Chapter 1

“Three years. Not a whisper of a pup from the firstborn line. Does the Silvermoon bloodline mean nothing anymore?”

Alpha Dominic slammed his silver goblet down. His eyes shot like arrows toward Bianca.

The Silvermoon Pack’s bloodline law was a cage. It trapped us for three long years.

Dominic's words were aimed at Bianca.

But everyone in the pack knew who he truly favored: his firstborn son, Julian.

Julian had already promised Bianca a massive prize. She would get control of the pack’s three richest mineral veins the moment she became pregnant.

Produce an heir, and he would add two of our core hunting grounds.

The Alpha’s scepter itself would naturally pass to her son.

But three years had passed. Bianca’s belly remained flat.

So now, the Alpha used harsh words to push them.

Bianca sat beside Julian. Her head bowed low. She shredded her napkin. She played the perfect victim.

Last time, that innocent face fooled me completely.

My heart went out to her. I defended her. And she turned around and bit me.

I was left barren until I was forty. My wolf faded. I died without a pup of my own.

A new life. The same long table. The same pressure to breed.

I lifted my glass. I swirled the amber bourbon. I said nothing.

Bianca waited. And waited. But the lifeline she expected from me never came.

Her knuckles turned white as she strangled her napkin. Suddenly, she looked up at me with a fake smile.

“Alanna, why are you so quiet?”

Every head at the table turned to me.

My father narrowed his eyes, studying me.

I set my glass down and smiled back.

“Bianca’s belly is empty. What is there for me to say?”

Her face flickered. But her confidence returned in a heartbeat.

“Right. Of course you are not worried, Alanna.”

“I heard you secretly take suppressants. You despise the idea of a pup.”

“It seems you are brainwashed by human nonsense about ‘freedom’. You forgot your duty to this pack.”

The room erupted in whispers.

My father locked his gaze onto me.

“Suppressants?”

Bianca calmly took her phone from her clutch. She played an audio clip. She pushed the phone to the center of the table.

“This is Alanna, complaining in private. She says breeding for the pack will steal her freedom. She refuses to be a breeding tool for the Alpha bloodline. This recording is everywhere.”

I glanced at the screen.

It was a drunken chat with a close friend at a bar, years ago. A single, careless complaint about the pack’s laws. Bianca maliciously edited it into concrete proof.

In my last life, this recording destroyed me.

The moment I denied it, the entire pack turned on me. They called me selfish.

Meanwhile, Bianca faked a focus on fertility treatments. Everyone praised her as the perfect future Luna.

This time, I saved my breath.

I nodded.

“I said it. Being a simple breeding tool ruins a female's freedom. That is a fact.”

Bianca’s eyes lit up. She opened her mouth to attack.

I swept my gaze across the table. I finally locked eyes with my father.

“Jackson and I haven’t had a child because we simply follow your law.”

“The firstborn must have an heir before the second son can. Those were your words, Father.”

His face fell instantly.

He prided himself on being fair. But this law was a sham. It was tailor-made for Julian.

But Father had no idea. The mate of his precious firstborn son was totally barren.

I smiled.

“Didn’t you just say you wanted a powerful bloodline?”

“Then let us make a new rule. Whoever gives birth to the strongest heir wins the Alpha title. What do you think, Father?”

Bianca’s face dropped. “An outsider she-wolf has no right to dictate pack laws!”

I pressed on. I stared her down.

“Bianca, do you want to deny our father a strong heir soon?”

“Or is it that… you cannot get pregnant?”

Bianca’s face went white. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

The hall went dead silent.

Father’s expression shifted again and again. Finally, he nodded.

“Fine. Whoever produces the strongest heir will have the right of succession.”

I knew he was cornered. He was also using me to put pressure on his firstborn.

But what did I care?

In this new life, I would not be shackled by this damn law again. I would not die with my bloodline ending.

I raised my glass to Bianca across the table.

“As you wish, Father,” I said loudly. “Jackson and I will start trying tonight.”