The tablet was old, its screen cracked in three places, but it worked. A guard—young, with eyes that couldn't quite meet mine—had left it on the meal tray two days ago. An accident, maybe. Or mercy.

I didn't care which.

My fingers shook as I navigated through the pack's security system. The password was embarrassingly simple: Christopher's birthday. The same code he'd used for everything since we were teenagers.

The cameras loaded one by one. Kitchen. Training grounds. Main hall.

Then the balcony.

Christopher stood there in full Alpha regalia, the afternoon sun turning his dark hair bronze. The entire pack gathered below, their faces upturned, expectant. I recognized the formation—this was a formal announcement.

My heart started hammering before my brain caught up.

Adelynn stepped into frame, wearing a dress I'd never seen before. Cream silk that caught the light, making her look ethereal. Untouchable. She moved to Christopher's side, and he smiled at her with something that looked almost like tenderness.

He reached into his pocket.

No.

The Luna's collar gleamed in his hands—white gold etched with moon phases, sapphires the color of midnight. My mother's collar. The one she'd worn until the day she died. The one that should have passed to me.

Christopher's voice carried through the tablet's tinny speaker. "Blood Moon Pack, I present to you my Chosen Mate. Adelynn has stood by me through crisis, shown unwavering loyalty when others faltered. She is human, yes, but her heart is stronger than any wolf's."

He fastened the collar around her neck.

The pack erupted in cheers.

I watched Adelynn's hand rise to touch the sapphires—my mother's sapphires—and something inside me cracked so deeply I thought I'd shatter.

Luna didn't even whimper. She'd gone silent days ago.

I turned off the tablet and lay back on the narrow bed, staring at the ceiling until the stone blurred.

Weeks crawled by. The wolfsbane worked its way out of my system slowly, leaving my healing fractured and incomplete. The scars on my back pulled tight whenever I moved, a constant reminder.

Then Christopher came for me.

He unlocked the cell without knocking, holding a garment bag. "Get dressed. It's my birthday celebration tonight. You're attending."

I didn't move. "No."

"That wasn't a request." His Alpha tone pressed against my skull, making Luna whimper. "You're still my mate, Kiana. Officially. Your absence would raise questions I don't feel like answering."

"Tell them the truth, then."

His jaw clenched. "Get. Dressed."

The dress was beautiful—deep emerald silk that complemented my dark hair. It had long sleeves and a high back, carefully designed to hide every scar. But the neckline plunged low, exposing my unmarked neck for everyone to see.

No claiming bite. No collar. Nothing.

Christopher led me into the main hall, and conversation died. Every eye tracked us as we walked, and I felt their judgment like physical weight. The Alpha's mate, but not his Luna. Present but not honored.

He seated me at a table near the kitchen. The Omega table.

I sat, spine straight, and watched him return to the head table where Adelynn waited, radiant in silver and sapphires.

Dinner was torture. I pushed food around my plate while laughter and music swirled around me. Adelynn kept touching Christopher's arm, leaning close to whisper things that made him smile. The collar—my mother's collar—caught the candlelight with every movement.

Then she stood, glass in hand, and the room quieted.

"I want to thank you all for welcoming me into this pack," she said, her voice sweet and clear. "I know I'm not what you expected in a Luna. But I promise to serve you with everything I have."

The pack applauded. Christopher pulled her down for a kiss that lasted too long, and I tasted bile.

When the speeches ended, Adelynn made her way through the crowd, stopping at tables, accepting congratulations. She was heading toward me. I knew it before she changed direction.

She slid into the seat beside me, close enough that I could smell her perfume. That sickly sweet scent that had haunted the cabin.

"You look lovely tonight," she said, loud enough for nearby tables to hear. Then she leaned in, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I sold you to those Rogues for fifty thousand dollars. Paid off my gambling debts and had enough left over for this dress."

I couldn't breathe.

"Christopher knows," she continued, her smile never wavering. "I told him everything. He said you were a necessary sacrifice. That's the exact word he used—necessary." She touched the collar at her throat. "He loves me, Kiana. Really loves me. You were just... convenient."

She stood, patting my shoulder like I was a child, and walked away.

I sat frozen, her words echoing in my skull, while the party continued around me.

The morning run was tradition—the pack shifting together to celebrate the Alpha's birthday under the full moon's fading light. I didn't want to go. My body wasn't ready. But Christopher's Beta, Marcus, came to collect me with orders I couldn't refuse.

I shifted painfully, feeling every scar pull and tear. Luna emerged weak and small, her golden eyes dim. We fell to the back of the pack immediately, struggling to keep pace.

Adelynn insisted on joining in a jeep, claiming she wanted to "experience the tradition." Christopher agreed, of course.

I watched the vehicle bounce along the trail ahead, Adelynn at the wheel, laughing.

Then she swerved.

The jeep tilted, sliding into a drainage ditch with a crunch of metal. Not fast enough to be truly dangerous. Just enough.

Christopher's massive black wolf skidded to a stop, then bolted toward the wreckage. The entire pack followed, abandoning the run.

I kept moving, one paw in front of the other, until my back leg caught on a root.

I went down hard. Something tore—old wounds ripping open. Blood soaked into my fur, hot and sticky.

I shifted back to human, gasping, pressing my hand against my side. The world tilted.

By the time I stumbled into the pack infirmary, Christopher was already there, cradling Adelynn like she was made of glass. She had a small bruise forming on her wrist. That was it.

I collapsed against the doorframe, blood dripping onto the clean tile.

The Head Healer, Dr. Morrison, looked up, his eyes widening. "Luna Kiana—"

"Tend to Adelynn first," Christopher cut him off, his voice sharp. "The Luna's comfort comes first."

