LOGINLola’s POV
Morgan Morrison.
The name alone made my blood boil.
He was an Alpha of the Red Shadow Wolf Clan, the most notorious playboy on campus, and Flint’s biggest rival, they are competing secretly.
To me, he wasn’t just another arrogant Alpha. He was trouble wrapped in a smirk.
I saw him leaning against the hallway wall, spinning his phone between his fingers like he had all the time in the world.
I walked up to him and said, “You should stop skipping Professor Neal’s class. It’s mandatory.”
He barely looked at me. “Got it.”
I frowned. “I’m serious. Keep doing it and…”
He cut me off with a lazy grin. “I’ll do it, alright? Don’t be so serious, glasses girl.”
I felt my jaw clench.
He tilted his head and added, “You do know I’m the strongest Alpha in the country, right? Everyone here respects me. You don't get to talk to me like that.”
I crossed my arms. “Not everyone respects you.”
Morgan took a slow step closer. “Then you must be blind. Or biased. Maybe both.”
“You cheated at the end of semester alpha fight against Flint,” I snapped. “Flint was stronger. He should’ve won.”
His expression didn’t change, but his eyes flickered with amusement. “Not my fault if your brother was off his game. You don’t like losing, do you?”
“I don’t like liars.”
He winked at me and moved closer. “You really dress like someone’s librarian, you know that?”
I opened my mouth to snap back, but he cut me off . “But you’re kind of cute when you are angry.”
I stared at him, refusing to move. “Alpha Flint is always the strongest Alpha to me.”
Then I shoved past him and walked away without looking back.
After school, Evelyn and I walked along the sidewalk. I hadn’t said anything for a few minutes, but my thoughts were still stuck on one person.
“I talked to Morgan today,” I finally said.
Morgan was popular at school. Everyone seemed to like him, especially the girls. I didn’t understand it. To me, he was arrogant, careless, and always breaking the rules.
He acted like he was better than everyone else, and yet half the girls in our class looked at him like he was some kind of prize.
I couldn’t see the appeal. He never showed anyone real respect. I just didn’t get why so many people wanted someone like that.
I was still fuming when I got home that evening. Flint, my adoptive brother, was already at the table with my adoptive parents. I sat down quietly, trying not to let my mood show.
We were halfway through dinner in the palace dining hall, where everything felt big and formal. The table stretched almost the length of the room, covered with white cloth and shining plates.
High ceilings arched above us, and gold-trimmed columns lined the walls. Mom, the Luna of the Moonlight Crown Pack, sat at the head of the table like a queen.
“So,” she said, glancing at Flint with a gentle smile, “how are things with Amy?”
I could tell she was pleased. She liked Amy a lot. Flint nodded politely. “She’s doing well.”
Mom hummed, then turned to me. Her voice carried down the long table. “What about you, Lola? Do you have a boyfriend?”
I blinked. “Me? No.”
She tilted her head. “Why not? You’re at the right age. Flint, maybe you can introduce her to someone.”
He didn’t even hesitate. “Alright.”
That stung more than I expected.
He said it so easily, like it didn’t mean anything. Like helping me find someone else was completely normal.
And that’s when it hit me, he really did see me as just a little sister. Nothing more. No boy who really cared, would agree that fast.
I stared down at my food, suddenly not hungry. A minute later, I mumbled something about homework and left the table without looking back.
After thinking about it, I decided to listen to Evelyn’s advice and agreed to go to the party with her, hoping it might help me clear my mind.
“Yes!” she said, cheering. “Now, about your outfit…”
I frowned. “What about it?”
“You can’t wear one of your cardigans or long skirts. You’ll look like a teacher. Wear the dress I gave you.”
I hesitated. “The off-the-shoulder one?”
“Yes. It looks great on you. You have a nice figure, Lola. You always cover it up like you’re scared someone will notice.”
“I don’t like showing skin.”
