Chapter 1: Shattered Vows
ISLA
The first time Jaxon Ashford kissed me, we were standing in the ashes of everything we’d lost.
I can still taste the smoke. Feel the grit of charred wood beneath my knees as we hid behind what remained of the Beta house, my house.
The screams had stopped hours ago, but my ears still rang with them. A year ago we lost both our fathers.
And now…
I couldn’t even think about our mothers.
“Isla.” Jaxon’s voice cracked through the darkness. He was fifteen, same as me, but he sounded ancient. Hollowed out. “Look at me.”
I couldn’t. If I looked at him, I’d shatter completely.
His fingers found mine anyway, threading through them with a desperate grip.
“You and me,” he whispered, pulling me against his chest until I could feel his heart hammering as violently as my own. “Always. Do you hear me? No matter what happens, no matter what they take from us, we have each other.”
I finally lifted my head. His eyes were red-rimmed, his face streaked with ash and tears he’d tried to hide. Beautiful, broken Jaxon.
“Promise me,” I choked out.
“I promise.” He leaned down, and his lips brushed mine. They were soft, trembling, tasting of salt and sorrow.
“When I become Alpha and part of the Seven, you’ll be my Luna. I’ll stand in front of every wolf in this territory and claim you. The whole world will know you’re mine.”
I believed him.
Goddess help me, I wanted to believe him.
EIGHT YEARS LATER
“Stop fidgeting.”
I yanked my hands away from the silk of my dress, shooting a glare at my reflection in the powder room mirror. The woman staring back looked like a stranger.
Too elegant, poised, wrapped in pale champagne silk that Jaxon had sent to my apartment three days ago with a note that simply read: Wear this. Tonight changes everything.
Tonight.
My stomach twisted with a nauseating cocktail of anticipation and dread.
Tonight, Jaxon would be inducted into the Untouchable Seven.
Tonight, after years of secret meetings and stolen kisses and whispered promises of “just a little longer,” he would finally keep his word.
Tonight, he would claim me.
“You look beautiful,” I said to my reflection, trying to summon confidence. “You’re going to walk into that ballroom, and he’s going to see you, and–“
And what? I honestly didn’t know.
Eight years has been a long time waiting in the shadows, but I didn’t care. I don’t. What mattered was that the day had finally come.
I pushed through the powder room doors before doubt could sink its claws any deeper.
—
The ballroom was a cathedral of wealth and power. Crystal chandeliers dripped light like liquid gold over a sea of designer suits and glittering gowns. Everywhere I looked, I saw power.
Alphas whose names commanded armies, Lunas whose beauty could start wars, wolves so drenched in old money they practically reeked of it.
And there, at the center of it all, stood Jaxon.
My breath caught.
He wore power like a second skin now. The sharp lines of his black suit hugged his frame perfectly, and the silver Alpha insignia at his collar caught the light with every movement.
His jaw was sharper than I remembered, his shoulders broader, his presence commanding in a way that made every wolf in the room unconsciously defer to him.
He was magnificent.
He was terrifying.
He was… mine.
Except he hadn’t looked at me once.
I hovered near a marble column, my heart a war drum in my chest as the ceremony began.
Protocol, I reminded myself. He’d explained this a dozen times. The Seven had rules about appearances, about propriety. But once the induction was official, once he’d taken his place among the elite–
“It is my honor to welcome Alpha Jaxon Ashford into our ranks,” announced Kieran Blackwell, the silver-haired Alpha they call The Judge in the Seven. “The youngest Alpha ever extended this invitation. A testament to his strength, his vision, and his legacy.”
Applause thundered through the ballroom. I could barely hear it over the roar of blood in my ears.
This is it.
Jaxon stepped forward, and for just a heartbeat, his eyes swept the crowd. I straightened, my pulse skyrocketing, waiting for that secret smile, the one that meant ‘Hold on, I see you, this is all for us.’
His gaze passed right over me.
“I accept this honor with gratitude and humility,” Jaxon said, his voice smooth and commanding. Every inch the Alpha. “As I take my place among the Seven, I’m reminded that leadership requires sacrifice. Strength. And the wisdom to choose alliances that will shape our future.”
My hands clenched in the silk of my dress.
Say it. Say my name.
“Which is why,” he continued, and something in his tone shifted, something final, “it is also my great honor to announce my engagement.”
The room seemed to inhale as one.
No. No, no, no–
“To Evelyn Harrington, daughter of Alpha Henry Harrington.”
