Chapter 1
I started counting down anyway.
"Ten."
"Nine."
"Eight."
I didn't make it to seven before the door of the SUV behind us cracked open. A slim figure spilled out into the moonlight. Eyes already red. Already crying.
"Luna Leah."
Elara hurried over to my window. Her voice trembled with rehearsed sweetness.
"I really wasn't trying to upset you tonight. I only came to the Den because I had to accompany Alpha Kael to the Western Pack's banquet, and I needed to pick up my reserve gown. I had no idea you were resting in the inner chambers. I never thought you'd take me for a thief and have the guard escort me to the Pack Tribunal."
"This is my fault. Whatever happens, please don't fight with Alpha Kael over it. I'm begging you."
She slipped one hand into mine. Then her other hand lifted.open palm.toward her own face.
"If it'll calm you down, you can hit me. I'll take the pain for you."
She had my hand clamped between hers.
Her palm was already arcing toward her cheek.
Kael let out a low growl from the driver's seat. The windshield itself buzzed in sympathy.
"Leah. Where are your manners."
"Did you forget how to be a Luna."
A laugh bubbled up in my chest. Dry. Bitter.
You see, I didn't have to do a single thing.
I could sit here, perfectly still, not lifting a finger.and somehow it would still be my fault. Even Anya was being crushed beneath his Alpha pressure, whimpering inside my chest like she'd taken a blow.
I twisted my hand free of Elara's. Turned slowly in my seat. Met Kael's furious eyes.
"Do you see now."
"Kael."
Something in me had finally crossed over. I could feel the pain of the Mate Bond pressing against the inside of my ribs.almost numbed-out now, like a wound that had been bleeding for so long my body had stopped registering it. I unclipped my seatbelt. I spoke very quietly.
"That is the reason."
"Kael. I, Luna Leah, reject you, Alpha Kael. We end the Mate Bond, here and now."
I opened the door.
Stepped out into the moonlight, and looked Elara in the eye. She had failed to keep the triumph out of hers.
I smiled at her.
"Congratulations. You've spent years burrowing into every corner of Kael's life and mine. Finally, you get to claim it."
"I don't want Kael anymore."
I turned and started walking.
The driver's door cracked open behind me. Kael's hand closed around my wrist. The full weight of an Alpha's pressure crashed down over me.
"Leah. What are you on about. Tell me."
"Do you have any idea what your little stunt at the Tribunal cost me tonight? I missed the meeting with the Northern Pack Coalition. Years of diplomacy. Gone.because you got it into your head to throw a tantrum."
"You sent one panicked thought through our Mind-link, and I dropped everything to find you. And what did I get when I arrived? You, abusing your Luna's authority to throw my Healer into the Tribunal."
"I have been patient for too long, Leah."
"You've been targeting Elara from day one. Elara has been the one defending you. Begging me not to be angry with you. Asking me to give you space. Elara. The one you keep trying to crush."
"Stop being so ungrateful."
My wrist screamed under his grip.
The old silver scar I'd carried for years burned hotter than the bone beneath it.
I stared at the angry red mark his fingers had left on my skin.
"Let go."
I yanked my wrist free with everything I had. Cradled it against my chest for one breath. Then.without thinking, without planning.I drew back my other hand and slapped him.
A clean, ringing strike across that handsome face.
"Kael."
"I have been patient for too long, too."
I had been Mate-Bonded to Kael for ten years.
We had fought. Argued. Frozen each other out. Endured all of it. Through every storm of those years, I had never.not once.humiliated an Alpha in front of outsiders and his own subordinates.
But I was done.
Anya was howling inside me to tear the whole pretense apart with her teeth.
I looked at him. I didn't bother to wrap my words in silk.
"You want a list? Fine. Have a list."
"The night I burned with fever so high I couldn't stand.you went with your Healer to rescue stray dogs."
"The morning my patrol got jumped by Rogues on the eastern boundary.you were watching the stars with your Healer on the summit."
"Every single time something happened to me.you picked her."
"And tonight."
I looked at him.
