Chapter 1

Freya’s POV

The coronation ceremony was in full swing, laughter drifting through the moonlit clearing like the ghosts of joy I no longer recognized.

Banners embroidered with the Silverfang crest rippled in the night wind, threads gleaming with sacred runes—symbols of a legacy I had once bled to uphold. The elders stood like statues around the perimeter, robes weighted with centuries of authority, eyes reflecting generations of judgment and expectation.

And in the center—he stood.

My mate.

Alpha Caelum.

He had told me he was too busy today—too busy for pack rites, for oaths beneath the moon, too busy launching a product built on the blood-price of my fallen family. Yet here he was, bathed in stolen moonlight, standing beside her.