The Promise That Never Saw Daylight

My mate is Ryder Blackwood, Alpha of the pack.

As the approaching bonding ceremony, he tells me that his "savior", Isabelle Morrison, is dying. She took a silver dagger meant for him three years ago. Now she is terminal, and her days are numbered.

Her last wish, he says, is to leave behind a pup bearing the strongest Alpha blood.

I tremble. "What about me? I'm your only mate."

His voice is cold, emptied of feeling. "Don't worry. I'll always be your mate."

Two days later, I receive the pregnancy test results. Isabelle is five weeks along.

Turns out there was never a choice. All I get is a belated notice.

What he doesn't know is that I'm the one who took the silver dagger meant for him three years ago. The healer tells me I have, at most, a month to live.

I neither weep nor protest. I cancel the bonding ceremony I've dreamed of and quietly book a flight out. It leaves on the very day of the ceremony.

Ryder stands at the venue of the canceled ceremony when my message reaches him. It's my unwavering rejection of him as my mate. That's when he finally breaks.

For the first time, the Alpha who controls everything tastes a fear that tears the soul. He searches for me frantically, only to find every trace of me erased from his world.

Three years ago, while saving my mate, Ryder Blackwood, I was poisoned by Silverblood. But he believed his childhood sweetheart, Isabelle Morrison, was the one who had saved him. Now, I learned that he wanted to give her a pup.

I called off the bonding ceremony I'd been dreaming of, booked a flight out for that very day, and braced myself to face death alone.

…

"I need to give Isabelle a pup."

Ryder's words cut through the quiet of morning.

Two weeks ago, I felt that something was wrong. After a checkup at the infirmary, I learned that Silverblood had been in me far longer than I'd realized.

I meant to tell Ryder about the diagnosis today. But when I heard him, I opened my mouth and said nothing.

The thorns of the white roses pricked my fingers, and crimson drops found their way onto the petals.

I turned toward Ryder, praying it was only a cruel joke.

He was in a black suit, dressed for Bluemoon Group's board meeting. His expression was set like stone, and the Alpha presence he held was palpable.

"Lyra, we'll use artificial insemination," he said, adjusting his cufflinks without so much as a glance at me. "You shouldn't take offense. This is a reasonable arrangement."

My knees went weak. Silverblood burned through my veins.

The healer said I had, at most, a month to live. For that one month, all I wanted was to complete the bonding ceremony with my fated mate.

"Why?" I asked, holding the bouquet so tight the stems snapped. "I'm your fated mate, Ryder, chosen by the Moon