Chapter 0. Preface

A silver bullet hits Katrina's shoulder with great force. She is thrown back a few meters due to the impact that catches her by surprise.

Her head spins as she tries to grab hold of one of the branches. Her only concern now is her puppy in her womb and what might happen to it if she falls from this height into the cliff. She never liked walking through these woods and right now she regrets not having explored them earlier to have an escape option.

"You're disgusting, damnable!" Her half-sister Lizzie's voice echoes in her head. All the remorse she had claimed to feel is completely false, and now she realizes it. "Did you think I was going to give you a clear path? You purposely married Jarl because you know he loves me. You did it to hurt me and push me away from him, but it won't work, Katrina. Jarl and I will get married, whether you accept it or not. I will be the moon of the Alba Noctis pack when he becomes the alpha. We will have many children and be very happy."

Katrina is still not able to process what her half-sister said when she sees her husband emerging from the bushes and heading towards where they are. She didn't even realize he was in the mansion when they went out hunting this afternoon, and now she is filled with fear of what they might do to her in such a distant place from home.

Jarl reloads the shotgun with another bullet that he takes out of his pocket and walks towards Katrina, holding it threateningly.

"Did you think we would allow you to keep all the Grimlore fortune?" Jarl asks with a macabre smile spreading across his face, his eyes shining threateningly as he speaks. "You're not that important, Katrina. You're nothing more than useless, just like your mother, and you deserve a ruthless death just like hers."

"We know what you have been trying to do, and we won't allow you to continue with it," adds her sister to what Jarl said.

"I haven't done anything wrong. I swear!" Katrina's voice trembles. Tears flow down her pale cheeks as if they have a life of their own. Her vision blurs, and her ears are still buzzing from the bullet lodged in her shoulder, rapidly weakening her. She can't believe she was so foolish to fall into these two's game. She was always naive and innocent, but she never would have imagined the macabre plan they had against her this afternoon.

"You will no longer be a burden in my life, Katrina, nor in Lizzie's. It will be a pleasure to send you to hell along with your mother."

Katrina's heart shatters in that moment. She always believed her mother's death was very strange. Now there is no doubt that Jarl had something to do with it since he was the only one with her that night.

Her husband's evil smile is the last thing the young she-wolf sees before another muffled shot resonates throughout the forest, and the bullet forcefully pierces her chest.

Just a day ago, her father had convinced her to give her sister another chance. It was time to smooth out old rough edges with her and bring peace to their father's heart, but nothing could be more mistaken.

A red and viscous liquid starts to cover her beautiful white dress. She looks up to see the faces of these people who hate her so much.

"Why, Jarl?" she manages to ask with a half-howl, broken and anguished. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Don't worry, little sister. I will take good care of Jarl. We will be very happy while you turn to dust."

Nothing prepared Katrina for this terrible moment. She was always too naive for the evil that surrounded her, dreamy and romantic. She is incapable of understanding how someone you said you loved just hours before could cause so much harm.

A sharp pain and dizziness suddenly attack her. Instinctively, she brings both hands to her chest, feeling as if something is breaking inside.

"I reject you, Katrina Grimlore, and sever all ties with you, forever and ever," Jarl's voice cuts through her chest like sharp knives. She gasps a few times before emitting a loud cry of pain and despair. At that moment, another bullet takes her by surprise. Katrina takes a few steps back, slips, and falls directly towards the deep and dark cliff, severely injured.

"I accept your rejection," she manages to say before darkness completely envelops her. Another howl, this time from Jarl, reverberates through the vast forest.

The blonde woman's hair quickly disappears into the darkness along with a large pool of blood that seeps from her wounded body. Lizzie gazes at the pit, pleased. She finally got rid of her! And it was much easier than she had thought.

Lizzie looks at Jarl with accelerated breathing. Finally, he will be completely hers, and she will be able to enjoy all the Grimlore fortune as the sole Luna. Her destiny is much better than she had expected.

Jarl looks at the shotgun in his hand and immediately throws it off the same cliff before glancing around and making sure no one has seen them.

"Don't worry, my love. I told you no one comes around here, and she will die without remedy."

Jarl seems to hear some gasps, but they are far away, so he doesn't worry about anything else. Lizzie is right, everything turned out very well.

Katrina Grimlore is dead, and now the entire fortune of the family belongs to him, the future alpha of the Alba Noctis pack.