Chapter 1

My mate, Ryan Carter, and I took in a young rogue Omega named Nina Reed, and I raised her myself.

But once she grew up, she tried every trick she could think of to seduce Ryan.

He said he would send her to another pack and never let her come back.

Nina threw a fit and ran out of the house. During the argument, she shoved me down the stairs even though I was seven months pregnant.

The fall left me badly injured. I lost the baby and had to undergo a hysterectomy.

Ryan hated her deeply. He forced her into the pack's lowest rank, making her clean up after everyone, and even tied her up in the basement to torment her day and night.

But when she pressed a poisoned silver blade to her own throat and offered me a life for a life, he panicked.

He grabbed the blade, blood streaming between his fingers, and said in a voice hoarse with fear, "You don't have the right to die until you've given me another child to make up for the one we lost!"

She threw herself into his arms, and this time Ryan stroked her hair gently with his clean left hand.

I leaned against the wall outside the door as a violent pain tore through my heart.

Once it passed, I mind-linked my older brother, Lucian Bennett, the Alpha who led our pack.

"I need a different mate."

1

After I lost the baby, my wolf sank into despair and never surfaced again.

Without my rapid healing, I spent a year convalescing at the recovery center.

Ryan came to pick me up the day I was discharged.

He walked to my bed and stopped a full step away, head down, not daring to meet my eyes.

I could smell his cedar scent, which had once belonged to me alone, fading beneath the sweet, cloying scent of an Omega eager to please.

I forced a smile and turned toward him. "It's all right... I'm feeling much better now..."

Ryan's fingers clenched around the hem of his shirt. His eyes were already red-rimmed.

"Vera... I don't know how to face you..."

Grief lodged in my throat, and I fought to keep a sob from escaping.

We would never have children of our own.

We had been bonded for five years, yet time had never dulled our love. We were as happy as the day we completed our marking ceremony.

We had always longed for a child of our own. We were supposed to give the pack a strong pup, but a year ago, that future became an impossible dream.

I was about to speak when Nina appeared in the doorway.

Compared with a year earlier, her complexion was rosier, and she gave off the rich scent of a mature she-wolf.

Tears streamed down her face, and she looked wounded and lost.

"Mom, it was all my fault. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

The memory came rushing back, and rage surged through me. I swept the glass off the table and said between ragged breaths, "Don't call me Mom. Get out!"

Ryan frowned, pulled her to her feet, and said coldly, "All this time has passed. What good is crying now? Learn from what you did. From now on, take care of Vera and try to atone. Don't ever do anything that stupid again."

Nina dried her eyes and nodded.

I froze, too stunned to react.

How could something that had devastated me so completely be brushed aside so casually?

I knew Ryan had always doted on her as a daughter, but the baby I had lost was his flesh and blood.

He ran a hand over my hair and told Nina, "Pack Vera's things. We're going home so Vera can recover."

Still teary-eyed, Nina cut her finger on a dish as she cleared the table.

Ryan's lips tightened. To my shock, he instinctively leaned over and licked the bead of blood from her finger.

"You're all thumbs. What am I going to do with you? I'll finish here. Go bring the car around."

But Nina was a werewolf. A cut that small had healed completely the instant it broke her skin.

Standing beside them, I felt my stomach churn.

Once the two of us were alone in the room, a long silence set in.

I had thought that once we left the recovery center he would have a great deal to say to me.

But now that he was facing me, he had nothing left but silence.

I watched him pack in silence, my gaze resting on his handsome face.

Every move he made could still tug at my heart.

But he didn't seem to want to look at me anymore.

Only after we met Nina downstairs did Ryan start talking again.

He laughed as he recounted all the trouble she had caused since she started working for the pack.

He said that at twenty, she was still like a child and could not even start a fire or cook.

I listened quietly, and my heart sank lower and lower.

Only when Nina slipped naturally into the passenger seat and Ryan started the engine did he notice that I was still standing outside the recovery center.

He hurried out, opened the passenger door, and ordered Nina into the back seat.

"You were gone for a year. Nina got used to sitting up front."

I didn't say anything and got in.

Nina might have been our adopted daughter in name, but she had taken my place in the passenger seat.

My werewolf instincts told me that an illicit blood attraction had formed between them long ago.

When the car stopped outside the house, Ryan gave me an apologetic look.

"Go on inside. A last-minute meeting came up, and we both have to be there."

I said nothing as Nina happily climbed back into the passenger seat and the taillights disappeared from view.

As I walked into the familiar house and remembered how happy I had been while pregnant, tears burned my eyes.

I sank into a crouch and wept quietly, too weak to move.

The dust in the air made me sneeze.

When I turned on the lights, I found a thin layer of dust coating every piece of furniture. The sprawling house was deserted.

I remained crouched in that corner until midnight. Ryan still had not come home.

Shaking, I got out my phone and called him. "Ryan, why aren't you home yet?"

He yawned on the other end of the line and said lazily, "You never told me I was supposed to stay with you at the recovery center tonight, did you?"

