He told the whole pack I was too weak to stand at his side. So I let another man touch me where he could see. I only wanted to hurt his pride. I didn't know I was stepping into a curse. Ivy Commander Ronan Hale is my fated mate. He's also the man who humiliated me in front of the entire Ridge and made it clear I would never be enough for him. Too soft. Too weak. Too easy to break. So when Gavin Mercer comes into my life with kind eyes, gentle hands, and the attention Ronan never gave me, I make the worst mistake of my life. I let myself believe he's safe. I let myself believe I can move on. But Gavin was never just a wounded nobleman. He was the beginning of something old, hungry, and deadly. Now I'm caught in a dark ritual tied to my bloodline, a gate buried beneath the mountain, and a power I was never supposed to wake. And the only man who may be strong enough to stand beside me… is the one who first broke my heart. Ronan I knew Ivy was my mate. I rejected her anyway. I told myself it was duty. That my life was too hard, my rank too dangerous, my future too heavy for a woman like her. I was wrong. By the time I understand what Ivy really is, and what she has always carried, she is already trapped in a curse that should never have touched her. Now the mountain is breaking. The dead are rising. And the man she turned to in her pain is using her to open something that should have stayed buried forever. I can't undo what I did to her. I can't ask fate to give me another chance. But I will fight for her. I will bleed for her. And if the darkness wants my mate, it will have to come through me first. Because this time, I am not letting her face the dark alone.