Every time Kieran brought a new fling back to the castle, he made a point of bringing home a male Beta for me too. "I need something fresh. You need company. Everyone gets what they need. No one has the right to complain." That was his refrain these past three years, delivered with all the righteousness in the world, as though he weren't the Alpha and I weren't his Luna. The last time, he miscalculated. He brought yet another male Beta before me, his tone flat, as if discussing some trivial domestic matter: "We tried, but she's pregnant anyway. Vera won't keep the pup unless I give her a proper title, so we'll dissolve the Mate Bond for the time being." "Until we re-bond, you're welcome to spend time with him. I won't interfere." Just when everyone in the hall expected me to do what I'd always done—turn cold, fling money at the Beta, and have him driven out— I looked up and smiled. "All right. Whatever you say." … Kieran's hand froze on the ivory pendant he'd been turning between his fingers. The hall fell silent for a heartbeat. Even the crack of logs in the fireplace sounded shrill. His expression didn't shift much. The careless little curl at the corner of his mouth was still there. But Vera, nestled against him, tightened her grip on his arm. "Kieran." Her voice was soft and sticky, like velvet steeped in honey. "Leona's come around. You should be happy." Kieran said nothing. He set the pendant down, rose slowly, and walked over to the Beta. He clapped a hand on the man's shoulder, looking down at him from above. "Take good care of Leona." Then he wrapped his arm around Vera and headed for the master bedroom on the second floor. I didn't watch him go. I simply withdrew my gaze and turned to the Beta, who was still standing where he'd been left, the tips of his ears flushing a suspicious red. "Will you be staying outside the castle, or here?" His throat bobbed. His voice came out low and hoarse. "Either… either is fine." "Stay, then." I turned and walked toward the corridor. Behind me came the whispering. They thought I couldn't hear—or perhaps they simply didn't care whether I could. "No way. Is the Luna actually going through with it?" "Every other time something like this happened, she'd lose her temper. We'd all catch hell for it." "Come on—have a little faith in the Alpha. When has the Luna ever not stuck her nose in the air, slapping money at those outsiders like even touching them would dirty her?" "That last Beta—she didn't even bother with the money. Just told the guards to drag him out." "My guess? She knows Vera's carrying a pup now. She's putting on a show, trying to rile Kieran up." I kept walking. The corridor ended at my bedroom. Moonlight slanted in through the castle's arched windows, stretching my shadow long across the floor. They weren't wrong. I had been excessive before. Excessively aloof. Excessively proud. Excessively convinced of "the purity of the Mate Bond." Every time Kieran had paraded a Beta in front of me, I'd turned my face to ice and driven the man out with the sharpest look I owned, then ordered the steward to escort him from the grounds. I'd thought that was winning. I'd thought that, at the very least, I was cleaner than he was. At least before the Moon Goddess, my purity, my Mate Bond, remained unblemished. And in the end? Vera's belly was swelling. What had the Mate Bond, what had purity, preserved for me? A dissolution petition lying on the nightstand, still unsigned? A bed I'd slept in alone for three years? The mocking glances downstairs in the hall? I pushed open my bedroom door, lifted my hand, and let my fingertips brush the mark at the side of my neck—long scabbed over, yet still faintly burning. Kieran thought I was still the Leona he'd always known. That I wouldn't dare. That I wouldn't do it. That I'd guard that mark forever, guard that absurd notion of purity, live out my days alone and wait for him to come home. He was wrong. I lowered my gaze to the parchment spread open on the nightstand—*The Petition for the Dissolution of the Mate Bond*, the ink still wet, lacking only one last signature. I picked up the pen. And I signed. *Leona Fenn.* When I was done, I rolled the parchment up and tied it with a dark crimson ribbon. Tomorrow it would go to the Council of Elders. And then, under the witness of every wolf in the pack, the bond of purity Kieran had spoken of, the vigil I had kept all these years—all of it would be severed for good. "Um… may I come in?" Wren's voice, slightly stiff, came from beside me. I looked up at the doorway and only then realized he had actually followed me. He was standing just inside the corridor. He was young. Six foot three, tight-built, with beautifully drawn shoulders. The moonlight caught half his face and lit it bright. The scent of cedar. Pleasant. This wasn't some stranger Kieran had picked up at the tavern. Nor some wretch bought off the black market, still bearing the marks of silver chains. Kieran had actually put thought into this one. I gave a silent, bitter laugh. "Selling yourself for money?" I asked. The Beta didn't defend himself. He simply nodded. Once, I might have thought him filthy. But now I saw it clearly— which of these men was filthier than Kieran? "Tell me if you need anything." I turned and walked out onto the terrace. He followed. "Luna. My name is Wren." "I know," I said, without looking back. "Kieran told me." I stood on the terrace and watched the figures below recede into the distance. I'd lost count of how many times they'd watched me become their spectacle. Three years ago— something happened that drove Kieran and me apart. After that, his behavior grew more and more outrageous, outrageous enough that he was willing to perform a dissolution ceremony with me. But I had my own reasons for keeping silent. I turned and looked at the signed petition. If you want it severed, then severed it shall be. "Luna, I'm done washing up." Wren had slipped off to bathe at some point, and his voice broke my thoughts.
