The highway stretched before me like a dark ribbon, swallowed by twilight. My fingers gripped the steering wheel as I navigated the familiar route toward the Crimson Shadow Pack house, toward Edwin, toward what should have been the beginning of everything.

Tonight was the eve of our Mate Ceremony. Tomorrow, I would officially become Luna.

The thought should have filled me with joy, but instead, a hollow ache settled in my chest. I'd spent weeks preparing—learning the traditional ceremonial words, selecting a dress that would finally make Edwin's pack see me as worthy. Maybe then the whispers would stop. Maybe then Edwin would look at me the way he used to, before his pack elders started filling his head with talk of bloodlines and suitable matches.

*Something's wrong,* my wolf whimpered in the back of my mind.

I pushed the feeling aside. Just nerves. Pre-ceremony jitters. Everyone felt this way, didn't they?

The forest closed in on both sides of the road, ancient trees casting long shadows that swallowed my headlights. I'd driven this route dozens of times over the past year, each visit to Edwin's territory a test of endurance. His pack members never quite hid their disdain—the sideways glances, the pointed comments about late bloomers, the way conversations died when I entered a room.

But Edwin was my fated mate. The Moon Goddess herself had chosen us. That had to mean something.

My wolf stirred again, more urgently this time. *Aleah. Stop.*

"It's fine," I whispered aloud, though my hands trembled slightly on the wheel. "Everything's fine."

Then blinding light exploded in my rearview mirror.

I jerked, instinctively pressing the brake as high beams flooded the car's interior. The vehicle behind me was accelerating, closing the distance with terrifying speed. My heart slammed against my ribs.

"What—"

The impact came like a bomb.

Metal screamed. My car lurched forward, spinning wildly as the wheel was ripped from my hands. The world became a blur of darkness and light, trees whipping past. I heard myself scream as my vehicle left the road, plunging down the steep embankment.

Crunch. The sickening sound of metal folding. Glass exploded around me, tiny diamonds catching moonlight. My head snapped forward, striking the steering wheel with enough force to make stars burst across my vision.

Then—silence.

I blinked, tasting copper. My fingers found wetness at my temple. Blood. The dashboard swam in and out of focus as I tried to orient myself. The car rested at an impossible angle, nose-down against something solid. A boulder. Smoke began curling from beneath the crumpled hood, acrid and chemical.

Move. I had to move.

I grabbed the door handle, yanking hard. Nothing. Jammed. I threw my shoulder against it, ignoring the pain that lanced through my collarbone. The metal didn't budge—the frame had bent in the crash, sealing me inside.

The passenger door. I scrambled across the center console, my movements clumsy and desperate. That handle wouldn't turn either. The impact had twisted both doors into their frames.

Panic clawed up my throat. I forced it down, reaching for the emergency toolkit Alexander had insisted I keep. My brother's voice echoed in my memory: *Promise me you'll never drive without it.*

My fingers found the compartment. Empty.

No glass breaker. No signal flares. No first aid kit. Someone had removed everything.

That's when the smell hit me.

Bitter. Sharp. Wrong. It coated my tongue, invaded my lungs with each gasping breath. My muscles suddenly felt like lead, heavy and unresponsive. The world tilted, nausea rolling through me in waves.

Wolfsbane.

The realization struck like ice water. Someone had dosed my vehicle with wolfsbane. That's why my wolf had gone silent. That's why my limbs felt disconnected, sluggish.

This wasn't an accident.

*Help,* my wolf whimpered, so faint I barely heard her. *Can't... breathe...*

Smoke thickened around me, no longer just from the engine. Liquid pooled beneath the car—I could hear it dripping, smell the sharp tang of gasoline mixing with wolfsbane's bitter poison. The crash had ruptured the fuel line.

I was trapped in a vehicle that would become a fireball. Poisoned so I couldn't shift, couldn't break free with supernatural strength. My emergency tools gone.

Someone wanted me dead.

My vision blurred, whether from the head wound or the wolfsbane, I couldn't tell. But as consciousness started to slip away, one thought crystallized with terrible clarity:

This was no random attack. Someone knew exactly where I'd be tonight. Someone knew I'd be alone on this isolated road.

Someone who wanted to make sure I never made it to tomorrow's Mate Ceremony.

The smoke grew thicker. My wolf's whimpers faded to nothing. And somewhere in the darkness above the embankment, I heard a car door slam.

Pain throbbed behind my eyes, turning the smoke-filled interior into a nauseating blur. My fingers fumbled for the mind-link, that sacred thread connecting me to Edwin. He would feel my terror through the bond. He had to.

