The lake was black. My wedding dress was ash. Ten years ago, two Alphas dragged me out of a slave cage and called me their little sister. Tonight, they let another woman put a silver blade to her own throat, and they chose her. So I walked into the water that eats wolves. The silver in the current burned like acid. I didn't stop. My gown crackled behind me on the shore, blue flames eating the lace an inch at a time, and I whispered the two names that had ruled my whole life. "Kael. Draven." Ten years. Every scar. Every kindness I paid for in blood. "You're free now," I said to the dark. "I won't bother you again." The wave came. It took me down. TEN DAYS EARLIER. The Blackthorn Great Hall glittered like a knife. I walked the aisle in white silk with a gold veil over my face, carrying the Moonstone — the relic that chose the next Alpha King — cradled against my chest like a newborn. At the end of the hall, they waited. Kael, all shoulders and cold gold eyes. Draven, dark-haired, smiling the way a storm smiles. My father, Alpha King Alaric, raised one hand and the music died. "Kael. Draven. My sons." He turned to me, and something ugly flickered in his face. "Tonight, if your sister — my trueborn daughter, lost to me for eighteen years and returned to me at last — chooses one of you, and bears him a pure-blood heir…" He let the silence stretch. "…that son will be the next King of the North." Four hundred wolves held their breath. I looked at the two men who had raised me, fed me, taught me to walk in shoes instead of chains, and I opened my mouth. "I choose—" "ELARA!" The doors slammed open. Selene came through them in red, screaming, and she hit the floor at my feet like a broken bird, both fists twisted in my skirt. "Please." Her face was already wet. "Please don't take my mates from me." The hall detonated into whispers. "I know you're the real princess," she sobbed. "I know only trueborn blood can carry a pure heir. But I grew up with them. I've loved them since I was six years old. Please—please don't take them from me." I stood there with the Moonstone shaking in my hands. Then she pulled the silver dagger from her sleeve and laid it against her own throat. The blade bit. A red line opened on her white skin. "I have nothing left!" she shrieked. "I'd rather die!" "Selene, NO!" Kael's roar shook dust from the rafters. Draven rounded on me, teeth bared. "Elara. Say something. Tell her she can have whatever she wants." Whatever she wants. I looked at my brothers — my mates, my saviors, my gods — and I felt the floor tilt. "Selene," I said quietly. "Stop this. Tonight matters to all of us." She laughed through her tears, and pressed harder. Blood ran down into her collar. "Kael. Draven." Her voice went sweet and thin. "Choose. Me, or her?" "YOU." Kael didn't hesitate. Not for one heartbeat. "Goddess, of course you." "You're the one who matters," Draven said, low and tender, the way he had never once spoken to me. "Don't do anything stupid." Something inside my ribs went quiet. I opened my hands. The Moonstone — the relic of kings, the symbol of my marriage — fell. It hit the marble and cracked, and its light went out like a snuffed candle. Selene's eyes flicked to it. And for half a second, under all those tears, she smiled. "Kael," she whispered, swaying. "I feel dizzy…" He scooped her up like she was made of glass. I stepped in front of them, arms out, my veil crooked, my whole body shaking. "Do you know what today is?" My voice cracked open. "This was supposed to be my wedding. This was my night." "Move," Kael said. He didn't push me with his hands. He pushed me with his power — a wall of Alpha force that threw me across the marble like garbage. My veil tore off. Four hundred wolves saw my face, wet and ruined, and looked away, snickering. My father crouched beside me. He didn't help me up. "Before I bought you back from that auction block, they both expected to marry Selene," he said. "It's natural they care for her more. Don't blame them." He straightened his robes. "But you're my only trueborn. Only you can give them a pure-blood heir." And he walked away. I knelt there on the cold floor while the pack laughed, and I finally understood. To all of them, Selene was the princess. And I would always, always be the slave girl. So I wiped my face. I got up. And I stopped begging — and started planning.