Through the blur of my vision, Kael's boots appeared in front of me again.

He hauled me up by the collar and forced something bitter between my lips. "It's to save the pup. Once it's born, our bond breaks."

The bitterness flooded my mouth, and only then did I remember. Eron was the name Kael had chosen.

Back when he first scented the pup growing inside me, he'd been so happy he called three nights of open hunts beneath the moon, every wolf in the pack welcome at his fire.

Every day he ran the long miles back from the border territories, just to press his ear to my belly and murmur to the pup the way only a father could.

The name itself he'd chosen from a thousand, combing through the old bloodline ledgers to find it.

So how had we ever come to this?

Kael tucked me into a corner and turned to leave.

But I caught the mocking curl of Seris's smile.

I strained to read the shape of her lips. She seemed to be saying.

Wolfsbane.

The pain dragged me under, and when I woke I was already in the Moon Queen's chambers, the cold amber and night-blooming moonflower of her scent close around me.

Her Majesty looked at me, eyes rimmed red. "Lyra, the Shadow Fangs I sent didn't reach you in time. Your pup."

With Seris's poison inside me, the pup could never have been saved.

I gave a bitter smile and signaled to the Moon Queen that I was all right. Deep beneath my ribs, my wolf had gone silent in a way I had never known her to be, curled around an emptiness that would not fill.

"Lyra, you risked your life to shield the consorts and the young of the court. The Crescent Hall owes you a great debt."

"Is there anything you want? That Ravenmoor she-wolf—"

I cut her off quickly. "Your Majesty, all I want is a Bond-Severance Decree."

Seeing the grief in my eyes, the Moon Queen agreed, and left me alone to rest.

Garran Thornfield came to see me, his scent of warm oak and clove carrying his worry before he spoke. "My Luna, your pup. I'll have the War-Alpha summoned to the Crescent Hall for you at once."

Before I could refuse, he'd already sent a runner off.

But a day passed, then two, and Kael never came.

The Moon Queen told me to rest easy, yet the maids' chattering still drifted into my ears.

"War-Alpha Stormbane truly does love his Luna. The rogue siege is barely put down, and already he's riding through the Moon Court with his Enforcers, calling on every moon-healer, den to den."

"True. They say he won't even use the silver-safe salve the Moon Queen granted him. He gave all of it to his Luna."

The Crescent Hall had been in chaos, and I'd been found alone and dragged from the fire; fearing for my standing, the Moon Queen had not named me as Kael's Luna.

Listening to the maids' envy, Garran came in awkwardly to give his report.

"My Luna, there's been no word from the War-Alpha."

I gave a soft sound of acknowledgment, pressing down the dull ache in my chest. "He's busy."

Too busy tending Seris. How could there still be room in his heart for me? The mate-mark at the junction of my neck had gone cold long ago, and it did not warm now.

After half a moon, it was no longer fitting for the Crescent Hall to shelter an Alpha's Luna.

The Moon Queen sent word for Kael to take me home.

But all that came was one shabby obsidian carriage, and the very Enforcer who had once stamped on my belly.

Dorn's face was full of resentment, a low growl threading under his words. "The War-Alpha hasn't had a moment's rest, and you actually dared to stir trouble before the Moon Queen herself."

"The messenger who carried her order tore into the War-Alpha. If he weren't honoring your old companion-bond, he'd have cast you out with a Bond-Severance Decree long ago, you vicious she-wolf."

"It's Beta Thornfield I pity—"

His words broke off the moment he caught Garran's scent of warm oak a step behind.

Garran gave him a puzzled look. "Why do you look like you've scented a wraith? See the Luna home with care. The moon-healer was clear. She can't take the cold right now."

I said nothing, and climbed into the carriage.

Outside, once Dorn had heard the truth from Garran, he came to the front of the carriage and struck himself hard across the face, the blow loud enough that even his wolf flinched beneath it.

I spoke up to stop him from begging forgiveness.

If Kael hadn't allowed it, his own Enforcer would never have dared treat me so brazenly.

In the end, I simply didn't measure up to Seris.

When we reached the War-Alpha's estate, the carriage was carried around to the back gate.

Dorn's face went grim. "I'll go call for the War-Alpha right now."

Before he could move, the back gate creaked open, and Kael came storming out, the air thickening with the cold iron and ozone of his fury, and yanked me down onto the ground.

"I spared you out of mercy, and you actually go and slander Seris!"

“Lyra Frostvale, you led the rogue pack into the Crescent Hall, left countless dead in your wake, tore out Beta Thornfield's throat. Wasn't that enough?”

“And now you have the gall to smear Seris too. I think you've got a death wish.”

The Enforcer stared, dumbfounded, and started toward me to help me up. “War-Alpha, it isn't like that...”

Kael kicked him aside, hard, his Alpha aura flaring so sharp the air itself went thin. “Has she addled your mind too?”

Dorn winced through the pain. “The pack healer said...”

