Rejected For His Brother's Widow

"Kneel to your Luna." Kael didn't look at me when he said it. His hand was on Selene's waist, guiding his brother's widow up the three steps to my throne. The great hall went silent. I stood there in the dress I'd sewn for my own claiming ceremony, holding a tray of bread like a servant, while my mate seated another woman in my chair. He lifted her pup — not his brother's son, everyone whispered it — and set the boy on his knee. "Selene will rule beside me until my true Luna gives me an heir," Kael announced. "Elara understands her duty." I couldn't breathe. The smell of pine and pack wine turned sour in my throat. Two years unmarked. Two years of him coming to my bed, leaving me aching and empty, then calling me barren behind closed doors. Two years of watching him guard Selene's door at night. That was my duty. Someone grabbed my elbow from behind and pulled me hard through the kitchen doors. I didn't fight. I couldn't stand there and watch. It was Riven. The Northern King slammed the pantry door shut and caged me against the shelves. His chest was heaving. His eyes weren't dark with hunger anymore. They were on fire. "You let him do that to you?" he growled, his mouth at my ear. "In front of the whole pack?" "Let go," I whispered. My voice broke. "He'll kill you for touching me." "Good," he said. "Let him try." He inhaled against my throat and I shivered. Not from fear. From the heat that shot straight down my spine. For two years no one had touched me like I was wanted. "You smell like tears and fury," he said quietly. "And you smell like mine." "I'm not yours," I breathed. "I'm his. Even unmarked, I'm his." "Are you?" His hand slid up, fingers wrapping around my unmarked mating spot. The spot Kael had kissed a hundred times and never bitten. "Then why is your wolf screaming for me?" My knees buckled. Because he was right. My dormant wolf — the one the healers said was dead from stress — had whined the second Riven touched me. "My wolf is dead," I said, the lie I'd told myself for a year. "The healer said... long term stress, lack of intimacy..." Riven turned me to face him. His thumb brushed my lower lip. "I'm sorry, Luna, but we both know the reason," he said, and his voice was pure Alpha command now. "He never finished the bond. He left you open. Empty. And..." he leaned in, his teeth grazing my pulse, "...aching." I grabbed his shirt to stay upright. Pine and smoke and winter storm filled my nose. My body remembered him, even if my mind didn't want to. Three years ago, during the border blizzard, I'd pulled a wounded stranger from the snow. I'd shared my heat with him to keep him alive. I'd never seen his face. He remembered mine. "I've waited three years to find that scent again," Riven whispered against my skin. "Three years watching him waste the female who saved a King." The pantry door shook. "Elara!" Kael's voice cracked like a whip. "Get out here and kneel properly!" Riven didn't move. His eyes locked on mine. "Tell me no," he said. "Tell me you want him, and I walk away." My heart hammered against his palm. Outside, Selene was laughing on my throne. Inside, my mate's rival was offering me everything Kael had withheld. I didn't say no. I rose on my toes and bared my throat. "Mark me," I said, and my voice didn't shake at all. "Make me yours before he gives me to her." Something savage broke in his face. "As my Luna commands." He struck. His teeth sank deep into the spot Kael had ignored for two years, and pain turned to white-hot fire. My back arched. My fingers clawed his shoulders. It wasn't just a bite. It was a detonation. My dormant wolf ROARED awake inside my chest for the first time in my life, and she didn't whimper. She howled one word so loud the jars exploded off the shelves. *MATE.* Light burst from the mark. Not red. Silver. Blessed moon silver that painted the whole pantry. The door ripped off its hinges. Kael stood there with Selene behind him, her pup in her arms. His face went from rage to horror as he saw the light. He didn't see a cheating Luna. He saw the prophecy. Selene screamed and clutched her son tighter. "The Blessed Mark! Kael, that's the Blessed Luna! She'll take everything!" Riven finally lifted his head, blood on his teeth, his arm locked around my waist. My wolf was still howling inside me, and for the first time, I felt her power flood my veins. Kael dropped to his knees. Not to his widow. To me. "What have you done," he choked out, staring at my glowing throat. "What have you DONE, Elara?" I tasted blood and power and a King's claim on my tongue. I smiled through the pain. "I stopped being a ghost," I said.