The Alpha Who Faked Our Bond

Amara’s POV

For five years, I had worn a ring that meant nothing to the Moon. No blood moon hunt beneath the stars. No sacred binding before the Elders. No vows howled beneath the ancient oak where our ancestors clawed their loyalty into earth and pack. Only a hollow contract that my so-called mate, Alpha Sebastian Mooncrest, shoved into my hands, insisting it was enough.

He promised the rites would come later, that once the pack was secured and his battles eased, he would bind me before the spirits. But five winters passed, and the Moon never marked me as his true mate.

Last week, when I dared to ask again, timidly, while folding his battle leathers, trying to steady my voice against the thrum of hope in my chest, he did not even glance away from his papers of trade and alliance.

“Alpha Sebastian… maybe this year we could finally hold the mating ceremony? For our fifth anniversary? Maybe the Moon can bless us at last?”

His eyes stayed fixed on the parchment, cold and dismissive.

“What for? You already bear my mark. A ceremony is for wolves who need proof. We are past that.”

“But you promised,” I whispered, my throat raw with the plea I had carried for years. “You said, when the storms of war passed—”

“You’re childish,” he snarled, his wolf flashing in his tone. “Drop it, Amara. The pack treasury is thin. I will not waste resources on hollow tradition.”

And like every time before, I swallowed my pain. But not today.

Today marked five years since I had stood beside him, believing myself chosen, believing I mattered. He had said he was too busy with patrols and leading the Mooncrest Pack to celebrate, but I told myself I could still honor the day. I rose early, went to the market, and gathered what I needed for his favorite meal.

I even bought white moon-lilies, the same flowers he once claimed reminded him of purity under starlight. I cradled them to my chest, foolishly warmed by the thought of surprising him.

But the Moon pulled me elsewhere.

Just one block from home, as I passed the stone steps of the Pack Hall, a strange instinct stopped me. My wolf stirred uneasily, urging me to look. And when I turned, my blood froze.

Alpha Sebastian.

And Vera.

My sister, lost to the wild five years ago, is now walking beside him with her arm coiled through his as if she had never vanished. They laughed, their voices soft and intimate, like a cruel echo of what should have been mine. In Vera’s hands gleamed a parchment, fresh ink glistening beneath the sun.

A marriage certificate.

The scent of betrayal struck me harder than claws.

“Are you sure this was allowed?” Vera asked, her voice laced with mock worry. “What about my sister, Amara? You are still bound to her. She’s still your Luna, Alpha.”

Alpha Sebastian’s voice carried, cold and cutting. “That bond was false. I never brought her before the Moon, never offered her to the Ancestors. She was a stand-in, a shadow of you. Now that you’ve returned, I will discard her. Permanently.”

Vera gasped, as if testing his devotion. “You mean… after I ran from you on our wedding day, you still love me? Even after I abandoned you?”

Alpha Sebastian cupped her face with the tenderness he had once faked for me. “Always. You are my true mate. Amara was only a convenience. She shared your scent, your face, your bloodline, so she warmed my bed until you came back.”

My knees buckled.

I could not breathe. My wolf clawed at my ribs, keening with grief.

And then, two more scents hit me. Familiar, beloved once. My brothers, Luis and Erol, emerged from the hall with grins stretched across their faces.

“You sealed it already?” Luis asked Alpha Sebastian, clapping his back. “Good. Now we can move forward.”

“What about the ceremony?” Erol laughed. “Amara will throw a fit if she finds out. Maybe send her to the human lands, or let the rogues deal with her.”

Luis added, his words like venom in my ears, “She is too weak-hearted for the pack anyway. Let’s get rid of her soon.”

They all laughed, the sound of a chorus of betrayal that crushed me.

The same brothers who swore to protect me. The same sister I mourned. The mate I sacrificed my pride for. They were all bound together in a conspiracy of wolves, sharpening their teeth for my ruin.

The shame, the heartbreak, the rage, it was all too heavy, too sharp, I couldn’t take it, I ran.

My wolf fought to rise, but my body was weak, broken by years of being nothing more than Alpha Sebastian’s shadow. Tears blurred my vision, the world tilting as my lungs burned.

And then, the screech of iron wheels, the thunder of hooves, a blinding crash of pain.

The world went black.

But as darkness claimed me, the Moon whispered in my bones, ancient and fierce.

From blood and betrayal, your true form is forged. You are not prey. You are the storm.