Lies

Tristan's POV

"I think our plan was very bad," I said. "The wedding is in five days and everything has been arranged. How do we explain what happened to her?" I asked Ivy, who sat on the bed, looking far less concerned than I felt.

I stared at her, confused.

"We just have to tell the elders she ran away with her lover, and provide evidence," Ivy said.

"Which evidence are we going to provide?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that. The story is simple. She ran away with a Beta she's been seeing for some time. Even if someone finds her body by the road, we'll claim the person she ran away with was the one who killed her instead. I'll replace her in the wedding. The elders can't risk the wedding not happening," Ivy said with a smile, before placing a kiss on my lips.

I smiled softly. "You're more ruthless than I thought," I said.

"I learned it from you," she replied, before kissing me again.

The next morning, news of Genevieve's disappearance spread across the pack.

By midday, the pack elders called an emergency meeting. I sat at the long table, Ivy beside me, a folder of papers resting in front of her. Across the table sat Elder Varek, Genevieve's father, one of the pack's senior elders, his face tight with worry.

"Tristan, where is your bride?" Elder Corwin asked, his voice sharp. "The wedding is in a matter of days."

I lifted my head slowly. "I don't know," I said, my voice cracking. "I woke up this morning and she was gone. I've sent people out searching since dawn, but no one has found her."

The elders turned to Ivy. "Do you know anything about your sister's whereabouts?" one of them asked.

Ivy lowered her eyes before answering. "I didn't want to say anything. I kept hoping she'd come back on her own," she said, her voice trembling. "But I found these in her room last night."

She slid the folder across the table. Inside were letters, written in handwriting that matched Genevieve's perfectly, each one addressed to a name none of them recognized. Ivy had spent hours practicing the curve of her sister's letters, copying old notes Genevieve had left lying around the house.

"I'm sorry, Tristan. I know how much you love her, but I can't keep lying for her anymore," Ivy said, wiping at her eyes. "She's been seeing someone else. A Beta from the eastern pack. She didn't want to marry you. She told me herself weeks ago, and I begged her to tell you the truth instead of running."

I buried my face in my hands, my shoulders shaking. "I don't understand," I said. "I gave her everything."

Elder Varek read through the letters, his hands shaking harder now, his face pale. "This is a disgrace," he said quietly. "Alphas from other packs are already arriving for this wedding. Families we have spent years building alliances with. And now my own daughter has humiliated us all in front of them."

"I'm sorry, Father," Ivy whispered.

Elder Varek set the letters down and looked at me for a long moment, his eyes heavy with something between grief and desperation.

"Tristan, I know this isn't what any of us wanted," he said. "But the wedding cannot be canceled, not with half the region already on their way here. I am asking you, as her father, to consider taking Ivy in her place."

The table fell silent. I kept my head down, careful to let my silence look like shock rather than relief.

"Please," he continued, his voice breaking slightly. "I know I have no right to ask this of you after what my daughter has done, but she is family. She has stood by this pack for years, and I cannot bear the shame of turning away every Alpha who arrives at our gates expecting a wedding."

Ivy shook her head quickly. "Father, no," she said. "I couldn't do that to Genevieve. This was her wedding, her place. Let me go look for her myself. I'm sure if I find her, I can bring her back before anyone else needs to know."

"There isn't time for that," Elder Corwin said. "The wedding is in days, not weeks."

Elder Varek reached across the table and took Ivy's hand. "Please, Ivy," he said. "For this family. For your sister's sake, so her absence doesn't become the story every pack tells about us for years to come."

Ivy lowered her eyes again, letting a long pause settle over the room before she finally spoke. "If this is truly what everyone believes is best, then I won't refuse my family," she said softly.

Elder Corwin nodded firmly. "Then it's decided. Ivy will stand in her sister's place as Tristan's bride."

No one at the table argued.

A knock interrupted the meeting. A messenger stepped inside, bowing before Elder Corwin. "A message from Alpha Thorne," he said, holding out a folded letter.

Elder Corwin opened it and read it aloud. "Alpha Thorne wishes to announce he will be remarrying, and requests the ceremony take place on the same day as his son's wedding, so the pack may celebrate both unions together."

The room fell into murmurs of surprise at the sudden news, and at who the bride might be.

I sat back in my chair, a slow smile spreading across my face that I quickly tried to mask as disbelief.

"That's wonderful news," I said. "Truly perfect timing."

Ivy glanced at me sideways, catching the look in my eyes, the one only she could read.

It truly is perfect, I thought to myself, lowering my head again to hide my smile. Because it will be his deathday too.