Chapter 2

Elara

After Caleb left, I carried the heavy, ancient ring to my oak vault.

Each velvet tray held twenty rings. I slotted this one into the last empty space.

This was the fifth tray I had filled. Exactly one hundred rings.

The pattern started three years ago. Rumors hit the pack-net that Caleb let a young she-wolf rub her slick scent all over him during a border patrol.

He rushed back to our den in a panic, swearing it was just a terrified junior wolf seeking Alpha comfort. To prove his loyalty, he dropped twenty thousand on a rare silver band and slid it onto my finger.

I actually smiled that day.

It felt like a real apology, a sign that my mate felt the sting of my hurt and knew exactly how to soothe my wolf.

But the rings didn't stop. They kept coming. More stones, heavier magic, bigger price tags.

Eventually, my smiles died.

Six months ago, on my birthday, he handed me the eightieth ring.

I made a silent vow that night. Once the count hit one hundred, I would sever the mate bond.

Half an hour after Caleb walked out the door, my phone vibrated on the mattress.

A soft, whining female voice spilled from the speaker.

"Alpha, are you here yet? Goddess, I missed your scent."

It was the stealth app on Caleb's device, feeding live audio straight into my room.

He had gone straight to Selene.

"You begged me to come. How much moon-wine did you drink?" he asked.

She let out a playful snort. "I'm sober. I just didn't want you going back to that stuck-up Luna."

Caleb went completely quiet. When he finally spoke, his voice was ice. "Selene. Don't talk about my mate like that."

She scoffed. "Fine. I get it. No insulting the Luna—even when she's miles away. She'd probably throw a fit if she knew you were defending her in my bed."

Her tone was pouty, but the sharp, displeased edge in her voice was impossible to miss.

Caleb let out a heavy sigh, followed by the rustle of clothing as he pulled her close. "Come here. Kiss me."

The wet sound of mouths colliding filled the audio feed, followed by the heavy thud of a bedroom door shutting.

Silence.

Half an hour later, the mic picked up hushed whispering in the dark.

"Caleb, did you secure the spot for me? Shadow's been dead for three days," she asked sweetly.

"Yeah." Caleb hesitated, though his tone stayed gentle. "I'll take you there tomorrow. Mask your scent. Elara cannot find out about this."

My stomach tightened into a hard knot.

Shadow was Selene's prized pet fox. I didn't even know the animal was dead.

Where the hell was Caleb taking her to bury it, and why did it need to be a secret from me?

Before I could piece it together, Caleb left his phone on the nightstand.

He stayed in her bed all night.

I didn't close my eyes once.

I knew all about Selene's history.

She was Caleb's obsession back before he presented as an Alpha. They were public for a few months, right up until his family ruthlessly shut it down.

His mother Anna didn't just disapprove. She launched a full Pack Council investigation into Selene.

No one outside the elders knew exactly what his mother found, but both families immediately forced the two apart. Caleb fought his mother like a rabid dog for weeks.

In the end, Selene gave up first. She packed her bags, accepted a quiet payoff from Anna, and left the pack lands for good.

Caleb spent years as a hollow, aggressive shell of a wolf until the Moon Goddess tied him to me.

I thought the fated mate bond had cured him. I thought he had moved on.

Obviously, I was an idiot.

I pulled up the photo Selene posted of the territory deed again.

Caleb had bought females' favor before—furs, jewels, status—but never with a permanent piece of pack land.

This was a first.

The sun was up when Caleb finally walked back into our bedroom.

He smelled strongly of pine soap, evidence that he had scrubbed Selene's scent off his skin before coming home. He caught sight of my dark under-eyes, sat on the edge of the mattress, and pulled me against his chest.

"Your wolf is restless. Did you not sleep?" he asked, his voice thick with perfect, fake concern.

"No." I rubbed my temples and pulled out of his grip. "Can you go cook me some meat? I'm starving."

"Anything for my Luna," he said, flashing a soft, easy smile like he hadn't spent the last eight hours deep inside another female.

He walked out to the kitchen.

I grabbed his phone off the dresser and opened his encrypted chat with Selene.

The last messages were sent ten minutes ago.

[After you handle your mate, come get me? I want to visit the Elder Corinne's grave with you.]

[Yeah. Make sure nobody sees you.]

[Relax, Alpha. Love you~]

A hard chill crept right down my spine.

What the hell were they doing at my mother's grave?

After Caleb served me breakfast, he wiped his mouth and claimed he needed to get back to the command center to deal with the border issue.

I didn't believe a word of it.

I walked into my private study, cracked open the restricted family vault, and printed the old Council investigation report Anna had compiled on Selene years ago. Then, I grabbed my keys and drove straight to the Ancestral Grounds.

Two hours later, I marched through the heavy iron gates of the cemetery.

There they were.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, directly in front of my mother's sacred headstone.