I had just turned toward him when the crystal communication stone at my waist flared. A rare message from Kieran: *Get some rest.* I stared at it and found it almost funny. He'd never once sent me a message like that before. But today he had. Was it because I'd kept Wren? Or because he'd finally realized that the Leona who "would never touch them" might actually be ready to? I didn't reply. The lamps outside the window went out. The whole castle fell quiet. Vera had moved in. Wren had moved in. The castle had finally turned into a cheap inn. Anyone could stay. I crooked a finger at Wren, then turned off the light. A smile curved at my lips—one I couldn't even see myself. Kieran thought I would guard my purity forever? He really was wrong. … Early the next morning, the ache in my lower back was still there. When I came downstairs, Wren was in the kitchen helping the servants prepare breakfast. When he saw me, he flushed so deeply he nearly dropped the spatula. I smiled. Where had last night's seductive prowess gone? I had just sat down at the table when Kieran came down. "Up so early?" He took the seat across from me, that unreadable smile still tugging at his mouth. "How was last night?" Before I could answer, the front door swung open. Griffin charged in first. "Alpha! Who won the bet?" Griffin was one of Kieran's most trusted pack members. Several werewolves followed at his heels, each shouting over the others: "I bet she wouldn't last till noon—two hundred thousand on the line!" "I bet the Luna threw the Beta out last night. Three to one, Alpha holding the bank!" The voices died abruptly. They'd just spotted me. The grins curdled into awkwardness. "Luna… morning," they offered. Kieran lifted the wine at his elbow and took a sip. His face was relaxed. As though this wager weren't his pack members using his Luna for sport, but rather some triumph he ought to be proud of. "Want some breakfast?" I said. "It's just ready." I rose, walked toward the kitchen, and said to Wren, "You should go." Wren paused, then untied his apron and walked out. The castle door shut behind him. The hall went quiet for two seconds. One of the pack members deliberately lowered his voice. "See? She sent him off after all." Griffin laughed. "What did you expect? You think the Alpha can't read the Luna's little schemes?" "The Alpha really knows how to break her in," another said, all admiration. "A mate has to be like the Luna—pure, clean, devoted to her Alpha alone." Kieran sat at the table, breakfast finished. He listened to all of it with a faint smile on his lips. He looked thoroughly gratified. I exhaled and stepped out of the kitchen. Kieran and I started speaking at almost the same instant. "Come with me to old Alpha's for supper tonight—" "This afternoon, let's go to the Council of Elders to dissolve the Mate Bond—"
The room went still. I set the signed petition on the table. "Let's go to the Elders first and have the ceremony done." Kieran froze for a moment. His gaze settled on my signature. He didn't move. I knew what he was thinking. In the past, I would have torn the parchment to shreds with red-rimmed eyes. I would have wept and demanded, *"Kieran, how dare you decide this on your own?"* Without a long, drawn-out struggle, the matter would never have been so simple. Kieran lifted his eyes to mine. That same lazy drawl. "What's the rush? I thought we agreed to wait until Vera's pregnancy was stable?" "I can't wait." My voice was level. "Two o'clock. Don't be late." His eyelid twitched. "Leona." He pushed the petition back toward the center of the table and frowned. "Are you still half-asleep?" "You wouldn't want to wait for me to wake up either," I said, rephrasing. "You'd rather not give yourself the chance to change your mind and tear it up, would