*Edwin!* I pushed the word through our connection with every shred of strength I had left. *Please, I need help—I've been in an accident, I can't get out, there's wolfsbane—*

The response came immediately, but it wasn't the rushing concern I'd expected. It was cold. Distant. And with it came something that made my blood turn to ice—an involuntary awareness of his location bleeding through the mate bond.

He was close.

Too close.

My wolf whimpered, the sound barely audible beneath the wolfsbane's suffocating grip. Through the psychic proximity of our bond, I felt him. Not miles away in the pack house where he should be. Not rushing to my rescue.

He was right there. Above me on the road.

And filtering through our connection came a sound that shattered what remained of my hope—Capri Castillo's distinctive laughter, bright and mocking and triumphant.

No. No, this couldn't be—

Movement on the embankment. Two silhouettes separated from the vehicle parked above, backlit by harsh headlights. They descended toward me with careful steps, shoes crunching on loose gravel and broken glass.

My hands pressed against the cracked windshield, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. The smoke stung my eyes, blurred everything, but I knew those shapes. I'd memorized every line of Edwin's body over the past year, learned every gesture of the man I thought was my future.

He stopped just beyond my wrecked car, close enough that I could see his face clearly. Those hazel eyes I'd once thought were warm now held nothing but cold calculation. No concern. No remorse. Just assessment, like he was checking to ensure a job well done.

Capri stood beside him, her designer coat pristine despite the rough terrain. Her beautiful face twisted with satisfaction that looked obscene in the moonlight.

*You're not worthy of being Luna, Aleah.* Edwin's voice sliced through the mind-link like a blade made of ice. *You never were. Tomorrow's ceremony will proceed as planned—with Capri by my side, as it should have been from the beginning.*

The mate bond screamed. My wolf howled weakly inside me, a sound of agony that had nothing to do with the wolfsbane poisoning my system. This was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. Fated mates didn't—couldn't—

"The Moon Goddess made a mistake with you, little late bloomer." Capri's voice rang out, clear and vicious. She took a step closer, peering at me through the broken windshield like I was an insect pinned under glass. "We're just correcting it."

Survival instinct overrode the shock trying to paralyze me. I couldn't think about betrayal. Couldn't process that my fated mate—the bond the Moon Goddess herself had blessed—stood before me with murder in his eyes. I had to move. Had to get out.

I twisted in my seat, ignoring the way my vision swam, and slammed my elbow against the passenger window. Once. Twice. The impact sent pain screaming up my arm but the glass held. I hit it again, putting everything I had left into the blow.

Crack.

A spider-web pattern spread across the surface. Not broken through, but weakened. A few more hits and I could—

"Oh, I don't think so." Capri's tone turned sing-song sweet.

She moved with deliberate grace, reaching into her designer purse. The roll of tape she produced gleamed silver even in the dim light. Silver-laced. Of course it was. She'd come prepared.

My wolf whimpered as Capri approached the cracked window, her heels somehow steady on the sloped ground. She pressed the tape against the glass with methodical care, sealing the crack I'd created. The silver's proximity made my weakened wolf curl into herself, adding a new layer of pain to the wolfsbane already coursing through my system.

"We can't have you crawling out, can we?" Capri said, smoothing the tape with manicured fingers. "That would ruin everything."

Edwin hadn't moved. He stood there, arms crossed, watching his chosen mate seal my death trap with the same expression he might use reviewing pack documents. Through the mind-link, his voice remained clinical, detached. *The wolfsbane will do its work. And if that fails, the fuel leak will finish things. It will look like a tragic accident—the poor late bloomer, couldn't even make it to her own ceremony.*

The smoke was thicker now. I could hear liquid dripping beneath the car, the sharp tang of gasoline mixing with wolfsbane's bitter poison. My head felt too heavy for my neck. The world tilted sideways.

"Goodbye, Aleah," Capri said, stepping back to admire her handiwork. "Tomorrow, I'll wear your crown."

They turned away together, climbing back up the embankment. Edwin's hand found the small of Capri's back, steadying her. The casual intimacy of the gesture hurt worse than the head wound, worse than the wolfsbane.

My fated mate. My Moon Goddess-blessed bond.

Leaving me to die.

Their footsteps crunched up the embankment, unhurried. Casual. Like they were leaving a dinner party instead of a murder scene.

