This was much more difficult than she had imagined. Samantha Wolf stepped back into a corner of the ballroom in her parents' home Stone Moon pack, staring at the swarm of guests gathered beneath the glitter of crystal chandeliers to celebrate her recent marriage. If she weren't certain that one of her family would question her absence, she would escape

the crowd, retreat to her room and hide like a coward.

Deception did not suit her. In the past, she had always prided herself on her honesty. In the past, she had never created six

and told a lie of any proportion. Yet, the lie she told weeks ago in London was more than just small privatization. No, her first foray into the fabrication of fact was

about the size of Gibraltar. And she could feel that lie pressing against her heart like a solid chunk of granite.

Samantha stiffened when she noticed her grandmother's step from a crowd of people near one of the refreshment tables.

Dear heaven, she was headed in Samantha's direction. One look at Lady Helena's wolf's face and Samantha knew her grandmother was not pleased with her performance this

Lady Helena paused close to Samantha, close enough to be heard above the combined noise of music and conversation.

"Samantha dear, you look as though you are waiting to be marched to the gallows. We don't want your guests to wonder what is wrong with you, do we?"

"Look at all of these people, Grandmama," Samantha said, her voice nearly drowned by the bright notes of a cotillion flowing from the orchestra perched high in the minstrel's

gallery. "They all believe this monstrous lie."

Helena rested her hand on Samantha's arm. The warmth of her palm radiated like a brand against Samantha's cool skin. "May I suggest the rather obvious fact that we want them to believe this monstrous lie."

"I know. I simply didn't realize it would be so difficult.

I'm afraid deception doesn't suit me."

Helena pursed her lips. "You have little choice but to grow accustomed to it."

"I keep thinking of how disappointed Mother and Father would be if they knew the truth of what I've done."

"Precisely why I suggest we never allow them to discover the truth. I doubt they would have much sympathy

for either one of us."

Samantha watched her parents as they glided through the steps of a cotillion. Small, with dark hair and brown eyes,

Audrey Wolf looked like a young girl dancing with her first love. The way she gazed up at her tall, fair-haired husband mirrored the adoration in Alpha Johnson's wolf's green

eyes as he smiled down at his beautiful wife.

Samantha had never seen a couple more in love than her parents. Growing up with that love as a standard for what she expected from her future marriage was part of the reason Samantha found herself in this awkward situation tonight.

"I didn't realize how difficult it would be to face everyone and maintain this illusion we've created. I feel as though

I'm doing everyone."

Name tightened her grip on her granddaughter's arm,

her fingers pinching the skin beneath Samantha's short sleeve.

"Sammy, look at me."

Samantha tore her gaze from her trusting parents to look into her grandmother's taut features. The silver threads that lib streaked her dark red hair, the lines that crinkled at the comers of her amber eyes could not steal Helena's beauty, even though she was past sixty. Just how far past she had progressed, no one knew. Lady Helena Wolf, the Dowager Countess of Stone moon pack, believed every woman should keep a degree of mystery about her.

"I expect you to play your role well. You aren't green,"

Samantha cringed at the reminder of her age. In two months she would attain the advanced age of twenty-one, far too old to be subjected to another mate search. Indeed,

her parents should have allowed her to remain on the shelf, A female Alpha.

where she belonged. Her sister Anna should have been the one to be the Alpha female once she found her mate. Yet, no one in her family had been inclined to allow Samantha the peace of spinsterhood.

Instead, her adoring but misguided parents had forced her to endure another search in another pack.

Another round of boring parties and balls.

Another chance for the endless Alphas from different packs of fortune hunters to snag a rich Luna heiress.

Another bout of guilt when she found no mate with whom she wished to spend the rest of her life.

Guilt because Alpha Johnson and Luna Audrey's wolf insisted that Samantha have the opportunity to marry before any of her four younger sisters were allowed to have a mate. In this,

her parents were every bit as stubborn as she was.

"You aren't going to do anything foolish, are you my girl?" Helena's golden eyes were filled with an uneasy mixture of dread and determination. "You shall remember

you convinced me this was your only course of action. And of course, you will bear in mind that both of our reputations

are now at stake. Your parents trusted me to launch you safely to choose your mate."

The responsibility of her deception rested across Samantha's shoulders like an iron yoke. If the truth were ever discovered, the scandal would not only ruin Samantha and her grandmother but her entire family. No, she was far too tangled in her web of lies to hope of escaping. She looked into her grandmother's worried eyes and managed a smile.

"I would do nothing to jeopardize my parents' trust in you.

I won't fail you."

"Of course, you won't, my girl." Helena dropped her hand, frowning at the red marks her fingers had left on Samantha's arm, below the emerald silk of her short sleeve.

"You are, after all, my granddaughter. The only one of your sisters who had the excellent sense to inherit my

looks."

Samantha rubbed the tingling flesh of her upper arm.

"Mother has always said my temperament is related to my red hair."

"Yes, well, you've also inherited my unfortunate propensity for being just a bit headstrong." Helena flicked open her fan, the gilt-trimmed edge glittering in the ball light. "Still, all in all, I'm quite satisfied with how you've turned out, even if you are a trifle stubborn, and far too reckless at times. You are quite an original. Indeed, you

remind me remarkably of myself at your age."

Samantha smiled as she thought of how her penchant for rich colors and medieval decoration had set her apart in the

eyes of the ton. "Thank you, Grandmama."

"Samantha!"

Samantha turned as her sister Anna glided toward her, her pale hair glowing in the golden light cascading

from the chandeliers.

"Isn't it a wonderful party?" Anna said to her sister

"I can't wait until I find my mate ."

Helena smiled. "You shall be the eighteen by next season, my dear I believe your mate will be delighted to meet you"

"Do you think so?" Anna clutched her phone to her chest. "They won't think I'm too shy?"

Helena smoothed her fingers over Ann's flawless cheek. "My dear, they will think you a diamond of the first water."

A blush rose to brush a pink stain across Anna's cheeks. "Oh, I do hope so."

"We shall make certain of it." Helena snapped her purse closed. "Now, my sweets. I see Lady Chadwick has

arrived, and I really must speak to her."

Samantha watched her grandmother go her way through the crowd surrounding the dance floor, making her way to where Lady Chadwick stood near the base of the three

curving stairs leading from the entrance of the room into the swirling mass of people below. People stood aside to

allow Lady Helen, passage as she sailed like a queen across the crowded room in her gown of pale blue sarsenet. Her

grandmother always had such wonderful confidence. Confidence was one thing Samantha lacked at the moment.

They had only done what was necessary, Samantha assured herself. They had...

Mate! Mate!!.…. Her wolf Mia is Screaming she averts her gaze at the entrance as

An Alpha, dressed in military full regimentals walked through the entrance of the ballroom. He stood for a moment on the top stair, framed by the white arched entrance, looking across the room like a hunter seeking prey. Samantha

watched as he descended the stairs, a tingling sensation rippling through her. It was like watching a hawk descend

into a covey of doves. Even from a distance, she could sense an aura of danger about this man. She could imagine him, like an Alpha knight of legend,

leading his troops into battle. Looking at this commanding figure, she had little doubt he had only recently left the battlefields of the Peninsula.

The ball light slipped golden fingers into his black hair. Samantha was stunned.