OPENED SECRET

The laughter slipped away from Tristan’s eyes. “I wish fate had been kinder to you, Andronika .”

Without warning, he attacked. Gone were the halfhearted swats and facile parries, and in their stead came hard blows that drove me staggering. I thought I knew how to fight. What it would be like to be in real combat.

Nothing could have prepared me for the awareness that no matter how hard I swung, how quickly I parried, the end was coming for me.

My shield burned, smoke and heat searing my eyes, but I didn’t dare drop it. Angie attacked again.

I attempted to defend, but his axe got hold of my sword and wrenched it from my fingers, sending it spinning into the trees.

This was it. This was the moment. Yet Tristan paused, backing back instead of rushing in for the kill. A killer, certainly.

But not a murderer. “Get it over with,” Alpha Orion yelled. “You’ve dragged this out long enough.

Kill her!”

I was terrified. So dreadfully scared that when I drew in breath after desperate breath, it felt like nothing touched my lungs.

Like I was being choked by my anxiety. Yet I managed to heft the scorching shield, determined to fight to the end. Ready to die with honor. Ready to earn my position in Underworld.

The burning axe blurred toward me, striking my shield. A spit formed in the wood even as I lurched backward, barely retaining my feet. My arm ached with the power of the collision, and a sob tore from my lips.

He swung again. I saw it as though time had slowed. Knew the force of the strike would break the shield and sever my arm.

Knew that I’d smell my burning flesh. My burnt blood. My courage weakened, then failed me.

“Freyja,” I breathed out the name prohibited to me all my life.

“Protect me!”

A boom of thunder broke my ears as Tristan’s fiery axe impacted my shield, which was no longer comprised of wood but of silver light.

The contact sent him hurtling through the air, his body crashing against a tree a dozen paces from me with enough power that the trunk broke.

Tristan dropped to the ground in a heap, startled, his axe landing in a mound of pine needles and soon setting them ablaze.

Yet no one did anything to suppress the flames. No one moved. No one spoke so much . Slowly, Tristan pushed himself upright, shaking his head to clear it even as his eyes fastened on me.

His voice shook as he replied, “She’s the warlock princess and a lycan.” A chill raced through me, and I conquered my magic.

But it was too late. They’d all seen. They all knew.“You see, my lord,” Carspey remarked, his voice loud and irritating. “It is as I said: Andronika is a child of the goddess Freyja and has been hiding her magic.”

Though it mattered little, the first thing that popped into my thoughts was: How did he know? Carspey chuckled, seeing the question in my eyes.

“All those times you sneaked away, I thought you were lying with another man. So I followed you. Caught you out sure enough, even if it had nothing to do with another cock.”

My stomach hollowed. How had I been so blastedly stupid? Why hadn’t I taken more care? “philomela,” Alpha Orion said. “This will be the song of a generation, and it will be composed by your magic.”

The woman didn’t speak, merely stared at me with such intensity I had to look away. Tristan doused the fire his axe had ignited, yet the blade still flared in his grasp as he moved closer.

“I take it you don’t want me to kill her.” Tristan snorted. “I’m not sure you could if you tried. It was foretold that her name would be born in the fire of a gods.

Her fate was never to perish at your hand.” “She’s unfated,” Tristan responded.

“No one could predict whether I’d kill her, not even the gods.” A snort of amusement exited Alpha Orion.

“You think I don’t know my son? I knew you’d restrain a deadly blow long enough for terror to force her hand.” Alpha Orion had played us off one another.

The hollowness in my chest began to fill with the scorching heat of wrath. That fire grew to inferno when Alpha Orion produced a handbag from under his coat and tossed it to Carspey.

“As compensation for your lost mate. And for your loyalty.” “You traitorous prick!” I snarled. “Is there no end to your greed?”

Carspey grabbed a gold necklace out of the purse, inspecting it as he stated, “It’s not greed, Andronika. I’m merely honoring the gods by assigning you to your true purpose.

You really should be thanking me.” “Thanking you?” “Yes.” He grinned.

“You will soon be the second mate to the Alpha which means you’ll be living in his great hall with endless riches.

And he’ll take you to fight in the raids, which is what you wanted.”

Second mate. I looked at Alpha Orion with fear, and though I saw annoyance in his eyes, he gave a nod of confirmation.

“Nearly two decades ago, a seer spoke a prophecy to me of a warlock princess who is also a lycan who’d been born the night of a red moon.

She told me that this woman’s name would be born in the fire of the gods, and she would unite the packs of the Southern region beneath the reign of the one who controlled her fate.”

“Fate is woven by the moon goddess.”

My tongue felt heavy and I swallowed hard. “They control it.” “All is fated except the lives of the children of the gods,” Alpha Orion corrected.

“Your path is unknown and as you walk it, you rearrange the threads of all those around you.”

A faint moaning noise invaded my ears, the sun getting impossibly bright. I was no one and Freyja, certainly not powerful enough to unite the clans beneath one man.

“You are to be an Alpha king-maker, Andronika,” Alpha Orion remarked, going to hold me by the arms.

“And as your mate , the one who decides your fate, I will be that Alpha king.” This was why my father had requested I keep my power a secret, why he had been so convinced that I’d be used against my will if I revealed my magic.

He’d been one of Alpha Orion’s troops, which meant he would have heard of the prophecy.

Would have realized Alpha Orion’s goal, and hadn’t wanted that existence for me. I didn’t want that life. “No!” “It’s not your choice,” he answered. “With your father dead, it’s Declan’s decision.”

The warriors restraining my brother hauled him forward, and he spat blood in the mud before Alpha Orion.

“If Andronika says no, it is no. I’ll not disrespect my sister by forcing her into another marriage she does not wish.”

“I think you should reconsider.” Alpha Orion stepped over the spittle, moving to stand before my brother. “I demand loyalty from my warriors, most especially those who sail on my ship.

This is not loyalty, boy.” Declan tightened his teeth, and I watched his dreams burn up in smoke.

My heart broke as Declan touched the iron band on his arm, but then Carspey exclaimed loudly, “I heard Eleanor’s father is looking to make a good match for her.”

He hefted the purse he’d been paid to betray me. “I think this would make a fair bride price.”

Declan’s face blanched even as my stomach fell, for we both knew Eleanor’s father would accept the gold no matter how Eleanor objected.

I couldn’t let that happen. Couldn’t let both my brother’s and my closest friend’s life to be damaged for the sake of my own.

Especially since it had been my irresponsibility that had put us in this situation in the first place.

“Fine.”

My speech sounded choked and unnatural. “I’ll be your mate. On one condition. My brother preserves his ring and his place.”

Alpha Orion rubbed thoughtfully at his beard, then nodded. “Agreed.” His eyes darted to Declan, who gave a stiff nod, looking anywhere but at me.

“Agreed.”

Alpha Orion addressed the group. “You all bear witness? Andronika has accepted to be my mate .

Does anyone question my right to kidnap her?” Everyone whispered their agreement. Everyone, that is, except Tristan.

His axe still blazed in his hand, his gaze concentrated firmly on me as he lifted his weapon, seeming on the edge of taking action.

And for reasons I couldn’t quite articulate, instinct prompted me to take a step back, my heart giving a fast thump beat. But he just lowered the weapon again, with a tiny shake of his head.

“Then it is done