Chapter 1: The Forbidden Choice

~Freya~

“Freya will go.”

The words dropped into the quiet living room like heavy stones. Cold. Final.

I blinked hard. My eyes jumped between my father’s hard face and my twin sister lying weak on the couch. A cold fear settled deep in my stomach and turned my blood to ice.

“Dad, how do you expect me to go there?” My voice shook even though I tried to keep it steady. “You know what kind of man Alpha Ruzi is. He’s not just any Alpha. He’s ruthless, cold, and shows no mercy. If he finds out about this, we are finished. Especially me. He could kill me just for stepping onto his land with a lie.”

Before my father could speak, my mother snapped. Her hand slammed against the wooden side table. The sharp sound made me jump. Her eyes burned into mine, full of anger and fear.

“So what do you want us to do, Freya?” she hissed, moving closer and pointing a finger at my chest. “Do you want Riya to just lie there and die because you’re too scared? Why are you being so stubborn and selfish? This is the least you can do! Have you forgotten why you’re even in this room?”

She grabbed my chin and forced me to look into her cold eyes.

“Giving birth to twins in this pack is a blood taboo. It is strictly forbidden,” she said in a harsh whisper. “When I gave birth to both of you, I broke the pack’s sacred laws. I hid you in the shadows your whole life. The pack doesn’t even know you exist, Freya. You’ve been living like a ghost just so we could keep you alive.”

She shoved my chin away and looked back at the couch.

“The elders warned us about the ancient twin curse,” Mother went on, breathing hard. “They said when twins turn eighteen, the moon goddess strikes one of them down with the deadly blood-rot. When you both turned eighteen last year and nothing happened, I thought we were safe. I prayed we had beaten the curse. But then you turned nineteen… and the curse finally woke up. It chose Riya. It chose my sweet, innocent girl. So don’t you dare act like a victim, Freya. Sacrificing yourself to save your sister is the least you owe this family for keeping your existence a secret for nineteen years.”

“You know your sister needs the Alpha’s blood to break the curse,” my father said. His voice was rough as he stood beside Mother. “It is the only blood strong enough to clean the poison from her veins. The only way Alpha Ruzi will ever give even one drop of his sacred blood is if he marks you as his mate. To get close enough for him to bite your neck, you have to be his chosen bride. And to make sure he picks you at tomorrow’s ceremony, you will use the black magic potion.”

“Black magic?” The words burned in my mouth. I stepped back and shook my head hard. “No. No! Pretending to be Riya is already crazy, but using dark magic on an Alpha like Ruzi? That is treason! What if we get caught? What if his wolf senses the dark magic on me? He won’t just kill me—he will wipe out our whole family!”

“Listen carefully, Freya,” Father barked. His Gamma command pressed down on me like a heavy weight. “You have no choice. But you must be fast. The black magic potion is temporary. It can wear off at any time. The moment you open that vial and look into his eyes, the charm will force him to want you. But it won’t last forever. You have to move quickly. Get his mark, get the blood, and get out before the magic fades and he realizes what you did.”

A soft, rough cough cut through the heavy silence.

We all turned. Riya was reaching for me. Her thin, pale hand shook. Dark purple marks sat under her hollow eyes. Her body shivered under the thick blankets.

“Freya… please,” Riya whispered. Her voice was barely there. “You know… you know I’ve always dreamed of Alpha Ruzi. I want him for myself, Freya. I don’t want to die… I want to be his Luna. Please, don’t fall for him while you’re there. Don’t look at him as yours. Saving my life is the least you can do… just hold on until he marks you.”

She swallowed hard. Her wet eyes locked onto mine with a desperate plea. “Once we have his blood, I’ll be cured. Then you can come back home to your hidden life, and I will take my rightful place as Ruzi’s mate. Please, sister… save me.”

I stared at her. My heart broke into a thousand sharp pieces.

A hidden life. That was all I had ever known. While Riya was shown to the world as the pride of our family, I was locked away in the west wing of the estate. An unseen secret. A spare part waiting for a rainy day. Now that the curse had finally struck—sparing me and taking their favorite daughter at nineteen—I was finally being pulled out of the shadows. Not to be loved, but to be used as bait.

Yet as I looked at Riya’s weak face, my anger fought against the deep love I still felt for my twin. She was my flesh and blood. As cruel as my parents were, Riya was innocent of the curse.

I clenched my fists tight, pushed back the burning tears, and took a shaky breath.

“Okay,” I whispered into the quiet room. “No problem. We’ll go to the ceremony tomorrow… and I’ll do it.”