A Crown of Regret

"Erin, do you have an objection?" Dad tapped the remaining mating contract.

I lowered my head and realized that my right hand was covering my mouth. My palm was clean. There was no medicine or blood.

I lowered my hand and picked up the pen. "No. I choose Derrick."

Leah Boyer's tense shoulders finally relaxed. She threw herself into Dad's arms, smiling through tears at the corners of her eyes. "Dad, I'm willing to help the family through this."

Dad's merchant caravan had just lost the entire family fortune, and he was counting on the two mating contracts to get him through the crisis.

Kane Rodriguez wanted a young, healthy Luna, while Derrick's mother, Kyla Callahan, insisted on honoring the agreement our two families had made years ago.

The mating gifts from both families had already been negotiated. As far as Dad was concerned, it made no difference which daughter married which man.

He put the contract away and urged us to prepare for the mating ceremony the next day.

I stopped him. "Transfer the $500,000 Mom left me today."

Before she died, Mom had left each of us $500,000 in separate property. Dad had kept the money for us, saying we could only claim it after completing the mating contract.

In my previous life, I never asked for it, so he used the money to cover the losses from his merchant caravan.

Dad's expression darkened.

But Leah smiled first. "Give it to Erin. She'll have plenty of expenses in the future."

She waved her phone. The steward of the Blackrock Pack had already sent her an entire page of jewelry for her to choose from.

After Dad saw it, he transferred the money without hesitation.

Once the $500,000 arrived, I put my phone away.

Leah saw Dad out, then immediately came over and straightened my collar for me. "Erin, you always protected me before. This time, let me give something to you. Derrick is yours."

She said the last sentence so softly, but the triumph in her eyes was impossible to hide.

I looked at the hand resting on my shoulder.

In my previous life, before everything happened to her, I had begged her to ask Dad for help.

Kane wouldn't let me leave the castle alone. By then, I had already been bleeding for more than ten days straight.

However, she thought I was just bragging about having a mate who kept a tight leash on me.

"You already get to live like this, and you still want to run away? Erin, don't be so greedy."

After that, she never answered another one of my calls. She didn't call me to complain about me until the moment before she died.

Now, she was practically rushing toward that castle.

I brushed her hand away. "Keep the mating contract safe. Don't lose it."

She immediately pressed the contract against her chest. "Of course."

The door was suddenly shoved open. Derrick stood outside in his warrior uniform, his gaze passing over me and landing directly on Leah.

"Why did you switch?"

Leah's eyes reddened, and she stepped behind me. "Erin couldn't bear to give you up, so I could only agree to it. So many of Kane's mates have died. I'm scared too, but I can't exactly let my sister go instead."

Derrick grabbed me by the arm. "All your life, you've had to take anything that belongs to Leah. Now you won't even spare her mate?"

I pried his hand off me and stepped to the other side of the table. "She was the one who took the contract and signed her name on it."

I tossed the pen at his feet. "If you don't believe me, ask her."

Leah was already crying as she turned her face away.

Derrick didn't question her. Instead, he directed all his anger at me. "Even if we complete the mating contract, I will never mark you. You'll have the title and nothing more. Don't even dream of me treating you like a real mate."

I bent down and picked up my bag. "Remember what you said today."

He chased after Leah, slamming the door behind him in anger.

I locked the door and opened an old map. My finger stopped over an abandoned logging camp on the edge of Frostvale in the north.

It didn't belong to any pack.

Maybe it could become the new beginning I needed to escape all of this.

Before winter came, I had to repair the leaking roof first.