They say the Moon Goddess chooses once. Kael Ashwood stopped believing that the day his first mate was ripped away from him — and he built a kingdom out of the wreckage, one where nothing gets close enough to be taken again.Then the wind shifts.Elara Voss was never supposed to find Blackfang territory. No maps lead there. No roads. Just old stone markers warning trespassers to turn back — and she ignores every single one. The moment Kael catches her scent, ten years of iron control shatter in an instant. The bond he swore didn't exist locks into place like a brand.He doesn't ask permission. Kings don't.But Elara isn't the kind of woman who bends just because a crown tells her to. She's stubborn, sharp-tongued, and furious at being claimed by a man, a title, and a fate she never agreed to — and the forest itself refuses to let her leave. The longer she's trapped in his territory, the more she starts to see the truth under the tyrant: a man terrified of losing what's his before he even gets to keep it.But something ancient is stirring in Elara's blood — something tied to the very enemies who destroyed Kael once before. As old threats close in on his throne, Kael will have to choose between the control that's kept him alive for a decade and the mate he swore he'd never let himself want again.The Moon Goddess doesn't ask twice.This time, she isn't giving him a choice.