Chapter 1

The Werewolf Hunting Contest's venue was packed. Werewolves talked over one another.

I stood backstage and looked at the podium through a narrow gap in the curtain.

Lily Ashford was holding the golden trophy with a wide smile on her face.

"Now let's invite the champion to give a speech!" the host exclaimed before handing her the microphone.

Lily's eyes glistened slightly. "Thank you, judges, for recognizing my efforts. I've worked so hard for this hunt."

I clenched my fists.

Worked hard?

I was the one who went hunting every night and trained in combat. She merely slipped wolfsbane into my drink and left me too weak to compete.

"Florence?" I didn't know when Lily had come off the stage. She was already standing in front of me with a smile.

"Florence, you're here too! Did you come to congratulate me?" She waved the trophy in her hand. "Oh, what a pity. Edmund's been too busy keeping me company. He doesn't have time to entertain you."

Edmund Brock stepped out from behind her. When he saw me, his brows furrowed slightly. "Why are you here?"

"I came to–"

"Edmund." Lily cut me off and tugged playfully on his sleeve. "Florence must have come to watch me receive the award. Oh, right. There's a celebration party tonight. Florence, why don't you come along?"

Edmund wrapped an arm around her waist. "What would she come for? You're the star tonight."

I watched their intimate interaction. It felt like something had been carved out of my chest.

Seven years ago, Edmund was still my fiance.

We grew up together, and our families had arranged our engagement long ago.

But everything changed after Lily was adopted by my parents.

My parents began to ignore me and favored Lily more and more.

Even Edmund, my fiance who used to cherish me dearly, started growing distant.

"Florence, Lily told me you haven't been hunting or training at the arena lately. If you need me to, I can accompany you tomorrow night," he said while giving me a look of sympathy.

"No, thanks." I turned around to leave.

I heard Lily's chuckle from behind. "Florence is mad at me again."

That night, a marking proposal from Norfolk Pack arrived at the Ashford family.

It came from Leon Griffin, the Alpha of Norfolk Pack.

Rumor had it that ten years ago, on Blood Moon Night, he was cursed by a witch. Since then, the curse had clung to him. Every full moon, he would lose his sanity and turn into a beast driven only by slaughter.

Even worse, the witch cursed him to kill his destined mate, and he'd never be able to mark anyone.

Under normal circumstances, such a dangerous Alpha who couldn't mark a mate would never find one in his pack.

But he was still the Alpha of Norfolk Pack. So the pack decided to follow the prophecy of the Moon Goddess by holding a hunting contest to publicly choose a mate for him.

The champion shewolf would become his mate.

In the Ashford family living room, my mother, Mary Ashford, held up the marking proposal. Her face had gone pale.

"What do we do? Lily won the championship. Leon wants to marry her."

Lily walked downstairs. There was a fresh bite mark on her neck. Edmund had left it there.

My father, Ben Ashford, paced restlessly. "Edmund just marked Lily today. They're already mates. What do we do now?"

I stood in the corner and watched them panic. A strange sense of satisfaction welled inside me.

Lily touched the back of her neck while smiling proudly.

"Dad, Mom, don't worry. Florence doesn't have a mate yet, does she?"

The living room fell silent for a second.

Mary froze. "What do you mean?"

Lily walked toward me and looked me up and down. "Florence's fiance is my mate now. She can have Leon.

"After all, we're both daughters of the Ashford family. It's perfectly appropriate for her to get marked in my place."

Ben's eyes lit up. "That's right. The marking proposal says it should be the hunting champion, but it never specifically says Lily."

Mary hesitated and looked at me.

"Florence, you–"

I looked at them. My heart had already gone cold.