THE SHADOW OF BETRAYAL

POV: Callum Wells

My secrets weighed like a millstone around my neck, pulling me more and more into the pit I had dug for myself. Fear that my well-woven web of falsehoods was going to come apart struck me as I watched Ivory and her companion Mia untangle the knotted strands of the past.

Ivory, my half-sister, has been my shadow for a very long time. She was the preferred kid, the one the pack thought would succeed. And I, well, in the big picture, I was a footnote, an afterthought.

The knowledge that I would never be able to live up to her was a painful pill to swallow. And as the years passed, that resentment turned into something deeper, more sneaky - envy that felt like it may swallow me whole.

Ivory was shown the love of our father, the alpha of the pack, and I watched. Her road spread out in front of her like a golden carpet as I watched her grow into a stunning, self-assured young woman. And I raged, bitterly bemoaning the terrible hand fate had dealt me.

Then, though, everythi