Charles’ breath quickened, and his movements became more urgent. “I’m close,” he gasped in my ear, his voice breaking between moans. My own pleasure surged, and I couldn’t hold back the scream that tore from my throat. A wave of electric tingles swept through me, my temples throbbed, and the world around me faded into white…
Every pore on my body felt wide open, heat radiating from me in waves. It was surreal, as if I were in a dream, feeling everything but grasping none of it…
I could hardly believe it—I had married this man, the infamous Alpha of the Black Valley Pack, Charles McLean, and I had just slept with him.
But there was no love between us. We weren’t fated mates.
Since his first shift at eighteen, Charles McLean had never found his fated mate. And after one engagement after another, each of his fiancées had died under mysterious circumstances. Rumor had it that he wore a mask to conceal his hideous face and that he was a cruel, violent man who would kill without hesitation. People whispered that he had murdered his previous fiancées.
His last fiancée—my sister—was terrified of him. Horrified by the stories, she had vehemently refused to marry him. And just before the wedding, she found her fated mate. So, without warning or preparation, I was forced to take her place, pushed into marrying Charles in her stead, to stand as his wife in name only and the unacknowledged Luna of the Black Valley Pack…

A Substituted Bride But A Fated Luna

After agreeing with Stella on our roles, I left her room.


Over the following weeks, we each focused on our responsibilities—me managing pack affairs and Stella caring for our father while preparing for the succession ceremony.


Thanks to Stella’s dedicated care, my father’s condition steadily improved. His speech returned gradually, though his pace was slow, and he still struggled with clarity. His leg injury hadn’t fully healed, so he needed a wheelchair to get around, but considering the state he was once in, his recovery was nothing short of a miracle.


To avoid upsetting him, I limited my visits to once a week. When I did see him, I kept my tone calm and avoided any mention of pack leadership or Alpha duties. At first, he ignored me, but with Stella’s help in bridging the gap, he eventually started speaking a few words to me, though the distance between us remained.


130 The Alpha Succession Ceremony