Chapter 1
At the Moon Goddess Feast, my stepson Cassian—the Alpha heir of Ravenmoor Pack—drank a goblet of moonwine laced with lustroot.
He dragged me into the woods, pinned me against a tree, and begged me to let him fuck me.
I had hidden my forbidden feelings for him for four years.
So I gave in.
As pleasure swept me under, I looked over Cassian’s shoulder and saw Selene Whitlock, the she wolf he was meant to claim at the next full moon, hiding behind a tree and watching us through tear filled eyes.
Before the feast was over, Selene threw herself from Moonfall Cliff.
At dawn, the pack healers recovered her body—and discovered an unborn pup inside her.
Cassian blamed me for taking them both from him.
As punishment, he forced me through a mating ceremony, marked me as his chosen mate, and locked me in a cell beneath the Alpha’s manor.
For the next fifty years, Cassian came to that cell whenever he wanted my body.
Whenever my body responded to him against my will, he struck me until blood filled my mouth.
“You spread your legs for your own stepson,” he would hiss. “Even a rogue bitch has more shame than you.”
Over those fifty years, I gave birth to several of Cassian’s pups.
Each time a pup was born, Cassian ordered his warriors to take it from my arms.
I never saw any of them again.
When I became gravely ill and knew I was dying, I reached for Cassian through our mind link. I begged him to see me one last time and let me see my pups.
But he never came.
He left only one cold reply inside my mind.
【You want your pups? They’re gone. I had every one of them thrown into rogue territory. You took Selene and my pup from me, so I made you suffer that loss again and again. Evelyn, May the Moon Goddess never forgive your soul!】
Then he severed our mind link.
But when I opened my eyes again, I was back at the Moon Goddess Feast, with Cassian pinning me against the tree.
This time, I shoved him away without hesitation.
I yanked Selene out from behind the tree and pushed her straight into his arms.
“Your future mate is all yours. May the Moon Goddess bless you both.”
……
“Evelyn... let me fuck you. Right here.”
Cassian’s ragged breath burned against my neck.
His feverish hands locked around my waist and crushed me against the oak, his lengthening claws catching on the fabric of my dress.
The rough bark dug into my spine, but all I could feel was his cock hardening against my lower stomach as he ground himself against me.
“Evelyn...”
A low, possessive growl rolled through his chest.
His hot mouth closed around my earlobe, sucking hard as his fangs grazed the sensitive skin beneath it. A shiver ran down my spine.
In my previous life, this was where I mistook his hunger for love and let my stepson take me against the tree.
That single surrender had cost me fifty years of freedom and every pup I would later bear.
Four years earlier, Alpha Aldric Ravenshaw had come to Valehart Pack and asked me to become his second chosen mate.
Ravenmoor needed Valehart’s mines, trade roads, and warriors, but my parents refused to trade me for an alliance.
Aldric spent months courting me.
Then he knelt before the Moon Goddess and swore that he would cherish me for the rest of his life and never make me feel like a replacement for the mate he had lost.
I believed him and accepted the match.
At first, Aldric kept his promise.
But after my parents died, his kindness disappeared.
He came to my chambers only when he wanted my body.
The rest of the time, he treated me as nothing more than the political bride who had secured Ravenmoor’s alliance with Valehart.
To make matters worse, I had been born with a damaged wolf spirit. I could neither shift nor draw on its power, and the pack despised me for that weakness.
Behind my back, the wolves called me the wolfless Luna.
Cassian was the only wolf who never looked down on me or allowed the others to humiliate me.
Whenever a wolf mocked me, Cassian would drag him into the training ring and beat him bloody in front of the entire pack.
In daily life, he was just as protective.
Cassian made sure the pack attendants obeyed my orders, kept insulting wolves away from me, and always noticed when Aldric left me alone for days.
As Aldric grew colder and the rest of the pack treated me like a defective Luna, Cassian’s protection became the only warmth in my life.
He was only two years younger than me, and at twenty four, he was already a powerful, striking male wolf desired by every unmated she wolf in Ravenmoor.
It became harder and harder to see him as merely my stepson.
Little by little, my feelings for him changed.
I hid them for four years.
Aldric died the winter before the Moon Goddess Feast, leaving Cassian to prepare for his Alpha Ascension.
Even then, Cassian was still my stepson.
I never intended to confess what I felt.
So in my previous life, when lustroot left Cassian trembling against me and calling my name, I let myself believe that he had been hiding the same forbidden feelings.
