Chapter 1

For our college graduation trip, I spent a whole week glued to various travel apps, finally snagging a half-price couples' train package.

The payment confirmation popped up on my phone screen, and I let out a long breath of relief.

I was just about to share the good news with my boyfriend and call it a night when his message came through.

"Anna's going through a breakup. She needs to get away and clear her head. We're gonna use those tickets."

"See if you can grab yourself a single ticket. It's not that much anyway - like five or six hundred bucks."

I stared at the travel app showing my modified booking order.

For a moment, I was speechless.

Before he received the scholarship my family's pack had specifically established for him, five or six hundred dollars used to be his entire monthly allowance.

When he first started college, he couldn't even afford a fifty-dollar pair of shoes.

How could he have the nerve to say something like that?

After a moment of silence, I picked up my phone:

"Dad, does our pack have any tourism businesses?"

My father was so stunned by this question that he didn't speak for several seconds.

My father was the Alpha of the most powerful pack in the entire Northern Territory.

But except for things related to my boyfriend Chase, I have never spent a penny carelessly and never asked the family for special privileges.

"We do, sweetheart. Dad just opened a travel company."

My father knew me well. He understood I wasn't the type to cause trouble without reason.

I knew him just as well. I knew our pack couldn't care less about the measly profits from tourism - we didn't have a travel company. But he'd register one the moment I hung up.

For once, I didn't stop him:

"Before graduation, I want to take a trip."

"Of course, leave everything to Dad. I'll arrange the guides, private jets, hotels, activities - everything. I'll make sure you have the time of your life."

I hummed in agreement and hung up.

The phone barely had time to rest before it started ringing again, urgent and shrill.

It was Chase.

"Quinn, what's your deal? Now you're ignoring my messages too?"

His voice dripped with aggression and accusation, like a lion whose territory had been challenged.

"I ask you to buy one extra ticket and this is how you react? You're that stingy about a few hundred bucks?"

I gripped the phone, my knuckles white, fingers trembling with rage:

"That was a couples' package I fought for an entire week to get. Did you even think about how I'd feel?"

"I had my reasons."

Chase launched into his self-righteous lecture:

"When I was up for that scholarship, Anna helped me out. Without her, I never would've gotten it. She's heartbroken and needs support and comfort."

"How can you be so insensitive? Don't you get basic human decency?"

She helped you? What about me?

I pulled three all-nighters organizing your application materials.

I swallowed those words.

"Chase, this is our graduation trip - just the two of us. I saved up for half a month to afford this ticket."

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I wanted to create something beautiful and unforgettable in our youth, and you're dragging a stranger into it. What's that supposed to mean..."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

Chase's voice cut right through mine.

"Money, money, money. That's all you ever think about."

"Don't you understand gratitude? She's all alone here, no family or friends, dumped by some jerk, and she needs a little comfort. You won't even do this small thing?"

"Gratitude? What are you planning to repay me with for everything I've given you?"

My heart turned to ice as I whispered those words, barely audible.

"Hello? Quinn, don't play dumb with me. Speak up! Is buying one train ticket gonna kill you or what?"

"I skipped dinner for half a month to afford this ticket, and you just casually give away my hard work?"

"It's just one ticket. You're being way too dramatic."

Chase's tone was completely dismissive.

"Besides, nobody forced you to skip dinner. You chose not to eat dinner - whose fault is that? When did you become such a drama queen?"

Hearing his words, I couldn't help but laugh.

Me, a drama queen?

After everything I'd sacrificed for him, not even getting a thank you - just being told I'd become "such a drama queen"?

He had no idea that just moments ago, with one sentence from me, this world had gained a new competitor powerful enough to bankrupt countless travel companies.

I used to want to keep this as a surprise, to reveal my true identity before we got officially mated.

Now, I didn't want to say anything.

I wanted to see just how far he and that attention-seeking "pick-me girl" could push things!

During my silence, Chase seemed to think I was feeling guilty. His tone softened, turning persuasive.