Asher’s POV

The pack elders had been whispering for weeks—not loud enough to call it gossip, but loud enough that it reached me anyway. Luna’s coronation day was circled on every calendar in the council hall, and the banners were already being stitched, ceremonial attires were being cleaned, and the sacred circle was being serviced by the council members. Tradition demanded the Luna stand beside the Alpha when the moon was full and the pack howled her name into the sky, and tradition didn’t care that my wife had walked out the door a month ago and never come back.

I sat in the office until three in the morning,...