Chapter 2

Every pack had the same ugly rule.

Wolves bowed to power and stepped on whoever stood beneath them.

With Rhydian’s silence as permission,Seren’s attendant walked straight into my den and slapped me across the face.

“Lady Seren will soon stand beside the Alpha.She has no intention of letting filth remain in this keep.”

“And her father saved the Alpha’s life.Not every packless stray gets to stay here simply because she has nowhere else to go.”

I laughed under my breath.

A life-saving debt?

If that was how they wanted to count debts,half the old packs owed Moonwolf more than they could ever repay.

“You filthy servant.What are you laughing at?”

Her boot struck the back of my leg.

I went down hard on one knee,pain shooting through the bone.

Seren watched from beginning to end without saying a word.

So this was the delicate,kind-hearted woman Rhydian kept telling me about.

Without my nine Moon Marks,my wolf was too weak to shift,and I had almost no power left to resist them.

Whether Rhydian knew what happened or simply did not care,I could no longer tell.

They left only after they were satisfied.

Near midnight,Rhydian came into my room carrying the cold of the night on his coat and dragged me out of bed.

“You insolent little stray.How dare you disrespect Seren?She is weak,she has nightmares,and she has no one else.Of course I have to look after her.”

“Did the winter cells teach you nothing?You are still as wild and impossible as ever.I let you keep your place here because of what we once had,and you still insist on causing trouble.”

My mouth opened,but I could not find a defense.

What,exactly,had I done?

Seren’s sobbing floated in from the courtyard at the perfect moment.

“If Wren doesn’t want me here,I can leave.”

And suddenly I understood.

My very presence here had become the offense.

I lowered my head and bowed to Rhydian with perfect formality.

“Alpha,I was wrong.”

That bow was my farewell.

Wren,servant of Nightfall,was bowing farewell to Alpha Rhydian.

And Nyla Solmere,heir of Moonwolf,was bowing farewell to the wolf she had loved for a thousand years.

Every accusation died in his throat.

His eyes dropped to the blood staining the hem of my white dress.

He reached as if to pull me up,but I remained bowed,finishing the farewell inside my own heart.

I had embarrassed him by refusing to rise.

So he helped Seren away and left one Alpha command behind.

“If you want to kneel so badly,then stay there until I say otherwise.”

His command pressed into my bones.

Without my Moon Marks,I had no strength left to resist it.

Servants came and went through the courtyard,smirking as they whispered loudly enough for me to hear.

“Who says the Alpha has a heart of stone?He is gentle enough with Lady Seren.”

“I never expected it to be her.I thought he favored someone else.”

“A nameless stray was never going to stand beside him forever.”

“The council has ordered red banners.Perhaps the Alpha means to choose a new Luna.”

So Rhydian might be marrying too.

That was fine.

I had imagined this ending so many times that the real thing no longer hurt as much as it should have.

Every kindness that once belonged to me had been divided up and handed to Seren.

When I first entered Nightfall,everyone had laughed that Rhydian,who had kept himself alone for centuries,had finally lost his head over a stray wolf.

He had been furious.

He carried me into the great hall and demanded an apology from every wolf who had insulted me.Even the daughter of a council elder had been made to lower her head.

Every wolf who had called me a mongrel paid me gemstones and furs in apology.

Now the one who called me a stray most often was Rhydian himself.

Everyone could see I had lost his protection.

When Soren once spoke a word in my defense,Rhydian sent him to the northern rogue frontier for a month.

A young she-wolf had once stared at Rhydian for too long.Seren demanded that she be expelled,and Rhydian allowed the council to sever her pack bond.

That was warning enough for anyone who still thought I might have a claim on him.

The command finally lifted deep into the night.

I forced myself to stand and limped back to my room.My knees were torn so badly that pale bone showed beneath the blood.

I looked around.

There was almost nothing left that belonged to me.

My old books had been moved to the servants’hall.My comb carved with the Moonwolf crest was gone.Even the ribbon Rhydian had tied around my wrist during our first winter had disappeared.

My bridal mantle lay crumpled on the floor,black footprints across the pale cloth.

I had never been good with a needle.

When I sewed the mantle,I pricked all ten fingers until they bled.Rhydian had caught my hands and kissed each wounded fingertip.

“Leave the rest to me,”he had said.“You only need to stitch the final crescent sigil.”

An Alpha had hidden inside his own chamber to sew a servant’s bridal mantle.

How could I not have mistaken that kind of tenderness for love?

We had been so close to a happy ending.

But close was not the same as enough.

I carried the mantle to the brazier and dropped it into the flames.

The nine silver crescent sigils stitched into the back curled black at the edges and disappeared one by one.

When Rhydian returned,he froze at the sight.

He crossed the room in two steps.

For once,he forgot his dominance and reached into the fire with his bare hand.Blisters rose instantly across his skin.

Then his control snapped.

His hand swept out,claws half-shifted,and a thin burning line opened across my cheek.

“Have you lost your mind?You spent years making that mantle.Are you not planning to marry anymore?”