Chapter 1

On the day of my first shift and pack betrothal ceremony with my fated mate, Leon, an unfamiliar Omega appeared, clutching a young boy who broke free and ran to Leon, calling him “Daddy.”

To everyone’s shock, Leon embraced the child and admitted the truth: four years ago, he had a brief encounter with Mia, the boy’s mother. Now exiled and vulnerable, she had nowhere else to go.

Leon declared he needed to protect them—give them a name, a place—and said he would complete a bonding ceremony with Mia, “temporarily,” for the child’s sake.

He asked me, the Alpha’s daughter, to be understanding. Promised his heart still belonged to me.

But as the pack watched, they stood together—him, Mia, and the boy—and performed their bonding ceremony in the very place mine was meant to be.

That was the day I shifted for the first time and the day I was publicly betrayed by my own mate.

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The elder recited the bonding vows with reluctance.

My father stood in silence with his dark expression, watching Leon sink his teeth into Mia’s neck.

The mark was permanent now, an unbreakable symbol of mating bonding and loyalty.

At that exact moment, a shockwave of raw Alpha energy burst from Mia’s body.

It filled the air with a force unmistakably tied to the Black Stone bloodline.

She turned to me and her lips curled into a victorious smile.

“Now you understand, don’t you, Pauline?” she said. “I’m the true heir of the Black Stone Pack.”

“You stole eighteen years of my life. Now it’s time to give it back.”

That strong, primal, and pure aura was identical to my father’s. It moved through the air like a heartbeat reclaimed.

Gasps rippled across the gathering.

“That’s Alpha’s bloodline!” the elder exclaimed. “She’s the Alpha’s real daughter!”

All eyes turned from her to me.

Respect twisted into doubt and doubt twisted into judgment. Then, finally, judgment twisted into contempt.

I wasn’t the Alpha’s daughter. I was a fraud and a placeholder living a life that never belonged to me.

My fated mate had just rejected me. Now, my bloodline, my very identity, was being stripped away before everyone I’d ever known.

My father stared at me, the warmth he once held for me gone, replaced by fury and disbelief.

“Pauline,” he said, his voice sharp and heavy with Alpha command. “Explain it.”

The force of it nearly knocked the breath from my lungs.

I shook my head, trembling. “That’s impossible, Father!”

But what could I say?

Why had the Black Stone aura disappeared from me?

Why did she, Mia, bear my father’s blood?

He said nothing more, but just stared, and in his silence, I saw something colder than anger: hatred.

“Father…” I choked out.

He turned away.

Leon held his child, arms wrapped around Mia, his gaze locked on mine. He said nothing, but I saw the cruel satisfaction and relief in his eyes.

I steadied my voice and asked, “Leon… you don’t believe me either?”

His jaw tightened. “You lied to me all these years.”

Mia leaned against him, her voice soft. “Don’t blame her, Leon. Maybe… maybe she didn’t know the truth.”

The crowd began to murmur:

“So she was never the Alpha’s daughter after all. No wonder Leon chose Mia.”

“How could a girl of uncertain blood ever be worthy of our strongest Beta?”

“Poor Leon, he was deceived for so long.”

The ceremony continued, unrelenting in its cruelty.

My father looked at Mia and said, with a proud nod, “You carry the true Black Stone blood. Your bond with Leon will strengthen the pack.”

Then to Leon, he added, “You did the right thing bringing her back. You’re a hero.”

“And your son, Cas, he’s the future of the Black Stone Pack.”

Applause erupted. Cheers rose around them like a roaring tide. My world that everything I had believed, built, and loved, was disintegrating before my eyes.

I looked up at the altar and at the family now standing where I once belonged.

I looked at my father, standing below the stage, and at the crowd who had once called me their heir.

Now, their eyes held only scorn.

And in that moment, I realized the truth:

I was nothing.

Everything I’d once had, my title, my bloodline and my future, was gone.

And the silence that followed was louder than any scream.