My contract mate wanted another woman.
He could not leave me without losing my clout.
So he hired a wolf to seduce me.
"Do not touch her until the cameras are running."
Darius Crowe's voice came through the half-open study door. I stopped in the passage, one hand still wrapped around the folder I had brought him.
The Blood Moon pack house was crowded for our third contract anniversary. Music drifted up from the ballroom. Pack members laughed beneath strings of white lights. Downstairs, they were waiting for Darius and me to stand together and celebrate for our wedding.
But inside the study, Darius was arranging my destruction.
"She won't make it easy," another man said. Jude Mercer. I recognized the lazy drawl from pack training. "Elara barely looks at anyone but you."
"That is why you will give her a reason to look." Seraphine Thorne sounded amused. "Tell her Darius has been sleeping with me. Tell her he plans to replace her. She will be hurt enough to do something stupid."
A chair scraped.
"I am not paying you to discuss her feelings," Darius said. "Get her into the east guest room. Kiss her where the camera can see. Make it look as if she invited you there and changed her mind afterward."
My wolf, Willow, slammed against the walls inside me. Rage burned through my skin, but I did not move.
Three years ago, Blood Moon had been drowning in debt after a fever outbreak. My mother had left me shares in the Red Creek quarry and the small medical center beside pack territory. Darius needed both. I needed protection from relatives trying to force me to sell.
We signed a five-year mate contract.
I would act as his Luna, run the clinic, and support his claim. In return, he would protect my inheritance and give me a place in pack leadership. If he ended the agreement early, he owed me a large settlement and had to return every asset my family had placed under joint control. If I was publicly unfaithful, the morality clause erased most of those protections.
I had once believed the contract might grow into love.
Darius had encouraged that belief whenever he needed something from me.
"And after tonight?" Seraphine asked.
"After tonight, Elara signs away her claim and leaves." His voice softened in a way it had not softened for me in months. "Then I announce you as my chosen mate."
I pushed the door open.
All three of them turned.
Darius stood behind his desk in a black dinner jacket. Seraphine leaned against the edge beside him, wearing a silver gown and the moonstone necklace that his mother had used to wear. Jude lounged near the bookcase, his smile disappearing when he saw my face.
For one second, no one spoke.
Then Darius's expression settled into the calm, superior mask he used in council meetings.
"Elara. You should knock."
I looked at Seraphine. Her lipstick was smudged. Darius had the same dark red stain near the corner of his mouth.
"How long?" I asked.
Seraphine touched her necklace. "Long enough to know he was never going to mark you."
Darius shot her a warning look. "Go downstairs. Both of you."
Jude walked past me first. He did not meet my eyes. Seraphine took her time. Her shoulder brushed mine as she left, and Darius's scent clung to her skin.
When the door closed, Darius sighed.
"You were not supposed to hear that."
"That is your explanation?"
"It is not an explanation. It is a fact." He picked up a crystal glass and poured himself whiskey. "Our arrangement has stopped working."
"For you. It worked very well when you needed my quarry income. It worked when I treated half this pack without charging them. It worked when I spent every night correcting your accounts so the council would not see how close you were to bankruptcy."
His jaw tightened. "Lower your voice."
"You paid Jude to put his hands on me."
"He was told not to hurt you."
The words struck harder than a slap.
Darius came around the desk. "If I terminate the contract now, my enemies will say I used you. I cannot afford a scandal or the settlement. Once you are seen with another male, everyone gets a simple explanation. You were unhappy. You strayed. We separate."
"And you keep my property."
"You will receive enough to start over somewhere else."
"How generous."
He reached for my wrist. I stepped back before he could touch me.
Something cold entered his eyes. "Do not make this harder than it needs to be. Go downstairs. Smile through dinner. Tomorrow we will discuss a quiet separation."
"You mean I should pretend I do not know about your trap."
"I mean you should remember that Blood Moon is my territory."
There it was. A threat.
I set the folder on his desk. It contained the clinic's quarterly report, including proof that I had covered another twenty-seven thousand dollars of pack expenses from my personal account.
"Find someone else to save your territory," I said.
I left before he could answer.
The ballroom went silent when I entered alone. Hundreds of pack members had gathered beneath the carved wooden rafters. Mara Crowe, Darius's mother, sat at the head table with Elder Cassian Holt. My friend Celine stood near the platform.
Tessa Quinn, one of the house attendants, hurried toward me with a tray.
"Miss Vane, are you all right?"
"I need my coat."
Her gaze flicked toward the stairs. Fear sharpened her scent. "Your room key was changed. Mrs. Crowe told me to give you this one instead."
She pressed a brass key into my palm. Number twelve.
"Why are you telling me?"
"Because Mr. Mercer is waiting in twelve." Her fingers trembled. "You've been so good to me, and I’d never want to do anything to hurt you."
Before I could answer, Mara called my name from across the room.
"Elara, darling. Darius said you were fetching the original contract from the east wing. We cannot begin without it."
Every face turned toward me.
Darius descended the stairs behind her, composed and smiling.
Darius held out his hand. "Go on, Elara. We are all waiting."
I smiled.
"Of course."
I walked toward the east wing with every gaze on my back.
At the first turn, I slipped through the service door instead.
Footsteps followed.
"Elara," Jude called softly. "Wait."
I ran.
He caught up near the north corridor and grabbed my arm. I drove my elbow into his ribs. He cursed and loosened his grip.
"I am not going to hurt you," he said.
"You agreed to stage an assault."
Shame crossed his face, but it vanished quickly. "Darius has guards at the front gate. Let me take you to twelve. We fake a kiss. You leave with money, and nobody gets injured."
"Get away from me."
He moved closer. My wolf surged, giving me enough strength to shove him into the wall. I sprinted toward the far staircase as voices rose behind us.
The north corridor belonged to visiting Alphas. I tried the first door. Locked. The second opened beneath my hand.
I slipped inside and turned the deadbolt.
The room was dark except for the fire. A man stood at the window, broad shoulders outlined against the winter night. He wore no jacket, only a white shirt with the sleeves rolled over powerful forearms.
His scent reached me.
Pine. Snow. Smoke.
My entire body went still.
Willow lifted her head inside me, no longer furious or afraid.
Mate, she whispered.
The stranger turned, and his eyes flashed amber in the dark.
Outside, Jude struck the door with his fist.
"Elara, open up."
The man looked from the door to me.
Then he said, very quietly, "Why is Darius Crowe's Luna hiding in my room?"