Before he could finish, Seris came rushing out, her crushed-jasmine scent curdling sweet over something faintly rotting. “Kael, what do we do? Those Court Enforcers have forced their way in.”

Kael shot me a vicious glare, hauled me up by the arm, and dragged me inside.

“Go and set the Court Enforcers straight. Tell them it was all your false accusation, that none of it had anything to do with Seris.”

“Otherwise, you can forget about keeping that pup of yours.”

He strode off so fast the Enforcer behind him couldn't catch up, only shout from a distance.

“War-Alpha, War-Alpha, stop.”

But Kael was frantic, and not a single word reached him.

Ignoring my struggling, he flung me down hard in front of the Court Enforcers. “Here is the traitor you came for.”

I cried out in pain. One of the Enforcers gave a cold snort and clapped silver-laced chains around my wrists. The metal hissed against my skin, burning where it touched. “Venomous bitch, save the act.”

Nearby, a servant of the War-Alpha's estate caught sight of my face and gasped. “My Luna...”

The Enforcer's eyes sharpened. “Who exactly is she?”

I spoke up quickly. “I'm not...”

Before I could finish, Kael stepped forward and seized me by the throat. His scent hit me first, woodsmoke and cold iron and the ozone tang before a storm breaks, the scent that had once meant home, now wrapped around the hand that crushed my windpipe.

“She's the guilty one.”

He leaned close to my ear, his voice a threat. “You go quietly to the Silver Cells in Seris's place, or I'll put an end to your pup this instant.”

I couldn't break free. All I could do was look at him through my tears. Somewhere beneath my skin, my wolf had gone utterly silent, the way a hunted thing goes still when there is nowhere left to run.

Without a shred of mercy, Kael handed me over to the Court Enforcers.

I was dragged out of the War-Alpha's estate.

A thin layer of snow lay over the ground, and the melt soaked through my skirts.

The cold cut to the bone, yet it was nothing beside what I felt inside.

Kael watched, unmoved, as I was hauled past the gate.

The Enforcer caught up, gasping for breath. “War-Alpha, Beta Thornfield...”

The gates of the estate swung open. Beta Thornfield's family, in mourning grey, knelt in the snow beside a bier. The wind carried the fading thread of his scent off the body, warm oak and clove going cold.

“I beg you, War-Alpha, see justice done for my son.”

Seris hurried over to help Thornfield's old mother up. “Please, don't kneel. The War-Alpha will make this right for you.”

Kael looked at the grey muzzle of Thornfield's mother, awash with guilt.

But seeing how wretched I looked, he pulled back the eyes that had wanted me torn apart on the spot.

“I failed Beta Thornfield. I'll see that there's an answer for this.”

But Seris shrieked. “Kael, you're still going to shield...”

Kael cut her off coldly. “She's my Luna, when all's said and done. It was my own indulgence that let her commit such a grave wrong.”

Seris walked over, fixing her eyes on me, a dark hatred flashing through them.

She leaned to my ear and whispered, her honeyed voice laced with copper. “I never imagined Kael could be so loyal and devoted. Even now he won't bring himself to punish you.”

I gave a cold laugh and spat at her. “Seris Ravenmoor, have you never heard the saying? The Moon Goddess has eyes.”

Kael caught sight of it and moved to pull Seris away.

But the Enforcer pressed forward again, trying to explain.

Kael shoved him off, impatient. “I know you and Beta Thornfield were like brothers. Rest assured, I won't let her off.”

The Enforcer stamped his feet in desperation. “That's not it, War-Alpha...”

But Seris let out a sharp cry, clutched her arm, and collapsed beside me.

“Sister, I only meant to help you up, and you hid a claw-and-fang to murder me.”

The Court Enforcers, who had been watching the spectacle, struck me across the head with a hilt at her words.

“Guilty bitch, you dare run wild right in front of us.”

I lost my balance and tumbled down the steps, slamming to a stop in front of Beta Thornfield's bier.

Seris wept against Kael's chest. “If I hadn't moved quickly, that strike would have gone straight into my heart.”

“Kael, you've defended this poisonous woman every way you can, and yet she actually...”

“It's nothing for me to suffer a little. I only grieve for Beta Thornfield, brave all his life.”

The Thornfield pack around me understood in an instant.

Fists and feet rained down on me. I curled around the hollow of my belly out of an instinct that no longer had anything to protect, and still my wolf did not stir, did not snarl, did not rise. There was nothing left in there to fight for.

The Enforcer rushed down and threw himself in front of me. “Don't do this, don't do this.”

But the Thornfield pack had gone mad, past hearing any explanation.

Kael noticed his Enforcer's strange behavior and turned, frowning, to look this way.

The heavy cloak that had been wrapped around me was torn open by someone, baring my flat belly.

Kael's pupils contracted, gold flashing through them in a single, violent pulse. “Lyra Frostvale! Where's the pup?”