Chapter 1

“Please… please, come get me,” I sobbed, clutching the phone tightly.

“I have to leave this place. I’ll agree to any condition.”

A sharp, worried voice answered instantly. “What happened, Wendy? Are you hurt?”

I wiped my tears and cleared my throat. “I’m fine. I’ve just had enough of this fake place.”

“When should I come for you?” the voice asked.

“In seven days,” I replied.

“This is the last time, Wendy. Don’t disappoint me again.”

The call ended. I slowly got up from the floor.

But another voice echoed coldly in my mind—tinged with disdain.

“Only now you want to leave? What were you waiting for?”

I closed my eyes. It was her—Miranda, my wolf soul.

“Wendy, you’re free to go,” the nurse said kindly.

I nodded and smiled at her, then limped out of the pack hospital.

In my heart, I wished for a message or a call—but there was nothing.

The phone stayed silent, and oddly, that silence brought me relief—no more lies to fabricate.

In the living room, the holographic TV was broadcasting the pack’s celebration.

My mother didn’t even glance up.

She was feeding peeled grapes to Penny. “Our sweet Penny, always so good. Not like someone else who can’t even serve tea without breaking a cup.”

My fingers tightened around the tray, the cracked rim digging into my palm.

Three days ago, Penny had “accidentally” knocked the tray from my hands.

Now my mother was smiling at her, eyes full of affection. “Look at you, so graceful. Not clumsy like Wendy.”

Penny bit into a grape, her gaze flicking toward me.

“Mom, Wendy’s just tired. She stayed up late helping me organize council documents,” she said with a syrupy smile. “Right, sis?”

Alpha John lounged on the sofa, idly toying with the emerald bracelet Penny had given him.

“Organizing? More like creating chaos. Last time it was the clan’s financial report—if Penny hadn’t stayed up to fix it, who knows what kind of mess we’d be in.”

Miranda: “Page seven of that report had Penny’s lipstick mark. She used correction fluid to hide the right figures.”

That error was deliberate—Penny’s fault. But I was the one who took the fall.

My mother patted Penny’s hand.

“Teach her? Don’t waste your time. You should just focus on learning from Alpha John. Someday, you’ll make a fine Luna for the Blackthorn Pack.”

John pulled Penny closer by the shoulder.

“Of course. Unlike someone else, who wasn’t even worthy of a proper bonding ceremony. Just a secret wife, hidden in the shadows.”

Then my mother snapped. “Why don’t you go die with that useless father of yours?”

It wasn’t the first time she said she wished I’d died with my father.

My brother’s death anniversary had only passed a week ago. How could she...

Penny quickly grabbed her hand. “Mom, don’t be mad. Wendy didn’t mean to upset you…”

She paused, her voice dripping with honey. “But John’s right. If Wendy learned more from me, maybe she wouldn’t be such a disappointment.”

I looked at Alpha John, and my heart shattered again.

Alpha John, Alpha of the Blackthorn Pack. The man I had loved for ten years.

He never looked at me—until five years ago.

Penny had run away from her own bonding ceremony. I found him by the cliffs in a storm, about to jump.

That night, he was drunk beyond recognition and whispered in my arms, “Wendy, don’t leave me.”

That night, he slept with me—and I let him.

The next morning, he said he’d marry me. I thought it was finally my turn to be happy.

I said yes without hesitation.

But a year later, Penny returned in tears—and he forgot all about me.

He swore he’d never look at her again. Told me I didn’t need to worry.

But he was lying.

He took her back.

They betrayed me—right under my nose.

He treated me coldly, kept our bond a secret, while parading her around.

Two months ago, I was forced to lure in a stalker who had been secretly filming Penny.

While I was running for my life, Penny sent me ninety-nine videos of her and Alpha John having sex—all in one night.

Even in the hospital, my knees torn open from the chase, my phone kept buzzing—one clip after another.

“Did you die or what?” John’s voice cut through, cold and impatient.

He snapped his fingers in front of my face.

I blinked, then smiled. “What’s wrong, darling?”

“There’s a council banquet tonight. Don’t go.”

“Why not?”

He sneered. “Penny said you spilled wine on Elder Lady last time. It embarrassed the pack.”

It had been Penny who knocked my elbow. But now it was my ‘clumsiness’ again.

He glanced at my bare collarbone.

“If Penny hadn’t fled the ceremony that year, I never would’ve…”

“Some people just aren’t cut out for public events,” my mother added mockingly.

They all laughed and walked away. I sighed and sat on the couch.

Then I heard Penny’s giggles by the door.

She held up a pregnancy report. “John, the pack doctor says the pup is healthy.”

“Three months along—just in time with our wedding date.”

John rushed over to take the paper, his fingers brushing the ultrasound image tenderly.

“You’ve worked so hard.”

He bent to kiss her belly. “Baby, Daddy will give you the world.”

So while I was in an operating room, they had already gotten married—and were expecting a child.

And I remained the secret he refused to acknowledge.

Miranda: “You’ve always known what they were. What are you still hoping for? John’s pity? Penny’s guilt? Your grape-feeding mother to say ‘I’m sorry’?”

“I just… feel so defeated,” I whispered.

“Of course you do. You waited for him ten years, and he gave the ring to someone else.”

Miranda scoffed. “But now, finally—you’re choosing to run.”

“I’m not running,” I said through clenched teeth. “I’m ending it.”

No tears.

I contacted the elder.

“This is Wendy,” I said. “I’m ready to sever the bond.”

“Are you sure, Wendy? You insisted on marrying him in the first place,” the elder asked.

I nodded. “Yes. This is my final decision.”

“Alright, I’ll send the documents. Both of you must sign and return them within six days for the process to be complete.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll make sure Alpha John signs.”

Suddenly, the front door slammed open.

Alpha John stormed in, brows furrowed.

“Sign what?!” he roared.