In the Kingdom of Everspire, a celestial omen appears once every thousand years, the Blood Moon Prophecy. It chooses one woman to mate-bond with five Alpha wolves, each ruling a different pack. If she fails to unite them, the kingdom will fall to the Void Beasts that hunt in the shadows. This year, it chose me, and all five of my fated Alpha mates rejected our bond. I was the packless wolfless orphan no one wants. They don't know I'm the Silver Phantom, the realm's most feared masked rogue wolf who's slaughtered corrupt Alphas for a decade. They don't know I'm the Last Moonblood, heir to the ancient Celestial Pack that was supposed to be exterminated. They don't know I'm a True Alpha-stronger than any wolf alive-who's mastered nine ancient powers: primal magic, battle strategy, healing arts, divine shifting, and more. And they definitely don't know I'm the only one who can stop the Demon King of the Void from breaking through and destroying all shifter-kind. The Crown Prince Alpha thought bonding with me would weaken his bloodline. Now he corners me in the hallways, his voice low and desperate "You belong to me, Lysandra. At my side. In my bed. Under my protection. Your wolf calls to mine-don't you dare deny what burns between us." The General Alpha believed I'd be a liability on the battlefield. Now he drops to one knee before me after I ended a war he couldn't win, his eyes burning gold. "I was a god-damned fool. You're not just my mate. You're my Alpha. My equal in everything. I'll kill anyone who tries to take you from me. Say you'll stay." The Grand Sorcerer Alpha was convinced I had no wolf, no power, nothing became obsessed. "Your power passes mine. You're Mine. I've searched centuries for a mate worthy of me, and you've been here all along. Don't you dare hide from me again." The Merchant Heir Alpha called me forgettable. Now he traces the scars on my face like they're sacred. "I was blind and stupid. You're the most exquisite creature I've ever seen. Let me spend eternity proving I'm worthy of you. Let me worship you the way I should have from the moment we met." The Shadow Guardian Alpha refused to even acknowledge my existence. Now he stalks me through the darkness, his voice a rough whisper against my neck. "I've hunted you for years without knowing my prey was my mate. You're the only wolf strong enough to stand beside me. The only one I'll ever submit to. You own me, little phantom. Whether you accept it or not." And now all five of them are obsessed with me. Possessive and Feral with need. Too bad I'm the one in control now. And I have a Demon King to kill.
Lysandra Pov:
The thing about prophecies is that nobody actually wants to be in one.
I learned that lesson tonight, standing in the Grand Hall of Everspire Palace, wearing a long flowing dress, while five of the most powerful Alphas in the kingdom stared at me like I was a piece of rotting meat someone had left on their dinner plate.
The Blood Moon hung fat and red in the sky above us, visible through the massive glass ceiling that the royal wolf architects had installed specifically for this ceremony. Once every thousand years, they said. Once every thousand years, the Moon Goddess herself would choose a woman to unite five Alpha packs and save the kingdom from destruction.
Lucky me.
"This has to be a mistake," said Alpha Kieran Silvercrest, Crown Prince of Everspire and the first of my supposed "fated mates." He wasn't even looking at me when he said it. He was looking at the High Priestess like she'd personally offended him by conducting this ceremony. "Run the ritual again."
The High Priestess, a tiny old woman who probably weighed ninety pounds soaking wet but could make grown Alphas pee themselves with a single look, did not appear amused. "Your Highness, the Blood Moon does not make mistakes."
"Then the Moon Goddess has a terrible sense of humor," Kieran shot back.
I couldn't even argue with him. I was standing there in a silver dress that someone had shoved me into three hours ago, my hair actually brushed for once in my miserable life, and I wanted to be literally anywhere else but here. The dress had approximately eight thousand tiny buttons down the back and I was pretty sure at least half of them were stabbing me in the spine. Fashion was torture and rich people were insane.
"The prophecy is clear," the High Priestess continued, her voice echoing through the hall where about five hundred pack members had gathered to witness this disaster. "When the Blood Moon rises in the thousandth year, five Alphas shall be bound to one woman, chosen by the Goddess herself. Together, they will stand against the darkness, or the kingdom shall fall."
"Darkness, darkness, always with the dramatic darkness," muttered Alpha Darius Goldmane, the Merchant Heir, who was examining his fingernails like this whole thing was boring him to death. "Can we speed this up? I have a trade negotiation in the morning."
