The Ashveil Realm- Claimed by the Alpha's Mate

The bond snapped into place the second he caught her scent. Now they have three days to prove it's real - or lose it forever.Mira didn't come to the Duskmere border for a mate. She came chasing the only lead she has on her missing sister - a thin, secondhand report that's led her to the one alpha with the patience to tolerate a scholar's questions. She doesn't expect the mark that burns into her throat the moment Alpha Kade catches her scent across a crowded hall.In Duskmere, an unsealed mark isn't a private matter. Pack law gives it three days before it can be formally challenged - and Kade's oldest rival has been waiting years for an opening exactly like this one.Kade has spent a decade making sure nothing about him is worth taking, because the one time it was, it nearly cost him everything. Now he has seventy-two hours to prove a bond neither of them asked for, against a man who's finally found the one thing that might let him collect an old debt - and a scholar who was never planning on becoming anyone's evidence.Tropes: - Fated mates- Ticking-clock / marked-and-claimed- Rival alpha / pack-law intrigue- Instalove with a procedural twist- Bluestocking heroine, alpha hero- HEA guaranteedBook 3 of the Ashveil Realm - standalone HEA, no cliffhanger.