The Girl They Raised to Die Returned as Commander

My mother loved to lie. She said she had once crossed the entire pack territory alone in wolf form, and killed four rogues with nothing but a silver spear. Then why couldn't she leap over the walls of our castle courtyard? She said she had once driven whole packs of rogues from the frontier. Then why couldn't she even drive away Father's mistress, Vera? Mother became very angry whenever she heard such questions. "Liz, let me have a little peace." At times like that, our housekeeper, Martha, would scowl. "Luna, you can't speak to a cub that way." Everyone knew Mother was out of favor. Though she was the Luna of the Silver Moon Pack, only three people lived in her castle: Mother, Martha, and me. I hated Martha. She behaved more like the mistress of the house than Mother did, and the word she said most often was no. No third helping at meals. No sleeping in, not even for a minute. I couldn't even play in the garden mud. I asked Mother why she never made Father stand up for her. Mother would only stare blankly at the sky. Only later did I learn that her mating bond with Father had been a conspiracy from beginning to end. My mother, Sera Frost, was the only daughter of my maternal grandfather, the Gamma who guarded the frontier. She first shifted at twelve. At fifteen, she led the war wolves against the vampires. She fought on the frontier for three years, and every enemy fled at the sound of her name. Raine, the current Alpha, was only one of the old Alpha's potential heirs back then. He and Mother had grown up together. Even their wolves responded to each other's scent, and everyone assumed they would become bonded mates. The old Alpha once asked Raine whether he intended to formally ask Mother to become his mate. Raine said, "I want her to decide for herself. If she doesn't want it, I won't force her." The old Alpha was very pleased by his answer. When Mother returned to Moon City from the frontier, she accepted him. But just before the mating ceremony, the struggle for succession between Raine and his younger brother Edgar reached its final stage. In Aslan, bloodline only earned them a place among the candidates. In the end, the wolves would decide whom to support. The elders backed Raine, while Edgar had the pack's Beta behind him. Grandfather only led the warriors who defended the frontier and never chose sides. Mother's choice was enough to decide the contest. Edgar poisoned her with a wolf toxin called Scarlet Dream. The poison prevented its victim from shifting, distorted their scent, and left a red mark on the side of the neck that looked like a forced mating mark. The next morning, the entire city saw Mother flee his room with her clothes in disarray. Edgar chased after her, shouting, "Sera, I don't care that someone else has already marked you!" Everyone said she had mated with another man and had now tried to seduce Edgar as well. Her mating ceremony with Raine was called off. Mother begged Raine for help. "Have the warriors guarding the city gate arrive fifteen minutes late. That is all the time I need to escape back to the frontier." Raine closed his eyes and said nothing. She tried again. "Or hide me in your home. Once this is over, I will fake my death and leave. I will never appear again." Under the moonlight, Raine gently ran his fingers through her hair. His words were flat and merciless. "Sera, you can't leave. "Bond with Edgar and watch him for me. I can only rest easy if you remain at his side." Mother stared at him for a long time. "So everything you said about love and freedom was a lie?" "Someday, it will be true," Raine said. "Once I become Alpha, you can still be my Luna." At last, Mother saw all of them for what they were. The day she became Edgar's mate, she started laughing the moment she stepped out of her room. She didn't stop until the ceremony ended. They all said she had gone mad. They said Raine was fortunate not to have bonded with her. They praised Edgar for accepting a woman who had already been marked by someone else. Afterward, Sera became known throughout the pack as the Luna her mate had cast aside. Before long, no one mentioned that she had once been the finest commander on the frontier.