Chapter 1

The moment those words left my mouth, the entire hall fell silent.

It made sense. Dorian Wyndham was the Alpha King's least favored son — sickly, overlooked, passed over at every Pack gathering.

The whispers reached me from every corner of the room.

They said I must have lost my mind. That I was throwing away a perfectly good future as the next Alpha King's mate, choosing Cain instead.

Eleanor Wyndham froze for a moment, then spoke in a low, firm voice.

"A Mate Bond is not something to take lightly, Ivy. You should think this through."

I knew. She had always wanted me for Dorian.

Years ago, my father Victor had saved the Alpha King's life, and in return, the Alpha King had granted me the right to choose my own mate. That was why Eleanor had called me in to choose.

Before the gathering, she had taken my hand and asked what I thought of Dorian.

Back then, I still admired him. I hadn't even answered before my face went red.

"He's remarkable," I said.

Eleanor understood. She pressed a gold signet ring into my palm. "Then tonight, give this to Dorian at the gathering. The rest I will arrange for you."

But this time, I was going to disappoint her.

I lowered my head and dropped to one knee before her.

"My mind is made up. I choose Cain Wyndham."

The noise in the hall surged louder.

Even Dorian, who was always distant and unreadable, looked up at that.

His gaze settled on me, cool and measured. His brow drew together, just slightly.

Eleanor didn't announce a Bond that night.

She said something this significant needed to be discussed with my parents first. The matter was set aside. The gathering continued.

One of my closest friends couldn't hold it in any longer. She leaned close and whispered to me.

"That was such a good opportunity. Why didn't you choose Dorian?"

"Haven't you been drawn to him for years?"

The late afternoon light filtered through the tall windows and caught the surface of the fountain outside, making me feel briefly distant.

In my past life, I did choose him.

He accepted the signet ring without expression. When Eleanor formally announced the Bond, he stood beside me and received it with perfect composure.

Flawless protocol. Not a trace of joy.

After I moved into Wyndham Manor, three quiet years followed.

Dorian had been trained from childhood to believe that an Alpha should never lose himself to his mate. He took that seriously. He kept strict control over how often he came to my room. Twice a month. Never more than an hour at a time. He shared one meal with me each day — if we had lunch together, he wouldn't come for dinner.

My parents had never been close. I didn't know what a real partnership looked like.

I thought that what we had was respect.

I thought Dorian had some feeling for me.

After all, in private, he let his guard down. He would look at me with a kind of haze in his eyes.

He would say my name, low and rough, over and over.

But I was wrong.

Once Serena appeared, I understood that Dorian wasn't cold by nature. He was capable of warmth. He was capable of wanting someone completely.

That someone just wasn't me.

Dorian met Serena Voss during a trip to the southern border.

There had been flooding. He fell into the river and was swept downstream into a small settlement.

It was a farm girl named Serena who took him in.

He stayed at her family's place for ten days.

I don't know what happened during those ten days. I only know that when he came back, he would sometimes go still, staring at a rough-woven leather bracelet like he'd forgotten where he was.

Later, one night when he came to my room, he pulled me close and said a name that wasn't mine.

"Serena."

I went rigid. Every trace of warmth left me.

I asked him quietly, "If you like her that much, why didn't you bring her back?"

The room was dim, his weight pressing over me. He said in a low voice, "She didn't want to be a Chosen Mate. And I'm already Bonded. I can't give her the Luna title, so I didn't push it."

When he talked about her, Dorian said more than he ever said about anything else.

"Ivy, she's different from everyone else. She's bright and alive. She can cook anything. She could swing an axe and make it look easy."

"She belongs to that open country. I couldn't bring her into this place and turn her into something caged."

That night he stayed with me for hours. He broke his own rules. He didn't leave when he should have. But he kept my face turned away the whole time, his eyes focused somewhere I couldn't see.

He wasn't looking at me. He was looking at her, somewhere in the distance.

I had thought she would only ever be a name to me. Someone far away and irrelevant.