The Alpha’s Fated Mate, His Second Choice

Ten minutes before I was supposed to become Luna of the Blackthorne Pack, I opened the ceremony box and found the wrong ribbon.

Pink and white. Soft as a baby's blanket.

Not silver.

"Harper." My voice came out thin. "Where's my moon-vow ribbon?"

My best friend Harper stopped fussing with the hem of my ivory silk gown and leaned over my shoulder. Her red curls brushed my cheek.

"That's not yours." She snatched the box and dug through the tissue paper. "Brielle, the ring's gone too."

I touched the moonstone at my throat. My mother's necklace. Cool and smooth, the only steady thing in the room.

"Maybe the priestess moved them," I said.

"Maybe the priestess lost her mind." Harper slammed the box shut. "Nobody swaps a Luna's ribbon by accident."

The door swung open.

Ronan stood there in his black ceremonial coat, broad shoulders filling the frame. Seven years I'd loved that face. The sharp jaw. The gray eyes that used to soften only for me.

Behind him came a woman in pale pink.

Vanessa.

Ronan's first love. The girl who'd left the pack and flown overseas eight years ago. Her eyes were red-rimmed, like she'd been crying the whole flight home.

The pink of her dress matched the ribbon in my box exactly.

"Bri." Ronan crossed to me. "I need to talk to you."

"You already did." I lifted the ribbon between two fingers. "This says plenty."

Vanessa pressed a hand to her chest. "Please don't be upset with him. It was my idea."

Harper snorted. "Of course it was."

"When I left the pack, I never got a proper goodbye," Vanessa went on, her voice wobbling. "No blessing. Nothing. I only wanted a small, symbolic moment. Today felt like… fate."

"It's my mating ceremony," I said.

"I know." She dabbed at her eye with one knuckle. "That's why it means so much."

Before I could answer, Ronan cupped the back of my head. His thumb stroked my hair, slow and patient, the way you'd calm a nervous horse.

"Sweetheart, it's only a ceremony," he murmured. "You're still my mate."

Then he reached back and took Vanessa's hand.

Just like that. Fingers laced. In front of Harper. In front of me.

I stared at their joined hands. Seven years, and he had never once held mine where anyone could see. Not at pack dinners. Not at the winter hunt. Always a hand on my lower back, guiding me, never claiming me.

Seven years ago, under the first full moon of spring, he'd kissed my knuckles and sworn I'd be the happiest Luna in all the northern territories.

I laughed. Just once. It surprised all three of them.

"Then why," I asked quietly, "is she wearing the ribbon you promised me?"

Ronan's brows pulled together. "Don't do this."

"Do what? Ask a question?"

"Make a scene over nothing." His voice dropped. "Vanessa's been sick. Her wolf is weak. She can't handle stress right now."

"And I can?"

"You're strong, Bri. That's what I love about you."

Harper's mouth fell open. "Are you actually hearing yourself?"

A bell rang through the halls of the Moon Temple. Three clear notes.

"The ceremony begins," a voice called. "All rise for the Moon Priestess."

Ronan squeezed Vanessa's hand and turned toward the door. He didn't look back at me.

---

The temple was packed. Hundreds of wolves on stone benches, moonlight pouring through the open dome onto the silver altar.

I walked in alone.

Ronan walked in with Vanessa.

He led her up the altar steps himself and placed her in the Luna's circle. My circle. The carved crescent where I'd stood during every rehearsal.

The whispers started at once.

"Is that Vanessa?"

"She's standing in the Luna's spot."

"So the Alpha's mate is just a placeholder?"

"Poor thing. Seven years, and she's still nobody."

Someone giggled behind me. My face burned. I kept my chin up.

The Moon Priestess lifted her hands, white robes shimmering. "We gather to bless the bond beneath the Goddess's light—"

"Stop!"

Harper shoved past the front row and stormed toward the altar.

"Ronan Blackthorne, you're spitting on a sacred vow!" she shouted. "That's Brielle's place! Everyone in this temple knows it!"

Gasps rippled across the benches.

Vanessa shrank against Ronan's arm. He wrapped it around her.

"Harper." I caught my friend's wrist. "Don't."

"Don't? Bri, he's humiliating you!"

"I know." I squeezed her hand once, then let it drop.

I climbed the altar steps. Every eye in the temple followed me.

The silver shawl around my shoulders was embroidered with the pack's crest. A future Luna's mantle. My fingers found the clasp. It opened easily, like it had been waiting.

I folded the shawl and laid it on the altar stone between Ronan and Vanessa.

"If she wants my place so badly," I said, "she can have it."

Silence. Total, ringing silence.

Vanessa's lips parted. For half a second, something flickered in her eyes. Triumph. Bright and quick, then gone behind fresh tears.

Ronan leaned close, his breath hot against my ear. "Pick that up. Now."

"No."

"You're jealous. I get it." His jaw went tight. "But you will not ruin this ceremony. Do you understand me?"

I looked at him for a long moment. Really looked.

Then I turned and walked down the steps.

"Ronan," Vanessa's voice trembled behind me, loud enough for the front rows. "Oh no. Did I ruin everything?"

"No, darling." His tone was low, tender. "She'll calm down."

My feet stopped on the third step.

Darling.

Seven years, and I was always Sweetheart. A word he said the same way he said good morning. Easy. Automatic.

Darling sounded different. Warm. Like something he'd been saving.

I kept walking.

---

The night air outside the temple hit my bare shoulders like cold water. The sacred fire burned in its stone basin at the bottom of the steps, gold flames snapping toward the moon.

I opened my clutch and pulled out a second ribbon.

Silver. Hand-braided. I'd made it for Ronan seven years ago, sitting cross-legged on my bedroom floor until my fingers bled. And near the knot, a dark rusty stain.

His blood. From the night he'd cut his palm and pressed it to the ribbon and swore he would never betray me.

I'd carried it in my bag all day. I'd planned to give it to him tonight, after the vows. A surprise.

I held it over the flames.

The fire caught the edge instantly. Silver curled into black. The bloodstain went last.

I took out my phone and dialed the number I'd memorized for the paperwork. The Pack Council's private registry line.

It rang twice.

"Council Registry, this is Thomas."

"This is Brielle Hayes." My voice didn't shake. That surprised me. "I want to cancel my mating registration."

A long pause on the line. Paper rustled.

"Miss Hayes, are you… are you certain?" Thomas sounded nervous. "Alpha Ronan has already signed the application."

Through the temple's open doors, I could see the altar. Ronan held Vanessa against his chest, one hand stroking her back. She'd buried her face in his coat. My silver shawl still lay at their feet, forgotten.

"Then he should have thought about that," I said, "before choosing another woman at our ceremony."

On the other end of the line, Thomas went quiet for so long I thought the call had dropped.

Then he cleared his throat.

"Miss Hayes… there's something in your file you need to see. Something Alpha Ronan filed three weeks ago."