Aurelian Military University’s star “Beastkeeper” student Lily Bennett is publicly stripped of her bond and handed back her collar by her fiancé, the elite beastborn Alpha Cade Whitaker—all under a noble-sounding excuse: pureblood marriage for family interests. She turns around and signs onto the black-ops program FENRIR, becoming the only Beastkeeper on campus capable of reverse-marking a shifter. A year later, back at the academy, Lily is assigned to the ace battalion under the command of the ice-blooded young colonel Ronan Hale. At their first meeting, Ronan catches the scent of a torn mark on her and declares in public: “Either make your ex get on his knees and apologize—or I’ll put a new mark on you myself.” Academy tournaments, border exercises, beast surges, and family power plays stack up. The ex-Alpha wakes up at last and plunges into a groveling redemption arc, while the cold colonel presses closer, fiercely protective—one is the man who threw away her first mark; the other is the iron-blooded officer who vows to lay a new one over her heart. But Lily’s true secret is this: she belongs to no one. She holds the key to the laws of marking. In the end, who she chooses won’t be decided by a bite, but by worth.
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Chapter 1
The white-tiger shifter Cade Whitaker called me shameless in front of both families, said I was his lapdog.
He added that even for a provisional bond, he would never pick me.
My chest went cold.
So that’s what he’d thought of me all along.
I really did stay away after that, and I formed a Bond with a panda shifter everyone said had no gift.
Cade went wild looking for me.
What he didn’t know was that the panda’s bond ability was the most dominant of all—Violet Thunder.
That was the skill Cade had always wanted.
In this world, humans and shifters live side by side.
When a human caster Bonds with a shifter, the pair can become the strongest unit on the field, often fast-tracked into Aurelian Military University to serve the state.
Cade and I were tested as kids—one with a signature ability, the other with caster talent.
Our families were neighbors, and everyone assumed things would go one step further someday.
Growing up, Cade looked out for me.
He liked to joke that I was his little caster bride-to-be.
On his birthday, everyone gathered at Hugh’s place.
Cade’s mother, Grace Whitaker, teased, “Lily is coming of age soon, she’ll be able to bond with a shifter. Why not try a provisional bond with Cade and see if you spark something powerful?”
“If that happens, you two can go straight to AMU and we can all relax.”
My mom nodded.
She and my dad are ordinary humans, and they’ve always been proud to have a daughter with caster talent.
Right then, Cade stood up.
“Please stop saying things like that, and stop tying us together. It’s a headache. I already care about a different caster, and it’s not her.”
“What?”
His father pushed to his feet, a low rumble in his chest as tiger claws slid into view.
Cade looked straight at me, eyes like ice.
“And you, stop trailing me. It’s annoying. You all know her parents are ordinary. Even if she awakened, her power is weak. I have better options, so why should I…”
Grace slapped him and kept telling me she was sorry.
I forced a smile, shook my head, and left with my parents.
Back home, my parents watched me with guilty eyes.
“Sorry,” my dad said, “it’s our fault for being so ordinary and letting others look down on you. But to think the Whitaker boy would say that…”
I met his eyes and tried to sound steady.
“I won’t bother with him anymore. He doesn’t deserve it.”
I shut my door and cried my heart out.
It hadn’t always been like this.
He used to take care of me, used to be kind.
When did it change?
If I’m honest, there were signs.
My cousin had transferred to our school.
She’s bright and dazzling, born of a bonded couple, her aura strong enough to lift the air around her.
She loved forming provisional bonds with shifters on campus, and people said she awakened one powerful ability after another.
She became the school’s dream girl overnight.
I never wanted any provisional bonds with anyone else.
I was afraid Cade would mind.
Lately, though, I kept catching the way he looked at her.
With the school tournament coming up, I could see it clearly.
He wanted a provisional bond with my cousin to take the crown.
I’d always been treated as his would-be sweetheart, and suddenly I was just in their way.
If that was the case, there was no reason for me to cling any longer.
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