and hold the bonding ceremony.”

I didn’t argue.

If Rowan truly cared, I would never have needed to beg him to believe me.

For the first time, I stopped waiting for him to choose me.

After Rowan left, I signed Father’s declaration.

I, Elara Ashford, of my own free will, offer myself as the bride to the Prince of the Blood Court.

Then I pressed my seal beneath the lie.

The next evening, a black carriage bearing the vampire royal crest waited outside the packhouse.

Father stood at the top of the steps.

“Remember whose daughter you are. Do not disgrace this family.”

Mother’s eyes were red. “When you come home, I’ll make everything up to you.”

I said nothing. Apparently, even my silence offended someone.

My brother folded his arms and frowned at me. “Stop looking at us as if we’ve wronged you.”

Evelyn sobbed into Mother’s shoulder. “Please come back safely. I’ll never forgive myself if you don’t.”

Finally, Rowan walked me to the carriage.

“Wait for me,” he murmured. “I’ll come for you.”

I climbed into the carriage without looking back.

As the gates of the Silvermoon Pack closed behind me, the pain in my chest slowly faded.

Once I stopped hoping they would choose me, there was nothing left for them to hurt.

After my carriage left the Silvermoon Pack, Rowan still believed everything was under control.

He returned to my room to retrieve the Alpha’s moonstone.

His plan was to present it to the Alpha before I reached the vampire border. Once the Alpha honored his life debt, I could be brought home.

Then my sacrifice would be exactly what they had always imagined— painful, but temporary.

But when Rowan opened the box beside my bed, there was no moonstone inside.

Only the broken chain and a folded record bearing the Alpha’s seal.

The words were written clearly across the parchment:

Favor granted: Full pardon for Rowan Hale.

Rowan froze. He remembered the night the Alpha pardoned him.

Elara had been telling the truth. The moonstone was gone, there was nothing left to bring her home.

The record slipped from Rowan’s hand and fell to the floor. The last trace of color drained from his face.