Five years. Five years of tracking through the Rogues Wastelands, searching for Alpha Kade's remains. My fated mate's body had never been found. One day, I discovered an astonishing secret. He was not dead at all! I barged into his mating ceremony. With another female wolf. Not me. Among the wedding guests were friends who had helped me search for his body. They knew he wasn't dead, but they still pretended to be with me, helping me search for Kade's body? They stood frozen, faces carved from stone. "Luna, wait—" One of them stepped forward, hands raised. "Kade had to fake his death. Sienna's situation was... complicated. She needed protection." Sienna. The pack traitor who leaked patrol routes to Rogues. The same woman our pack had a kill order on. Kade's childhood friend. Now his mistress. They'd formed a protective wall around her. I didn't move. My voice came out flat. "So. To protect a traitor, Alpha Kade chose to 'die' with her." Silence crashed through the hall. Kade finally spoke. "Sienna's been through hell these past years. You should understand. I should protect her!" "Understand?" I repeated. Something almost like a laugh caught in my throat. "Understand that you let me search for five years? That all of you lied to my face? Or understand that—" I paused, let my gaze drift over the ceremony decorations, "—you're mating her?" Kade's shoulders locked. Sienna's eyes welled with tears. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "In five days I have to leave. This ceremony... it's my last wish before I go." I opened my mouth. Didn't get a word out. "Enough!" Kade's voice cracked like a whip. "You waited five years! Can't you wait five more days?" I smiled then. He was right. Five days. Plenty of time to write the story that would destroy them both. And proclaim it to the entire wolf pack. Kade crossed the distance between us in three strides. "Don't look at me like that. I wanted to tell you. But you talk to too many people—I couldn't risk someone tracking Sienna down." I stared at the mating band on his ring finger. It caught the light, sharp and bright. *Too many people.* So he'd known all along. After his "death," the whispers never stopped. Everyone said it was suspicious— But I'd refused to believe it. I'd seen Kade's iron discipline myself. In his world, the mission came before everything. When I was pregnant and burning with fever, he got a call halfway to the hospital. Just... left. By the time he returned, we'd lost the baby. I screamed myself hoarse. He just frowned and said, "Emergency orders couldn't wait. We can have another child." When his enemies kidnapped me, he was on the Pack Emergency. Hung up on the ransom call. They tortured me for two weeks before dumping me half-dead on a roadside. He came back from the other pack just as I got out of emergency surgery. Held me and promised I'd never be in danger again. After his "death," his enemies came for me. The accusations piled up. So I became a Rogue. Spent five years in Rogues zones searching for his body, writing article after article to clear his name. And now he said he couldn't risk Sienna's location getting out. For her, Kade abandoned a decade of service. Abandoned his principles. Abandoned me. I almost laughed again. "Five days," he said, stepping closer. "Five days and I'll get Sienna to safety. Then I'm coming back. This ceremony... it's just something she needs and wishes. Don't take it seriously." He moved too close. I stepped back fast, my hand closing around a champagne flute from the nearby table. Instantly, his friends moved as one, blocking Sienna from view. Kade's hand clamped around my wris. "What the hell are you doing? Calm down. Don't hurt her." Sienna's voice wobbled. "If... if Elena's angry, she can throw it at me. I was selfish. I just wanted one ceremony with friends before I left." His friends' expressions softened when they looked at her. Hardened when they looked at me. "Sienna saved Kade's life once. He's just returning the favor." "It's one small wish, Luna. Don't push this." "She's suffered enough. All because she accidentally sent a few wrong messages—they called her a traitor, but Kade still won that fight." I listened. Didn't interrupt. Those "few wrong messages" were real-time coordinates for my father and brother's patrol unit. Dad and my brother died in the ambush Sienna's leak caused. And their "Kade won anyway"? That victory came two weeks late because of the leak. Two weeks I spent in a warehouse. Eight broken ribs. Shattered kneecap. I drained the champagne in one swallow. Let all those memories burn down my throat. Under their shocked stares, I set down the empty glass. "One last drink. For old times." I turned to leave.
