00:00I found my fated mate marking another woman on the altar where we were supposed to bond tonight.
00:05His tooth buried in her throat, his claws raking down her back.
00:09Both of them moaning while 200 pack members waited outside for a lunasera that would never happen.
00:15The worst part?
00:17The woman was my twin sister.
00:19For three heartbeats, I stood frozen in the sacred chamber doorway.
00:23Then Serena saw me, my twin, the one I'd protected since we were pups.
00:28The one I'd given half my blood to save when she was dying.
00:31The one I trusted with every secret I had.
00:34Smiled at me over my mate's shoulder.
00:36Not a trace of shame, just triumph.
00:40Mira, this isn't what it looks like.
00:43Actually, it's exactly what it looks like.
00:46We've been together for six months.
00:49Since the winter solstice.
00:51Deliberately showing me the fresh mating mark on her neck.
00:54Six months, the winter solstice.
00:56The night Kane had told me he needed to meditate alone.
00:59The night I'd felt our mate bond go strangely quiet and thought it was just the sacred energies of the
01:04season.
01:04I'd been so naive.
01:06Mira, please.
01:08She seduced me.
01:09The bond with you was always weak.
01:11I thought something was wrong with us.
01:14Wrong with you?
01:15Maybe.
01:16Kane and I have a true bond.
01:18Stronger than anything you could give him.
01:21He only agreed to the ceremony tonight because your father threatened to withdraw his warriors from the pack alliance.
01:28My father, the Alpha of the Northern Territories.
01:30The only reason I had any value to Kane at all.
01:33Get out!
01:34Kane's face hardened.
01:35His Alpha dominance crashed over me like a wave.
01:38The power that had once made me feel protected now felt suffocating.
01:42You don't give me orders.
01:44Mira, you're nobody.
01:46A political pawn.
01:47Your wolf is so weak you can barely shift.
01:51Serena is carrying my heir.
01:53A true Alpha heir.
01:55Not the pathetic half-breed you would have given me.
01:58My hand flew to my stomach.
02:00Oh?
02:01Didn't you know?
02:02I'm eight weeks pregnant.
02:04Eight weeks.
02:05She was pregnant.
02:06And so was I.
02:07I pulled away from Kane's reaching hand.
02:09Turn toward the door.
02:11Where do you think you're going?
02:12The pack is waiting.
02:14We'll tell them you were unworthy.
02:16That the moon goddess rejected you.
02:19I'm going to find someone who actually knows what I'm worth.
02:22You're worth nothing, Mira.
02:24I didn't hear the rest.
02:26I was already running.
02:27Into the forest.
02:28That had been my only true friend since childhood.
02:32Only when I reached the ancient oak.
02:34The one where I used to hide from my father's disappointment.
02:37Did I let myself breathe.
02:39My phone buzzed.
02:40A message from a number I didn't recognize.
02:42Little Wolf.
02:43Your grandmother requests your presence at Valdris Castle.
02:46A car is waiting at the eastern border.
02:49Sebastian.
02:49I stared at the screen.
02:50My grandmother.
02:51The woman my father had forbidden me to contact.
02:54The woman who ruled the vampire kingdom.
02:56The woman who had killed her own mate when he betrayed her and burned his entire bloodline to ash.
03:01The womanocarburical woman.
03:02The man dochter.
03:02The man after the war.
03:03The man holding the forest.
Comments