Ayasha watched her brother die at the hands of King Nahuel as her pack was crushed beneath the weight of conquest. When she catches the tyrant king’s eye during a brutal sparring match, he offers her a deal: marry his son, Prince Koda, and her family will be spared.

Desperate to protect what remains, Ayasha agrees.

But the promised marriage is a lie.

In the heart of Lamia, she discovers nineteen other would-be brides, all from fallen packs, forced into a brutal Luna trial. Only one will earn the right to stand beside the prince. The rest will lose everything, including their lives.

Ayasha already has an agenda of her own. She plans to kill Koda, the son of the monster she blames for her brother’s death.

Then her wolf imprints on him.

Fate has bound her to the very man she came to destroy. As the trials grow bloodier and palace secrets come to light, Ayasha must choose between the vengeance that drives her and the bond she never wanted.

I held onto my grandfather, feeling the weight of everything crashing down around us. The broken plate lay scattered across the floor, ceramic pieces catching the morning light like fragments of my shattered world.


"What's your plan?" I asked him, pulling back to look into his weathered face. "You said you'd take Ayasha and Pavati under your wing. How?"


My grandfather wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I know there will be a red herring with your father's games. Adoption will be the first thing the contestants realize they have to do. But I know your father and Lord Thalen will find a way to make that be the downfall of at least some of them."


Chapter 48 - A lover's gamble 1