---- You know strong negative emotions can affect an unborn cub. You need to think of the bigger picture." The bigger picture? I almost laughed out loud. For the bigger picture, he, the Alpha, shouldn't have marked another woman! Or postponed our mating ceremony for their bastard child! But I didn't let any of it show. Instead, I looked at him calmly. "Of course, Alpha. I was just here to pay my respects to the sacred tree. Clearly... 1 interrupted something." I placed the wildflowers at the base of the tree and turned to leave. "Wait," Kaelen called after me. "About tomorrow's ceremony..." "It's postponed, I know." I didn't turn back. " After all, some things are more important than a ---- mate bond." I could feel his shock. He knew I wasn't supposed to have heard that. Which meant I knew a lot more than he thought. As I left, I felt Lyra's eyes on my back, cold as a snake's. What she didn't know was that I wasn't the easy-to-bully Sera anymore. The Moon Goddess was my witness; I'd make them pay for every lie. Tomorrow night, the first step of the Moon Eclipse Unbinding would begin. And Kaelen Night- fang would learn he hadn't just lost a mate, but the future of his entire pack.