My name is Evelyn Vale.
On the night of my twenty-fifth birthday, I was supposed to choose my mate from the three Hawthorne brothers.
But as the mate registry was about to close, not one of them showed up. They were gathered around another woman’s bedside, ordering me to stop acting childish and keep waiting for them.
So I took off the courtship bracelet they had given me, cut the call, and walked out of the Moon Temple alone.
At the bottom of the steps, the Royal Alpha the three brothers feared most held out his hand to me.
“You’ve waited for them all these years, and not once have they shown up for you. Why not choose the man who actually came?”
“You're right.”
I accepted him.
Everyone thought I was only doing it out of spite——until ten days later, when I put on my bonding gown and let him mark me in front of all three brothers.
