At the sacred Moon Ball, I waited for the Moonstone Chalice to choose me as the Luna of Arthur, the Royal Alpha and my childhood love.

But the man on the throne, who looked exactly like Arthur, used dark magic to make the silver light choose a low-level Omega named Diana instead.

He then stepped down, looking at me with greedy eyes.

"You will be my Chosen Mate. You will have my bed, even if you do not have the title."

He wanted me as a cheap mistress just to control my family's powerful army.

When I refused, he crushed the silver amulet Arthur had given me and threatened to strip my rank.

Diana hid behind him, pretending to cry and apologize while stealing my rightful place.

But I felt absolutely no soul connection to this man.

His scent was a disgusting mix of damp earth and rot. This was not the boy who once took a silver dagger to the chest to save my life.

Disgusted by the imposter, I left the castle and wandered into the market, where I saw royal guards brutally kicking a crippled, severely burned beggar.

I ordered them to stop and knelt in the dirt to help the dying man.

But the moment my fingers brushed his ruined neck, a violent shock of pure electricity shot down my spine.

The Recognition was complete.

This broken beggar with a peeled-off face was my true Alpha, Arthur.

I held my fated mate tightly, swearing to make the imposter bleed for every scar on his body.

Chapter 1

Selena POV

The Moon Ball was the most sacred observance of the Royal Pack. From the high, vaulted ceiling, crystal chandeliers dripped a honeyed light upon the silks and velvets of the restless nobility.

We were all waiting for the Moonstone Chalice to glow. Its incandescence would reveal the true Luna, the fated consort of our Royal Alpha.

I stood near the front, my heart a heavy, measured drum against my ribs. I was Selena, eldest daughter of the Gamma. Though bred for the battlefield, tonight I had exchanged my cuirass for a gown of heavy silver cloth, waiting for Arthur to return from the border wars.

But something was profoundly wrong.

The man upon the throne bore Arthur's likeness—the same fall of dark hair, the same breadth of shoulder—but his scent was a corruption. The moment the miasma of damp earth and leaf-rot reached me, a fine, violent tremor ran up the base of my spine, the hairs on my nape standing erect beneath the velvet collar of my gown. This scent triggered no pull, no warmth—only a cold, crawling revulsion that made my wolf snarl in the back of my skull. The soul-bond that had hummed between Arthur and me since childhood was utterly silent.

This was not my Arthur. A cold certainty settled in my gut.

Selena POV

But before I could give voice to the treason, the High Priest raised the Moonstone Chalice.

A beam of pure, silver light shot from the stone.

It was supposed to find me.

Arthur and I had sworn it to each other years ago.

But the man on the throne raised his hand.

A strange, dark mist curled around his fingers.

The silver light twisted in the air and landed on a girl standing in the corner.

It was Diana.

She was a low-level Omega from the fishing villages.

The rustle of silk and the murmur of courtiers ceased, leaving a vacuum of absolute stillness.

Diana gasped, covering her mouth with delicate hands.

The man who looked like my Arthur rose. He descended the velvet stairs, each footfall landing in the deadened silence, and then he fixed his gaze upon me, his eyes clouded with a possessive avarice that felt like a spider tracing its path across my skin.

"The Moon Goddess has spoken," he announced to the Pack.

His voice was loud, but it lacked the deep, resonant timbre of a true Alpha.

"Diana is my chosen Luna."

Whispers broke out among the noble families.

He turned his gaze to me.

"Selena," he said, his voice lacquered with a false pity.

"You are a strong warrior. I still want you by my side."

He stepped closer to me.

"You will be my Chosen Mate. You will have my bed, even if you do not have the title."

A heavy silence fell over the room.

A knot of revulsion tightened deep in my stomach, so visceral it nearly made me retch.

Princess Beatrice, Arthur's younger sister, stepped forward.

A flush of crimson stained her throat and cheeks.

"How dare you!" Beatrice shouted.

"Selena is a Gamma! She is a noble warrior, not a cheap mistress!"

Diana immediately shrank behind the Alpha.

The air grew thick with the scent of peaches so ripe they bordered on fermented, a sweetness that cloyed the back of the throat until even the candlelight seemed to turn turbid, as tears spilled down her cheeks.

"I am sorry, Princess," Diana sobbed. "I did not mean to steal the Goddess's blessing."

Beatrice's eyes flashed yellow.

She was about to shift into her wolf form right there in the ballroom.

My fingers closed around Beatrice's arm, the pressure a silent command.

"Do not waste your energy, Bea," I said calmly.

Without sparing Diana a single glance, I kept my eyes locked on the man wearing Arthur's face, then turned my back on the throne and strode toward the castle balcony.

The cool night air was a clean cloth wiping away the ballroom's stench. Beatrice followed me outside, the heavy glass doors closing behind us with a muffled thud.

Selena, something is wrong with my brother, Beatrice's voice echoed in my mind.

It was our Mind-Link, the sacred mental connection shared by pack members.

He does not feel like family anymore, she added, her mental voice trembling.

I know, I replied through the link. His scent is wrong. The soul-bond is dead. I felt nothing when he touched the Chalice—nothing but rot.

I remembered when we were children.

I had fought off three wandering Rogues to protect Beatrice and Arthur.

Later, an assassin had thrown a silver dagger at me.

Arthur had jumped in front of me.

The silver had burned a deep, ugly scar into his chest.

That was the boy I loved. Not the stranger inside.

The glass doors opened.

The fake Arthur walked onto the balcony.

"Leave us, Beatrice," he ordered.

Beatrice glared at him but walked away.

He leaned against the stone railing, looking at me with hungry eyes.

"Don't be stubborn, Selena," he whispered.

"Diana will just be a pretty face for the public. You will control the Pack's army. You will rule the castle behind closed doors."

I looked at him with cold eyes.

"A daughter of the Gamma family does not bow to anyone," I said.

"I will never be your shadow."

Selena POV

The feigned charm vanished from his face, replaced by a contortion of sudden anger.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, dark velvet pouch. From it, he tipped a silver amulet onto his gloved palm.

It was the wolf charm Arthur had given me before he left for the war.

He threw it onto the stone floor and crushed it beneath his heavy boot.

"You have three days to accept my offer," he snarled.

He tried to use the Alpha's Command on me.

It was supposed to be an invisible weight that forced lower wolves to their knees.

But the pressure he projected was weak.

It felt like a gentle breeze against my hidden White Wolf blood.

"Or I will strip you of your rank and throw you to the Omegas," he finished.

I looked at the broken silver on the floor.

I felt absolutely nothing for this man.

The soul connection was completely dead.

"Do whatever you want," I said, walking past him. "I will ask my father to find me a real mate."

I left the castle and took my carriage to the edge of the territory.

The Moon Goddess Market was full of life.

I wanted to buy a paper moon lantern.

Arthur had promised to light one with me when he returned.

As I walked through the crowded stalls, I heard shouting.

Three castle guards were kicking a man in the dirt.

The man was a beggar, dressed in dirty rags.

His legs were bent at unnatural angles, and he was using his bleeding hands to shield a crushed paper moon lantern.

"Diana wants all the lanterns in the market!" a guard yelled. "Give it up, cripple!"

"Stop!" I commanded.

The guards froze, recognizing the Gamma's daughter.

They quickly bowed and ran away.

I knelt down in the dirt next to the beggar.

He slowly lifted his head and offered the crushed lantern to me.

Then, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted into my arms.