1

I stared at the message from my online boyfriend, Cassius, for a full ten seconds.

"Congratulations, Liam! You drew yourself a 200-pound partner!"

The Imperial Academy's group chat instantly blew up.

"Cassius gambled away his own partner. What a loss!"

"What loss? After getting rid of a 200-pound partner like that, Cassius will be laughing in his sleep tonight!"

"@Liam, surprised? Happy?"

I scrolled down to the photo they'd posted.

It had been taken during my pack's full moon rite when I was fifteen.

I was wearing a custom-made XL ceremonial robe.

I was so heavy that the fabric stretched tight across my body.

My head was lowered as I sat in a corner by the altar, eating a meat pie. Next to the slim she-wolves around me, I looked like a small hill.

And the person who had posted the photo was Cassius, my online boyfriend.

Just a minute earlier, he'd been comforting me in private with his usual fake sweetness. "Sweetheart, it's just a little joke. I got unlucky in the draw, and Liam ended up with you. Just get along with him during the trial. Don't take it so seriously."

I didn't reply. I was too busy watching the insults in the group chat get worse.

"With a body like that, Liam will have to shift into wolf form and drag her around tomorrow."

"Wait, isn't there a couples' task too? I think he has to carry her."

"Hahaha! They'd better have a healer following them, or Liam's going to break his back!"

They laughed without caring how any of it might make me feel.

Only then did Cassius finally step in. "That's enough. If any of you make her cry, you can go comfort her yourselves."

The lively chat instantly went dead silent.

A few seconds later, someone sent a string of vomiting emojis.

Cassius made it sound like he was defending me, but he was rubbing salt into my wound.

My blood ran cold.

We'd been dating online for a year.

Whenever he fought with his family, I stayed up talking to him from midnight until dawn.

When his stomach acted up, I went to the infirmary for advice, read every book I could find, made him an herbal remedy, and mailed it to him.

He liked staying up late, so I gave up my early nights and became a night owl for him.

I even gave up my dream of becoming a healer just so we could attend the Imperial Academy together.

I switched my application to this combat-focused academy.

All because Cassius had once told me, "Layla, I love you. Let's go to the same academy. On the day of the trial, I'll tell everyone you're my partner and my chosen mate."

But the night before the new school term began, I became nothing more than a prize in their stupid game.

Cassius had casually handed me off to a werewolf I'd never even met.

Once the laughter died down, someone who still hadn't had enough started a betting pool.

They were betting on whether I'd show up for the trial the next day.

Almost everyone in the chat thought I'd be too humiliated to show my face.

More than 50,000 gold coins had already been bet against me.

10,000 of them came from Cassius.

"There's no way she'll show up."

"She's insecure about everything. She barely looks in the mirror on a normal day. There's no way she'll show her face in front of the academy's elite."

"She's probably hiding somewhere and crying already."

He deleted the messages almost immediately, but I'd already seen them.

So he knew how insecure I was. He knew this would hurt me.

And yet he'd still let more than 200 werewolves gather around to laugh at me.

Just then, Claire sent another message. "Come on, everyone. I've heard bigger girls are usually sweet. Stop picking on her."

The incoming students had already crowned Claire the prettiest girl at the Imperial Academy.

When someone posted her photo in the chat, people talked about her for an entire week.

Then she tagged me. "Sweetie, ignore these awful people. You'll still come tomorrow, won't you? Nobody actually means any harm. Don't feel bad about yourself just because you're a little heavy!"

She sounded like she was defending me.

But every word carried the same message: They were only joking, and I should simply accept that I was fat and ugly.

Her fake kindness made me even sicker than their open cruelty.

I didn't bother arguing with anyone. Instead, I clicked on the betting link.

30,000 gold coins.

I bet every coin on myself showing up on time.

The chat went dead silent for two whole seconds.

Then the screen flooded with question marks.

Cassius immediately messaged me in private. "Have you lost your mind? It was just a joke! Why would you throw away 30,000 gold coins just because you're mad? Can't you take a joke? If you show up at the trial looking like that, everyone's going to laugh at you! Cancel the bet now!"

Looking like that?

I walked over to the full-length mirror and studied my reflection.

Long silver-gray hair flowed down to my waist.

My waist was slim and toned, without an ounce of extra fat.

Without the extra weight hiding them, my features were sharp and striking, with the fierce beauty of a wolf.

For the past two months, I couldn't leave the house without some werewolf trying to talk to me.

One talent scout had even spent two weeks coming to our house, trying to convince my parents to let me become an actress.

Cassius knew none of this.

I'd planned to surprise him when we finally met at the trial.

But now, he didn't deserve a surprise.

He deserved a shock.