Chapter 3

I stumbled into the bathroom and splashed cold water onto my face. However, it couldn't ease the suffocating feeling in my chest.

Tomorrow was going to be my mating ceremony with Xavier. Everything had already been prepared—the decorations, the invitations, the wedding dress—even the elders from both packs and our friends and family were already here.

They were all waiting for me.

But I knew that something had already withered away in the shadows.

My hands shook as I dialed Xavier's number.

The phone rang once, twice, even three times… But nobody picked up.

Almost instinctively, I dialled Queenie's number next. There was nothing but a busy tone.

My heart sank to the pit of my stomach.

How much of a coincidence could it be that both of them would suddenly completely disappear at the same time like this?

I knew that Queenie had a lot of other secondary Instagram accounts. She liked using different accounts to post about different parts of her life online.

So, I decided to tap on the hashtags in her posts, searching for nearby, similar accounts using the same IP address, and finally stumbled onto a post published by an account called "@HisTrueLove". It had posted a photo that sent a chill straight down my spine.

The photo showed a wineglass in the male werewolf's hand as the light illuminated his side profile.

There was a ring on his hand, and that was the same one that I had given to Xavier as a gift.

So, the person in the photo had to be him.

The caption for that post was a simple one-liner.

"She won't understand anyway—let's just continue having fun."

The comment section was filled with jeering and mockery.

I tapped into the main account and realized that the account was far more dark and sinister than I'd ever imagined.

There were tens of thousands of followers on the account, and it had begun posting regularly a few years ago.

The first post I saw was a black photo with the caption blatantly insulting me and calling me out.

"I really don't know where she gets the confidence from. Did she really think that she managed to snag such an outstanding Alpha on her own?

"If it weren't for my being too lazy to compete with her, she wouldn't even get a chance!"

Someone in the comments asked the account if the person described was a friend, and they had replied, "Kind of. After all, I'd had to look after her ever since she was a little pup."

Some time later, I had been stung by a very venomous wasp, and Xavier had to come over to care for me.

However, the account posted, "It's just a tiny injury, and she still insisted that he take care of her. She's such a drama queen. But still, it's all thanks to her being such a dumb wolf that I could stay alone with him for such a long time."

The account even posted a screenshot of their chat history with Xavier, with the names blurred out.

Xavier was talking to her about the power struggles in his clan and some more grave topics regarding stress and other secrets that he never once brought up with me.

Meanwhile, the account holder was always able to respond precisely to his needs and soothe his frustrations with gentle words of affirmation and encouragement.

According to the account holder, I was a "naive and troublesome" burden to Xavier.

"With a brain like hers, she'd never be able to understand him anyway!

"I just had to chat casually with him, and he'd tell me that he felt more relaxed whenever he was with me than when he was with her."

Queenie.

She and Xavier disguised their ambiguous, intimate actions with each other, dismissing them all and saying that it was just for my sake.

If they went out for a meal together, they'd say that they were testing out catering recommendations for the mating ceremony.

If they went out on a nightly date to gaze at the stars, they'd say that they were scouting the perfect venue for the mating ceremony.

If he gave her a gift, it was a "thank you gift" because she'd been taking such good care of me.

Every excuse felt like a knife repeatedly stabbing into the wound in my heart.

Misty wouldn't stop roaring and howling in distress. She was furious on my behalf.

She knew that I had always thought I was the only ray of sunshine in Xavier's life.

However, in his and Queenie's story, I was nothing but the fool that they toyed with, took advantage of, and laughed at behind my back.