Kade's hand locked around my wrist before I took two steps. His jaw clenched hard enough I heard teeth gr? Just a toast? You really 'accidentally' walked in here?" Every eye in the room fixed on me like crosshairs. Sienna's voice shook. "Elena wouldn't... she's not going to report me, is she?" Shadows moved. The exits were blocked. Kade held out his hand. "Phone." I smiled. Handed it over. Our photo from years ago still lit up the lock screen. His fingers hesitated. He checked anyway. Found nothing, obviously. I moved toward the door again. Someone muttered behind me, bitter and low: "Elena's the one who reported Sienna for treason in the first place, right?" "Sienna saved Kade's life. Shouldn't we be more careful here?" "Can't let her ruin five years of planning just because she's jealous!" "Sienna's already suffered so much because of Elena. Been running and hiding for years." The words hit like stones. I finally understood the other reason Kade kept me in the dark. Not just to protect Sienna. He blamed me too. Hated me for reporting her, even though every word in that report was blood-soaked truth. And I hated back. Spent five years hating Sienna. Now I had one more name on that list. "Still don't trust me?" I looked at Kade. Under everyone's gaze, I turned out every pocket I had. Then I unzipped my jacket. Let it drop. Left standing in just a black camisole. My fingers moved to the strap— "Stop!" Kade jerked his face away, voice raw. "Just go." This time, no one blocked my path. I grabbed my jacket off the floor. Didn't look back. --- At home, I pulled up my phone. The screen no longer showed Kade and me. Now it displayed my father and brother. Five years as a Rogue Tracker taught me more than how to beg for my life when kidnapped. I hadn't stumbled into that ceremony by accident either. Three days ago, I'd gotten a text. An invitation to a mating ceremony. From Sienna. Who was supposed to be dead. My heart had seized when I saw them at the altar. But there wasn't time for pain. Other things surged up faster. My father and brother's graves. The agony of a shattered knee. The kidnapper's mocking voice: "Guess Kade doesn't care about you that much after all." I dragged tonight's photos and audio recordings into my laptop. The article took shape. One that would detonate across every news network. A key turned in the lock. I slammed the laptop shut. Kade pushed through the door, reeking of alcohol. "You still hate me, don't you?" He stumbled forward, reaching for my face. I turned my head. His hand caught empty air. He collapsed onto the carpet at my feet, tilted his head back to look up at me. His eyes were red. "Don't hate me. Sienna saved my life—on the training grounds, someone went crazy in wolf's form. Can't control himself and attacked me. She pushed me out of the way and took it. I have to repay that debt." I stayed silent. Remembered something from years ago. I'd snuck onto the training grounds to see my brother. Kade and my brother had similar builds. I saved Kade. Not Sienna. Kade mistook her for me. The scar near my heart throbbed. "You're the only one I love," he said, grabbing my wrist. "She's leaving soon. We can go back to how things were—" "Kade." I cut him off. Pulled out the papers I'd prepared. "Sign this." "What is it? You need money? I'll sign... whatever you want." He mumbled, barely glancing at the document before scrawling his name. The second he finished, he passed out. I pulled the divorce papers free. Left the apartment. Dropped them with my wolf lawyer. Then drove to the cemetery. I'd barely left the graves when an SUV screeched to a stop in front of me. Hands dragged me inside. Kade sat beside me, sober now. Face like a storm. "I was too damn trusting." His voice came out cold, lethal. "You hate Sienna that much? Enough to hire people to kidnap her?" I stared at him.
His hand clamped around my arm hard enough to leave marks. "Don't play innocent! I woke up and you were gone. Even if you didn't arrange the kidnapping yourself, you leaked her location!" One of his friend spoke from the front seat: "Sienna's been in hiding for years. Only a handful of us knew where she was." "You were the only outsider at the ceremony last night. This morning, she gets grabbed." Something cold opened up in my chest. Five years. We'd been fight together. Still didn't trust me. The SUV tore through the streets toward an abandoned factory. They shoved me through the entrance. Sienna was bound to a chair, tear-streaked and covered in dust. The kidnappers saw Kade and laughed. "Fast response time. Guess this one really is your precious girl." "Last time we grabbed the wrong woman, you didn't show up for two weeks. This time took you less than thirty minutes." Kade went rigid. Then he turned to the kidnappers, voice rough: "You got the wrong person again! This is my mate! That one's nobody! Let her go!" I couldn't process what I'd heard. The kidnappers looked confused. "You think we're idiots—" "Look!" Kade grabbed my left hand, yanked it up. "Wedding band! I'm trading my mate for her!" That's when I saw it. The plain ring on his finger. Matched the one I'd worn for years, pressed so deep into my skin it left a permanent groove. He'd put his back on. To trade me for Sienna. "This is a mating bond!" Kade shouted. "I'll trade my mate for her!" The kidnappers exchanged glances, wavering. I said, very clearly: "I. Don't. Consent." "You don't get a choice!" Kade grabbed my ring finger and pulled. The band was embedded in flesh. Tearing it free felt like skinning myself alive. Bones cracked. Blood poured between my fingers. He threw the blood-slick ring at the kidnappers' feet. "Check it! Let her go!" One of them picked it up, examined it. Looked between me and Sienna suspiciously. Sienna sobbed. "Please don't hurt Elena! I'll take her place! I'd do anything for Kade and his mate!" Kade's eyes went desperate, anguished. He looked at me, voice savage: "Elena! They came for you in the first place! Sienna's innocent!" Came for me. I wanted to laugh until I choked. In his mind, I deserved to be kidnapped. Deserved to be tortured. And Sienna would always be innocent. Before I could speak, pain exploded at the base of my skull. Everything went black. When I opened my eyes again, Kade was backing toward the exit with Sienna. A kidnapper's mocking voice drifted down: "Willing to throw your own mate back in here for some random girl..." I forced out words through the pain. "Kade and I are divorced. She's the one he actually cares about." The kidnapper froze. Shouted at Kade by the door: "Hey! She says you two are divorced! What the hell is going on? You trying to play us?!" Kade stopped. Frowned. His mouth twisted with displeasure. He looked at me. Nothing in his eyes but disappointment and contempt. "Elena. Being scared is one thing. But lying like this?" His voice was ice. "We'll talk about this later. I'll come back for you."
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