The Luna's Second Choice

Ten years ago, Elara wandered alone in the forest and saved the Alpha of the Stormfang Pack from a silver wound. Her blood could heal him, and he took her in as his own daughter, promising one of his five sons would marry her and succeed him as Alpha. But everything changed last year when the brothers accidentally hurt a she-wolf named Jenny in the forest and brought her home. Jenny, an Omega maid, quickly turned their heads. Elara overheard them: Ethan claimed he'd only agreed to marry her to make his father happy, and that Jenny was the only one he wanted to mark. The other brothers agreed, dismissing Elara's human scent as nothing compared to Jenny's. Elara's heart shattered, but she kept quiet until her eighteenth birthday. When Alpha Mason asked which son she'd chosen, she stunned him: she wasn't marrying any of them.

Word had spread that the Lycan Prince Xavier Lockhart proposed an alliance with their pack. Though no one had ever seen his face, Elara knew his territory was stable and his people lived in peace—that told her everything she needed to know about the kind of Alpha he was. She accepted his proposal and asked her father to keep the alliance quiet, especially from Ethan and the others. But before the banquet, Jenny kept pushing. At a dress fitting, Jenny tried to claim the gown Elara had chosen for the Werewolf Ball. Ethan, who'd brought Jenny as his date instead of Elara for the first time in ten years, forced Elara to hand over the dress—and the shoes to match—humiliating her in front of everyone. Then Jenny said that Ethan liked her even better wearing nothing. Elara told her to get away. Later, at a bonfire party, Jenny orchestrated another scheme to frame Elara. Frank, one of the five brothers, pushed Jenny in the commotion—and her leg was burned by the fire. She cried out in pain, and the brothers rushed to her side, carrying her to the hospital. The brothers, gathered at Elara's bedside, weren't there out of concern—they'd come to ask for her healing blood to save Jenny. Ethan bargained: if she healed Jenny, he'd marry her. When she refused, Ethan grabbed her arm and forced her blood into Jenny's wound while Elara lost consciousness, the doctor shouting she'd die if they continued. She woke in the hospital to find a gift from Xavier had arrived—the royal Luna's crest. She decided to announce her engagement at her eighteenth birthday banquet. That night, the brothers finally scented their mate and realized it was Elara. They approached her, stunned. Elara stood before the crowd, ready to announce her future husband—when Jenny burst in with a knife, screaming that Elara had stolen the brothers from her.