Chapter 1

Mara's POV

Two years after my Alpha made me lose our pup because he said he hated children, I learn he has three pups with three other she-wolves.

His childhood sweetheart. His first love. His pack secretary.

And for three years, I have been helping raise all three without knowing they carry his blood.

-

The day before the Harvest Moon Gathering, Derek asks me to take three gift bundles to the Pack Nursery.

“They’re pups being raised without a sire,” he says. “You’ve always been good with children. I trust you with this.”

I go.

At the nursery, an older caretaker smiles the moment she sees me.

“Luna Mara, the Alpha’s three pups are in different rooms. Which one do you want to see first?”

I stop.

“The Alpha’s what?”

Her smile disappears.

For a second, neither of us speaks.

Then she looks toward the record room.

“Luna… I thought you knew.”

My wolf goes completely still.

The caretaker leads me inside and pulls down the Cedar Ridge bloodline ledger.

Three names.

Three pups.

Three dams.

Vanessa Reed.

Madeline Shaw.

Tessa Grant.

Derek’s childhood sweetheart.

His first love.

His pack secretary.

My fingers tighten around the edge of the ledger.

Under Sire, the same name is written three times.

Derek Holloway.

My Alpha.

My mate.

The caretaker looks pale now.

“These pups were kept under unrecognized bloodline status. I only assumed… since the Alpha requested a recognition ceremony this Harvest Moon…”

Recognition ceremony.

So he plans to bring them into the Holloway bloodline openly.

The caretaker opens another ledger.

“These are their care records. Luna relief allotment covered most of their expenses.”

I look down.

Winter clothes.

Healer visits.

Nursery meals.

Festival gifts.

The first entry is dated two months after I lost my pup.

My name sits beside every approval.

Mara Holloway, Luna.

For three years, Derek tells me these are fatherless pups who need help.

For three years, I use my Luna allowance to feed them, clothe them, and cover their care.

His pups.

The caretaker hesitates, then lowers her voice.

“There’s more.”

She shows me a private message thread between Derek, the three women, and several of his friends.

The newest image is of me kneeling in front of one of the pups, tying his boot.

Vanessa writes:

[Our Luna looks useful around pups.]

Tessa replies:

[Free help. Why waste it?]

The others laugh.

Someone asks:

[Which house tonight, Alpha?]

Derek answers:

[Same arrangement.]

[Two nights each.]

[Sunday with Mara. She still doesn’t know.]

My hands start shaking.

I scroll farther back.

Two years.

The night after my surgery.

One of his friends asks:

[The Luna’s pup is really gone?]

Derek replies:

[Handled.]

Then another line appears.

[She loves pups. She can help with ours.]

The words blur.

That same week, Derek brought Tessa’s newborn son to my room.

I was still weak. Still bleeding.

He placed the baby in my arms and said, “Holding a pup might help.”

I bought that child a newborn gift.

I kissed his soft forehead and whispered, “You’re lucky. At least your parents wanted you.”

Derek stood beside the bed.

He said nothing.

Now I understand why.

He never hated pups.

He only hated mine.

I don’t cry.

I ask the caretaker for copies of the bloodline and relief records.

Then I send word to the Pack Elders.

[I am filing to dissolve my mate bond with Alpha Derek Holloway.]

After that, I leave Cedar Ridge territory before he can return.

I have barely crossed the southern border when Derek reaches me through the mind-link.

“Mara.”

I shut my eyes.

His voice is calm.

“You went through the nursery records?”

“Yes.”

A pause.

Then he says, “So you know.”

“Monday through Saturday,” I say. “Two nights each?”

He exhales.

“Yes.”

“I stay with Vanessa, Madeline, and Tessa two nights each. Sunday is yours. I have never missed a Sunday in five years.”

My wolf finally stirs.

Not with longing.

With disgust.

Every Sunday, I waited at the Alpha residence.

He called the other six nights patrol duty, territory work, or Elder business.

“They gave me pups without asking me for a bond or a title,” he continues. “You have my mark. You’re my Luna.”

I grip the car door.

“So that makes us even?”

“Mara, don’t twist it.”

His tone hardens.

“The Holloway private estate will be divided among those three pups. I promised them that. Another child would only reduce what each of them receives.”

To him, our pup was never a child.

Just a fourth share of the estate.

He says, “You have everything else.”

“Do I?”

He ignores the question.

“I won’t agree to sever the bond.”

“You don’t have to.”

“The Elders will hear the petition.”

“Mara.”

For the first time, something rough enters his voice.

His wolf presses faintly against the bond.

Too late.

“Come home Sunday,” he says. “We’ll talk.”

I sever the mind-link.

Before nightfall, I find one last piece of evidence in the private message records: an old recording from the day of our Mating Ceremony.

Vanessa is already pregnant.

Madeline asks Derek, “Once you mark Mara as Luna, what happens to us?”

Derek answers without hesitation.

“Each of you can give me one pup. I’ll provide a home and everything the child needs.”

Tessa asks, “What if Mara wants one someday?”

Then Derek looks toward the Pack Hall, where I am waiting for him in my mating dress.

“She gets my mark.”

“She gets to be Luna.”

Then comes the sentence that ends five years of my life.

“She can’t have everything.”

He takes my hand.

He marks me before the entire pack.

And I think I am becoming his family.

I stop the recording.

For five years, I wait for my Alpha every Sunday.

This Sunday, he can wait for me.