He Chose My Sister Over His True Mate

The lavender scent clings to my skin like a second layer, artificial and cloying. I hate it. It's Lainey's scent, not mine, but that's the point. I'm supposed to be her tonight.

My hands shake as I stand at the altar, the Pierce Pack house looming behind me like a fortress. Hundreds of wolves watch from the shadows, their eyes glowing in the torchlight. I can feel their judgment, their curiosity. They're wondering why their Alpha agreed to this political mating with the Wood Pack's daughter.

If only they knew the truth.

Alpha Sebastian Pierce stands across from me, and I can't bring myself to meet his eyes. He's everything the rumors promised—tall, broad-shouldered, with a presence that makes the air feel heavier. His dark hair is pulled back, revealing a face carved from stone. Cold. Ruthless. The kind of man who kills first and asks questions never.

The kind of man who will execute me the moment he realizes I'm not Lainey.

"Avery Wood." His voice cuts through my panic, and I flinch. He used my real name. Does he know? My heart hammers against my ribs. "Do you accept this bond?"

I force myself to nod. My voice comes out barely above a whisper. "I do."

His jaw tightens. For a moment, I think he's going to call it off, expose me right here in front of everyone. Instead, he steps closer, and the world narrows to just the two of us. His hand cups the back of my neck, tilting my head to expose the marking spot.

"This will hurt," he says, and there's something strange in his tone. Almost... gentle?

Before I can process it, his teeth sink into my neck.

Pain explodes through me, white-hot and all-consuming. I bite down on my lip to keep from screaming, tasting copper. The mate bond snaps into place like a chain wrapping around my soul, binding me to him in ways I don't understand. Through the agony, I feel his wolf—massive, ancient, powerful—brush against my consciousness.

And then he freezes.

His teeth are still in my neck, but everything about him has gone utterly still. I can feel his wolf's confusion, its sudden alertness. Oh God. He knows. He knows I'm not Lainey. The scent-masking herbs weren't enough.

This is it. This is where I die.

But instead of ripping my throat out, Sebastian completes the mark. His tongue soothes the wound, sealing the bond, and when he pulls back, his eyes lock onto mine. They're not cold anymore. They're burning with something I can't name—possession, maybe, or fury, or something darker.

"Mine," he says, so quietly only I can hear.

The word sends a shiver down my spine. Not fear, exactly. Something else.

The pack erupts in howls of celebration, but I barely hear them. Sebastian's hand is still on my neck, his thumb brushing over the fresh mark. His expression gives nothing away, but I can feel the tension radiating off him.

He knows. And he's letting me live.

Why?

---

They bring me to the Luna's quarters, and I keep waiting for the guards to drag me to the dungeons instead. But they don't. The room is beautiful—far nicer than anything I've ever had at the Wood Pack. Silk curtains, a massive bed, furniture that probably costs more than my mother's medical bills.

I don't touch any of it. I sit on the edge of the bed, my neck throbbing, and wait for Sebastian to come kill me.

He doesn't come that night. Or the next.

When I finally see him again, it's in the pack house dining hall. He walks past me without a word, his face a mask of ice. In front of the other wolves, he treats me like I'm invisible. He barks orders at the staff, discusses territory disputes with his Beta, and never once looks in my direction.

But that night, a healer arrives at my door with salves for the marking wound. The best in the pack, she tells me. Alpha's orders.

I don't understand.

Days turn into weeks. Weeks into months. Sebastian maintains his cold distance in public, but the small gestures continue. The finest food appears at my door. Guards are stationed outside my quarters—not to keep me in, I realize, but to keep others out. When I venture into pack business, trying to make myself useful so they won't throw me out, no one stops me.

I become the Silent Luna. I organize food drives for the lower-ranking wolves. I memorize the names of every pup in the pack. I manage logistics while Sebastian expands our territory, and slowly, impossibly, the pack starts to accept me.

But I never forget that I'm living on borrowed time.

---

Three years later, I'm still waiting for the axe to fall.

The pack dinner is in full swing, wolves laughing and drinking around the long tables. I'm picking at my food, trying to stay invisible like always, when I hear it.

"The Luna can't even shift," a Delta named Marcus sneers from across the table. "What kind of mate is that for an Alpha like Sebastian? Wolfless and weak."

The table goes quiet. My face burns, but I keep my eyes down. I've heard worse.

"She's probably not even his real mate," Marcus continues, emboldened by the silence. "Just some political—"

The temperature in the room drops.

Sebastian's Alpha aura slams into Marcus like a physical blow. The Delta's face goes white, his body convulsing as he struggles to breathe under the crushing weight of Sebastian's dominance. Chairs scrape as wolves scramble back, their heads bowed in submission.

"Say another word about my mate," Sebastian says, his voice deadly calm, "and I'll rip your tongue out myself."

Marcus collapses, gasping. Sebastian doesn't even look at him. His eyes find mine across the table, and for the first time in three years, I see something other than ice in them.

Something that looks almost like... protection.

My heart stutters. I don't understand. I've never understood.

Why does he keep saving me when he should want me dead?