Moon and Mercy

Seven years ago, Cyrus Vane rejected Mercy Amaral in front of the whole Blackridge pack, on the night of her first shift, and then left the territory without looking back. She stayed. She was shamed at every meal, passed over at every gathering, and she built a life anyway — first as an apprentice, then as the only healer the pack has. Now Cyrus has come home. Alpha. Quiet. Different. The mate-bond sparks the second their eyes meet, the same as it did seven years ago. Mercy has already refused him once. She plans to do it again. But moon-sickness is killing the pack's pups, and Cyrus is the only wolf whose blood carries the cure the elders thought extinct. Mercy needs his blood. He needs her at his side. What starts as a clinical arrangement becomes something neither of them is equipped to survive. When Cyrus kneels in front of the whole pack and asks her to remate, Mercy has one word left to say. And she has earned the right to make him wait.