After erasing my pack identity, the betrayed alpha regretted

My fingertips grazed the parchment-like blood bond, the fifth-year creases oozing with cold coffee.

When I stormed into the Bond Hall, clutching that sodden scarlet paper, the clerk's s pupils constricted, "Ms. Lagerfelt, the system lists your bond status as... single."

"Impossible!"

"Anders and I-"

The clerk's head snapped up, a growl rumbling in his throat: "System records show Mr. Anders Trier's legal mate is Ms. Caroline Chastain."

"Her werewolf imprint matches his perfectly."

"Caroline Chastain"-the name struck like a silver-tipped icicle.

All of Black Hessen knew Anders' childhood diaries reeked of my scent; he'd fallen from a triple-tree oak while chasing my runaway familiar, breaking his wolf bone but laughing as he licked my tears.

And Caroline... merely the "stand-in" he'd claimed smelled "Five-tenths like me" during my overseas veterinary studies.

The Bond Hall's revolving door shattered into ice shards behind me. I stumbled into the downpour

My phone vibrated on the leather seat-Anders' message appeared

"Baby, canceled the North American Wolf Pact's billion-dollar hunt,"

"Bought Blood Moon roses; the cake's laced with silver honey. Want to nuzzle your ear tonight, just like our first moonlit run."

Memories sliced through the rain: at eight, his broken left arm oozed but he still smiled at sight of me; at sixteen, snowflakes dusted the white tip of his wolf as he stood beneath my window; at eighteen, he lit firecrakcers in the sky with my name in the sky?

Across the ocean, his video calls came daily,

On the cracked video screen, his irises bled into wolf-black,. "Baby," he slurred "I drank the entire pack's alchol supply. Every time I close my eyes, your scent fades... I'll howl myself to death under the next full moon."

I surprised him on my return.

Pushing open the club door, I saw him kissing a girl-her profile a Five-out-of-ten mirror of mine.

My bag thudded to the floor.

I ran, and he chased like a madman: calls, messages, standing in the rain, pleading: "It's not what you think! I missed you too much... Just hugs and kisses, I swear! Jessica, I love you to the point of madness..."

By the fifth night of rain, his wolf form had half-shifted on my doorstep. A werewolf's body should withstand torrents, but his body heat flared like a dying star, searing my palm when I pressed it to his forehead.

"Jessica..." He snarled.

"Don't send me away... I'll rip out my own throat before-"

I dragged him inside.

In the infirmary, as I applied moonwort salve to his rain-burned skin, his hands clamped around my wrist.

"Swear you'll stay," he growled.

I nodded, fool enough to believe a liar's howl.

Five moons later, Caroline Chastain walked into Anders' office wearing a glamour.

"Her parents are dying of shadow rot," Anders said.

"In our pack, we honor the Blood Oath: no wolf left behind."

When she bent to file documents, her collar shifted, revealing a scarlet mark at her nape.

Anders caught my stare.

"She's a prodigy," he