Chapter 1

ELARA

"You used me."

The words tore out of me between sobs. Darius Vane stood across the room with the cold impatience of a man dismissing an inconvenient servant, not the woman whose mate bond had lifted his Pack through the ranks.

"Ashvale rose because of my family," I said. "You needed that connection, so a year ago you agreed to take me as your mate. Now that you rank third among the Alphas, you can throw away the scarred girl. Is that it?"

Darius rolled his eyes. "Spare me the performance. Surely you knew this would end. Did you honestly imagine I would present you as my Luna at an Alpha gathering? I can barely look at you, Elara."

His contempt struck harder than the rejection itself.

"I didn't choose this scar." My fingers hovered beside the damaged skin without touching it. "You promised you would find doctors who could help. You never even tried."

"Your own family never cared enough to fix your face. Why would I?" He gave a humorless laugh. "Stop dreaming and leave my Pack."

I had heard ugly all my life. Somehow, hearing it from Darius still found a place that had not yet hardened.

Our families had arranged the bond. I had known he did not love me, but I had spent a year hoping familiarity might soften him. We lived under one roof as strangers. He would not touch me, and I remained a virgin because even the thought of closeness with me repulsed him.

None of it was my fault.

When I was a child, someone abducted me, blindfolded me, and pressed a silver-laced branding iron against my face. The burn left a broad scar along one side. I never learned who ordered it. I only learned what people did when beauty was taken away.

My mother had already abandoned me when I was four. My father found a new mate, built a new family, and gradually stopped seeing me. After the attack, his distance became shame.

I had wanted Darius to be different.

"You're a monster," I said, forcing myself to meet his gaze. "One day, you'll pay for what you did to me."

He threw back his head and laughed. "And who will make that happen? You? I am the third most powerful Alpha in the region. Ashvale outranks your father's Pack now. You have no influence, no beauty, and nowhere to go. You were worthless before me, and you will remain worthless after me."

My nails cut into my palms.

"I rejected you, and you accepted," he continued. "Only the final temple formality remains. As far as I am concerned, you belong to no one. Get out before I have my guards remove you."

He walked away before I could answer.

I left Ashvale with one bag and returned to my father's Pack. I had not crossed its gates since moving in with Darius, but some small, foolish part of me believed blood might matter now that I had nowhere else.

Brielle and her mother opened the door and refused to let me inside.

"Go back to Darius and beg harder," Brielle said after I explained the rejection. "There is no room for you here."

I told them I had nowhere to sleep. They summoned guards.

By evening, I sat at the Veiled Moon, a masked bar where the drinks were strong enough to affect wolves and every guest was promised anonymity. It had been my refuge for years. Behind a mask, no one saw my scar and decided what kind of sorrow I was allowed to have.

Too ugly.

I had heard it so often that the words seemed stitched into my thoughts.

Darius had betrayed me, my family had expelled me, and I had no power to punish either of them. For one dangerous moment, I wondered whether there was any point in continuing.

I set down my empty glass and waited for the room to stop tilting before I stood.

"Water for the lady first," a man said beside me. "Then another drink, if she still wants one."

I turned. Like every patron, he wore a mask, but nothing else about him blended into the room. His suit was Laurent & Vale, his watch Vesper Chronos. Either one cost more than most wolves earned in years.

The bartender placed water in front of me. I drank it slowly.

"You've been coming here alone for a long time," the stranger said.

"You must visit often to know that."

He tipped his chin toward my mask. "You never change it."

His voice was low and controlled, impossible to ignore.

"This place is beneath my usual standards," he admitted, "but I like not being judged here."

That, at least, I understood.

He watched me for a moment. "You look like someone trying to forget tonight. So am I. We could spend the night together and part in the morning. No names. No promises."

The blunt offer shocked me.

"You don't know me."

"I don't need to. But the choice is yours. If you say no, I walk away. If you change your mind later, I stop."

I studied him while the water cleared some of the heat from my head. I was wounded and angry, but I understood what he was asking. Curiosity had survived every insult Darius gave me. So had the desire to make one choice that belonged only to me.

The stranger added, with a trace of dry amusement, "I should warn you that I have never finished with a woman. It may be a long night."

It sounded absurd. It also made him seem less untouchable.

"We keep our masks on," I said. "And if I tell you to stop, you stop."

"Immediately."

I took one more breath. "Then yes. I want to go with you."

"Your wish is my command, Princess."

The word tightened my throat.

He did not know what waited beneath my mask. If he saw the scar, he might recoil like everyone else.

For just one night, I wanted to know what it felt like to be treated as though I truly were a princess.