Chapter 1

When they saw me hang up, the crowd watching from outside froze for a moment.

Then I clearly heard the jeering break out all around me.

"Grace, wasn't your dad exiled six months ago? Has the cold addled your brain? What nonsense are you spouting here?"

"You still think you're the Alpha's daughter? You're too stupid for words. Take a good look at who our Alpha is now."

Oliver basked in their flattery, smugness shining in his eyes.

He tenderly wrapped his down jacket tighter around Sophia.

Gathering her gently against him, he walked slowly up to the freezer.

He reached out and tapped a finger against the glass in front of me, his eyes full of contempt.

"Grace, do you understand what you did wrong? You know perfectly well our Feral Suns Pack carries the Cold Curse, and you still bullied Sophia."

Inside the glass, the freezer's thermometer had already iced over at minus 58 degrees.

I was wrapped in the thin cotton pajamas I'd changed into before bed, shivering so hard I couldn't stop.

The feet pressed against the floor had gone completely numb, a sickly blue-purple.

Sharp pain kept shooting through my body.

So he did remember our Pack's curse, and he'd thrown me and our child in here anyway.

I staggered toward the two of them and sank, trembling, against the reinforced glass.

"What did I do wrong? The room was 122 degrees. So what if I turned on the AC? I'm already carrying a higher body temperature, and if I got heatstroke, then the ba—"

Maybe I was too worked up, because a cramp suddenly tore through my lower belly.

I clapped a hand over my mouth and slowly crouched down.

I fought to steady myself.

But pride and fury dragged my head back up, and I glared at the man in front of me.

"Oliver, right now, let me out this instant. My body can't survive a temperature like this, because I—"

"Grace, you still love putting on a show. You always use this trick to gain sympathy, manipulate Oliver and make him cave in."

She turned back to Oliver, her eyes rimming faintly red.

She looked as though my rudeness had wounded her, yet she stubbornly held back the tears.

That silent, swallowed grievance was more devastating than any accusation could ever be.

Something dark and unreadable flickered through Oliver's eyes.

He understood my temper better than anyone; after all, we had been together for twelve years.

Eight years ago, he had been the most despised bastard son in the Pack.

As the lowest creature in his family, even the servants from the side branches dared to spit "mongrel" behind his back.

And I was a true Alpha's daughter, surrounded by the rich and the powerful.

Back then he didn't dare dream I'd so much as glance his way, let alone hold his hand, embrace him, or speak of marriage.

I climbed over the wall to find him, and my father locked me up for half a month.

He took three broken ribs and knelt before my father, begging for one chance to prove himself "worthy."

I went on a hunger strike for him, and he took a blade for me.

Later, I helped him claw his way up with everything I had.

By climbing over other people and swallowing humiliation that cut like blades, I finally put him in the Alpha's position.

And now, over Sophia's period, he had thrown me into a freezer.

Bitterness and resentment welled up in me, but I forced myself to hold on to one last breath.

No matter what, I had to tell him about the pregnancy first.

His body had been damaged years ago, which made children hard for him to father.

To us, a child mattered more than anything else in the world.

Seeing him waver, Sophia quickly pulled off her own coat.

Tears slid down on cue as she spoke, all wounded softness.

"Alpha Oliver, please let Luna out. How can a delicate woman like her endure this kind of torment? I fainted in a cold office, but that was only because my body is too weak—"

A cold office?

She fainted?

All I had done was set the AC to 63 degrees and run it for a little over forty minutes.

When Sophia left the Pack's council office that day, she was laughing with her friends about going shopping that night.

I wanted to lay out exactly what had happened.

But Oliver's face changed in an instant, his voice dropping cold.

"Send the housekeeper in and strip off her coat. A Luna who won't set an example can find out for herself what it feels like to pass out in the cold."

He bent down and quickly picked the coat up off the floor.

He draped it tenderly over Sophia, then turned and looked at me, cold and grim.

"You come out when you admit you were wrong and apologize to Sophia. Stop using these cheap tricks to beg for my sympathy, and take a hard look at whether you even deserve it."

As he spoke, he held Sophia close against him.

His voice overflowed with tenderness and indulgence.

"You're frail, and you can't catch a chill on your period, so I'll protect you. Let's see who dares say a word about it."