And even if there had been moon-coins left, it wouldn't have mattered. Edric had already decreed: one copper coin per wolf, per moon cycle.

Enough to kill any illusion that work here would ever pay.

The territory guards didn't truly try to stop the crowd.

After all, with no wages of their own, they could barely feed themselves.

Edric's voice cracked with fury:

"Is money all you people care about?!"

Someone pointed at the moonstone pendant hanging from his belt:

"That gold-inlaid moonstone alone could cover every last one of our back wages! What right do you have to lecture us?!"

"Pay us! Yeah! Pay us what we're owed!"

The crowd surged forward. Edric's face went white.

"These ungrateful wretches! That bastard Ashton must have spoiled them rotten!"

"Rush him! Strip the clothes off his back and sell them for what we're owed!"

"Go!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

Edric staggered as hands grabbed at him from every direction, barely keeping his footing. The cloying sweetness of his scent soured with panic, jasmine oil turning acrid.

"Decree from the Supreme Alpha!"

A column of pack soldiers marched through the gates, hauling chest after chest of royal tribute into the territory grounds.

It turned out that Supreme Alpha Wolfram Cindervane had visited the Crown Alpha's territory recently and taken a great liking to Edric's renovations.

These were his rewards.

Edric sank to his knees, trembling:

"I humbly thank the Supreme Alpha for this gracious bounty!"

The workers who had been seconds from rioting dropped to their knees as well, faces drained of color.

None of them had expected this.

The Supreme Alpha himself was backing Edric.

Edric reached into one of the chests and pulled out a gold ingot at random.

He tossed it at their feet:

"Take it. That's enough to cover several moon cycles of your wages.

"And if you don't get back to work and end up disrupting the territory's operations, don't be surprised when your heads roll!"

They had their money.

And the Supreme Alpha had made his position clear.

Everyone scrambled to bow their thanks and scattered.

Edric surveyed the chests of royal tribute filling the courtyard.

A cold smile spread across his face:

"Just as I thought. My approach was right all along.

"If that bastard Ashton hadn't thrown so much money at these ungrateful wretches before, they'd never have developed such an insatiable greed."

His handmaid kneaded his shoulders. "The Supreme Alpha himself admires your integrity, my lord.

"The Duskborne bloodline has always been a house of moon-singers. That Ashton is a disgrace to the family name!"

Edric's smile turned sharper:

"Starting today, one copper coin per moon cycle becomes one copper coin every two moon cycles."

The handmaid froze.

Edric's voice was ice. "Ashton spoiled these workers. I'll train it out of them."

It didn't take long. Within weeks, even more workers walked off the job.

Edric, furious, dragged several of them before the Pack Council magistrate.

He charged them with "willful negligence," "inciting unrest," and "disturbing the territory's order."

But even with wolves thrown in the silver cells, the rest still refused to lift a finger.

My side of things was a different story entirely.

Business grew by the day, profits climbing steadily, and I paid the highest wages in all of Moonhaven.

The wolves working for me were terrified of not doing enough.

Edric seemed to think he'd found the root of the problem.

I was directing my crew to hang the sign above our new trading post when Edric's men shoved their way forward.

One of them swung and knocked the signboard clean off its hooks.

It hit the ground and split in two.

The leader glanced at the moonstone bracelet on my temp worker's wrist and sneered:

"So it's true. You're the one corrupting wolves' hearts with money."

I stared at the shattered signboard. My voice was flat:

"What exactly do you think you're doing?"

"Take your wolves and get lost! Stop spreading this filth! It's because of coin-poisoned vermin like you that everyone's heads are full of nothing but profit!

"You call yourself a Duskborne? Our bloodline is a house of moon-singers! And you drag our name through the mud like this!"

I said nothing.

I just looked past him at the men he'd brought along.

My temp workers could afford moonstone bracelets.

His wolves still had patches sewn onto their trousers.

I clapped my hands together.

"New trading post opening! Five den-cooks, ten clerks, one pack manager needed! Three moon-coins a month, plus commission! Sign the blood-oath and get territory shares!"

The wolves standing behind Edric visibly froze.

From the moment they'd arrived, their eyes had been drifting over to my people. Every few seconds, a flash of envy crossed their faces.

"Me!"

Someone was the first to throw down his club.

"Me too! Me too!"

"You—!"

One by one, the wolves around Edric bolted toward me.

I waved them off with a laugh. "Too many, too many."

"I'm strong! Pick me!"

"I'll work part-time! I don't need the shares!"

Edric's teeth ground together.

"You worthless dogs! Ungrateful scum!"

I looked up.

"Fine. I'll take all of you. Now, escort the consort back to his territory nice and safe. And while you're there, tell your packmates at the estate that I'm hiring."

"Yes, sir!"

Edric was dragged toward the obsidian carriage by his own wolves. He stared back at me, seething.

