Chapter 1

Half an hour before the ceremony.

The first time Noah came back to the bride's dressing room, I was still slumped beside the half-collapsed cake.

Frosting was smeared from my hair down to my shoulders, thickest over my left eye.

This room used to be the Black Pine Pack's armistice council chamber.

Suppression runes were embedded in the walls.

Any werewolf who walked in had to retract their claws, their dominance, and their overly sharp senses, and sit down to negotiate like an ordinary person.

Noah had specially reserved it for me to get ready.

"That way your human friends won't be scared."

When he said that, I actually thought he was being considerate.

Now the runes glowed faintly in the corner.

No one heard that my heart had already stopped.

Blair leaned against the vanity, touching up her lipstick.

"Control your fiancée. I already apologized, and she's still lying there refusing to get up."

Ethan nudged my wedding shoe with the tip of his shoe.

"Emma, Noah's here. That's enough."

I lunged to stop him.

But my hands passed through his body again and again.

Noah wasn't smiling.

He crouched down and straightened the skirt trapped under my legs.

"Didn't I say not to wear these today?"

He grumbled under his breath, but his fingers deftly undid the buckle at my ankle.

Then he pulled out a pair of soft-soled wedding shoes.

He'd brought them himself this morning.

A month ago, when I was trying on wedding dresses, the heels had scraped my feet raw. I'd casually said it hurt.

He'd looked down at the wound and asked how long it would take to heal.

I said, a few days.

He was quiet for a moment, then contacted the designer that same day and changed the original stilettos to low heels. He even adjusted the skirt length.

I laughed at him for making a big deal out of nothing.

He said:

"You don't have a wolf to heal your wounds. Of course I have to be more careful."

"Marrying me is supposed to make you happy, not make you suffer."

But now, I was really lying at his feet.

And he didn't know.

Noah took off his suit jacket and draped it over my shoulders, reaching to wipe the frosting off my chin.

When his fingertips touched my skin, he paused.

"Why are you so cold?"

I lunged right in front of him.

Check my pulse.

Noah, please.

Blair snorted.

"The AC's set so low, and she's been lying on the floor. Of course she's cold."

Noah glanced up at the vent, his brow furrowing again.

He reached down and lifted me up.

My body, with no support, slumped limply into his arms.

He wasn't prepared. He quickly cradled my head, afraid I'd hit the corner of the table.

"Emma."

His voice dropped.

"Enough."

I leaned against his shoulder and suddenly found it absurd.

This was a hug I'd imagined many times.

On the day of the ceremony, the Black Pine Alpha would hold me tight in front of all our friends, no longer caring whether they accepted a human.

But I was already dead.

He set me on the sofa and patiently wiped the frosting off my hands.

The engagement ring on my ring finger was crooked.

He looked down and turned it straight.

We didn't have the natural connection that fated mates have.

After tonight, when we exchanged vows, he would leave a mate mark on me.

Only then would we establish a bond that could sense each other's safety.

I had looked forward to it for a long time.

Now that bond would never exist.

"The ring was your choice. The dress took you three months to alter."

Noah held my hand.

"There are over three hundred guests outside, and representatives from neighboring packs who came specifically to witness this."

"Are you really going to ruin your own wedding over a joke from Blair?"

I looked at him and suddenly wanted to cry.

But the dead don't shed tears.

He was still like this.

He remembered my shoes hurt my feet.

He remembered I didn't eat cilantro.

He remembered I needed warm water before bed.

But whenever it came to Blair, the one who always had to be the bigger person was me.

The first time I met her five years ago, she jumped onto Noah's back and wrapped her arm around his neck, calling him a jerk.

At the time, Noah had just passed the succession challenge under the council's witness and become the new Alpha of Black Pine.

Everyone else treated him with almost stiff respect.

Only Blair dared to act like that.

Noah explained it to me all night.

"The four of us grew up in the same cub training camp."

"She's been running with us since she was little. No one cared about those boundaries."

Later, Blair used his cup, wore his jacket, and made him go drinking with her at two in the morning.

I fought about it. I cried about it.

Every time, Noah would hold me.

"Last time."

"Emma, don't hold it against her."

I backed down.

Then backed down again.

Until today, I couldn't back down anymore.

Blair suddenly leaned in.

"What's that under her eye?"

She reached to wipe it.

Noah blocked her hand.

"Don't touch her."

Blair blinked.

He pulled out a wet wipe, frowning.

"She's not like you. Her skin doesn't heal in the blink of an eye. You don't know your own strength."

For a moment, I actually felt a flicker of hope.

But he only wiped a bit of frosting from the edge of my cheek.

The wipe turned dark red.

Blair glanced at it.

"Raspberry jam. The middle layer is red."

Outside, the ceremony coordinator started urging.

"Noah, twenty-nine minutes left. The visiting Alphas have arrived. They need you to greet them."

He stood up and pulled his jacket tighter around my shoulders.

"Ten minutes. Come out when you've calmed down."

"I'll be waiting outside."

The door closed.

The smile on Blair's face faded too.

She looked down at me and clicked her tongue softly.

"He's still worried you'll be cold, even after all this."

Then she picked up my phone and suddenly smiled.

"So you like making scenes?"

"Then let's make it a bigger one."