Chapter 1
The video call's audio sliced through the quiet of the emergency tent like a serrated knife.
On the other end of the screen, Alpha Ryan was framed by a violently loud background,the unmistakable thunder of helicopter blades chopping the air. Nothing like the solemn hush of any Moon Goddess Temple.
"Baby, just hang in there. I'm already on the private chopper. Ten more minutes and I'll be at camp."
Alpha Ryan's voice was so tender it dripped honey,a tone I, his Fated Mate of seven years, had rarely been on the receiving end of.
The woman on the stretcher, the Rogue named Cindy, stared up at me with smug victory in her eyes, like she was parading her trophy.
"You hear that? That's what being loved sounds like." Cindy gasped weakly, but the corner of her mouth curled into the smirk of someone who'd already won. "If you don't want to humiliate your Alpha, get the hell out of here. And don't put your filthy little herbs anywhere near me or my baby."
My hand froze midair, the silver needle trembling between my fingers.
I was Aria, Chief Healer of Moonlight Pack. The purest Goldmane bloodline ran through my veins. My pride would not allow me to lose face in front of a Rogue.
But deep in my soul, my wolf, Selene, let out a low, broken whine.
Selene was howling. Howling with the rage of betrayal. With the grief of a Mate Bond being defiled.
"Ma'am, I think you've misunderstood the situation." I forced down the searing pain in my chest and made my voice cold. "I'm the doctor here. My job is to save lives. As for whatever's going on between you and Alpha Ryan,that's your business."
Cindy snorted, then pouted into the phone. "Alpha Ryan, the doctor here is being so mean to me. Is she jealous because I'm carrying the future Alpha's heir?"
On the other end, Alpha Ryan didn't seem to register who was holding the phone. His voice came back impatient and sharp.
"Tell that doctor to back off! If she lays a single finger on you, I'll have her exiled from this pack!"
My heart shattered like glass under a boot heel.
Exile. For a Rogue, he was going to exile his own Fated Mate.
I walked slowly to the camera. Pulled down my mask. Showed him the face he should have known better than his own.
"Alpha Ryan." My voice came out level, but cold as midwinter ice. "Who exactly are you exiling?"
On the screen, Alpha Ryan went rigid. His face drained of color like he'd seen a ghost.
"Aria? Why are you there?" His voice cracked with panic.
"Where else would I be?" I shot back. "Sitting at home, swallowing your lies about working late at the Moon Temple?"
Cindy, seeing this unfold, didn't pull back. Instead, she clutched the phone tighter and pressed her face right up against the screen, like she was staking her claim.
"Sweetie, since you've already caught us, no point pretending anymore." Cindy looked up at me, defiant. "Alpha Ryan got tired of your stiff little dead-fish face a long time ago. He told me even your wolf form is boring."
"He said only when he's with me does he feel like a real male again."
I looked at the man on the screen, terrified, mouth opening and closing like a landed fish, and the last thread of hope I'd been clinging to snapped.
That's when I heard it. The roar of rotors outside the tent. Wind ripping at the door flap.
Alpha Ryan's private chopper had landed.
A second later, he stumbled into the tent, still wearing the High Priest's ceremonial robes from the Full Moon Ceremony. The white fabric was hilarious and grotesque all at once.
"Aria! Let me explain!" He charged toward me, hand reaching for mine.
I stepped back. His touch couldn't get within an inch of me. Not when his skin was crawling with another woman's scent.
"Don't touch me." I looked him dead in the eye. "You smell like her. It's making me sick."
