Lies

Genevieve did not wake up. Tristan stood over her body as Ivy stared down at her without flinching.

"What do we do with her now?" Ivy asked.

"We can't just leave her here. Someone might come looking for her before the wedding," Tristan said, pacing the room.

"We make it look like someone else did this," Ivy said, walking toward the window.

Tristan turned to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"We say she's been seeing a young Beta, hasn't she, the one from the eastern border pack," Ivy said, a small smile forming on her lips.

"She hasn't been seeing anyone, Ivy, she's been engaged to me for years," Tristan said.

"Doesn't matter what's true, only matters what people believe," Ivy said. "We tell everyone she ran off with him. If anyone finds her, they'll think he did it."

Tristan stared at his sister-in-law, something between horror and admiration crossing his face. "You're more ruthless than I thought," he said.

"I learned from watching you," Ivy replied.

They drove her far from the pack borders, close to where humans lived, and left her there before firing twice and driving away without looking back.

The next morning, Tristan came to Genevieve's room asking for her. He knocked twice before letting himself in, calling her name into the empty space.

"Genny?" he called out. "Genevieve, are you here?"

The room was untouched except for a few things missing. Her favorite coat was gone from the closet. A framed photo that once sat on her nightstand was gone too. Ivy had made sure of it the night before, slipping in quietly while the guards changed shifts, taking just enough to make it look like someone had packed in a hurry.

Tristan called for the guards. "Has anyone seen Genevieve this morning?" he asked, his voice already rising with practiced worry.

No one had.

By midday, the pack elders called an emergency meeting. Tristan sat at the long table, his head lowered, his hands clasped together like a man trying to hold himself together. Ivy sat beside him, a folder of papers resting in front of her. Across the table sat their 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."

Tristan lifted his head slowly. "I don't know," he said, his 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."

Their father leaned forward, his hands trembling slightly. "My own daughter," he muttered. "How could she do this?"

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 just enough. "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."

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

Their father 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.

Their father set the letters down and looked at Tristan 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. Tristan kept his head down, careful to let his 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."

Their father 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 because of the sudden news and who the bride might be.

Tristan sat back in his chair, a slow smile spreading across his face that he quickly tried to mask as disbelief.

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

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

It truly is perfect, Tristan thought to himself, lowering his head again to hide his smile. Because it will be his death day too.