The year our bond burned brightest.

The Alpha Heir of the Ironcrest Pack, famed across every territory.

He knelt before me at the river's edge beneath a full moon, surrounded by nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine blood-red roses, and asked me to be his mate.

But ten years passed, and I still never received a bonding ceremony.

I had grown used to tossing aside the gossip scrolls about Kael Ironcrest's latest indiscretions.

Yet this time, the headline caught my eye: "Alpha Heir Pays Fortune to Claim Omega Dancer's First Heat."

For once, I did not argue. I did not rage.

That night, I let his greatest rival take me to bed.

The next day, I went to Kael to end things between us.

He lounged with his new favorite draped across him, not even lifting his gaze. "What's this? Some wild rogue couldn't satisfy you, so you've come crawling back to throw a tantrum at me?"

He squeezed the woman's waist, a low laugh rumbling in his chest.

"But I'm rather occupied, intended mate."

"Perhaps you should wait your turn?"

I looked at him and could not understand how a person could change so completely.

"Kael Ironcrest."

My voice stayed level. "I honored the late Alpha Patriarch's final wish and watched over you for ten years."

"Today, that obligation ends."

——

Kael's hand stilled for just a heartbeat.

Then he smiled. "Be good. If you want to make a scene, do it back at the den."

"You know threats don't work on me."

His fingers moved to the silk ties of the woman's dress, his gaze sliding toward me.

"Or would you rather stay and watch?"

I stood motionless.

The woman pouted prettily. "Alpha, she's so unpleasant."

Her eyes swept down to the leather guards strapped around my calves, then traveled slowly upward.

"Dressed like neither proper female nor male, hands rougher than the servants who scrub the Moonlit Den's floors, no softness, no grace—and old enough to be my mother. How could the Alpha Heir ever want someone like her?"

I glanced down at my own hands without meaning to.

They were rough, it was true.

The calluses at the base of my thumb came from training Kael's warriors, from years of gripping silver-loaded pistols and honing blades.

Once, he had kissed those calluses with aching tenderness in his eyes.

He had whispered words that made my heart race.

Now the calluses had grown thicker, but his tenderness had worn thin.

"Jealous?" Kael pinched the woman's cheek with indulgent affection. "She is my intended mate, after all. I have to show her some respect."

Then he leaned close to her ear and murmured, "But how could an old she-wolf ever compare to you? Ignore her."

I stood where I was.

His words grew legs and crawled into my ears, stabbing at something deep inside.

Old she-wolf.

I was thirty-three.

Compared to Kael, barely past his second decade, I was no longer young.

The elite circles of the pack territories had long speculated. They said Kael had refused to complete our bond for ten years because my age disgusted him.

They even joked that I was his "mother-mate."

But no one dared speak such words in Kael's presence.

Once, a celebrated Omega singer at a gathering had merely hinted at it.

Kael ordered her stripped of pack protection and driven from Ironcrest territory entirely.

He had cradled my face in his palms, eyes full of devotion. "In my heart, you will always be a young she-wolf."

"It's my fault I was born too late to catch up with you."

"If anyone ever calls you old again, I'll tear out her tongue and have her lashed a hundred times before the pack to avenge you."

Back then, I never imagined "old she-wolf" would fall from his own lips.

I blinked, forcing down the bitter sting.

Selene Frostveil turned and settled onto his lap.

"I don't care—make her leave!"

"Having her here makes me miserable..."

Kael gripped her chin and kissed her hard.

The silk ties of her dress came undone, revealing soft curves beneath.

I turned my face away.

Warm amber light from the setting sun filtered through the latticed windows.

It made me lose myself for a moment.

Seventeen years ago, the sky had glowed just like this at dusk.

The old Alpha Patriarch had led me through the gates of the Alpha Court.

He had looked at me and said, "This pup—from now on, I'm trusting you to shape him."

"Use everything your father taught you at the Guard Den. Train him well, shape him into a worthy heir, and you will be honored above all in the Alpha Court."

That year, Kael Ironcrest was ten.

He tucked a cricket cage deeper into his sleeve, tilting his head to study me.

His eyes gleamed bright as twin moons.

Something in my heart—so tightly bound by the hatred of my slaughtered den—loosened just a little.

He reached out and took my hand first.

That grip lasted seventeen years.

I had grown used to making excuses for him.

He never spoke of the mating bond because pack duties kept him too busy.

His wandering with others was just immaturity, nothing more.

But day after day, year after year.

From a young wolf to a full-grown Alpha.

I refused to lie to myself any longer.

And I refused to keep swallowing my silence.

I stepped forward and dragged the woman off his body.

Two sharp slaps cracked across her face.

"What do you think you are?"

"You dare bring your scent-stealing into my presence?"

The woman shrieked and scrambled behind Kael.

"Alpha Heir, she struck me..."

I let out a cold laugh. "That was barely a tap."

I drew the leather whip from my belt.

Raised it high.

My gaze caught the character carved into the handle—Kael.

My grip tightened without meaning to.

This whip had been a gift from Kael five years ago, for my name-day.

He had hunted the beast himself, cured the hide, braided the core.

He had even wrapped the handle in soft fur.

So I wouldn't hurt myself when I disciplined him, he said.

The Kael of those days.

Even when my palm struck his face, he never flinched. He would just grin and ask if my hand hurt.

Not like now.

Before the whip could fall, his fingers closed around it.

"Lyra."

A smile still curved his lips, but his eyes had turned to frost.

"She's young. She doesn't know any better. Show her some mercy."

The whip pulled taut between us.

Like all the years we had shared.