you?" The air between us froze for a few seconds. Then Vera came down from upstairs. "Leona, don't be in such a hurry. I only didn't want my pup born and called a bastard." "The dissolution… you could wait until my pup is born." Tears rimmed her eyes as she spoke. She looked sorrier to lose this rotten bond than I did. Kieran glanced at her. That pitiful, fragile expression—paired with that *don't be in such a hurry*—was a needle straight into his fragile pride. When had it become Kieran's place to be *urged* into a dissolution ceremony? Ridiculous. "Leona, you think I don't dare?" He let out a sudden laugh. "Two o'clock. Council of Elders. I'll see you there." Griffin shifted nervously at his side. "Alpha—" "Shut it." Kieran cut him off, his trademark smile back in place. "I'll do what I said. Everyone here can bear witness." "Once Vera's pup is born, Leona and I will re-bond." He leaned in close to my ear, his voice intimate, certain. "You're the Luna I dragged back from hell. None of these other women can compare to you." "Once this pup is born, it's yours to raise. Only you have the right to raise it." I let out a quiet laugh. So this was how he "doted" on me. I said nothing. I dragged the suitcase I'd already packed out of the castle. Vera's voice drifted softly behind me. "Alpha… Leona—will she really not come back?" Kieran was toying with the ivory pendant again. He didn't answer. In the original plan, even after the dissolution ceremony, I would have retained the right to live in the castle. That I'd chosen to leave had genuinely caught him off guard. "You sly little thing." He tipped his head and looked at Vera. "Leona's gone. You're pleased, aren't you?" "Of course not!" Vera pouted. "You're teasing me again… my upbringing would never allow me to break up someone's Mate Bond…" She bent her head and touched her belly. "Everything is for the pup." That wronged, grieving look melted whatever temper Kieran had left. "All right, all right. Don't cry. I won't tease you anymore." Vera was cleverer than the rest. She didn't goad me with rambling diatribes. She didn't bombard my crystal stone with messages claiming her territory—no *he's with me right now!* She wore the air of someone who'd come to *join* us. Naive. Sweet. A single sharp word from me, and Kieran would feel she'd been deeply wronged. I'd met younger, prettier, more interesting girls than her. But they had all been too impatient. Impatient for him to declare himself. Impatient for me to step aside. Only Vera was patient—no fuss, no fight, no fight for position. She'd simply moved in with her belly out. Every other word out of her mouth was *Leona*, spoken more intimately than any of the others ever had. She'd done what none of the would-be usurpers had managed. … At one fifty in the afternoon, I stood outside the Council of Elders. I tried Kieran on the crystal stone for the ninth time. The first eight calls had gone nowhere. This one connected at last. "Where are you?" His voice came through, careless. "I'm with Vera at her prenatal checkup. Can't get away. Wait a bit—I'll come once I'm done." "I told you, the dissolution is at two o'clock!" "What's the rush?" he soothed, as though I were a fractious child. "We'll do it after Vera's seen the doctor." The line cut off. Wait. Wait again… If this had been the old me, I might have been relieved to have won my mate back once more. But today, that wasn't what I wanted. Calmly, I sought out the elder in charge of dissolution ceremonies. "I want to perform the dissolution unilaterally. The petition will be brought to you shortly." The elder was visibly shocked. "Luna! A unilateral dissolution will cause you tremendous pain. Are you certain?" He clearly knew about the troubles between Kieran and me. "I'm certain." My voice didn't waver.
