CHAPTER 2

Ailsa’s POV

My mother's voice on the phone had been a lifeline in the darkness, but I couldn't let myself soften completely. Too much had happened, too many years had passed.

"Ailsa, sweetheart, I'm so sorry. I should have—"

"Don't." I cut her off, my grip tightening on the phone. "I didn't call for apologies. I called because you owe me. You left me here with him, and now I need you to fix it."

The silence stretched between us, heavy with unspoken pain.

"You're right," she finally whispered. "I do owe you. Tell me everything."

So I did. I told her about Leon, about the rumors, about Melody's threats. I told her about the stolen thesis, the locked room, the years of being treated like an unwanted burden.

"I have contacts," she said when I finished. "People who can help. But you have to trust me."

Trust. The word felt foreign on my tongue. "I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Pack light. Only what you absolutely need. And Ailsa?" Her voice grew firm. "Whatever happens tomorrow, don't fight it. Play along until you can get away."

The line went dead, leaving me alone with my racing thoughts. Could she really save me? Or was this just another disappointment waiting to happen?

I crept toward the kitchen to get some water, my bare feet silent on the cold marble floor. But voices from the dining room made me freeze in the shadows of the hallway.

"—can't believe how easy this was." My father's laughter was crude, unfamiliar. "Fifty thousand just to get rid of the little burden."

Fifty thousand. They'd sold me for fifty thousand dollars.

"She actually thought you cared about saving the pack." Melody's voice was filled with amusement. "As if our finances were ever really in trouble."

"The girl's always been gullible," my stepmother added. "Just like her pathetic mother."

My heart hammered against my ribs as I pressed myself against the wall, straining to hear every word.

"Leon, are you sure you can handle her?" My father's voice held a note of concern. "She's more stubborn than I expected."

Leon was here. In my house, planning my future like I was a piece of property.

"Don't worry about that." Leon's voice was smooth, cold. "I have experience breaking difficult wives. She'll learn her place quickly enough."

"And if she doesn't?" Melody's voice was eager, hungry.

"Then she'll join the others." Leon's casual tone made my blood run cold. "But honestly, I'm more interested in your offer, Melody. An Omega wife for appearances, and you for... everything else. It's perfect."

"Just make sure she suffers first," Melody said, her voice full of venom. "I want her to know that I won. That I took everything from her, including her husband."

Their laughter filled the air, cruel and satisfied. I backed away slowly, my whole body shaking with rage and terror.

They planned this. All of it. My father hadn't been pressured into this marriage—he'd orchestrated it. He'd sold me to a murderer while planning to let my stepsister become his real wife.

Back in my room, I sat on my bed in stunned silence. Tomorrow is the wedding. Tomorrow I die, and they'll all celebrate.

My phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number: Warriors are in place. Trust no one except the man who says 'Luna sends her regards.' Be ready.

Luna. My mother's wolf name from before she left the pack. Hope flickered in my chest like a fragile flame.

I spent the rest of the night packing a small bag with my most important belongings—my real identification papers, the few photos I had of my mother, and the backup drive containing my actual thesis work. Everything else could burn for all I cared.

Morning came too soon. I'd barely slept, jumping at every sound, expecting someone to burst through my door and drag me to the altar.

Melody appeared in my doorway without knocking, already dressed in a stunning blue dress that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe.

"Big day today, sister." Her smile was predatory. "You look terrible. Didn't sleep well?"

"What do you want?" I kept my voice steady despite the fear clawing at my throat.

"Just wanted to see how our little bride is doing." She stepped into my room, circling me like a vulture. "You know, I almost feel sorry for you. Almost."

"Save your pity."

"Oh, but it's not a pity, really. It's more like... satisfaction." She laughed, the sound like breaking glass. "Do you know what Leon told me last night? He said he's going to keep you locked up, isolated. No friends, no family, no freedom. Just you and him until..."

"Until what?"

"Until you break completely. Or until you have an unfortunate accident, like his other wives." She shrugged casually. "Either way, I'll be there to comfort him. To be the wife he actually wants."

My hands clenched into fists, but I forced myself to stay calm. Play along. Don't fight it.

"He'll see through you eventually," I said quietly.

"Will he? I don't think so. You see, I'm everything you're not. Strong, confident, worthy of respect. You're just a weak little Omega who never learned her place."

She moved closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Your father was right to choose me. Your mother was right to abandon you. And Leon will be right to dispose of you. Because you're nothing, Ailsa. You're less than nothing."

Soon, I told myself. Soon this will all be over.

An hour later, I sat in the back of a black sedan, supposedly heading to my wedding. The driver was someone I didn't recognize, which was unusual for our small pack.

"Miss Lindon?" He glanced at me in the rearview mirror. "Luna sends her regards."

Relief flooded through me so intensely I almost cried. This was it. This was my escape.

"Thank you," I whispered.

We'd been driving for maybe ten minutes when everything went wrong. Or rather, everything went exactly as planned.

Another car slammed into our side, sending us spinning off the road. Shouts erupted outside as masked figures surrounded the vehicle.

"Stay down!" the driver yelled, but I was already moving.

While the "attackers" created chaos around the car, I slipped out the back door with my bag. In the confusion of shouting and staged fighting, nobody noticed one small figure disappearing into the treeline.

I ran until my lungs burned, following the path my mother had described in her message. A bus stop waited at the edge of the next town, exactly where she'd said it would be.

Present moment at the military academy...

"Next!" The registration clerk's voice snapped me back to the present.

I stepped forward, sliding my completed forms across the desk. The woman barely glanced at them before stamping them with approval.

"Welcome to Werewolf Military Academy, Miss Lindon. Your dormitory assignment and class schedule are in your packet. Orientation begins tomorrow at 0800 hours."

"Thank you." I clutched the packet to my chest like a lifeline.

As I walked away from the desk, I allowed myself one more glance over my shoulder. The entrance remained empty—no search party, no angry father, no smirking stepsister.

"Ailsa Lindon, top academic admission," I read softly. I'd earned my place here through merit, through the work that had been stolen and dismissed so many times. But now it was mine, and mine alone.

I was really free.