I threw my weight against the driver's door again. The metal groaned but held firm, the twisted frame an impossible barrier. Every movement sent waves of exhaustion through my limbs. The wolfsbane had seeped into my bones now, turning my muscles to water. My wolf's presence flickered like a dying candle—there one moment, gone the next.

*Stay with me,* I begged her. *Please.*

No answer. Just silence where her voice should have been.

Through the mate bond, I felt Edwin's satisfaction wash over me. Not guilt. Not hesitation. Relief. Pure, uncomplicated relief that his problem was being handled.

The sensation made me want to vomit.

"Edwin, please." The words scraped past my raw throat, barely louder than a whisper. Smoke burned my eyes, my lungs. "The mate bond—the Moon Goddess—"

He stopped at the top of the embankment. Turned. In the glow of his headlights, his features looked carved from stone. Those hazel eyes I'd spent a year memorizing held nothing but contempt.

"The Moon Goddess gave me a weak, late-blooming she-wolf with no remarkable bloodline as my fated mate." His voice was flat. Final. "I'm choosing better."

Capri appeared at his side, slipping her arm through his with practiced ease. She smiled down at me, her expression one of serene satisfaction.

They climbed into the vehicle together. Doors slammed. The engine purred to life.

I watched their taillights disappear around the curve, two red eyes vanishing into darkness. The mate bond stretched between us, thin and agonizing, pulling at something deep in my chest even as the man on the other end drove away from my death.

Alone. I was alone.

Smoke curled thicker through the vents. Somewhere beneath me, gasoline dripped steadily onto the ground. The flames licking at the engine compartment cast dancing shadows across the shattered windshield.

I was going to die here. On a dark road, miles from anyone who cared. And tomorrow, Capri would stand where I should have stood, wearing my crown while my ashes cooled.

No.

The thought cut through the fog of despair with sudden, sharp clarity. No. I refused to make it that easy for them.

My fingers fumbled beneath my seat, muscles trembling with the effort. Alexander's voice echoed in my memory: *It's connected directly to me, Aleah. Any time, day or night. Promise me you'll keep it charged.*

I'd rolled my eyes. Told him he was being overprotective. That Edwin's pack was difficult, not dangerous.

My brother had always seen what I refused to.

The device was small, barely larger than a car key fob. I nearly dropped it twice before my shaking hands found the activation button. A red light blinked to life.

"Alexander." My voice cracked, barely audible even to my own ears. I forced more air into my lungs despite the smoke that clawed at my throat. "Edwin... he did this. Wolfsbane. Can't shift. Help."

The words came out broken, fragmented. But the device was transmitting. My coordinates, my voice, everything Alexander needed to find me.

If he wasn't too late.

The effort drained whatever reserves I had left. My head fell back against the seat, too heavy to hold up anymore. Through the cracked windshield, I watched flames lick higher beneath the crumpled hood. The heat was building. Soon the fire would reach the fuel tank.

My wolf's whimpers had faded to nothing. The concentrated wolfsbane in this small space had poisoned us both to dangerous levels. I could feel my heartbeat slowing, my thoughts growing fuzzy at the edges.

*Moon Goddess,* I prayed silently, *if you're listening... if my bond to Edwin ever meant anything... don't let it end like this.*

Darkness crept in at the corners of my vision.

---

Alexander's pen hovered over the Mate Ceremony protocols spread across his desk. Standard Alpha duties—reviewing ceremonial procedures, confirming guest lists, ensuring everything was perfect for his little sister's big day.

Something had felt wrong all evening. A restlessness his wolf couldn't explain. He'd attributed it to nerves, to the knowledge that tomorrow Aleah would officially belong to another pack.

The emergency alert shattered everything.

The device on his desk screamed to life, red light flashing in urgent pulses. Aleah's voice filled the room, broken and faint but unmistakable:

*"Alexander... Edwin did this... wolfsbane... can't shift... help..."*

Her GPS coordinates blazed across the screen. Twelve miles from Crimson Shadow territory. On the isolated highway she always took.

For three heartbeats, Alexander couldn't move. His mind refused to process what he was hearing. Edwin. His sister's fated mate. The man blessed by the Moon Goddess to protect her.

*Edwin did this.*

Then his wolf surged forward with a roar that rattled the windows in their frames. The sound tore from his throat, more animal than human, fury and terror twisted together.

The pack mind-link exploded with his command.

*"Marcus, mobilize the extraction team—NOW. Warriors to my position in sixty seconds. Bring cutting equipment, wolfsbane antidote, and medical supplies."*

He was already moving, the door slamming behind him hard enough to crack the frame.

*"My sister is dying."*