MOON OATH: THE CHOSEN MATE

Arielle couldn't move.

The woman on the bridge looked like something from a nightmare. Half her face covered in silver marks that glowed in the darkness. Hair matted and wild. Clothes torn and filthy like she'd been living in the forest for months.

But her eyes. God, her eyes were the worst part. They held intelligence. Awareness. And something that looked like madness barely restrained.

"You're dead." Arielle's voice came out as a whisper. "They said you threw yourself off a bridge."

"I did." Maya's smile was broken. Wrong. "Fell a hundred feet onto rocks. Should have died. Would have died if I was still human. But the transformation had already started. Made my bones stronger. Made my body heal. I woke up three days later in a cave with no memory of how I got there."

"That was ten months ago."

"Ten months, two weeks, and four days." Maya took a step forward. Arielle stepped back. "I've been counting. Watching. Waiting for the moon to send him another sacrifice. And here you are. Number four."

"I'm not a sacrifice."

"That's what I thought too. That's what they all thought." Her laugh echoed off stone. "The first one believed she was special. Chosen. The moon's gift to an Alpha King. She died during her ceremony with her heart literally exploding in her chest. I watched it happen. Watched Lycian try to save her while she bled from her eyes."

Arielle's stomach turned. "Stop."

"The second one was smarter. Suspicious. She tried to investigate. Tried to figure out who was sabotaging the bonds. They poisoned her the night before her ceremony. Made it look like organ failure. Natural consequence of a human body rejecting wolf power." Maya moved closer. "I was the third. I didn't believe in destiny or fate or the moon's plans. I was just trying to survive. And look what it got me."

She pulled aside her torn shirt. Silver marks covered her entire torso. But they weren't like Arielle's marks. These were twisted. Wrong. Like they'd been burned into her skin and then tried to crawl off her body.

"The transformation broke halfway through. Left me stuck between human and wolf. Can't shift. Can't heal properly. Can't even die when I want to because this cursed bond keeps my heart beating no matter how much I beg it to stop." Tears ran down Maya's marked face. "Ten months I've been living in the forest. Hiding. Watching. Waiting for someone who might believe me. Someone who might be able to stop them before they kill you too."

"Stop who?"

"The faction." Maya's voice dropped to a whisper. "Pure-blood wolves who believe Alphas should only mate with their own kind. They've been sabotaging the bonds. Killing the marked humans before the ceremonies can complete. They want Lycian to go mad. Want him to die so someone stronger can take his place. Someone who won't sully the bloodline with human mates."

"Why didn't you tell someone? Why hide for ten months?"

"Because they'll kill me if they know I survived. I'm evidence. Proof that the deaths weren't natural." She grabbed Arielle's arm. Her grip was strong. Too strong. "You need to leave. Now. Tonight. Before they do to you what they did to me."

"I can't leave. The bond won't let me."

"Then you're already dead." Maya released her. "Just like I am. Just like the first two were. We're all corpses waiting for the killing blow. The only question is whether you'll see it coming."

Footsteps echoed behind them. Multiple sets. Moving fast.

Maya's eyes went wide. "They followed you. I told you to come alone."

"I did come alone."

"Then they were watching. Waiting to see if I'd contact you." She backed toward the bridge's edge. "Don't trust anyone. Not Sera. Not Kael. Not even Lycian. One of them is working with the faction. One of them wants you dead."

"Wait." Arielle reached for her. "Don't go. We can figure this out together."

"There's nothing to figure out. You're going to die. Just like I did. Just like they all did." Maya climbed onto the bridge railing. Balanced there like a tightrope walker. "But maybe you'll be luckier. Maybe you'll actually stay dead."

She jumped.

Arielle screamed and lunged for the edge. Looked down into darkness that swallowed everything. No sound. No impact. Just void.

Then hands grabbed her shoulders and hauled her back from the edge.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lycian spun her around. His eyes blazed silver. "You could have fallen."

"Someone was here. Maya. The third mate. She's alive."

"Maya is dead. You saw a ghost. Hallucination from stress and exhaustion and the bond messing with your head."

