The Great Hall of the First Moon was a cavern of judgment, carved from the heart of the mountain. Tonight, it was painted blood-red by the light of the twin moons filtering through the high crystal ceiling. The air was thick and still, heavy with the weight of a thousand years of law and the silent, hungry anticipation of the pack. Every seat in the tiered amphitheater was filled. They had come to see their Luna fall.
I stood alone in the center of the floor, on the cold, unforgiving stone of the Trial Circle. The simple white tunic they’d given me did little to hide the slight swell of my belly or the bone-deep weariness that made my limbs feel like lead. Across from me, on a throne of obsidian and petrified heartwood, sat Kaelen. He was not my mate tonight. He was my Alpha, my judge, an