My tears came pouring out. "You brought me home today!"

2

An hour later, Ryan's car pulled up outside.

He gathered me into his arms and apologized, "I'm sorry. I was so busy today that I forgot you'd come home... After what happened to you, I couldn't live alone in this house at all, so I moved out."

He stroked my face with infinite tenderness. "I had the lounge redone for you. I'll take you back to the den tomorrow. I'll only feel at ease with you beside me."

There was a trace of the perfume Nina always wore on his shirt.

But I was lost in the warmth of his skin, and I chose to ignore all of it.

The next day, Ryan drove me to the den and told me about everything that had changed over the past year.

He had told me the same stories countless times during his occasional visits to the recovery center, but I still listened eagerly.

We were the couple every wolf envied. From the moment we met at eighteen, I knew he was my fated mate.

For my sake, Ryan had cut ties with his original pack and joined mine.

At the recovery center, my wolf had warned me again and again through pain that Ryan's heart had strayed, but I had refused to believe it.

The pain only grew stronger.

What began as mild dizziness became spasms of agony.

I knew I could not keep lying in the recovery center and wasting away.

At the very least, I wanted to see who the other she-wolf was.

I never imagined that the she-wolf he had fallen for would be the adopted daughter who had cost me the ability to bear children.

A year earlier, he had wanted to kill her.

Ryan held my hand and spoke with aching tenderness. "Your brother asked me to take good care of you. Now that you're getting back on your feet, I'll be able to answer to him when he returns."

But the moment we entered the lounge, we found Nina and several young she-wolves horsing around inside.

When they saw me, the room went instantly silent.

Ryan surveyed the wrecked lounge and snapped, "Why are you still here?"

Nina lowered her head, too afraid to speak. One of the young she-wolves beside her said, "This lounge has belonged to Nina for the past year."

At those words, Nina raised her head and gave him a wounded look.

Ryan looked away and said coldly, "Vera is back. You need to give the lounge back to her."

Nina stood, tears swimming in her eyes. "Why does she get to take everything from me just because she came back?"

Ryan cut her off coldly. "You owe her this."

Nina covered her face and ran out. The she-wolves in the room began talking over one another in her defense.

"Mr. Carter, how can you treat Nina as if you can summon and dismiss her whenever you please?"

"We have all seen how much Nina has done for you this past year. What you're doing now is cruel."

The way they looked at me carried open contempt, as though I were some villain who had stolen another woman's mate.

But Lucian was the Alpha of the entire pack. I only wanted my own lounge back. What exactly had I done wrong?

As they left, they deliberately rammed their shoulders into me. I stumbled several steps before catching my balance.

Ryan didn't notice. He was looking in the direction Nina had gone, his fists clenched.

I scanned the room for my best friend, Claire Foster. "Where is she?"

The wolves around me went pale. Ryan weighed his words for a long time before saying, "She left the pack."

I froze, my mind suddenly blank. "How could no one tell me something this important?"

Ryan lowered his head like a child caught doing something wrong.

"You were still at the recovery center then. I was afraid the news would interfere with your recovery, so I kept it from you. But I've already told her you were discharged. She'll come back to see you soon."

He offered no further explanation. "Vera, get some rest. Something urgent came up, and I need to go."

He rushed off before I could answer.

The renovated lounge was spacious and comfortable. Its warm ocher palette made the space feel inviting.

And Ryan's office was right next door.

Sure enough, it did not take me long to find a hidden door behind a cabinet, leading through the wall to Ryan's office.

Deep gouges in the floor showed that the cabinet had been moved frequently.

No wonder Nina hadn't wanted to give the lounge back.

3

At the restaurant in the canyon, Claire held me tight and refused to let go. "This is outrageous. You didn't let me visit you even once all year!"

Her eyes filled with tears as she shook my shoulders. "Do I really matter less to you than Ryan? Why was he allowed to visit you when I wasn't?"

Claire's expression darkened the instant she saw Ryan behind me. The warning in her next words was unmistakable.

"Lucian is negotiating with the Black Moon pack. He'll be back in a few days. Certain wolves had better keep their tails tucked in for the next few days."

The whole time, her eyes never left me. She didn't give Ryan so much as a glance.

My eyes stung. It was the first time since my discharge that anyone from my own pack had made me feel cared for.

The door to our private dining room opened, and Nina slipped inside cautiously.

Claire shot to her feet, bared her claws, and pointed at Nina. "Who told you to come?"

Ryan stepped in front of Nina, displeasure sharpening his voice. "Vera and I adopted her. What's wrong with her joining us for dinner? It happened a year ago, and Nina has spent all this time trying to atone. Why can't you give the girl a break?"

Claire snorted. "Is seducing Vera's mate while Vera is devastated how she makes amends?"

"Ryan, you keep claiming that you let her stay in the pack so she could pay for what she did. You know exactly what you've done! And you, Nina, Vera should have left you in the wilderness to starve. You shameless bitch, you have no right to call yourself her daughter!"