"I'm not hallucinating. She was real. She told me—"

"She told you lies." Kael appeared behind Lycian. "Classic faction tactic. Make you paranoid. Make you think everyone around you is trying to kill you. Isolate you from the people who can actually protect you."

"She had marks. Transformation scars."

"Anyone can fake scars." Lycian's grip tightened. "How did you even get out here? Sera was supposed to be watching your door."

"She was asleep. Or drugged. Someone wanted me out here."

"Or you snuck out." Kael's voice was hard. "Disobeyed direct orders to stay in your room. Put yourself in danger. For what? To meet a ghost?"

"She wasn't a ghost. She was real and terrified and trapped between human and wolf because the transformation broke her." Arielle pulled free from Lycian's grip. "And she said one of you is working with the faction. Said I can't trust any of you."

Silence fell. Heavy. Dangerous.

Lycian and Kael exchanged a look. Something passed between them. Some silent communication that made Arielle's blood run cold.

"If Maya was alive," Lycian said carefully, "if she survived the fall and has been hiding for ten months, then she's insane. The broken transformation would have destroyed her mind. Anything she told you is the product of madness and paranoia."

"Or it's the truth and you just don't want me to know it."

"Why would I bring you here if I wanted you dead?" His voice rose. "Why would I spend months searching for you, protecting you, trying to keep you alive long enough to complete the bond if my plan all along was to kill you?"

"Maybe because you need me alive until the ceremony. Maybe because the faction needs the bond to get close to completion before they strike. Maximum damage to you when I die."

"That's insane."

"Is it? Because Maya said the first two died during or right before their ceremonies. Died at the moment when it would hurt you most. When you'd invested everything into keeping them alive and then watched them die anyway." Arielle's voice shook. "What better way to torture an Alpha King than to give him hope and then rip it away over and over?"

Kael moved closer. "You're spiraling. The bond is messing with your head. Making you paranoid."

"Or I'm finally seeing clearly." She looked between them. "One of you is lying. Maybe both of you. But I know Maya was real. I know she's out there. And I know someone in this pack wants me dead."

"Everyone in this pack wants you dead." Lycian's voice was flat. "You're human. Weak. Contaminating the bloodline. Half the pack thinks I should refuse you and let the curse take me. Die with honor instead of bonding to something inferior."

The words stung more than they should have. "Then why fight it?"

"Because I'm a coward." His eyes met hers. "Because I'd rather damn you than die myself. Because I'm exactly as selfish as everyone says. Because keeping you alive serves me, and I don't care what it costs you as long as I survive."

The honesty was brutal. Refreshing. Terrible.

"At least you're not lying anymore."

"I never lied. I told you from the beginning this bond was survival, not romance. I told you I was using you. You just didn't want to believe me." He turned away. "Go back to your room. Don't come out until dawn. And don't ever sneak out alone again. Next time, you might actually fall off that bridge and I'll feel you die through the bond. I've felt that three times already. I'm not eager for a fourth."

He started walking. Kael followed.

Arielle stood alone on the bridge where Maya had jumped. Where she'd vanished into darkness that swallowed everything.

Real or hallucination. Truth or manipulation. She didn't know anymore.

But she knew one thing. The mark on her chest was spreading faster now. Had reached her wrists. Crept up her throat. In another day, maybe less, she'd be completely covered.

Completely transformed.

Completely trapped.

She looked down into the void where Maya had disappeared. "If you're real, if you're out there, help me. Tell me who I can trust."

The darkness didn't answer.

Arielle walked back to the kingdom alone. Every shadow felt like a threat. Every sound like footsteps. By the time she reached her room, she was shaking.

Sera was awake now. Standing by the door with guilt written across her face.

"I'm sorry. Someone drugged the food I ate. Put me out cold for hours. I failed you."

"Or you drugged yourself so I'd have no protection." Arielle pushed past her. "I don't know who to trust anymore."

"I understand. But Arielle, you need to trust someone. You can't survive this alone."

