Chapter 1

My water broke, and I was rushed into the operating room at Ashgrove Clinic.

Just as the healers prepared to deliver my baby, my husband, Alpha Ronan Hale pulled out his phone and showed them the birth window his trusted Seer, Seraphine Vale, had predicted.

"Sera says our son has to be born within ten minutes," he announced. "If we miss the Naming Window, he'll never be recognized as a Hale heir."

I stared at him in disbelief.

Then Ronan gave me a reassuring smile and strapped a red digital timer around my wrist.

"Ten minutes, Iris. That's all we have."

I fought through contraction after contraction, barely able to breathe.

One of the healers grabbed a pair of surgical scissors and made a desperate cut to get the baby out.

The pain was so unbearable that my vision went black.

My heart stopped.

Outside the operating room, Ronan was practically beaming. "It's a boy! I knew Sera wouldn't get the Naming Window wrong!"

Then, without a second thought, he added, "We'll have to postpone our bonding ceremony again. Sera has read a new date for us."

That made nine times.

For seven years, I'd waited for Ronan to make me his Luna. Nine times, we'd planned our bonding ceremony, and nine times, it had been pushed back. I'd fought with him, cried, and begged him to stop putting Sera's predictions ahead of our future.

But this time, I wouldn't argue.

I wouldn't beg him to choose me.

Because I'd already died on that operating table.

And dead Luna don't need bonding ceremonies.

---

"Another dose of Pitocin! Now!"

"Alpha Hale's timer has less than a minute left!"

The operating room was freezing.

The red timer strapped to my wrist shrieked again, its numbers flashing as the final seconds slipped away.

One of the healers hurried to increase the Pitocin.

A fresh wave of pain tore through me.

It felt as if the entire lower half of my body were being crushed.

"Please... it hurts so much." My voice barely came out. "Please, just give me an epidural."

Before the healer could respond, the speaker above us crackled.

Sera's voice filled the room. "Iris, hang in there!"

I knew that sweet, familiar voice all too well.

Sera grew up in the Hale house. She is the pack’s Seer, the latest in a long line of them, and Ronan has never made a big decision without her.

Two weeks ago she read our baby’s Naming Window. That was the only stretch of minutes in which he could be born and still be named Hale, still be written into the pack registry as the Alpha’s heir.

"The Naming Window can't be disturbed by outside interference," she continued. "An epidural could muddy the bloodline. What if the baby doesn't arrive before the ten minutes are up?"

Her tone turned almost playful. "If that happens, he won't be recognized as a Hale heir. You understand that, don't you?"

I squeezed my eyes shut.

"You fought so hard to marry into the most powerful pack in the Northeast. Don't throw it all away now." Her words faded in and out as another contraction ripped through me.

For a few seconds, my mind went completely blank.

I forced myself to reach for the healer beside me, clutching her hand with what little strength I had left.

I needed to tell her to ignore Sera.

I needed them to save me.

But the speaker crackled again.

"Iris, hold on!" This time, it was Ronan.

"Thirty seconds. Just thirty more seconds." His voice was firm, almost encouraging. "Trust Sera. She knows what she's doing. Our son will be here before the window closes."

Tears spilled down my cheeks.

I looked at the Alpha who had promised to love me for the rest of our lives.

The man who had once sworn that nothing in this world mattered more than I did.

And I pressed the hidden switch on the pendant around my neck.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

It made a tone too high for any human ear. Only a wolf could hear it.

I'd had it made after the kidnapping. I almost died that time, and afterward Ronan couldn't sleep. He woke up ten, twelve times a night just to listen for my heartbeat. So I pressed the necklace over and over until the sound stopped scaring him.

It became our secret. If I ever pressed it, he would come running.

He'd come running every single time.

But this time, he didn't react.

Not even a little.

The red numbers on my wrist kept flashing.

Ten seconds.

I could barely feel my body anymore.

"Ten seconds!" one of the healers whispered frantically.

"If we miss the window, Alpha Hale will have every one of us stripped of our licenses and thrown off his territory!"

"We have no choice!"

The healers exchanged terrified looks.

Then they moved in together, blocking the others from view.

One of them raised a pair of surgical scissors.

A second later, she made one desperate cut.

White-hot pain ripped through me.

I tried to scream, but the timer's shrill alarm swallowed the sound.

"He's here!"

The healer lifted my baby into her arms. "Alpha Hale! Your son was born within the ten-minute window!"

She rushed out of the operating room with him.

Through the haze, I heard Ronan's delighted voice.

"I told you Sera would be right!"

"Get Iris out of there. And tell her we'll have to postpone the bonding ceremony again. Sera has found a new date."

Another date.

Another promise pushed aside.

I had waited seven years for Ronan to make me his Luna.

My mother had died before she could see me in a wedding dress. Even on her deathbed, she'd kept asking when the ceremony would finally happen.

My father, a proud old Beta who cared far too much about what other people thought, had sent out save-the-dates more than once. Every time Ronan postponed the ceremony, Dad had to call everyone back and make another excuse.

I'd watched him swallow his pride again and again.

For years, the bonding ceremony had been the one thing I refused to give up.

It was the last piece of my seven-year relationship I still believed we could have.

But I didn't need it anymore.

I was dead.

My spirit rose above the operating table as I watched the healers move around my body.

I waited for them to wheel me out.

Instead, Sera's voice suddenly rang through the speaker. "Ronan, I just did another reading."

She sounded pleased with herself. "Iris isn't in any danger. She's perfectly healthy!"

A beat of silence followed.

Then she added, as casually as if she were discussing a minor inconvenience, "There's no reason to waste medical resources on her. Just let her walk out on her own."