“That’s because you’ve never tried. You’re eighteen, not eighty. You should enjoy being young. Go out. Talk to people. Wear something that makes you feel confident.”
I stayed quiet.
“If you keep hiding, you’re going to stay in the same place forever,” she said. “You won’t experience anything. You won’t even get kissed.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the encouragement.”
“I’m serious,” she said. “You don’t have to be wild. Just act your age. A little fun won’t ruin you.”
After the call ended, I pulled the dress from my closet. It was folded neatly at the back of the shelf.
Red, off-the-shoulder, and fitted. Definitely not my usual style.
I held it up against myself in the mirror and stared.
The next evening, I changed into the dress, added a little makeup, and slipped on heels. I tiptoed downstairs, trying not to make any noise.
But the moment I stepped into the hallway, I ran into Mom.
She stopped and stared. “Is that… my daughter?”
“I’m just going to Evelyn’s for a while,” I said quickly.
She didn’t say anything at first. Then she smiled a little. “You look beautiful. Be careful, alright?”
I blinked. “You’re… not going to tell Dad?”
She shook her head. “Just be safe. And call if anything happens.”
My chest tightened. “Thanks, Mom.”
Just then, Flint came down the stairs. He stopped when he saw me.
Mom turned to him. “Take her with you, Flint. I’ll feel better knowing she’s not alone.”
Flint nodded. “Sure.”
But the moment we stepped out of the house, his face changed.
“You’re not going like that.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
He looked me up and down. “Do you know what kind of attention you’ll get? That dress makes you look like you want every guy in the room to hit on you.”
“I’m not asking for anyone’s attention,” I said, crossing my arms.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “They’ll still look. And they’ll think you’re easy.”
I stared at him. “That’s not fair. You don’t get to decide what people think about me.”
“I’m trying to protect you,” he said. “Change. Or at least wear this.”
He took off his jacket and held it out.
“I’m not wearing that. It ruins the whole outfit.”
“If you don’t, I’ll take a picture right now and send it to Dad.”
My mouth dropped open. “You wouldn’t.”
He held up his phone. “Try me.”
I was forced to agree, and we walked to the entrance of the party, where we saw Morgan make his entrance.
Lola's POVThe fire had burned down to low orange coals by the time we slipped away from the celebration.Nobody stopped us. A few people smiled. Sera, who had been watching the whole evening from her usual spot near the food table, gave me a small nod that felt like a blessing. Evelyn caught my eye from across the field and raised her cup without saying a word. That was enough.Morgan held my hand the whole walk back. He didn't say anything, and I didn't either. Some moments don't need filling. This was one of them.The pack house was quieter now as we moved to our room, most people still outside, voices and laughter drifting through the open windows. He led me upstairs. Closed the door. And when the latch clicked shut, something in my chest finally settled. The last tight thing let go.I turned to face him.He was looking at me the way he had looked at me in the clearing earlier. Like he still couldn't quite believe we were here. Like he was checking, one more time, that I was real.