"Maya survived alone for ten months."

Sera's expression went carefully blank. "Maya is dead."

"Is she? Because I just spoke to her. She told me things about the first two mates. Things she couldn't know unless she'd witnessed their deaths."

"What things?"

"That the first one's heart exploded. That the second one was poisoned the night before her ceremony." Arielle watched Sera's face. "Were those public knowledge? Did everyone know how they died?"

"The details were kept quiet. Only the healer who examined the bodies would know specifics." Sera's voice was cautious. "And I was that healer."

"So either Maya is alive and was there when they died, or someone who examined the bodies told her. Which means you or someone with access to your records."

"Or you're being manipulated by someone who wants you to distrust the only people trying to keep you alive." Sera moved closer. "Think, Arielle. Who benefits from you being paranoid? Who benefits from you isolating yourself and refusing help? The faction. The people who want you dead. They're playing on your fear."

"Everyone keeps telling me what to think. What to believe. Who to trust." Arielle's voice rose. "But no one is telling me the truth. No one is being honest about what happened to the first three. About who really killed them. About why a faction would rather see their Alpha King go mad than accept a human mate."

"Because tradition matters more than survival to some wolves." A new voice came from the doorway.

Arielle spun. A woman stood there. Older, maybe sixty, with white hair and eyes like chips of ice. She carried herself with authority that made even Sera step back.

"Who are you?"

"Morrigan Ashwood. Elder of the Northern Pack. Voice of the council." The woman entered without invitation. "And the one who's been investigating the deaths since the first mate died eighteen months ago."

"You knew they were murdered."

"I suspected. Couldn't prove it. But I've been watching. Gathering evidence. Building a case." Morrigan's ice-blue eyes held Arielle's. "And I think I finally know who's behind the killings. But I need your help to prove it."

"Why would I help you? I don't even know if you're telling the truth."

"Because if I'm right, the person killing the marked mates is someone Lycian trusts completely. Someone close enough to sabotage the ceremonies without suspicion. Someone who's been planning this for years." She pulled out a small device. "And I have evidence. But it's incomplete. I need you to do something dangerous. Something that will expose the killer. Something that might get you killed."

Arielle stared at the device. "What kind of something?"

"Complete the ceremony. Go through with the mating bond. And when the saboteur strikes, when they try to kill you during the transformation, I'll be watching. Recording. Getting proof that will stand up before the council."

"You want to use me as bait."

"I want to save your life by catching a murderer." Morrigan's voice was hard. "But yes. You'll be bait. The killings always happen during the ceremony. That's when the marked mate is most vulnerable. That's when the saboteur strikes. If we can catch them in the act, we can end this. Save you. Save Lycian. Save every human the moon marks after you."

"And if you're wrong? If I die while you're gathering evidence?"

"Then you die. But at least you die knowing the truth." She moved closer. "I won't lie to you like everyone else has. This plan is dangerous. You might not survive. But it's the only way to expose the killer and stop them from doing this again. The choice is yours."

Arielle looked at Sera. The healer's face was unreadable.

Looked at the mark covering her arms. Spreading up her throat. Glowing brighter every hour.

Looked at the window where dawn was starting to break. One more day until the ceremony. One more day until she either completed the transformation or died trying.

"If I do this, if I let myself be bait, I want answers. Real answers. About Maya. About the faction. About who I can actually trust in this place."

"Done." Morrigan held out her hand. "We have a bargain."

Arielle stared at the offered hand. Taking it meant committing. Meant walking into the ceremony knowing someone would try to kill her. Knowing she might die.

But not taking it meant dying anyway. Meant staying ignorant. Meant letting the killer keep hunting marked humans until Lycian went mad or gave up.

She took Morrigan's hand.

The elder smiled. "Good. Then let's catch a murderer."

Outside, the sun rose over the impossible city. First light of the last day before the ceremony.

The last day before Arielle either became Luna or became the fourth corpse.

Somewhere in the forest, Maya watched from the shadows and whispered, "She's going to die just like I did. And there's nothing anyone can do to stop it."