Chapter 1
I waited until midnight, but Alpha Lucas never showed.
I took a sip of the Eclipse Wine he’d specially prepared for me. It was meant to soothe my wolf, but it tasted cloying—almost sickeningly sweet.
Gradually, I drifted off.
It was well into the early hours of the morning when his kiss finally woke me.
His skin was deathly cold against mine, sending a shiver through my entire body.
“Sorry,” he murmured, hovering over me, his voice raw. “Something came up. I couldn’t make it back in time to be with you.
“Why didn’t you drink more of the wine?”
“I didn’t want my wolf getting too hyper,” I hummed.
He nipped at my collarbone, his tone teasing. “If she gets too hyper, just skip training. I’ll take care of you.”
That night, Lucas’s wolf was strangely aggressive, almost frantic.
He took me over and over until dawn, and I ended up late for the Spring Hunt assembly.
My best friend, Clara Frazier, dragged me into a private tent, her face tight with worry. “Isabel, have you heard? Seraphina Cruz is back.”
I nodded, bitterness flooding my throat.
Of course I knew. She was the reason Lucas had stood me up last night. He’d been out welcoming his fated mate home.
“She hit the hunting grounds at daybreak,” Clara whispered. “I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.”
She was right. Moments later, the beta delivered the news: the honor of Lead Hunter had been handed to Seraphina.
Clara stamped her foot, furious on my behalf.
I, on the other hand, was eerily calm, like I’d seen this coming all along.
A year of brutal training, endless nights at the gym, and the sheer grit I’d poured into earning that spot... it all just evaporated.
A dull ache spread from my chest to my fingertips. I couldn’t even find the strength to take a full breath.
At the opening ceremony, Lucas stood front and center. As the Alpha, he personally pinned the ceremonial eagle feather—the symbol of ultimate glory—onto Seraphina’s cloak.
Since I’d been stripped of my title, I didn’t even have the right to stand in the front row anymore.
The first trial was catching silver-scale fish in the rapids.
Seraphina pulled me out of the crowd.
“Isabel, why don’t you take my place? You’re kind of a veteran, after all.”
She wasn’t lying. Before Lucas made me his Luna-to-be, I had been Seraphina’s training stand-in. Our wolves looked similar, and our profiles were almost identical.
When I remained silent, Seraphina turned to Lucas with a pout. “Alpha Lucas, you aren’t being overprotective of Isabel, are you?”
Lucas looked at her with pure devotion. “Of course not. Feel free to do whatever you want.”
So, I changed into the same hunting gear as Seraphina. In the freezing early spring air, she “accidentally” missed her mark over and over. And each time, I dove into the icy river to clean up her mistakes.
Clara finally snapped. She rushed over and wrapped me in a thick fur blanket. “Seraphina, give her a break. If she keeps this up, her wolf is going to snap from the cold.”
Seraphina frowned, clearly annoyed. “My time is valuable. Since when does a stand-in get to make demands?”
The Elder presiding over the ceremony glanced nervously at Lucas, who was sitting nearby.
Lucas looked at me—soaked, shaking, barely standing.
“Keep going,” he ordered with cold indifference.
Those two words carved straight through my heart.
The trial didn’t end until nightfall.
By the time I returned, my wolf was so weak I could barely maintain human form.
My bones throbbed. The pain in my soul tangled with the humiliation in my chest until breathing itself became difficult.
In a daze, I felt Lucas feeding me healing herbs.
“Seraphina takes the pack’s honor seriously,” he said softly. “Don’t hold it against her.”
“I know,” I whispered, barely audible.
“I’ll make it up to you,” he promised, trying to be comforting. “I’m staying right here tonight.”
The moment he finished speaking, his mind-link chimed.
Seraphina’s voice came through, sweet and needy. “Alpha Lucas, can you come help me go over tomorrow’s hunting route?”
Lucas looked at me, embarrassed.
I turned away, my voice flat. “It’s fine. Go.”
He leaned in and gave me a quick, happy peck on the lips. “I knew you were the best, Isabel.”
Deep in my soul, Bella let out a howl of pure despair. Each cry tore through me until I thought I might suffocate from the pain.
As I watched Lucas walk away, I reached up and wiped the moisture of his kiss from my mouth.
I was just a stand-in. And stand-ins didn’t get to have feelings.
