Chapter 2

When I turned back to face Kaelen, his eyes were narrowed, sharpened by a primal, predatory suspicion. I summoned the serene smile expected of his Luna.

"I was merely discussing the scandal with the Coastal Pack," I said. "Their Alpha severed his mating tether to bed another. Now his Luna is demanding half their territory and magical artifacts as severance."

If my mate wished to play the devoted mate, I would gladly share his stage.

Kaelen stepped into my space, his heightened senses sweeping over my aura, hunting for the slightest spike of fear or deceit. Finding only the calm I forced forward, the rigid tension in his broad shoulders finally melted. His massive hand slid possessively around my waist to pull me against his chest, and his fangs lightly grazed my temple in a lingering kiss.

"A feral idiot," Kaelen rumbled, his breath hot against my ear. "To betray your fated mate is to willingly set fire to your own throne. My Luna, such treason would never touch our Coven."

I stared up into his bottomless, lying gaze. "But... what if the bond did stray?"

"There are no hypotheticals, Seren." The growl tore from his throat, leaving absolute finality in its wake. "I, Kaelen Voss, swear upon the ancient bloodline of the Lunar Coven—I will never forsake you."

He traced my jawbone, a suffocating wave of extreme possessiveness rolling off his frame. It was a sickening paradox; he could bury himself in my sister's flesh in secret, yet still desperately want to chain me to his side.

"If I ever strayed," Kaelen murmured, his voice dropping into an obsessive register, "let my punishment be an eternity of searching the shadows for you, never to find you. Without my mate, I am destined for the abyss anyway."

I offered no verbal comfort. Instead, I gently untangled myself from his suffocating grip, letting the wind fill the space between us.

Three nights, my inner wolf snarled silently. In three sunsets, the devastating punishment he had just invoked would become his inescapable reality.

Before Kaelen could pull me back, the terrace doors swung open. "Alpha," a Beta warrior murmured, bowing low. "The preparations are complete."

A triumphant smirk broke across Kaelen's face. He stepped behind me, his large hands completely covering my eyes to blind me to the night. "I have a tribute just for you."

His chest vibrated against my back as he counted down from five. The moment his calloused hands slipped away from my face, the breath hitched in my throat.

Below us, the massive expanse of the Lunar Clearing had been cleared of all sentries. At his command, hundreds of luminescent moon-sprites—summoned and bound by Coven magic—swarmed into the sky. The glowing, ethereal wisps intertwined and danced against the dark, eventually blazing into the unmistakable runic spelling of my name.

Kaelen wrapped his arms securely around my waist, resting his heavy chin on my shoulder. "Seven years of the Lunar Oath, sweetheart. Yet every moonrise I spend beside you feels just as breathtaking as the day the Moon first bound our souls."

I stared blankly at the brilliant, floating magic. It felt like a lifetime ago. Seven years had entirely consumed the innocent pup of House Thalyn, twisting her into the realm's deadliest Luna. It was enough time to mold passionate devotion into vile betrayal.

Kaelen turned me around, his gaze holding such a profound intensity it almost looked genuine. "Seven years, and I will always lay the world at your feet."

He leaned down, bridging the distance to claim my lips. Had my sharpened senses not caught the undeniable sounds of his grunts and Lirael's high-pitched whimpers echoing from his sanctum just yesterday, I might have succumbed to this masterful illusion until my dying breath.

A harsh, magical vibration suddenly broke the spell.

Kaelen's Spirit-Comm Crystal pulsed from inside his cloak. He bared his teeth in a fleeting grimace of pure annoyance—an expression I recognized intimately. Excellent. The interruption saved me the torture of enduring his kiss.

"Dammit," he cursed low, pulling the glowing stone free. "I gave the Vanguard strict orders that no one was to breach our solitude tonight."

But the moment his eyes snagged on the flashing runic signature, his entire demeanor fractured. I caught the glowing inscription dancing across the crystal's surface: My Shadow-Pet.

It was Lirael.

Kaelen hastily angled the crystal away from my line of sight, his thumb dragging across the stone to sever the connection.

When he looked back up, his features were smoothed into the perfect mask of Alpha remorse.

"What is wrong?" I asked, letting my fingernails dig painfully into the flesh of my palms. I knew the filthy truth, yet a pathetic, broken part of my soul had still prayed he would choose to stay with me tonight.

"An urgent Coven emergency. A rogue threat at the borders. Darling, I am needed on the battlefield."

"Right now?"

"I am so sorry, my Luna." He pressed a rushed, apologetic kiss to my forehead. "I know the significance of this moon, but my warriors need their Alpha. Retire to our chambers. I will join you the moment the blood is washed from my hands."

"Of course," I nodded.

My absolute submission visibly loosened the tension in his chest. Kaelen squeezed me tightly before pivoting on his heel and striding away with feral urgency.

Standing alone in the silver light, I watched the Alpha's entourage of armored war-carriages tear through the iron gates of Moonstone Manor, speeding off into the dark.

Once the dust settled, I turned on my heel and headed straight for the lower stables. Since my mate was tending to such an "urgent Coven emergency," I figured it was my duty to track his scent and see precisely what kind of battlefield he was conquering tonight.