My Alpha Husband Found Me in His Brother’s Bed

"The Alpha expects you in the Great Hall, Luna Iris."

Mira kept her eyes glued to the stone floor.

"No," I said.

"Iris, please." Mira raised her head, terror tightening her features. "This is the third summons this week. You rejected the first two. You cannot ignore the Alpha of Blackthorn."

"Tell him I am ill. I took a chill by the courtyard." I smoothed my high collar, making sure the fabric shielded every inch of my neck.

"He will not believe it a third time."

"Then let him doubt it," I muttered, turning away toward the arched window.

Six months. For six months, I had played the ghost of Blackthorn Pack.

I was Iris Everhart, a princess of the Everhart Pack. I was raised to understand sacrifice. Royal daughters did not marry for romance; we married to forge alliances, to trade our names for peace treaties. I had made peace with that destiny long before my carriage left my homeland. I knew I would belong to Alpha Zephyr Veyron. I knew I would bear his title as Luna.

I just had not planned on being ruined on the road.

"We need fresh air," I told Mira, breaking the suffocating silence. "Get the willow baskets. We are going to the river."

"My Lady, the guards—"

"Move." I cut in.

Half an hour later, the cold current rushed past my bare calves.

The river marked the southern boundary of the packhouse grounds, shaded by towering pines. I waded into the shallows, a carved hunting dagger balanced in my grip. Mira crouched by the mossy bank with the wicker creel, glancing nervously over her shoulder every ten seconds.

"You should not be standing in freezing water, Luna," Mira fretted. "If Alpha Zephyr hears—"

"Alpha Zephyr does not govern what I do," I said.

The water splashed. A silver trout wriggled against the reeds. With the sharp reflexes of my wolf, I lunged, pinning the slick body against the riverbed before hauling it from the current.

"See?" I offered a faint smirk. "Dinner."

A twig snapped in the forest behind us.

The scent struck me before I heard the footsteps.

Cedar. Fresh snow. Crushed pine.

The trout slipped through my numb fingers and hit the water with a dull thud.

My heart slammed against my ribs like a trapped bird. That smell had haunted my dreams every night for half a year. I remembered those broad shoulders pinning me to the forest moss. I remembered the lean waist, the moon shining on ink-black hair, and the merciless heat of his body anchoring mine, riding out the violent, drug-induced fever after bandits ambushed my caravan.

He had kept my feral wolf from tearing itself apart, knotting himself into my blood until the poison burned out.

And when I woke at dawn, desperate to fulfill my political duty, I had fled back to my guard escort—only to discover he had left an indelible mark branded deep into my collarbone—a silent, dormant brand that strangely bore no Alpha scent, yet burned like hellfire against my skin.

I turned around.

A male stood at the edge of the tree line.

He was tall, broader than any warrior in my father's guard, dressed in dark leather tunic and heavy trousers. His dark hair fell over his brow, framing striking gray eyes that cut right through me.

He stared at me, his gaze dropping to the high neckline of my gown, then rising back to my face.

My voice barely functioned. I forced myself to stand tall, gripping the spear until my knuckles turned white.

"Who is he?" I whispered.

Mira dropped her basket. Pine needles scattered across her skirts as she bowed her head, trembling as she bared her neck in instinctive submission.

"That's Kael Veyron," she choked out. "Alpha Zephyr's younger brother."

The air vanished from my lungs.

*Kael Veyron.*

The male who had touched me in the dark. The stranger who had claimed my body and knotted his bond into my soul.

He was the Alpha's brother.

Kael did not bow. He did not speak. A slow, mocking smirk touched the corner of his mouth, and then he turned back into the shadows of the woods, vanishing as quickly as he had appeared.

"Luna?" Mira was shaking my sleeve.

"Gather the baskets," I whispered, my knees turning to water. "We are going back."

Night fell like a lead weight over the packhouse.

I could not sleep. I tossed across the massive four-poster bed, the silk sheets tangling around my thighs. Every time I shut my eyes, I saw those gray eyes by the riverbank.

If Zephyr discovered the mark on my collarbone, it would mean war between Blackthorn and Everhart. Blackthorn would call it treason. My father would call it disgrace. A contract wedding could only survive if the Luna was clean, and I had arrived at the altar already carrying another wolf's claim.

That was why I had refused Zephyr three times.

A sudden, sharp thud echoed from the corridor outside my chambers.

"Luna Iris!" Mira's voice screamed through the heavy oak door. "Alpha Zephyr is coming down the west hall!"

My blood turned to ice.

The fourth time. He had come himself.

"Iris!" Mira banged on the wood. "He has his enforcers with him! You have to open the latch!"

Before I could throw off the covers, a gust of cold mountain air swept through the open terrace doors. The heavy velvet drapes flared wide.

The familiar scent flooded the room.

Cedar. Crushed pine. Snow.

A figure emerged from the balcony shadows, stepping into the dim candlelight of my bedchamber with total silence.

Kael walked straight to my bed. He didn't hesitate. He kicked off his boots, climbed onto the mattress, and stretched his long frame across the pillows, leaning his head back against the headboard.

"What are you doing?" I gasped, scrambling backward toward the edge of the mattress. "Get out! Zephyr is outside that door!"

Kael turned his gray eyes toward me, a wicked spark gleaming in the dark.

"So," he murmured, his deep voice sliding over my skin like velvet, "you're the Luna."