The Rogues Reluctant Mate by Grace Kara

After seven years in a dungeon for a crime I didn't commit, my fated mate, the Alpha who let them drag me away, finally opened my cell door.

He announced I would take my place as his Luna, not out of love, but because the law demanded it.

But the moment a frantic mind-link came through that his precious Seraphina—my adopted sister, the one who framed me—was having trouble breathing, he abandoned me without a second glance.

That night, huddled in a dusty shack, I overheard my own parents' secret conversation. They were planning to have me exiled. Permanently.

My return had upset Seraphina, and her "weak heart" couldn't take the shock.

I lay there in the darkness, feeling nothing. Not surprise. Not even pain. Just a profound, empty coldness. They were casting me out. Again.

But as they plotted my exile, a secret message arrived for me—an offer of escape. A new life in a sanctuary far to the north, where I could leave the Blackmoon Pack behind forever.

They thought they were getting rid of me.

Little did they know, I was already gone.

Chapter 1

Elara POV:

The heavy iron door groaned open, its protest echoing in the damp stone cell that had been my world for seven years.

Light, sharp and unfamiliar, sliced through the gloom, forcing me to squint. My muscles, atrophied from long disuse and poor nutrition, trembled as I pushed myself to my feet. A sharp, searing pain shot up my right leg, a permanent reminder of the silver shackle that had once bound me here. It had left me with a limp, a constant, nagging ache that was now a part of who I was.

"Elara."

The voice was deeper than I remembered, stripped of the warmth it held in my childhood memories. It was a voice that resonated with power, a sound that made the very stones seem to vibrate. It was the voice of my mate. My Alpha.

Kaelen stood silhouetted against the blinding light of the doorway. He was taller, broader, his presence filling the cramped space with an oppressive energy. The scent of him—a potent mix of winter pine and the clean, sharp air before a storm— flooded my senses, a scent that should have brought comfort but now only felt like a cage.

"The elders have agreed to your release," he stated, his tone flat, devoid of any emotion. He took a step inside, his dark eyes scanning my frail form with an unnerving detachment. "As per the laws of the Moon Goddess, you are still my fated mate. You will take your place as my Luna."

I said nothing. My heart, a tired, worn-out muscle, gave a feeble flutter and then settled back into its slow, rhythmic beat. The bond between us, that sacred connection the Goddess bestowed upon mated pairs, was a phantom limb. It was there, a dull throb in the back of my soul, but it was fractured, scarred over from the day he stood by and watched them drag me to this dungeon.

He seemed to take my silence as acquiescence. "Your parents... the pack elders, could not be here. Seraphina is unwell. Her heart condition has flared up again."

Seraphina. The name was like ash in my mouth. My adopted sister. The one whose place I was born to take, but who had stolen everything from me instead.

A bitter laugh threatened to escape my lips, but I swallowed it down. I was the true-born daughter of the pack's Beta, a direct descendant of the Alpha bloodline. Yet, at birth, a mistaken prophecy had labeled me an Omega, the lowest of the low. My parents, in their grief and disappointment, had adopted Seraphina, the orphaned daughter of the Gamma, and showered her with the love and status that should have been mine. I was forced to yield everything to her—my toys, my training, my position. And finally, my freedom. I had taken the fall for her, accused of conspiring with rogues, a crime she had committed. And Kaelen, my own mate, had believed the lie.