Chapter 1

"Chloe, what are you talking about?"

Anna was already pale, but her face went completely white.

She pressed a hand hard against her chest, trembling all over. "I only... I only wanted you to forgive me... So why are you threatening me?"

She struggled to breathe, gasping for air before going limp in Mom's arms.

Mom cried out and held her close, panic written all over her face. "Anna, baby, don't scare me like this! Where's the doctor? Get the pack doctor in here, now!"

In seconds, the whole house was in chaos.

I stood where I was and watched it all, unmoved.

Then it hit me how familiar this felt.

At 17, I was adopted by the Silver Moon pack, which controlled the mines of the North.

To drive me out, Silver Moon's fake heiress fabricated evidence that I'd been secretly selling minerals to a rogue, making me look like a traitor to the pack.

I kept my head down and quietly gathered proof of what she'd really done. In the end, I sent her and the rogue to prison and took control of three mineral veins in the North.

At 20, I was adopted again, this time by the Blackstone pack, the leading jewelry merchants in the werewolf world.

Their fake heiress wanted me gone too. She cut her own wrist and accused me of stealing her wolf powers.

That time, I didn't even bother to argue. I healed her wound in front of everyone, then used forensic analysis to expose her scheme. She was exiled, and my position as heir was secured.

At least those two had the nerve to take real risks and plot against me. They'd put up a decent fight.

But this one couldn't even bring herself to work with an outsider or draw her own blood.

All she could do was pretend to be sick and play the victim.

Honestly... it was so childish.

"Chloe, you grew up away from us, and I don't blame you for not knowing our ways. But you can't say something so cruel to a dying girl!"

Dad's voice was flat, but every word cut like a knife.

I was about to answer when Ryan cut in. "I had high hopes for this engagement. But now I can see you can't hold a candle to Anna. Apologize to her right now! Or the wedding's off."

He looked so smug, so full of himself, that I couldn't hold back a soft laugh.

What makes him think I'd grovel to save this engagement?

My last two adoptive fathers would have given anything to marry me off to the Alpha King. The marriage contract had already been drawn up, and I was the one who turned it down.

And Ryan? The heir to some tiny pack out on the fringes. A nobody.

I looked up at him, perfectly calm. "If you care about her that much, then let's just call off the engagement."

Ryan froze for a second. That clearly wasn't the reaction he'd expected.

He'd assumed that after more than 20 years away from Graycliff, I'd cling to the security he was offering with everything I had.

I must have bruised his ego, because he clenched his fists. "Careful, Chloe," he warned. "You can talk big now, but once this engagement is off, don't come crying to me."

I ignored his warning and turned to Anna, who was still lying in Mom's arms. A faint smile tugged at my lips. "You all claim to care so much about her, yet you can't even hire a decent doctor? Any competent doctor could tell she's faking it."