Dr. Morrison hesitated, his gaze darting between us. "Alpha, she's bleeding—"

"I gave you an order."

The healer's shoulders slumped. He turned back to Adelynn, gently examining her wrist while I bled onto his floor.

Christopher didn't even look at me.

I slid down the wall, my vision graying at the edges, and wondered if this was how it would end. Bleeding out in a pack infirmary while my mate chose someone else.

Again.

Dr. Morrison's hands shook as he inserted the IV line into my arm.

"Alpha, this is dangerous," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Luna Kiana has already lost significant blood from her injuries. If we take more—"

"Do it." Christopher didn't even look at me. His entire focus was on Adelynn, who lay on the examination table with her eyes half-closed, one hand pressed dramatically to her stomach.

"I feel so weak," she murmured. "Everything's spinning."

Christopher gripped her hand like she was dying. "How much blood does she need?"

"Alpha, she has a bruised wrist. There's no internal bleeding. I've done a full examination—"

"How. Much."

Dr. Morrison's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Two pints. Maybe three. But Luna Kiana can't spare—"

"Then take it from someone else," I managed, my voice hoarse. The room kept tilting sideways.

"Adelynn has a rare blood type," Christopher said flatly. "You're the only compatible donor in the pack."

Of course I was. We shared a father, after all.

I watched the blood flow through the tube, dark red and warm, draining from my body into a bag that would go into hers. Each pulse made my vision blur a little more. Luna whimpered deep in my mind, her presence growing fainter.

*Hold on,* I told her. *Just hold on.*

But she was slipping away, retreating to someplace I couldn't follow. The mind-link between us stretched thin, then thinner, until it snapped like a broken thread.

The silence in my head was absolute.

"Luna?" I tried to call her, but there was nothing. Just emptiness where my wolf should be.

Panic clawed up my throat. "Stop. Stop the transfusion. My wolf—"

"Keep going," Christopher ordered.

Dr. Morrison looked at me, and I saw the apology in his eyes before he turned away.

The last thing I heard before darkness took me was Adelynn's satisfied sigh.

I woke up three days later in the same cell, with a note on the nightstand: *Rest. You're no use to anyone weak.*

No use. The words burned worse than the wolfsbane had.

It took me another week to gather the strength to walk. Luna still hadn't returned. The emptiness where she should be felt like a missing limb, phantom pain that never stopped.

I needed air. I needed to remember who I was before all of this.

I needed my mother.

The guards didn't stop me when I left. Maybe they'd been ordered not to. Maybe they just didn't care.

The forest path to my mother's memorial tree was overgrown, but my feet remembered the way. She'd planted it when I was five—a silver birch that caught moonlight like water. We'd carved our initials into the bark together, her hand guiding mine.

I heard the chainsaw before I saw them.

My father stood beside the tree, his face set in grim determination. Adelynn perched on a nearby stump, scrolling through her phone, occasionally pointing to where she wanted the gazebo positioned.

The chainsaw bit into white bark, and I screamed.

I don't remember running. I just remember my hands on my father's arm, trying to pull him away, trying to stop the blade that was cutting through my mother's memory.

"Stop! Please, you can't—"

He shoved me off. "Adelynn needs this space, Kiana. Your mother's been gone for fifteen years. It's time to move on."

"This is all I have left of her!"

"You have your memories." He revved the chainsaw again. "That should be enough."

I lunged for him, desperate, and something massive slammed into me from the side. I hit the ground hard, the air knocked from my lungs. Christopher's Gamma, Derek, pinned me down with one hand, his expression apologetic but firm.

"Don't make this harder, Luna."

I struggled anyway, watching through tears as the chainsaw carved deeper. The tree groaned, tilting, and I felt something inside me tilt with it.

Then Christopher was there, his presence filling the clearing like a storm.

For one desperate moment, I thought he'd come to stop this. To protect what mattered to me, just once.

"Let her up," he said, and Derek released me.

I scrambled to my feet, pointing at the half-cut tree. "Christopher, please. This is my mother's—"

"You attacked your father." His voice was ice. "You tried to assault your sister's property development."

"Property development? This is sacred ground!"

"This is pack land, and I decide what's sacred." He stepped closer, using his height to loom over me. "Adelynn has been nothing but gracious to you, and you repay her with violence and jealousy. I'm starting to think the Rogues had the right idea about you."

The words hit like a physical blow.

Behind him, the tree fell with a crash that echoed through the forest. Adelynn clapped her hands together, delighted.

"Perfect! The gazebo will look amazing here."

I looked at Christopher, at this man I'd loved since childhood, and saw a stranger.

"You're a monster," I whispered.

He smiled, cold and sharp. "No, Kiana. I'm an Alpha. And you're going to learn the difference."

The invitation arrived the next morning, written in Adelynn's looping handwriting.

*You are cordially invited to the Mating Ceremony of Alpha Christopher Spencer and Adelynn Bennett. Your presence is required to perform the Blessing of the Sister.*

I stared at the words until they blurred.

Christopher appeared in my cell doorway that evening, his expression unreadable. "You'll attend. You'll perform the blessing. And you'll smile while you do it."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I'll exile Marcus, Elena, and every other pack member who's shown you kindness." He said it casually, like he was discussing the weather. "They'll be Rogues by sunset. Their families will suffer. All because you couldn't put aside your selfishness for one ceremony."

I thought of Marcus, who'd left me that tablet. Of Elena, who'd tried to treat my wounds when Christopher wasn't looking. Of the young guard who'd brought me extra blankets.

"You'd really do that."

"Try me."

He left, and I sat in the darkness, holding the invitation, feeling the last pieces of my heart turn to ash.