“Fuck.”

The curse ripped from Reid’s throat as he staggered backward, dropping the bloodied blade. It clattered against the platform, the sound echoing through the stunned silence.

“Alpha?” One of his guards stepped forward, confusion etched across his scarred face. “What are your orders?”

Reid’s hand was still pressed against his neck where my scent had hit him. His amber eyes blazed with something between fury and disgust as he stared at me kneeling in my brother’s blood.

“The traitor’s sister,” he said slowly, like the words tasted bitter, “is my mate.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Someone whispered a prayer. Another spat on the ground.

“Impossible,” an elder’s voice cracked. “The goddess wouldn’t—”

“The goddess,” Reid snarled, “has a twisted sense of justice.” His gaze never left mine. “Chain her. Take her to Crescent Fang territory.”

“No.” The word escaped me in a broken whisper. I couldn’t leave Lucien. Couldn’t abandon his body to rot on this platform.

“My brother—”

“Your brother is dead.” Reid’s voice was arctic. “And you belong to me now.”

Silver shackles bit into my wrists before I could move. The metal burned, but not as much as the mate bond pulsing between us—a constant reminder of the cosmic joke fate had played.

“Please, just let me bury him.”

Reid leaned down until his face was inches from mine. “Traitors don’t deserve burials. They deserve to be left for the crows.”

I spat in his face.

Saliva mixed with my tears struck his cheek. For a heartbeat, the entire execution ground held its breath, waiting for him to snap my neck.

Instead, Reid slowly wiped the spit away with the back of his hand, a cold smile playing at his lips.

“Spirited. Good.” His thumb traced along my jaw, the touch sending unwanted fire through my veins. “That would make this whole adventure so much more fun for me. Sadly I can’t say the same about you.”

-----

The journey to Crescent Fang territory took three days. Three days shackled in the back of a prison wagon, listening to the guards discuss what they’d like to do to the “traitor’s whore.”

“Bet she’s just as twisted as her brother,” the one with the missing eye sneered, tossing apple cores at my feet. “Probably got off watching him sell out the pack.”

“Alpha should’ve killed her too,” his companion agreed, spitting through the bars. “Ashborne blood is poison.”

I pressed myself against the far corner of the cage, trying to disappear. My dress—once cream-colored—was now stained brown with Lucien’s blood. The smell clung to me, a constant reminder of what I’d lost.

When we stopped for the night, they didn’t bother giving me food. Just water and a bucket for my needs, which they made sure to mock me for using.

“Look at the traitor’s princess now,” One-Eye laughed as I crouched in the corner, trying to maintain some dignity. “Not so high and mighty anymore.”

By the third day, I’d stopped paying attention to their taunts. Stopped flinching when they rattled the bars. Lucien was dead. I was probably going to die too. Nothing else mattered.

The Crescent Fang Packhouse rose from the forest like a fortress of black stone and iron. Twice the size of my old pack’s humble buildings, with towers that seemed to claw at the sky. Guards in dark leather patrolled the walls, their eyes tracking our wagon’s approach.

They dragged me from the cage and through a side entrance, down stone steps that spiraled into the earth. The holding chamber they threw me into was barely large enough to stand in, with walls that wept moisture and a floor covered in moldy straw.

The door slammed shut with a finality that echoed in my bones.

I was alone.

-----

I must have dozed, because the sound of the lock turning startled me awake. Torchlight flickered through the doorway, and Reid stepped inside like a shadow given form.

He’d changed out of his bloodstained leathers into simple black pants and a white shirt that did nothing to diminish his predatory presence. In the cramped space, he seemed enormous.

“Comfortable?” he asked, his voice carrying that same mocking edge.

I didn’t answer. Just pressed myself against the far wall and watched him like he was a viper ready to strike.

“We need to discuss your future.” Reid moved closer, and I caught his scent—pine and leather and something uniquely him that made my traitorous body respond. “What’s left of it.”

“Just kill me already.”

“Kill you?” He laughed, the sound devoid of humor. “Oh, little mate. Death would be a mercy I’m not inclined to give.”

The mate bond thrummed between us, stronger now in the confined space. I could feel his heartbeat, fast and irregular. Could sense the war raging beneath his controlled exterior.

“And I have no idea why the moon goddess decided to play me like this…but you should count yourself lucky. This will be your chance to atone for your traitorous brother’s sins.”

My breath caught but I said nothing.

“You’re going to be my Luna,” he continued conversationally, as if discussing the weather. “You’ll wear my mark. Bear my children. Help me rebuild what your family destroyed.”

“I won’t.”

“You will.” He stepped closer, close enough that I could see gold flecks in his amber eyes. “Because the alternative is watching me hunt down every person who ever showed you kindness. Your friend Mira, perhaps. The baker who used to slip you extra bread. The healer who taught you about herbs.”

My blood turned to ice. “You wouldn’t.”

“Test me.”

The words hung in the air between us like a blade. I knew he meant it. Could see the cold calculation in his eyes that said he’d burn the world before showing me mercy.

“Why?” The question scraped from my throat. “If I’m your mate, if the goddess chose—”

“The goddess chose poorly.” His hand shot out, gripping my chin and forcing me to meet his gaze. “You’re a consolation prize wrapped in a pretty package. A way to breed the betrayal out of your bloodline.”

The mate bond flared at his touch, sending heat spiraling through me despite everything. I hated it. Hated him. Hated myself for the way my body leaned into him.

“I’ll never love you,” I whispered.

“I do not need your love, little wolf,” His thumb brushed across my lower lip, the gesture almost gentle. “Luckily your looks aren’t bad on the eyes. Your only duty is to breed for me, to carry my heir.”

He released me so abruptly I stumbled, catching myself against the damp wall.

“The marking ceremony is tomorrow night,” Reid said, moving toward the door. “You’ll be cleaned up, dressed appropriately, and presented to the pack as their new Luna.”

“And if I refuse?”

He paused in the doorway, looking back over his shoulder. The torchlight cast his face in sharp relief, all angles and shadows.

“Then I’ll drag you to the altar in chains and mark you anyway. Your choice is whether you walk with dignity or crawl.”

The lock clicked shut behind him, leaving me in darkness once again. But I could still feel him—the phantom touch of his hand on my face, the echo of his scent in the stale air.

Minutes passed. Maybe hours. Then the door opened again.

Reid stood silhouetted against the torchlight, his expression unreadable. Without a word, he crossed to where I sat huddled against the wall and dropped to one knee.

The position should have made him less intimidating. Instead, it brought us eye to eye, close enough that I could count his eyelashes.

“Kneel,” he said quietly.

“No.”

His hand fisted in my matted hair, not quite painful but absolutely controlling. “I said kneel.”

The mate bond sang with dark satisfaction at his dominance, and I hated myself for the way my body responded. But I knelt anyway, because the alternative was having my hair ripped from my scalp.

Reid’s free hand traced the line of my throat, finding the spot where he would place his mark. Where every wolf would see his claim on me.

“You’ll wear my mark tomorrow,” he murmured, his voice low and intimate. “You should pray I don’t make you beg for it.”