Claire did not hold back, and there was no stopping her. I never even got the chance to ask why she had left the pack.

Nina wept without stopping, and Ryan's expression darkened by the second.

Dinner ended in disaster. On the way home, Ryan tried to reassure me. "She was angry and talking nonsense. Don't take it seriously."

But Ryan drove distractedly the entire way home and nearly caused a crash.

His shoulders were still tight when we got home.

Before he had even taken off his coat, he pulled out his phone, his expression turning graver by the second.

He shut himself in the bathroom and took Nina's call.

Nina's anguished sobs carried through the door. "I know I have no right to compete with her. All I can do is beg for scraps of your love while she's away, but my heart hurts too...

"I wish I had been the one who was hurt a year ago. Would you have cared more about me then?

"Since I owe her a life, I'll finally be free once I give her mine, won't I?"

Ryan pushed open the bathroom door, his chest heaving and his face terrifyingly dark.

He said between ragged breaths, "Nina lives alone out there. Claire tore into her today, and I'm afraid she might hurt herself. She has no one else. I'm the only one who can protect her now..."

I knew that refusing him would not stop him anymore. I forced a thin smile. "Go check on her."

Ryan grabbed the car keys and hurried out the door.

For the second night since I came home, he chose not to stay with me.

The pain in my chest became so fierce that I ran to the bathroom and vomited until I was dizzy.

That night, I lay alone in bed, tossing and turning.

More than twenty years ago, my pack and Ryan's had gone to war, and both sets of parents died in the fighting.

But Ryan and I had been too young to know the war's cruelty, and we still found our way to each other.

Even though our bond was forbidden, we overcame every obstacle. In the end, even Lucian relented and welcomed Ryan into the pack.

Staring into the darkness around me, I sighed heavily and called Lucian.

"Lucian, I think I really was wrong."

4

On my second day back at the den, Ryan asked me to help care for the newborn pups.

Holding a pup's soft little body, I couldn't stop the tears.

A year had passed and the pack was full of children I didn't know.

If my baby had lived, he would have been nearly a year old by then.

One of Nina's friends snatched the bottle from my hand and took the pup from my arms, her face twisted with disgust.

"You can't even manage a feeding. A worthless she-wolf like you should be banished from the pack."

I bit down hard on my lip, refusing to let my tears fall. "Do you know who I am? This pack would never banish me."

She burst out laughing as if I had told the funniest joke in the world. "Of course I know who you are. You're barren and useless. What could you possibly contribute to this pack?"

It cut deep, because every word of it was true.

A year ago, I had been one of the pillars of the pack, helping newcomers settle in and resolving territorial disputes.

Now Ryan had taken my place completely.

I searched for Ryan and found him standing behind Nina, watching her work with open admiration.

When her brow creased, he would stroke her hair gently and tell her to take her time.

Once her frown eased, he straightened and announced, "Nina closed a major deal, so we'll celebrate in the private dining hall tonight, and everyone is invited!"

Excited howls went up all around.

Looking at the two of them ringed by the pack, I lowered my head and laughed bitterly.

In the dining hall, the long black stone table was laden with wine and platters of smoky roasted meat.

Nina offered me a glass of wine. When I did not reach for it, she spilled it all over herself.

She shrieked, and the glass shattered on the floor, drawing every eye in the room.

At that exact moment, Ryan approached.

She instantly put on a wounded expression. "I'm sorry, Mom. I won't bother you anymore."

Ryan walked straight past me, seized her arm, and snapped, "Vera is upset. Why did you have to provoke her? Go change your clothes. Are you trying to embarrass yourself?"

From start to finish, he never once looked at me.

After that, as if determined to prove that she had won Ryan's love, Nina made a sport of tormenting me.

She planted silver needles on my chair, spiked my coffee with wolfsbane, and locked me in a storage room for an entire day.

Whenever I confronted Ryan, Nina would redden her eyes and offer a few pleading words, and he would brush the entire matter aside.

Her behavior only grew more brazen.

This time, when she deliberately flung foul-smelling animal entrails all over me, I lost control and slapped her.

Covering her face, she ran into Ryan's office. "I know Mom hates me. I'll kill myself right now!"

With that she ran out crying.

Ryan chased her downstairs, and when he looked back at me there was angry yellow light in his eyes.

I stood before the floor-to-ceiling window in the lounge and watched Ryan soothe Nina as she sobbed in his arms.

I watched for a long time as something inside my chest shattered without a sound.

Until then, I had felt hurt and grief. Now, all of it drained away.

If Ryan had chosen another she-wolf, then I would let them have each other. Every privilege he had enjoyed as my mate would vanish with me. Suddenly, immense Alpha pressure flooded the room behind me, its power as noble and biting as snowbound peaks.

My brother, the great Alpha of the northern pack, stood behind me. I had not even heard him arrive.

"Vera, do you see everything clearly now?"