"You bastards! How dare you betray me! I'm the one who hired you! Let go of me!"

"Stop!"

A hand shot out, grabbed him, and pulled him behind her.

Before I could even register what was happening.

A slap cracked across my face.

Elara stared at me.

"You lowlife. How dare you."

I looked at her in disbelief.

The warmth and affection that once filled Elara's eyes when she looked at me were gone. Replaced by nothing but cold indifference. Her scent hit me then, green tea and rain-dampened linen, and there was nothing in it. No warmth. No recognition. As if I were a stranger she'd found trespassing on her territory.

She turned and bowed her head to Edric, baring the side of her throat in deference.

"He was never properly disciplined. Offending you like this is unforgivable."

Edric steadied her by the arm.

He cast me a single frigid glance.

Elara spoke again.

"Everything Ashton just offered is void. All of you still work under Edric Duskborne. Anyone who tried to sign on with Ashton just now—

"Stay behind. Thirty lashes each."

My eyes went wide.

"Elara!"

Even Edric clearly hadn't expected it.

After a beat of surprise, he turned to me with that trademark sneer of contempt.

"Then I thank the Alpha Heir for her kindness."

Edric climbed into the carriage and left.

The wolves were forced to the ground.

Elara's own guards administered the lashes. Not a shred of mercy. Within minutes the entire street echoed with screams. The scent of blood rose thick and coppery into the air, and my wolf threw itself against my ribs, snarling, clawing to get out.

"Your Highness, have mercy! We'll never work for the consort again!"

"Never in this lifetime! Please, mercy!"

"Elara!"

I lunged forward, half out of my mind with fury.

A maidservant caught my arm and held me back.

"Your Highness, please don't make things worse for yourself. Surely you know. The Alpha Heir has been in love with your brother since they were pups."

The air left my lungs.

I remembered asking her once whether she truly had feelings for me. That smile she gave. Saying nothing.

In that moment.

I understood.

I understood everything.

My wolf went still inside me. Not growling, not pacing. Just still. The kind of still that comes when something breaks so cleanly there's nothing left to fight.

Elara's gaze settled on me.

"You could have gone after anyone. But not him."

Her voice was ice.

"As of today, you and I are no longer mates."

Because I'd poached her beloved's wolves, she'd sentenced our bond to death.

I laughed. Bitter and hollow.

"Good. I didn't want to be your mate anyway."

In the span of half a year.

I'd endured two bond rejections.

Everything I'd earned through my own trade routes. By pack law, it all belonged to the Alpha Heir's household.

Elara tossed me half without a second thought.

She was just like my brother.

She looked down on every moon-coin I'd made.

I secured an Alpha Trade Seal for a river route. And started a trading operation along the Riverbend Territories.

After that public beating in broad daylight, almost no wolf in Moonhaven dared work for me anymore.

I had no choice but to hire workers from beyond the territory borders.

Edric, on the other hand, had it easy. With a pack princess backing him up, he had leverage I didn't. Workers were conscripted from the lower dens and forced to labor under his command. But at two moon-coins a month, people started fleeing before long. Some masked their scents, disguised themselves as outsiders, and came to work on my supply caravan instead.

With no one left at the estate, the businesses under Pack Princess Elara's name had no goods to move. Edric couldn't even put food on the table.

That was the day he showed up with soldiers. All of them under Elara's authority.

He stared at my massive trade convoy, loaded and ready for the southern route, a sneer curling his lips.

"Seize it."

I stepped in front of him.

"Brother, how can you be so unreasonable?"

He scoffed.

"If you hadn't been out here throwing moon-coins around and disrupting the market, the princess's businesses would never have failed! Buying loyalty with coin. You've dragged the Duskborne name through the mud! The only way to stop you from lining your own pockets is to hand all this cargo over to me."

He was about to give the order again. I blocked his path.

"Brother, this is my cargo. My business. You ran yours into the ground, so now you come to steal mine?"

"Steal?" He sneered. "I'm simply purifying your soul, little brother. Do it."

"No!"

I scrambled to stop them.

Elara's voice cut through the air.

"Hold him down."

My men and I were slammed to the ground at the same time. The impact drove the breath from my lungs, and I felt my wolf surge against my ribs, snarling, clawing to get out. I forced it down. Not yet.

Every last crate of goods I'd hauled all the way from the Riverbend Territories was seized under Edric's name.

He looked at the emptied convoy and smiled coldly.

"Brother, why must you insist on working against me?"

I said nothing.

"Men, burn this convoy. Make sure Ashton Duskborne never trades again."

"Yes, sir!"

"I dare you."

I smiled. "Raise the banner."

A crewman yanked the cover off the standard mounted on the lead wagon.

Four words blazed in the sunlight: ROYAL TRIBUTE GOODS.

I rose to my feet.

Looked straight at Edric's bloodless face.

"What nerve you have, brother. Stealing from the Supreme Alpha himself."