Lola's POVThe morning of the wedding, I woke up before the sun.I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling for a long time, just listening. The pack house was already awake. I could hear movement downstairs, voices carrying up through the walls, the soft sounds of people preparing for something they had all chosen to be part of. Not because they were ordered to. Because they wanted to.That was the part that still caught me off guard, even now, the choosing.Evelyn came in an hour after sunrise with a tray of food I barely touched and spent the next two hours doing my hair with the focused silence of someone who understood that this moment didn't need a lot of words around it. She braided sections back from my face and wove small white flowers through the rest, and when she finished, she stood behind me and looked at my reflection in the mirror."You look like yourself," she said. "That's the best thing I can say."I reached back and squeezed her hand.The ceremony was held in the open
Lola's POVElder Mara found me the next morning.I was sitting alone in the small garden at the back of the pack house, drinking tea and staring at nothing in particular. My mind was still moving through everything that had happened, replaying pieces of it the way you do when something large has shifted, and your brain hasn't fully caught up yet.I heard footsteps on the stone path and looked up. Elder Mara was one of the oldest members of the council, a small woman with careful eyes and grey hair neatly pulled back. She had been on the council for decades but had never aligned herself with Joseph's faction. During yesterday's confrontation, she had been the first council member to step away from him.She stopped a few feet from my bench. "May I sit?"I nodded.She sat down slowly and folded her hands in her lap. For a moment, she just looked at the garden. Then she said, "I owe you an apology."I didn't say anything. I waited."I knew about the witch," she said. "The one who came to
Lola's POVThe hall was quiet now.Joseph was gone. The soldiers who had come with him had either been detained or had walked out on their own, heads down, avoiding eye contact with anyone. The council members who had arrived so confidently behind him had slipped out one by one during the confusion, leaving behind only the echo of everything that had just happened.Morgan stood in the middle of the room, looking at the damage, overturned furniture, scattered documents, and a long crack in the wall where someone had been thrown against it. His arm was still bandaged from the garden. He hadn't complained once."We need to move fast," he said. "Joseph's people are still in the territory. Some of them won't accept what just happened. They'll push back."He was right. Within the hour, reports started coming in.Three of Joseph's loyalists had barricaded themselves in the east wing of the pack house, refusing to stand down. Two more had been found trying to destroy documents in the archiv
Lola's POVThe name on the paper was Elder Joseph.The man who had pressured me to marry Flint. Who had sat across from my family and laid out consequences like cards on a table. Who had been woven into the fabric of council life for as long as I could remember. He had been there at the beginning of all of it, not watching the conspiracy unfold, but driving it.Morgan and I drove back from Karen's cabin in silence. There was nothing to say that the weight in the car wasn't already saying. We had a name. We had Karen's testimony. What we didn't have was the kind of hard, documented proof that could stand up to a council that Joseph himself had helped build. We needed time to gather it properly.Joseph didn't give us time.Tim came through the office door the next morning, pale-faced and without preamble. Elder Joseph was at the gates. Five council members are with him. Twenty soldiers. A warrant for my arrest on charges of treason and conspiracy against the crown.The same charges th
Lola's POVI drove back with one hand on the wheel and the envelope pressed against my side, checking the rearview mirror every few seconds. The feeling of being watched had not faded. If anything, the farther I got from the palace, the heavier it settled.Morgan was waiting at the gates when I pulled through. He opened my door, looked at my face, then at the envelope, and didn't ask unnecessary questions, just walked me inside and locked his office door behind us.I told him what Abraham had said. The forged evidence. The silence he had chosen. The name of the organisation connected to my parents' deaths. Morgan spread the envelope's contents across the desk: documents, photographs, pages of handwritten notes, and we stood over them together, beginning to make sense of the edges of something much larger than either of us had anticipated.Then his phone rang.He answered, listened, and his expression shifted in the particular way it did when information arrived that changed the shape
Flint’s POVI regret it now. Letting Morgan get close to Lola was the biggest mistake I could have made. I thought I was being clever, thought I was testing him, thought that if she spent time with him, I would see her lose interest and finally forget me. Instead, it has backfired. She looks brig
Lola’s POVStill fuming, I followed him inside. The air smelled of sugar and roasted nuts, soft music humming from a small speaker in the corner. The lights were warm, gentle, so different from the harsh fluorescent glow of the mall. Morgan walked as if he owned the place, heading straight for a t
Lola’s POVMy eyes were still stuck on Flint and Amy. The sight of them together cut into me, but I forced myself to look away. I would not give him the satisfaction of seeing me break again. He had already destroyed me once. Why should I show him more weakness?I tugged on Evelyn’s arm. “Let’s go
Lola's POVI couldn’t face home. Not with my eyes still swollen, not with my chest still aching like it had been split open. So I kept walking, further and further until the night air cut into my skin. It felt like my legs moved on their own, dragging me toward the one place I knew I could still b







