~SNOW~
Two months had passed since that awful ceremony. Two months of side glances, whispered insults, and Aiden's icy silence. I crossed the training grounds, a basket of healing herbs clutched to my chest.
"Look who it is—the fake Luna," sneered Ira, Jasper's cousin, bumping my shoulder on purpose. Herbs scattered across the frozen ground.
"Oops," Ira laughed. "Clumsy me."
I knelt without a word, gathering the precious plants. My fingers went numb against the icy dirt as pack members walked by, none offering help.
Until a shadow fell over me. A large hand reached down, picking sprigs of wolfsbane from the frost.
"Leave her be, Ira," rumbled a deep voice.
I looked up, my breath catching in my throat. Jasper stood over me, his face showing nothing as he dropped herbs into my basket.
Ira's eyes got big. "But Alpha, she's—"
"Currently wearing our pack crest," he finished coldly. "Remember your place."
The training grounds went quiet. My heart pounded hard against my ribs.
"Thank you, Alpha," I whispered, getting to my feet.
He didn't answer me, already walking away toward the warriors' circle. But something had changed. The tiniest crack in his hard shell.
Later that day, I wrapped healing packs for hurt warriors. Head healer Kota had fallen sick, leaving me to run the healing house alone. My hands worked fast and sure, this, at least, was somewhere I belonged.
"Where's Kota?" came a sharp voice from the doorway.
Jasper stood there, blood seeping from a cut across his shoulder.
I stood up straight, trying to ignore how my wolf stirred at his smell. "Fever. I'm handling things today."
"I'll come back tomorrow."
"And let that get infected?" I challenged, surprising myself with my boldness. "Sit down, Alpha. I won't bite."
Shock flickered in his eyes. After a tense moment, he sat down on the treatment bench. Silence stretched between us as I cleaned his wound with herbwine. His muscles tensed under my touch, his skin was as hot as fire.
"The pack respects your healing skills," he said suddenly.
"I know my place," I murmured, focusing on threading my needle.
"Do you?" His golden eyes locked with mine. "You took another's place at the altar."
My hands stopped moving. "I saved my sister's life."
"At the cost of my happiness."
"She would have killed herself, Jasper." My voice cracked. "What choice did I have?"
He looked away, muscles tight as I began stitching his wound. "There are always choices."
"Like the choice to throw someone in a dungeon for four days?" I said softly.
His gaze snapped back to mine, anger flaring, then cooling to something more complex. "I know I reacted badly even though you deserved it."
From Aiden, this was almost an apology. I tied off the stitches, my fingers staying a moment too long against his hot skin.
"Pack Council meeting tomorrow," he said suddenly. "The Luna should be there."
My heart skipped. "You want me there?"
"I want things that cannot be," he replied in a strange way, standing up. "But the pack needs to look strong. Your being there sends a message."
It wasn't acceptance. It wasn't forgiveness. But it was something.
---
Weeks passed. Winter dug its way deeper into Jade territory.
I earned grudging respect through hard work—healing the sick, organizing food stores, helping settle small fights. I felt Jasper watching me sometimes, his face guarded enough to not reveal any emotions at all.
We stayed away from each other, neither willing to cross the gap between us. Until the night of a winter hunt.
Tradition said the Alpha and Luna must lead the hunt. I hadn't changed to wolf form in months, my wolf was quiet with sadness. But tonight, in front of the whole pack, I had no choice.
"Ready?" Jasper asked roughly as we stood at the forest's edge.
"I haven't run since—"
"Since the wedding that wasn't," he finished. "Your wolf will remember. She's part of you."
Our eyes met for a second. Then Jasper stripped, muscles rippling as he changed into his magnificent black wolf. Twice the size of normal pack members, his fine eyes are the only thing staying the same from his human form.
I turned away, taking off my clothes more slowly. I called to my wolf, feeling the familiar burning stretch as bones changed shape, fur growing from skin.
When I stood on four paws, snow crunching beneath me, I felt freer than I had in months.
Jasper's wolf circled me, looking me over. He made a sound that almost seemed like approval, then threw back his head in a commanding howl. The pack joined in, their voices rising to the stars.
Then we ran.
Wind whipped my fur as I raced through moonlit forest. The pack followed, but Jasper kept pace beside me. Our wolves moved together naturally, jumping fallen logs, crossing trees, chasing prey with practiced skill.
When I cornered a huge buck, Jasper appeared as if reading my thoughts. Together we brought it down. What a perfect hunt.
Blood singing with victory, we howled to the moon. Something changed that night. Our wolves saw what our human sides fought against.
Harmony. Partnership. Possibility.
After the feast, Jasper walked me to my room for the first time.
"You hunted well," he said.
I could sense the unwilling admiration in his voice.
"We hunted well," I corrected softly. "Together."
His eyes flickered to my lips, then away. "Goodnight, Luna."
"Snow," I whispered. "My name is Snow."
He paused, conflict clear in the tight line of his shoulders. "Goodnight, Snow."
---
Jasper no longer avoided meetings where I spoke. Sometimes he asked what I thought about pack matters. Once, he defended my decision when an elder questioned my right to speak.
Small steps. Fragile as new shoots pushing through snow.
Until the night rogues attacked our borders.
I paced the Great Hall as warriors returned, carrying wounded. My hands shook as I counted returning fighters.
No Jasper.
"Where is he?" I demanded, grabbing a blood-covered Beta.
"Holding the north ridge," he gasped. "Ordered us to retreat with the injured."
Without thinking twice, I grabbed a sword and ran. My wolf howled warning danger, foolishness, and certain death but something stronger drove me forward.
I found him surrounded by rogues, fighting with wild grace despite blood streaming from many wounds. Without thinking, I leapt into battle.
Back to back we fought, moving in perfect rhythm. When the last rogue fell, Jasper turned on me, eyes blazing. "What are you doing here?!"
"Saving your stubborn self!" I shot back, the rush of battle making me bold.
"I didn't ask for your help!"
"You didn't have to!" I cried. "That's what pack means. What being Luna means! Standing together even when it's hard!"
Something broke in his face. "You could have died."
"So could you," I whispered.
"I didn't want to care," he admitted roughly. "If anything happened to you."
My heart stumbled. "But you do?"
Instead of answering, Jasper stepped forward and captured my lips with his. The kiss was everything. Anger, confusion, reluctant desire. His hands tangled in my hair as he pressed me against a tree.
"I shouldn't want this," he growled against my mouth.
"But you do," I gasped as his lips found my neck.
"Moon help me, I do."
We barely made it back to his chambers. Clothes torn away, bodies meeting with desperate need. My wolf howled in triumph as he moved above me, inside me, his eyes never leaving mine.
His hands were all over my body, my hand running around his back. I was pinned under him, his hard cock digging deep into my already wet hole.
"Snow," he groaned.
My name sounded like a precious thing in his lips for the first time.
Afterward, tangled in furs, reality crept back.
"This changes nothing," he whispered, but his fingers traced patterns on my skin that didn't match his words. "Aria—"
"Is gone," I finished. "And I'm here."
He pulled me closer, confusion clear in his scent. "Stay tonight."
It wasn't love. Not yet. But as dawn broke over Jade Pack territory, I dared to hope for the first time since I had walked down that aisle in my sister's place.
I dared to hope that he saw me as Snow and not as Aria's replacement.