Suddenly, I felt nothing but weariness.

I let go.

Kael tossed the whip aside and gathered the woman into his arms, murmuring soft comfort.

"Easy now. Don't be afraid."

"I'm here. No one will dare touch you."

I watched him pull a handkerchief from inside his coat and dab the tears from her cheeks.

Watched him drop it carelessly to the floor.

One corner of the cloth bore a crooked embroidered word—Lyra.

I recognized it. The same cloth he had pressed to his wound seventeen years into his age, after a raid against rogues left him bleeding.

Back then, weak and pale, he had clutched my wrist.

"The blood... it'll stain... your gift... I can't bear to ruin it..."

He had taken that handkerchief so carefully, tucked it beneath his pillow.

Guarded it like something precious.

But now, he had probably forgotten every word he ever spoke.

What he once treasured, he could cast aside without a second thought.

My chest felt hollow, as if wind blew straight through it.

"Kael Ironcrest."

I spoke quietly.

He ignored me.

I continued. "If you truly want her, bring her back to the den."

"I will step aside."

Kael finally lifted his gaze to meet mine.

"Lyra."

His voice dropped low and heavy.

"Stop this madness."

"It isn't madness. I mean every word." My tone stayed level. "Kael Ironcrest, I'm done waiting for a bond you'll never offer."

"I don't want feelings that have gone sour."

"Let's release each other."

His eyes turned cold as a winter hunt.

His voice carried a warning growl. "Lyra Nightveil. Know when to stop."

I held his stare. "From this day forward, I sever all ties with the Ironcrest Alpha Court."

"Without me in your way, you can play however you like. Claim whoever you want."

He stared at me, then suddenly laughed.

"You think this will frighten me?"

"Do you still believe I'm the pup you could bend to your will?"

I lowered my gaze.

Of course he wasn't the same anymore.

The young pup from before.

After making me angry, he would secretly tuck sweet dried meats into my storage chest.

Every year on his birth moon, he would wish aloud to grow strong enough to claim me as his mate.

And at his eighteenth coming-of-age ceremony, before a hall full of pack elders and allied wolves, he had kissed me—clumsy and reverent all at once.

…

I drew in a slow breath, forcing down the tight ache in my chest.

I didn't respond to Kael's words.

Instead, I turned to face Selene.

"Are you content to spend your life as a kept companion?"

"Once he tires of your scent, you'll have no choice but to crawl back to the Moonlit Den as a lounge dancer."

"The old patrons will fawn over fresher faces, and the new ones will sneer that you're past your prime. Do you really think the Den will still have a place for you then?"

Her face went pale.

Her nails dug into Kael's arm.

"Alpha Heir, I want… I want to stand beside you openly."

"Please?"

Her voice dripped soft as honey.

Kael swept her up into his arms.

"Ridiculous," he snapped.

As he strode toward the door, he tossed a glance over his shoulder. "If you want me to coax you, just say so."

"You're skilled enough with blades and silver-shot, but playing petty jealousy games like those omega companions of mine? You're nowhere close."

He still thought I was throwing a tantrum.

That I was competing for his attention like all those pretty omegas circling him.

I didn't know what to say.

I followed them.

All the way back to the Alpha Court.

Kael settled the woman in my chambers.

Her drooping expression lifted at once.

Kael pressed a kiss to the corner of her lips. "Happy now?"

She threw herself into his embrace. "Alpha Heir, you won't let her leave—does that mean she's still in your heart?"

My footsteps halted.

I heard Kael's low laugh. "Lyra has been at my side for seventeen years. Of course she holds a place in my heart."

"But that doesn't conflict with wanting you."

Then came the wet sounds of their mouths meeting.

Selene pushed him away with a breathless pout. "Then why put me in her den? Aren't you afraid your precious one will run off in a rage?"

"Run? Where could she possibly go?"

Kael's smile deepened.

"Her entire bloodline was slaughtered. She still needs the Alpha Court's resources to track down whoever ordered the purge of her den."

A dull pain spread through my chest.

Even though I had long since stopped expecting anything from Kael.

Those words still cut.

Selene's voice turned coy. "Back when the Alpha Heir announced his courtship claim, it shook every territory. You swore it would be one bond, one life, one mate."

"Turns out you didn't love her that much after all."

She paused, then added:

"But she's still your intended mate in name. Are you really going to let her run around with your sworn rival?"

Kael let out a soft scoff.

"Sworn rival?"

"Fenris Viperbane?"

His tone was dismissive.

"That useless wolf—why should I care about him?"

"He can't perform during rut. Barely counts as a proper Alpha. You could strip the most sought-after omega from the Moonlit Den and throw them naked in his bed, and he still couldn't touch them."

Kael paused, then continued. "Besides, I know my woman."

"Deep down, she's old-fashioned to the bone. She believes in the ancient ways—one mate, one bond, sealed for life. She gave her body to me, and she'd sooner die than let another male claim her."

"Whatever she's doing with Fenris Viperbane, it's just a show to provoke me."

My fingers tightened slowly around the door frame.

So he knew.

He knew how traditional I was at my core.

That's why he dared to trample over me like this.

Because he was certain.

I would never escape his grasp in this lifetime.

Selene pressed further. "But what if she truly falls for him?"

"The Serpent Circle sent word this morning—they've purchased the thousand-acre moonflower fields along the Silver Ridge, and cleared out the finest woven silks from the Crimson Loom. All of it sent to her under Fenris Viperbane's name."

"No she-wolf could resist that, could she?"

"Fall for him?" Kael let out a contemptuous snort. "She's nothing like you. She doesn't care for the pretty things other females covet."