ora

anite composure. Shock-raw and undisguised-widened his eyes. He stared at me as if

voice first. It c

ting you, Alpha! She's doing

t just unconventional; it bordered on sacrilege. It twiste

al head-on. My voice, when

I am upholding honor. The failure of the son must be rectified by

rarely-invoked law, but law nonetheless. It gave the elders pause,

, but I knew he saw the truth in m

truth. He didn't know my re

cipice of ruin. Years ago, in the Border Wars, Alpha Fenton Fields took a silver blade meant for the old Alpha K

. A deep, unbr

soul-deep marking bond. He was a king in a castle of ice-powerful, but alone, incapable of the one connection every wolf

was a flaw

it was a

form the ultimate bond was a mate whose alliance was based on duty, not fickle emotion. If I played my card

my ace in

her seat. She moved with a slow, deliberate grace, c

carried the weight of generations. "Fenton, the girl has a point.

a mate for too long. The pack needs a Luna. The Moon Go

t on the scales. She was the moral compass of

the unwavering determination in my eyes. He was a brilliant st

honor was so broken it couldn't be fi

andal would be contained. The pack would have its Luna. And his own... condition... would be

erately, he n

words were quiet, but they landed

gasps, shouts, and disbelieving cries.

nity finally snapped. My legs trembled, and I nearly collapse

predator's grace, his sheer size eclipsing the sun. He s

l, but he took my hand in his. His palm was warm a

s mouth opening and closing. He only jolted back to rea

an to recite the w

k, Fenton Fields and I completed the strangest, m

ced us bound, a wave of dizzin

urora Tanner, the

s, mate to the Alpha of

ful, handsome, broken Alpha. Our future was a blank,