The Alpha's Decoy_ Traded to Save His First Love

The mating mark on my neck was still burning when Caleb threw the Separation Agreement on our bridal bed.

I thought my Alpha married me because the Moon Goddess bound our souls.

Instead, he sneered, telling me I was nothing but a pawn to clear the path for Chloe, the woman who once saved his life.

He knew Mason, the strongest warrior in our pack, planned to propose to me.

So Caleb claimed me first, just so Chloe could have the man she truly wanted.

I swallowed the absolute humiliation and signed the paper, agreeing to be his temporary decoy.

But when Mason broke down the door, risking treason just to touch my hand, a terrifying growl tore through Caleb's chest.

My fake husband yanked me behind him, his Alpha eyes glowing with a lethal, uncontrollable jealousy.

He married me to give me away, but his wolf was suddenly ready to kill to keep me.

***

Harper POV

The stack of legal papers struck my cheek and scattered across the silk sheets of our wedding bed.

"Pick them up," Caleb said.

Less than an hour earlier, he had stood beside me before the pack elders and sunk his teeth into the curve of my neck. The mark still burned beneath the lace collar of my wedding gown. My wolf had gone silent from the shock of it, as if she could not decide whether to celebrate the bond or run from the man who had forced it into existence.

I reached for the top page. The dark blue seal of the Northern Territory sat above two words printed in severe black type.

Separation Agreement.

I looked up. Caleb had already removed his ceremonial coat. He stood at the window in shirtsleeves, broad shoulders turned toward the snow-covered grounds as though our wedding had been a meeting he was glad to have finished.

"We just completed the mating ceremony."

"A ceremony is not a marriage."

"You marked me."

He glanced back, gold flashing briefly through his blue irises. "I marked what the pack needed me to claim. Do not confuse necessity with devotion."

The words landed harder than the papers had.

I forced myself to read. Section four required me to maintain the public appearance of a loyal Luna until Chloe Mercer secured a politically suitable marriage. Section five listed a settlement large enough to keep my grandmother in private medical care for the rest of her life. Section six confined me to the east wing of Caleb's estate unless I traveled with an approved guard.

I read that clause twice.

"You are putting me under house arrest."

"I am preventing complications."

"You mean Mason."

For the first time, something sharpened in Caleb's expression.

Mason had been my closest friend since we were teenagers. He had also spent the last year refusing every attempt by the council to bind him to Chloe. She wanted his military rank, his northern bloodline, and the alliance his name would give her. Mason wanted none of it.

Unfortunately for me, Chloe had decided I was the reason.

"Mason is a commander who has forgotten where his duty lies," Caleb said. "Once he understands that you are unavailable, he will stop embarrassing himself and accept the alliance."

I stared at him. "So you married me to remove me from his path."

"I married you because the territory needs Chloe's alliance and Mason refuses to cooperate while he believes you are an option."

"I was never his option."

"He disagrees."

A bitter laugh escaped me. "And what does Chloe give you in exchange?"

Caleb's jaw tightened.

There it was. The answer he did not want to say aloud.

Chloe had been at his side long before I became his mate. Everyone in the territory knew the story: years ago, during a border attack, she had taken a silver round meant for him. She survived, but the wound damaged her wolf and left Caleb carrying a debt he treated as sacred. Since then, Chloe's wishes had a way of becoming pack policy.

"This is about her," I said. "It always is."

"Careful."

"You needed a decoy wife so the man she wants would stop looking at me. You used the mate bond to make sure I could not refuse."

His gaze dropped to the papers. "You can refuse."

Hope rose before I could stop it.

Then he added, "Your grandmother's care contract expires at midnight. The Lower District facility will require a new guarantor tomorrow."

My fingers went numb around the agreement.

He knew exactly what he was doing. My grandmother had raised me after the border wars killed my parents. Her ventilator, nurses, and long-term treatment cost more in a month than I earned in a year. Caleb had quietly assumed the payments when the council selected me for the mating ceremony.

I had believed it was an act of protection from my future mate.

It was leverage.

"You planned this before the ceremony."

"Of course I did."

"And if I sign?"

"She remains in private care. You live here, perform your duties, and stay away from Mason. When Chloe's marriage is secure, you leave with the settlement."

"What happens to the mark?"

A small pause.

"We will deal with it when the time comes."

My wolf finally stirred, recoiling so hard inside me that pain flashed through my ribs.

"The Goddess gave us a bond," I whispered. "You turned it into collateral."

Caleb crossed the room. He stopped close enough that his scent crowded my lungs, cedar, cold air, and the iron edge of Alpha dominance.

"The Goddess does not govern my territory. I do."

He placed a fountain pen on the papers.

"Sign."

I wanted to throw it at him. Instead, I thought of my grandmother asleep beneath hospital blankets, breathing because a machine kept breathing for her.

I signed.

The scratch of the nib sounded obscenely loud.

Caleb took the agreement before the ink dried. "Good."

"Do not mistake surrender for consent."

"Call it whatever helps you sleep."

A fist slammed against the bedroom door.

"Harper!"

Mason.

Caleb's head turned slowly.

Another blow shook the frame. "Open this door! I know what you made her sign!"

My heart lurched. "Do not hurt him."

Caleb folded the agreement once and slid it into his desk drawer. "Then he should have stayed away."

The lock snapped open.

Mason shoved through before the guard outside could stop him. His formal jacket was gone, his tie hanging loose, fury bright in his eyes.

"You used her," he said to Caleb. "You threatened her grandmother and called it a marriage."

"Mason, leave," I said quickly.

He looked at the fresh mark on my neck and went white. "He actually bit you."

Caleb moved between us.

"Do not speak to my mate as if she belongs to you."

"She does not belong to anyone."

Mason reached for my hand.

He never touched me.

Two guards surged through the doorway. One caught his shoulder, the other swept his legs from beneath him. Mason hit the hallway runner hard, fighting as they pinned him face-down.

"Caleb, stop this."

Caleb ignored me. He caught my waist and pulled me against his chest, positioning me where Mason could see every inch of the mark at my throat.

His fingers closed around the back of my neck.

"Keep your eyes open, Mason," Caleb ordered.