That was why I loosened my dress and stopped resisting.
But before dawn, Selene’s body was found beneath Moonfall Cliff.
She was still wearing the white gown prepared for her mating ceremony.
The healers discovered an unborn pup in her womb.
From that day on, Cassian hated me.
That hatred ruled the next fifty years of my life. He locked me beneath the manor and took every pup I bore him from my arms.
Only as I lay dying did he reveal that he had abandoned them all in rogue territory.
The memory of their cries cut through the heat still clinging to my body.
I lifted my head and looked past his shoulder.
Moonlight filtered through the branches, casting broken shadows across the forest floor.
Selene Whitlock stood behind a pale birch, watching us with tears in her eyes.
Exactly as she had in my previous life.
This time, I planted both hands against Cassian’s chest and shoved him away.
He stumbled back, surprise flashing across his face.
I pulled my torn collar closed and strode toward Selene.
In my previous life, I had believed her tears were proof of her innocence.
But now that I thought about it, this part of the forest lay far beyond the feast grounds.
The air was thick with the mingled scents of hundreds of wolves, making it nearly impossible to pick out and follow a single trail.
If Selene had not already known where Cassian would be, how had she found us?
“Perfect timing.”
I caught her wrist before she could retreat.
“Your future mate is waiting for you. He’s all yours.”
I pulled her from behind the birch and pushed her toward Cassian.
Cassian caught Selene before she fell and immediately pulled her behind him.
His expression stiffened for an instant.
Then his claws sank into the oak beside him. The bark splintered beneath his grip and tore open his palm.
When he looked at me again, his face had hardened with hatred.
“Evelyn Ravenshaw, what the hell is wrong with you?”
His voice shook with fury.
“Selene is carrying my pup.”
“You threw a pregnant she wolf at a male whose wolf was out of control. Were you trying to kill my pup?”
My fingers tightened around my torn collar, and my breath caught.
How did he know Selene was pregnant?
In my previous life, Cassian had known nothing about the pup until the healers examined Selene’s body.
Cold spread through my chest.A terrifying possibility entered my mind.
Had Cassian been reborn too?
“Evelyn.”
Cassian gritted his teeth and stepped closer.
“I lived under the same roof as you for four years. How did I never realize what a vicious she wolf you were?”
His Alpha aura pressed down on me. Without an inner wolf to help me resist it, my knees almost buckled.
Still, I forced myself to meet his eyes.
“One month from now, Selene and I will complete our mating ceremony before every allied pack,” he said coldly, each word carrying the weight of a warning. “She will become my chosen mate and Ravenmoor’s new Luna.”
His gaze dropped to my torn collar, and the disgust in his eyes deepened.
“Remember your place.”
“What place?”
“My stepmother.”
His answer came without hesitation.
“you were my father’s chosen mate. That is the only bond that will ever exist between us.”
His expression hardened.
“Stop using filthy tricks like putting lustroot in my wine.”
I could only stare at him.
A sharp, hollow laugh rose in my throat, but I swallowed it back.
So that was the truth.
For fifty years, Cassian had been certain that I was the wolf who laced his wine with lustroot.
To him, I had always been a shameless she wolf who drugged her own stepson just to lure him into bed.
No wonder he had hated me so deeply all those years.
My gaze fell to his wounded hand. Blood ran from his torn palm and darkened the dead leaves at his feet.
Once, the sight of even his smallest injury would have made my heart ache. I would have torn my dress apart to bind the wound myself.
Now, I only watched the blood fall.
“Very well, Cassian,” I said softly, my voice dry and hoarse.
“May the Moon Goddess grant you and Selene every happiness you have earned.”
...
Chapter 2
A flicker of disbelief crossed Cassian’s eyes.
He clearly had not expected me to agree so quickly—or so calmly.
I saw his jaw tighten, but I gave him no further explanation.
What Cassian did not know was that my parents had protected me within the alliance covenant itself.
If Ravenmoor Pack named another Luna without my consent, everything Valehart had granted through my union with Aldric would be withdrawn—the warriors guarding Ravenmoor’s borders, access to our moonstone mines, and the right to use our northern trade roads.
The Elder Council had witnessed the blood-bound clause, making it binding under pack law.
Even in death, my parents had made sure I would never be left entirely at Ravenmoor’s mercy.
The moment Selene received the Luna’s blessing, the clause would take effect.
Cassian thought he was only casting me aside.
He had no idea he was also giving up everything that had allowed Ravenmoor to rise.
