CHAPTER 2

Tiffanie

“Squeeze your tummy in!” Vespera snapped as she dragged the lace of my corset, my ribs cracking under the tension. My blood rushed to my head and for a second I thought I might collapse.

“Please,” I begged, my voice tight with pain. “I can’t take it anymore. This is enough.”

 “Oh shut up! This corset is extra extra large, and yet it can’t fully wrap around your big tummy,” Liora commented mockingly, her eyes glinting with menace. “I wonder how you plan on impressing the prince if you can’t take a simple corset. Look at you… I can’t even stand beside you—“

 “She stinks doesn’t she?” My stepmother cut in, nose wrinkled as she secured a tight knot behind me. “My friends used to say fat people have this weird greasy smell. I thought it was a lie, until…well you.” She tapped my shoulder lightly before pulling back and looking at my reflection in the mirror.

She looked proud at the outfit she pulled for me. While I was almost losing my breath. I suddenly felt claustrophobic.

 My eyes stung with hot tears, but I refused to let them come down.

“Put on some more perfume.”

Liora and I stepped down from the carriage, her pink dress glinting against the sun, showcasing her slim curves. I’m the bride to be, but yet I feel inferior compared to her.

The guards walked towards us, and the moment they saw how we were dressed, they led us through the pack house. I rubbed my sweaty palms against the thick lace of my dress.

You can do this, I muttered for the hundredth time as we walked down the hall, my heart racing after me. Though my stepmother gave me a serum that’s meant to hide the fact that I’m wolfless, I was still feeling a slight bit of apprehension.

What if they noticed? What if they felt I was trying to fool them and then—take me through that brutal ritual? Would I even survive it?

Just the thought alone sent a cold shiver down my spine and I physically trembled.

Liora noticed it and she quickly sent me a death glare. “Get yourself together, Tif! No wolf wants a weakling who shudders at every slight chance!” She snapped in a low sharp tone.

“Of course you would say that. You’re not the one being sent to their funeral,” I snapped back. 

We both knew that between the both of us, she was the least courageous one. Liora was what you would call a coward. Despite her wolf, she couldn’t face what I had faced—what she and Mother had put me through over the years. When my father would take us to hunt for prey, she would always lie about being sick because she couldn’t bear the thought of being scraped by a tree branch, or falling face first from a loose root. 

She was only level-headed now because she had a wolf. It was clear she was safe.

The loud beats of drums began to bustle around the walls and I knew we were close to the ceremonial hall.

I swallowed hard.

The heavy oak doors swung open, and the moment we stepped through, a wave of gasps rumbled through the gathered guests. Hundreds of eyes turned toward us at once—wide, stunned, murmuring. The air thickened with whispers and the scent of expensive perfumes mixed with raw power. My pulse hammered in my ears.

They’re looking at me.

For one fragile, foolish second, hope flickered in my chest. Maybe, just maybe, someone would finally see me. The girl who had survived everything they threw at her. The bride chosen for the prince.

Then the man standing at the front of the hall. Tall, broad-shouldered, and his back to us slowly turned around.

My breath hitched. The alpha prince. Finn. 

He was nothing like I had imagined, yet everything I feared he might be. Yes, I had known he would look good. After all, his uncle was beyond breathtaking. And though his own appearance was pale in comparison to that magnetic, dangerous beauty of his uncle’s, he still far exceeded my expectations. 

The prince was next in line to the throne after Killian, his uncle. After his parents were killed in a war, Killian had taken over the throne as the heir. But Killian hadn’t taken a mate yet. It was said that he rejected every female wolf brought to him. It left me thinking if he planned on stepping down soon. 

Our eyes met across the room. Pride swelled in his gaze. He looked at me like I was the only woman in the entire hall, like the rest of the world had faded away. My breath ceased entirely as he began to walk toward me, each step measured and powerful.

My knees weakened. I bowed my head in respect, heart soaring for one treacherous heartbeat but he just walked right past me.

My body went rigid. Confusion slammed into me. What’s wrong?

When I lifted my head, the truth crashed over me like ice water.

They hadn’t been staring at me at all.

Slowly, with terror coursing through my veins, I turned around and what I saw made my world crumpled around me. 

The prince was holding Liora’s hand, his fingers intertwined with hers. Admiration and something dangerously close to adoration burned in his eyes as he drank her in.

That’s when it hit me. All that time, when I thought the gasps and stares were for me, they were never mine. They were always hers.

“You…” The prince’s voice was low, rich, and laced with wonder. “I hadn’t expected my chosen to be this breathtaking. My uncle clearly has an eye for the finest things.”

Liora smiled, a delicate blush staining her cheeks. She didn’t deny it. She didn’t pull away. She simply stood there, radiant in her pink dress, basking in the attention that was supposed to be mine.

Once again, Liora stole the limelight.

I waited for her to step back, to remember why we had come, to do the right thing for once. But when the prince lifted his hand and gently cupped her face, his thumb brushing her cheek with unmistakable reverence, Liora leaned into his touch. Her lashes fluttered. She forgot everything.

Rage slowly built within my core, hot and vicious. My hands fisted at my sides until my nails bit into my palms. They had meant to send me here for my death, but that didn’t seem to be enough. Now my sister was bent on humiliating me in front of the entire pack.

Before I could stop myself, the words tore from my throat.

“You have the wrong woman, my prince. I’m your bride.”