That evening, after the old Alpha pressed me several times, I did go to his home. The whole way there I kept thinking: how should I explain this to him? Tell him that the Alpha had gotten another woman pregnant? That he was forcing me into a dissolution? Or that I'd already prepared to undergo it unilaterally? When I arrived, I was alone. The old Alpha paused. "Where's Kieran?" "He's busy," I said. "Busy?" He set his wine cup down on the stone table with a thump, his tone darkening. "What could be more important than his own mate?" I said nothing. The old Alpha and my father had been brothers-in-arms who crossed the Silverfire Forest together in their youth. My father had once saved his life. He had been determined to see Kieran and me bonded, but the old Luna had not approved. She thought my family beneath them. Especially after I fell gravely ill—she decided I'd been forsaken by the Moon Goddess, that I would bring misfortune to Kieran. It was Kieran who refused to let go. Alone, he crossed the Bonepass and knelt for nine days and nine nights at the altar of the Moon Goddess, his knees raw to the bone. He had knelt there and said, *"I can give up being with Leona, if only she lives."* When I learned of it, I wept. Between us, it had always been him charging ahead, while I shrank back, weighed down by my own self-doubt. After that, I took his hand and said, *"I won't run anymore. If you'll have me, I'll be your mate. Your Luna."* And then I truly did recover. I went home with him of my own will. The old Alpha was overjoyed. He carved off a third of the family's territorial holdings into my name and sealed it with a Moon Oath. He said it was for all the pack to see—he wanted every wolf to remember that, on these lands, my word, Leona's word, carried the same weight as Kieran's. In those days I thought the biggest obstacle between Kieran and me was the old Luna. Now I understand: outsiders were never the barrier to a Mate Bond. I was still searching for how to begin when the door opened. Kieran came in with Vera tucked under his arm. When he saw me, he stilled. The old Alpha's face darkened. "You wretch—dragging just anyone into our home!" Kieran settled into a chair with Vera, his tone as easy as ever. "Father, it's only dinner. What's the harm?" Then he glanced at me. "Leona, head home first." As though he felt obliged to soften it, he leaned closer and murmured, "I didn't think you'd come, so I brought her. Tonight's her night, understand?" I laughed once, short. I had once thought he was merely amusing himself with Vera. That when the novelty wore off, he'd move on to the next. It seemed I'd been mistaken. The old Luna came downstairs, her gaze grazing me before settling on Vera. "So this is the woman from outside who's carrying a pup? It's a wonder what gutter trash this house keeps inviting in." One sentence, two insults. In years past, Kieran would have stepped in front of me and said, *"Leona is the one I chose."* Today, he frowned and pulled Vera closer. "Mother, she is the one I chose. You've no right to interfere." His voice was harder than when he'd once shielded me. Vera leaned into him, eyes rimmed red. She always wore the look of a woman trampled by the world. Unlike me, who could take a beating and still look as though I could carry the sky on my own back. I rose without interest. "I'm leaving." The old Alpha couldn't keep me. Kieran had no time for me. The moment I stepped out the door, I thought again of those nine days and nights he'd knelt at the Moon Goddess's altar. He had knelt and said, *"I can give up being with Leona, if only she lives."* Well. He had what he asked for. … The dissolution went more smoothly than I'd expected. There was no pain—because once the Council of Elders had notified him, Kieran finally rushed over. In the end, he did not let me bear the wound of a unilateral dissolution alone. Kieran, I imagine, believed that once Vera's pup was born and our Mate Bond was renewed, everything would simply slot back into place. "Under the witness of the Moon Goddess, I, Leona of the Blood Moon Pack, formally reject you, Kieran of the Blood Moon Pack, as my mate henceforth." "Under the witness of the Moon Goddess, I, Kieran of the Blood Moon Pack, formally reject you, Leona of the Blood Moon Pack, as my mate henceforth." When it was over— I felt the mark that had wound between us for years dissipate. He leaned in, his tone unusually coaxing. "You always wanted a grand bonding ceremony, didn't you?" "When we re-bond, I'll throw one for you myself. The cedar grove you love. The silver-white Moon Oath robes, the lilies of the valley, everything you've ever wanted—all of it, yours." I lifted my eyes to him. "Kieran, there's no need."
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