Until the next full moon, I would remain quiet and let them prepare for their mating ceremony.
I could wait.
Five mornings later, Cassian summoned me to the main hall of the Alpha’s manor.
Selene stood beside him in a white ceremonial robe, one hand resting over her stomach. Several senior wolves and pack attendants waited along the walls.
“You endangered my future Luna and my pup,” Cassian said, his voice hard with restrained anger. “Pack law demands that you atone for it.”
He looked down at me from the raised platform. After a brief pause, his voice softened slightly.
“Admit before every wolf in this hall that you put lustroot in my wine because you wanted me—because you had developed forbidden feelings for your own stepson. Then kneel before Selene and ask for her forgiveness. Do that, and I will consider your offense settled.”
A quiet sense of absurdity settled over me. He had already decided what I had done, so why did he still need to hear me admit it?
“And if I refuse to confess to something I did not do?” I asked.
A muscle tightened in his jaw.
“Then until the mating ceremony, you will serve as Selene’s personal attendant. You will prepare her ritual baths, accompany her to the healers, and answer every request she makes.”
I lowered my eyes and smoothed the cuff of my dress.
“As you command. I will serve her.”
Cassian paused. His hands curled into fists.
“You would rather serve Selene than admit what you did?”
“I would rather accept an undeserved punishment than confess to a crime I did not commit.”
For a moment, his expression went completely still.
Then his eyes turned cold again.
“Fine. You may begin today.”
Selene waited until Cassian had left the hall before smiling at me.
“I hope serving me won’t be too difficult for you, Evelyn.”
She made certain that it was.
Selene claimed her pregnancy had made her wolf unusually sensitive to scent. She said my scent still lingered in the Luna’s rooms at the Alpha’s manor and disturbed her pup.
Then she dismissed the attendants and ordered me to scrub the floors with hot water steeped in sage and wood ash.
I spent most of the morning on my knees. The harsh mixture seeped into the cracks across my knuckles until every movement stung.
Selene slowly walked around the room, testing the air.
“I can still smell you.”
So I cleaned it again.
After her evening walks, she complained that her ankles hurt.
She would sit before the fire and make me kneel at her feet, rubbing a warming herbal salve into her skin until my arms went numb.
Only when my fingers began to shake would she let me leave.
I endured it without complaint.
I had already learned what happened whenever I tried to defend myself. Cassian would only treat my protests as further proof of my guilt.
But my silence seemed to disappoint Selene.
She wanted to see me angry, humiliated, or desperate. When I gave her nothing, she began searching for another way to provoke me.
One afternoon, a healer sent a cup of steaming herbal tonic meant to strengthen Selene and her pup.
I carried it into her private room.
As Selene reached for the cup, she suddenly knocked my wrist aside.
The burning liquid spilled across the back of my hand.
Pain tore through my skin. I lost my grip, and the silver cup crashed onto the floor.
“Cassian!”
Selene’s frightened cry rang through the room.
He rushed inside and immediately pulled her behind him.
“What did you do?”
A growl roughened his voice.
I stared at the angry blisters rising across my hand.
“Selene knocked the cup—”
“You brought a scalding herbal tonic near the she-wolf carrying my pup.”
His Alpha aura pressed down on me.
“Were you trying to burn her and my pup?”
“Cassian,” Selene whispered, leaning weakly against him. “Please don’t blame Evelyn. Perhaps her hand slipped.”
“Stop defending her.”
His gaze remained fixed on Selene. He did not even look at my burned hand.
I had expected nothing else.
Still, the familiar ache returned to my chest.
Selene’s eyes suddenly moved to my throat.
Firelight shimmered across the pale moonstone resting against my skin.
“I know it may sound foolish,” she said softly, “but that stone carries Evelyn’s scent. Every time she comes near me wearing it, my wolf becomes restless and the pup starts moving.”
She pressed a protective hand over her stomach.
“Could you make her take it off now? I don’t want it near me.”
My fingers closed around the smooth moonstone.
Two winters after I arrived in Ravenmoor, Cassian traveled alone to Frosthollow Pack, three territories away, after hearing of a healer who knew how to treat damaged wolf spirits.
He returned with the moonstone necklace.
The healer believed the stone might awaken the wolf sleeping inside me.
I had not removed it since.
Cassian’s gaze fell on the moonstone and lingered there.
His expression stiffened for an instant.
Then his jaw tightened, and his eyes turned cold again.
“Take it off.”
I covered the pendant with my hand.