I felt my eye twitch. Of all the things to say during your supposed fated mate ceremony, "I have a trade negotiation" was definitely up there on the list of most insulting.
Alpha Theron Ironfang, the General, had his massive arms crossed over his chest. The man was built like someone who had decided to see how many muscles they could fit on one person and then added a few more for good luck. He was scowling at me like I'd personally insulted his entire military career. "She doesn't even have a wolf," he said flatly. "I can't smell one on her."
And there it was. The thing everyone was thinking but he was the first to say out loud.
I was wolfless.
Or at least, that's what everyone believed.
The crowd started murmuring, that horrible whisper-buzz that happened when hundreds of people all decided to gossip at once. I could hear bits and pieces of it.
"...no wolf..."
"...orphan from the outer territories..."
"...lives with the Blackwater family..."
"...heard she can't even shift..."
"...this is an insult to the Alphas..."
My face was burning. I wanted to disappear. I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole. I wanted to shift into my wolf form and run so far away that nobody would ever find me again.
But I couldn't do any of those things.
Instead, I stood there, hands clenched at my sides, and reminded myself that I'd been through worse than public humiliation. Much worse.
Alpha Cassian Nightweaver, the Grand Sorcerer, was studying me with those weird silver eyes of his that looked like they could see straight through to your soul. His pack specialized in magic, and he gave off this creepy vibe like he knew things about you that you didn't even know about yourself. "Fascinating," he said softly. "The Goddess chose someone with no detectable power signature. There must be a reason."
"The reason is this to waste everyone's time," snapped Alpha Zane Shadowmere, the Shadow Guardian. He was the most terrifying of the five, and that was saying something. His pack operated in the dark, handled the kingdom's dirty work, and he had a reputation for being about as warm and cuddly as a rabid wolverine. He hadn't said a word since I'd been brought into the hall, just stood there radiating menace and looking like he wanted to murder someone. Possibly me. "I reject this bond."
The words hit like a physical blow.
You couldn't just reject a fated mate bond. Well, you could, but it was supposed to hurt. It was supposed to feel like your soul was being ripped in half. The legends said that rejecting a true mate was one of the most painful things a wolf could experience.
Zane said it like he was commenting on the weather.
The High Priestess sucked in a sharp breath. "Alpha Shadowmere, you cannot simply..."
"I reject this bond," he repeated, his dark eyes finally landing on me. They were cold. Empty. Like I was absolutely nothing to him. "I will not be bound to a wolfless orphan, prophecy or not."
Oh, good. We were doing this now.
Chapter 1 The Ceremony of Shame
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Chapter 2 Rejected
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Chapter 3 A Goddess' Joke
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Chapter 4 The Wolfless Girl
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Chapter 5 The Council's Verdict
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Chapter 6 The Curse of Refusal
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Chapter 7 Unclaimed And Unbroken
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Chapter 8 Surviving Their Contempt
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Chapter 9 One Insult at a Time
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Chapter 10 The Price of Being Chosen
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Chapter 11 Haunted Memories
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Chapter 12 Ashes of the Moonblood Pack
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Chapter 13 Mama
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Chapter 14 The Last Moonblood
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Chapter 15 Lucky, Lucky Me
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Chapter 16 A New Friend
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Chapter 17 Charity with Conditions
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Chapter 18 Unwanted, Still Useful
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Chapter 19 The Help
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Chapter 20 Still Standing
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Chapter 21 The Blackwater Years
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Chapter 22 Punished for Existing
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Chapter 23 Old Garrick
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Chapter 24 The Making of a Weapon
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Chapter 25 The End of Obedience
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Chapter 26 I Survived Worse
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Chapter 27 Crimson Fate
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Chapter 28 Waiting to Be Unleashed
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Chapter 29 A Proper Mate
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Chapter 30 Publicly Unwanted
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Chapter 31 Unfit For A Crown
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Chapter 32 The End of False Hope
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Chapter 33 The General's Lesson
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Chapter 34 An Example of Weakness
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Chapter 35 The Girl Who Wouldn't Bow
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Chapter 36 Three Rogues
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Chapter 37 Surprising
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Chapter 38 The Grand Sorcerer
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Chapter 39 Magically Insignificant
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Chapter 40 A Textbook Death
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