When Alpha King Theron inherits his father’s war, love is the last thing he needs—especially not for another man.Surrounded by enemies and a council that already doubts the boy who sits on the throne his father died for, Theron rules with duty as his only compass, trying to ignore the pressure to give the pack an heir. Then Commander Cael—the silent, battle-scarred strategist whose victories have already become legend—is sent to fight beside him and protect him.Cael is cold, brilliant, and maddeningly defiant, and Theron can’t fight the attraction he feels. The desire is forbidden, and in their world, even a whisper of affection between men is punishable by death.Desperate to bury his feelings after a kiss one night, Theron sends Cael to the front lines and marries a noblewoman, convincing himself that distance will smother the fire. But when Cael saves his life on the battlefield, Theron feels the unmistakable pull of fated mates.Only, Cael isn’t Cael.He is Maera, a woman disguised as her dead twin brother, forced to live as a man to survive the battlefield and the laws that deny her a place in the packs army. When Theron finds out while trying to further their intimacy one night, he feels betrayed. Now, hunted by the council and surrounded by enemies, Theron must choose: his throne, or to protect the woman who lied to him—the woman fate chose to be his forbidden mate.