Chapter 2

Once Carlin finished speaking, he kneeled before Maria, presenting the utmost sincerity.

Following Uriel's death, Carlin was now the only Alpha in the Silverplume pack. His standing was even more esteemed than before, he had always been one of the most powerful wolves in the pack. Nevertheless, for Johanna's sake, he was willing to get on his knees.

Still on his knees, he made his way past Maria and stopped in front of Uriel's coffin. He ended up staying in that position for the entire day, refusing to move despite Maria and the elders' varied attempts to convince him otherwise.

Johanna was deeply touched. How did someone as ordinary as her get so lucky to meet someone like Carlin?

Alas, that night, Johanna felt the betrayal of the one she loved the most and another who was supposed to be her family. Her wolf howled in anguish, and her heart wrenched in agony.

Even though she could clearly sense it from the link, she still found it hard to believe that her own mate was in bed with her sister.

The door to the room was slightly ajar. Doing her best to hold herself together, she peeked through the slit and saw the room in disarray.

Allison's golden hair was scattered all over the bed. Caught in the throes of passion, she was moving her slender waist with great eagerness. Her legs were curled around a large figure that Johanna was utterly familiar with. He was also thrusting into Allison with overwhelming desire.

It was none other than Carlin, Johanna's mate, who had only just defended her earlier today.

A chill gripped Johanna's heart as she stumbled backward, feeling an intense pain coursing through her.

His promises were all lies, and his love for her was a pretense—everything was fake.

That night, Johanna experienced the ultimate betrayal. Though it didn't kill her, it would become a pivotal turning point in her life, almost as if she had been reborn.

As the most powerful of the northern wolf packs, the Silverplume pack should've embodied the rules and traditions of their werewolf ancestors. It was their responsibility to lead by example.

It was a grave taboo to betray one's mate. The only exception was when the survival of the pack was at stake. Under such dire circumstances, those who held the most power in the pack, such as the matriarch and the elders, would beseech the Moon Goddess to make an exception and allow a mated Alpha to procreate with someone other than his mate.

But even then, both the Alpha and his Luna had to agree to it as well.

Johanna recalled what had happened earlier in the day. Carlin had stood alone against the pack's leaders and refused to betray his loyalty to her, regardless of their reasoning. Because of that, he had angered all of the elders, including Maria, the matriarch of the pack, and his mother.

To force Carlin into compliance, they even locked him up inside the ancestral shrine. A record of the Silverplume pack's glorious history had been carved into all four walls of the shrine.

Things weren't that bad during the day. Rays of sunlight came in through the cracks of the stained glass windows, illuminating the dimly lit ancestral shrine. The situation merely amounted to physical discomfort.

However, once night fell, the real torment began. The icy stone floor was inscribed with the teachings of the pack's ancestors, each one etched with magic. The weight of these enchanted teachings, accumulated over the centuries, gnawed constantly at an Alpha's heart.

"You can leave once you've come to your senses," Maria said coldly, her stern voice echoing in the shrine.

Thinking that Carlin was still suffering from his punishment in the ancestral shrine, Johanna had been beside herself with concern. Alas, she was deluded for having believed all of that.

Carlin merely didn't want Johanna to react in an extreme manner, which would've surely led to everyone in the pack finding out about the situation. That was why he had teamed up with the elders to put on a show for her that day.

It was a sleepless night for Johanna. Meanwhile, Carlin had ended up mating with Allison 17 times.

When dawn came, Johanna wiped her tears away. She'd made up her mind to leave.