“You gave this to me.”
Before I could say more, he crossed the space between us in a single stride. His hand shot behind my neck and closed around the chain.
“Cassian—”
He tore it away with a violent jerk.
The silver links scraped across my skin before snapping. A jagged edge cut into the side of my neck, and the necklace struck the floor.
Cassian’s chest rose and fell with harsh breaths.
Then he brought his boot down on the pendant.
The silver setting folded beneath his Alpha strength. With a sharp crack, the moonstone split in two.
Only then did he step back.
His gaze flicked briefly toward the blood running down my neck before he looked away.
I stared at the shattered moonstone beneath his boot. A fine, prickling ache spread through my chest.
I remembered the night Cassian returned from Frosthollow.
His face had been pale with exhaustion, and melted snow still clung to his cloak. Yet he had fastened the necklace around my throat with his own hands.
“The healer said this stone might awaken your wolf,” he had told me. “If it doesn’t, I’ll keep searching until I find something that can.”
I had treasured that promise for years.
But the wolf who had made that promise was gone.
My vision blurred, but no tears fell.
The burn across my hand and the cut on my neck throbbed together. Beneath the pain, a dull emptiness slowly spread through my chest.
Perhaps this was better.
The necklace was gone.
Now I had one less reason to remember the Cassian I had once loved.
...
Chapter 3
The days I spent serving Selene blurred together.
Each morning brought another demand, and Cassian believed every complaint she made without question.
Before long, fewer than two weeks remained until the full moon.
“Selene’s ceremonial mantle is ready,” Cassian said one rain-dark morning. “You will accompany us to collect it.”
He stood on the front steps of the Alpha’s manor with one arm around Selene’s waist. His tone made it clear that I had no choice.
I followed them into the carriage without a word.
Rain battered the carriage as we traveled toward Silver Thread Weavers, the finest ritual weavers in the northern territories.
They had made the white mantle that would be placed over Selene’s shoulders when she received the Luna’s blessing.
Halfway there, Selene nestled against Cassian’s arm.
“I’ve been craving the blackberry-and-honey tarts from Hearthstone Bakery,” she murmured. “They taste best when the filling is still warm.”
“But the weavers are expecting us,” Cassian said gently.
Selene lowered her eyes, carefully hiding her disappointment.
Cassian hesitated for a moment. Then he turned toward me, his gaze settling coldly on my face.
“Go to Hearthstone Bakery and bring her a fresh box.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“Outside?” I glanced at the rain lashing the carriage window. “The road is already flooded, and the bakery is on the other side of the village.”
Cassian frowned.
“Did I not make myself clear? Until the mating ceremony, you are Selene’s personal attendant. Is one simple request already too much for you?”
Selene gave me a sweet, apologetic smile.
“I’m sorry, Evelyn. Please make sure they’re still warm.”
Cassian watched me for a moment before his mouth curved into a faint, mocking smile.
“Unless the storm isn’t the real reason you refuse.”
He leaned slightly closer, keeping his eyes fixed on mine.
“If serving the she-wolf I’m about to mark is so unbearable, then admit why. Admit you cannot stand watching me choose her.”
His voice dropped, each word edged with contempt.
“Admit you wanted me long before the lustroot—that you’re nothing but a shameless she-wolf who has spent years lusting after her own stepson.”
The accusation struck the secret I had once guarded more carefully than my life.
In my previous life, it might have broken me.
Now I lowered my eyes, drew a slow breath, and answered softly.
“No. I’ll go.”
Cassian went still.
Then his face darkened.
“Fine,” he bit out. “Then go.”
He struck the carriage wall so hard that the wooden panels shuddered.
“Stop the carriage.”
Before I could step down, he threw open the door, caught me by the arm, and dragged me into the rain.
My boots slid across the mud.
He shoved me away from the carriage, and I fell hard onto one knee. Freezing water soaked through my dress at once.
Cassian climbed back inside without another glance.
As the carriage pulled away, one of its wheels tore through a puddle and sprayed muddy water across my face and chest.
I wiped the dirt from my eyes and started walking.
The storm worsened with every step.
By the time I reached Hearthstone Bakery, my clothes clung to my skin and my teeth were chattering.
Rainwater ran into the cut on my neck, while the burn across my hand throbbed with every beat of my heart.
The baker hurried around the counter as soon as she saw me.
“Luna Evelyn, what happened to you?”
“The blackberry tarts,” I said through trembling lips. “I need a fresh box.”
Her expression turned apologetic.
