The Sister I Raised Became My Husband’s Mate

Fifteen years ago, Cassian dragged me from a burning outpost and marked me as his mate.

He made me Luna of Black Ridge, killed anyone who suggested replacing me after our miscarriage, and swore the Moon herself could never take him from me.

When I brought home eight-year-old Liora, I raised her like a sister and daughter, teaching her to shift, fight, and survive.

Then twenty-seven second-mate bonds shattered our pack in three years.

On the night of the Bloodline Blessing, Cassian took my hand before everyone and promised he would tear down the Moon's altar before choosing another woman.

The pack cheered.

A heartbeat later, his mark began to flicker.

A silver thread burst from his chest, passed straight by me, and wrapped around Liora's wrist.

The flowers fell from her arms.

My husband's wolf surged toward the girl I had raised.

"No. I didn't want this, Seraphina."

"I swear I didn't."

"Cassian, look at me."

"Mine."

***

POV of Seraphina

The moon hung over Black Ridge like a silver eye that had forgotten how to blink.

Hundreds of wolves crowded the temple square for the Blessing of the Bloodline, their mate marks glowing beneath collars and ceremonial paint. Mine pulsed warmly against my throat. Cassian's mark had been there for fifteen years, carved into my skin the night he dragged me from the burning eastern outpost and refused to let go until I was safe.

I touched it the way nervous humans touched wedding rings.

A woman screamed near the altar.

She was on her knees, a baby clutched to her chest, one hand fisted in her husband's cloak. Behind him stood a girl barely out of training, her fresh mate mark blazing silver.

"You said we'd teach him his first shift together," the wife said. "You said that yesterday."

The husband stared at the stones. "Yesterday I didn't know the Moon had chosen someone else."

"The Moon didn't choose her. You smelled her and stopped fighting."

The younger woman whispered, "I never meant to break anything."

Her body told a different story. She pressed against the man's back, fingers curled into his sleeve, and her wolf called for his protection. His answered. When his wife tried to rise, he shoved her hard enough to send her back onto the stone.

The baby wailed.

I was moving before the guards reacted. I stripped the silver fox mantle from my shoulders, wrapped it around the woman and child, and helped her stand.

Then I faced her husband.

"The Moon let you recognize another woman," I said. "She also let you hear your son's first cry. Explain why one is sacred and the other disposable."

His mouth opened, but no answer came.

I signaled two guards. "Take her to my quarters. Have Thalia examine both of them."

The square parted for me. Whispers followed like burrs caught in my dress.

Twenty-seven second matings in three years. Nineteen families broken. Five first mates stripped of their wolves after failed rejections. Three who had walked into the Forest of No Return and never come back.

The elders called it a blessing.

I called it a plague.

Inside the private chamber, crystal shattered at my feet.

Evelyn stood beside an overturned table, red wine soaking her white gown. Her mate, Gareth, had arrived with his daughter's dance instructor on his arm and a second mark on his throat.

"He says he still loves me," Evelyn said. "He says he won't leave the children. He only needs time to understand why the Moon sent Mira to him."

Her laugh was small and terrible.

"How do you love someone and ask for time to fall in love with someone else?"

She shoved a hairpin into my hand. A folded note was hidden inside, written in Gareth's hand.

Meet me at the north tower after the ceremony. Don't tell Evelyn.

Their seventeen-year-old daughter had found it and hidden it for him because Gareth claimed the truth would destroy her mother.

Evelyn gripped my wrists. "You're not afraid? Cassian could feel it tonight. Any full moon. Any woman."

My fingers found his mark again.

"The Moon can make Cassian smell a thousand women," I said. "She cannot erase fifteen years. A mate is who the Moon points to. Loyalty is who a man chooses. I trust my husband."

Evelyn stared at me for a long moment.

"I trusted Gareth yesterday."

The words lodged behind my ribs.

Night fell before I found Cassian in the Alpha's dressing chamber. He crossed the room the instant he smelled blood and lifted me onto the vanity.

"Who hurt you?"

"Broken glass. Evelyn dropped it."

He knelt, cupped my heel, and pressed a cloth to the shallow cut. Gold flashed through his grey eyes.

"I'll have every glass in the temple replaced with metal."

Despite everything, I laughed. "That's ridiculous."

"I don't care."

His mouth brushed the wound, Alpha heat sealing the skin. The intimacy of the gesture loosened something tight inside me.

"Cassian, if you ever recognize a second mate, what happens?"

He rose slowly and braced both hands beside my hips.

"I reject the bond."

"You can't promise what your wolf will do."

"The Moon can command recognition. She cannot decide who sleeps in my bed." His thumb traced the edge of my mark. "If rejection costs me my wolf, then Black Ridge will have a wolfless Alpha. If she demands I replace you for an heir, I will tear down her altar myself."

The certainty in him calmed my wolf. He kissed my mark, then my mouth, and for one reckless minute the temple, the elders, and Evelyn's ruined marriage disappeared.

A knock stopped us.

"Seraphina?" Liora called. "I brought the moonflowers."

Cassian stepped back while I straightened my dress.

Liora entered with silver blossoms gathered in both arms. She had been eight when I found her orphaned and terrified of her first shift. I had taught her to control her wolf, braided her hair before ceremonies, and held her through every nightmare. Sister was the word we used. Daughter was the truth neither of us said aloud.

She saw Cassian and flushed. "I didn't realize you were busy."

"You never have to apologize for coming to me." I fixed her crooked circlet.

Behind me, Cassian's eyes flashed gold.

His wolf struck the barrier of his mind once, light as a pebble skipping water.

I did not notice.

Liora did.

At midnight, Cassian and I stepped beneath the altar arch hand in hand. The priest sprinkled sacred water over our marks. Someone in the crowd whispered that the Moon would never touch the Alpha and Luna of Black Ridge.

Cassian ignored the ceremonial scroll and looked only at me.

"No matter how many times the Moon chooses again," he said for the whole pack to hear, "my Luna is Seraphina. Only her."

The square erupted.

Then his grip crushed my fingers.

"Cassian?"

His pupils flooded gold. My mark on his throat flickered as if an invisible hand were pulling it apart.

A scent rolled through the square: rain-soaked laurel, wild berries, and something sweet enough to make his wolf slam against his bones.

His body turned toward the crowd.

Liora stood below the altar steps. The moonflowers slipped from her arms.

A silver thread burst from Cassian's chest.

It passed beside me, close enough to burn, and wrapped itself around Liora's wrist.

She shook her head. "No. Seraphina, I swear I didn't want this."

She stepped toward me.

Cassian's wolf growled.

Not in warning to an enemy. In possession.

Everyone froze.

My husband still held my hand, but he was staring at the sister I had raised.

His wolf spoke through his mouth.

"Mine."