Chapter 2

The first rogue lunged.

I rolled sideways, shielding my belly. His claws raked across my back instead, tearing through flesh and muscle. I screamed into the wind, but no one was coming.

No one even knew I was here.

The second rogue circled, saliva dripping from its jaw. They could smell the blood. They could smell my weakness.

I was going to die in this snow. Me and my baby. And Liam would never know. He'd be too busy with his new Luna to care.

Just as the third rogue crouched to pounce, a deafening roar shook the forest. The ground trembled. Trees cracked and split apart.

A massive black wolf, twice the size of any Alpha I'd ever seen, exploded from the darkness. He tore through the first rogue like paper, snapped the second's neck with one bite, and sent the third fleeing with a snarl that echoed off the mountains.

Then he turned to me.

Golden eyes. Not amber like a normal Alpha. Pure molten gold, glowing in the storm.

I knew what that meant. Every wolf knew.

Lycan.

He shifted. A man stood before me—tall, dark-haired, with a jaw carved from stone and a scar that ran from his temple to his chin. He wore authority like a second skin.

He looked at me, at the blood pooling beneath me, at my swollen belly, and something flickered in his golden gaze.

"Please," I whispered. "My baby..."

Then everything went black.

I woke in a bed that smelled like cedar and smoke. Clean sheets. Warm fire. Medical equipment beeping softly beside me.

My hands flew to my stomach.

Flat.

"No. No, no, no—"

"Your daughter is alive."

The voice came from the doorway. The Lycan man leaned against the frame, arms crossed. A small pink bundle rested in a bassinet beside the bed.

I lunged for her, wincing as stitches pulled across my abdomen. She was tiny, wrinkled, perfect. Ten fingers, ten toes, a full head of dark hair.

She was breathing.

I sobbed so hard my whole body shook.

"The pack doctor performed an emergency delivery," he said. "You lost a lot of blood. Another ten minutes and both of you would've been dead."

I pressed my lips to my daughter's forehead, tears dripping onto her skin.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Ironveil Fortress. Capital of the Lycan Kingdom."

My blood ran cold.

Ironveil was a myth. A legend whispered by wolves who wanted to scare their children. The seat of the Lycan King, the most feared ruler on the continent, who hadn't been seen in public in over a decade.

"And you are...?"

He studied me for a long moment. Then—

"Kael Voss. Lycan King."

I was holding my newborn daughter in the bed of the most dangerous man alive.

"Why did you save me?" I asked.

His jaw tightened. He looked at me the way someone looks at a wound they don't know how to treat.

"Because you're my mate."

The words hit me like a second rejection—except in reverse. My wolf, broken and bleeding from Liam's severed bond, suddenly stirred. She lifted her head for the first time in hours.

Mate.

"That's impossible," I whispered. "I was already mated. I was rejected—"

"I know what you were." His voice was low, dangerous. "I could feel every moment of it. I've been tracking you since your bond broke."

He stepped closer, and I instinctively clutched my baby tighter.

"I'm not asking you for anything," he said. "You're injured. Your daughter needs medical care. Stay until you're healed. After that, you decide."

He turned to leave.

"Wait," I said. "Why would a Lycan King care about a rejected, exiled wolf with nothing?"

He paused at the door. Without turning around, he said—

"Because I've been waiting for you for twelve years. And I don't intend to let you die now."

The door closed behind him.

My daughter squirmed in my arms, letting out a tiny cry.

I looked down at her, this miracle that survived exile, blizzard, and rogue attack.

"It's okay," I whispered. "Mommy's here."

But even as I held her, one thought consumed me.

Liam never once asked about the baby. Not once.

He exiled his own pregnant wife and didn't spare a single thought for the child she carried.