“The last tray has just been sold. Another is baking, but it won’t be ready for a while.”
“I’ll wait.”
She guided me toward the hearth, but even the fire could not drive the cold from my bones.
I did not mind waiting.
Every moment spent there was one less moment beside Cassian and Selene.
When the next tray was ready, the baker arranged the warm tarts inside a carved wooden box and wrapped it in several layers of thick cloth.
I tucked it beneath my cloak and stepped back into the storm.
The rain had not eased.
I held the box against my chest and bent over it as I crossed the flooded village, shielding it with my body.
Selene needed only one damp corner to accuse me of ruining what she had asked for.
Even so, the water eventually seeped through the cloth.
By the time I reached Silver Thread Weavers, there was not a dry thread left on me.
Water streamed from my hair and gathered around my boots.
Cassian and Selene sat beside a broad stone fireplace, holding cups of hot spiced tea.
Cassian’s gaze swept over my soaked dress and trembling hands.
His jaw tightened briefly before impatience hardened his face.
“What took you so long?”
“The first batch had sold out. I had to wait for another.”
The cold had scraped my voice raw.
I held the box out to Selene with both trembling hands.
As she reached for it, her shoulder suddenly struck mine.
I lost my balance.
The box slipped from my numb fingers and crashed against the wooden display frame beside us. Its lid flew open, scattering the tarts across the floor.
One burst against the lower edge of Selene’s ceremonial mantle.
Dark blackberry filling bled across the white fabric.
Selene gasped.
“My mantle!”
She rushed toward it, one hand covering her mouth as tears filled her eyes.
The long white mantle hung from a carved frame, silver wolves embroidered along its borders. Now a deep crimson stain spread across the cloth she was meant to wear before the Moon Goddess.
“Evelyn Ravenshaw!”
Cassian pulled Selene against his chest before turning on me.
“Is this your revenge? Destroying the mantle she will wear when she becomes my Luna?”
I looked down at my hands.
My fingers had turned purple from the cold. The burn across my skin had split open again, and muddy water dripped from my sleeves.
Cassian did not look at any of it.
“She hit my shoulder,” I said hoarsely. “I didn’t drop it on purpose.”
“You still expect me to believe you?”
His Alpha aura swept through the weavers’ hall. The wolves nearby lowered their heads.
“You ruined the mantle prepared for her Luna blessing, and you still refuse to take responsibility.”
“I didn’t—”
“Enough.”
His growl silenced me.
“Go outside.”
For a moment, I wondered if the cold had confused my hearing.
Cassian pointed toward the doors.
“You will remain in the rain until Selene chooses to forgive you.”
I stared at him.
Then I looked at Selene, trembling delicately in his arms as if she were the she-wolf who had been dragged through the storm.
The last trace of warmth inside my chest slowly faded.
I turned and walked outside without another word.
The wind struck me first.
Then the rain came down so hard that it stole my breath.
My soaked dress did nothing to protect me. A healthy she-wolf could have called on her wolf’s heat, but my damaged wolf spirit remained silent.
The cold sank deep into my bones.
I tried to reach the stable yard and ask for a horse back to the manor, but my legs began shaking after only a few steps.
A wave of dizziness swept over me.
I pressed one hand against the front window of Silver Thread Weavers, waiting for the ground to stop tilting beneath my feet.
Through the glass, I saw Selene tug gently at Cassian’s sleeve.
“Cassian, perhaps you should let her return. I think she has learned her lesson.”
Cassian’s gaze was already fixed on me through the rain-streaked glass.
Our eyes met.His expression tightened briefly.
Then he answered coldly.
“No.”
“She stays outside until you forgive her.”
Rain streamed down the glass between us, distorting their figures.
The little warmth left in my body drained away. My numb fingers slid down the window, leaving behind a thin streak of blood from my reopened burn.
Then a memory surfaced.
Not long after I arrived in Ravenmoor, a storm had caught me on the road back from the healers’ lodge.
Cassian had found me beneath the trees, drenched and shivering.
He wrapped his cloak around me, lifted me onto his horse, and held me against his chest all the way back to the manor.
“If another storm catches you,” he had told me, “stay where you are and wait for me. I’ll bring you home.”
I had believed that promise too.
Now the storm was fiercer, but Cassian was no longer the wolf coming to find me.
He was the one who had thrown me into it.
The window wavered before my eyes.
The roar of the rain gradually faded into the distance.
My knees gave way beneath me.
Then everything went black.
