Chapter 1
After I was forced to give up my mate-to-be, Garrett, to my adopted sister, Lilith, for what felt like the hundredth time—always for “the future of the Pack”—the Luna cornered me on the day of Lilith’s bonding ceremony. Her words were sharp as claws: she told me that despite our blood, Lilith was the only one she truly considered her cherished daughter.
She explained that since Lilith also loved Garrett, my presence was an obstacle, and a mother had to clear the path for her true pup.
My father, the Alpha, added that my talents as an Aura Weaver were too gentle, that I lacked the necessary primal aggression of a wolf. That, he admitted with chilling indifference, was why he’d framed me, leading the council of elders to declare me “Unclean,” effectively stripping me of my rank and any right to challenge for leadership.
It was all because he couldn’t stand seeing his own illegitimate son, Kian, overshadowed by me.
I trembled as the Alpha’s oppressive scent crushed down on me, the dominance in the air making it hard to breathe.
“Why are you only telling me this now?” I rasped.
With a voice dripping false sympathy, the Luna explained they had been afraid I wouldn’t agree before. But now, with my inner wolf failing and me left with nothing, she pitied me—a feeling she claimed was only natural for a “compassionate mother.”
The Alpha nodded in agreement.
“If you have a problem with it,” he snarled softly, “you can challenge me. Or declare yourself a Rogue. The choice is yours.”
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1
The unexpected truth hit me so hard the world seemed to spin, my chest aching as if crushed by a boulder.
“Since you know everything, we’ll offer you some… compensation,” the Luna said. “You’ll serve as the ‘guardian’—a glorified nursemaid—for Garrett and Lilith’s future pups.”
I went rigid. I must have misheard.
“What do you mean?”
They exchanged a look.
Finally, the Alpha patted my shoulder, his heavy hand a patronizing attempt at comfort.
“Garrett never chose you. Not from the beginning.”
“He got close to you, courted you to be his mate, all as a ploy to use your pure aura.”
“The goal was for you to be a sacrifice for Lilith—who was cursed by black magic and unable to bear pups—even if it meant your wolf would be torn apart.”
A silver dagger might as well have pierced my heart; a sharp ringing drowned out everything else.
“What did you say?”
The Alpha’s frown deepened, annoyed by my reaction.
“Lilith’s body couldn’t withstand the curse, nor could she endure the pain of the purification. Garrett couldn’t bear to see her suffer.”
“You making the sacrifice for them solves everyone’s problems, doesn’t it?” he continued smoothly.
The agony in my chest was so sharp it felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside.
During that sacrificial ritual, my aura was completely drained from me.
I was tormented all night by a searing, tearing pain, so weak I couldn’t even draw power from the moonlight.
“That cost me half my wolf! Because of that ‘purification,’ do you have any idea what I’ve lost forever?”
“We know,” the Luna said coldly.
“But you’ve always been the sensible one, haven’t you? You agreed to ‘devote’ everything to the Pack, so stop making this a spectacle.”
I stared at her, tears finally spilling, hot and uncontrollable, down my face.
“As for your wolf, it was indeed torn apart at the time.”
“But it wasn’t destroyed completely.”
I froze.
The Luna met my gaze, her tone chillingly calm.
“I was the one who let the ritual continue.”
“You won’t be able to transform anymore, let alone take a mating bite of your own. This way, you can’t pester Garrett and Lilith anymore.”
In that moment, I felt hollowed out, empty.
“How could you do this to me?!” I shrieked, losing all control, my fragmented wolf whining in despair.
But the next second, icy champagne splashed across my face, the silver powder mixed within it searing my skin like fire.
I looked up to see Lilith, her eyes red, shielding the Luna as if she were the one who had been wronged.
“Cora, isn’t this enough!”
“The Alpha and Luna have put up with you for years, what more could you possibly want?”
“I only asked you to take a curse for me, to sacrifice your wolf. Is it really worth all this drama?”
She was crying so hard she could barely breathe, her entire body trembling, releasing a sickly-sweet, distressed scent.
“If you really hate me that much, then I don’t want Garrett, and I don’t want future pups! Just stop forcing the Luna—”
As she spoke, she reached for the moonlight wreath on her head, the symbol of her new status as a bonded mate.
The Luna immediately gathered her into a hug, her voice softening with frantic heartache.
“Lilith, don’t cry, don’t cry…”
When she turned back to me, the tenderness in her eyes had vanished, replaced by a glacial disgust.
“Look what you’ve done to Lilith!”
“She has given in to you since you were pups, always putting you first, yet you choose her bonding ceremony to throw a tantrum.”
“It seems we’ve been far too lenient with you all these years if you think you still have the right to bare your teeth here.”
She supported Lilith and walked out without a backward glance, leaving a single sentence hanging in the air:
“Throw her out.”
“And don’t let her take a single thing that belongs to the Azure Crest Pack.”
I stood there, stunned, for a few seconds before a quiet, broken laugh escaped my lips.
Then, in front of all the sneering guests, I tore at the plain ceremonial garment I wore—the mark of my demoted Omega rank—and ripped it from my body.
“I don’t want any of it.”
No one knew—
While they were busy celebrating Lilith’s new beginning and her stolen mate, I could feel it. My own wolf was beginning to dissipate, fading toward its true death.
