Two

The hall erupted into a frenzy of deafening cheers.

It felt like someone had just slammed an iron hammer straight into my chest. All the air left my lungs in an instant. My head spun so violently that I had to grab the wooden wall behind me just to keep my legs from collapsing beneath me.

No... no, this is a mistake... he promised me...

Elodia gasped in fake surprise, placing a delicate, manicured hand over her heart. She turned her head to look back at me, a triumphant, malicious grin spreading across her painted lips. Then she glided up the stage steps, her green silk dress rustling softly against the wood.

Torren pulled Elodia close by her slender waist. He wrapped his strong arms around her and kissed her deeply right in front of the entire pack.

The crowd went wild, howling and stomping their feet. Matriarch Vespera clapped her hands furiously, her face glowing with greedy, selfish pride.

"They look perfect together!" a pack matron shouted nearby. "A true Alpha deserves a gorgeous, slender Luna!"

I stood completely frozen against the wall. My hands were ice cold, shaking uncontrollably. My chest felt like it was being ripped apart from the inside out. He lied to me. Every word... every gentle touch... every late-night promise... it was all a cruel lie.

Onstage, Torren raised his hands to quiet the crowd. The hall settled down, eager to hear their new Alpha speak.

Torren pointed a long, calloused finger directly at me, standing alone in the shadows near the back wall.

"I know some of you were wondering about this one," Torren said, his voice dripping with cruel, arrogant mockery.

Laughter began to ripple through the front rows of nobles.

"Vaelira thought she actually had a chance with me," Torren continued, laughing aloud into the silent room. "Look at her! She’s thick, ugly, and built like a plow horse! She’s lazy, she has no talent, and she’s completely worthless to this pack. Did she really think an Alpha would want a fat maid in his bed?"

The entire hall burst into brutal, hysterical laughter.

People turned around on their benches to point their fingers directly at my face.

"Look at her!" a warrior roared with laughter. "She actually thought she was going to be Luna!"

"She’d break the throne if she sat on it!" another yelled.

My cheeks burned with a searing, unbearable heat. My eyes stung violently, hot tears threatening to spill down my face. But I dug my fingernails deep into the palms of my hands, piercing the skin until I felt wet blood trickling down my fingers.

No, I swore to myself, biting the inside of my cheek until I tasted iron. I will not cry. I will not give them the satisfaction of seeing me break.

I locked my knees so my legs wouldn't shake. I held my head high, staring straight ahead with cold, silent eyes, refusing to let a single tear drop.

I looked over at my mother, silently begging for a shred of human decency. But Vespera wasn't protecting me. She was laughing harder than anyone else, pointing at her own daughter with total contempt. Elodia leaned her head against Torren’s chest, giggling softly as she watched me stand alone in my humiliation.

Torren smirked, thoroughly enjoying the power of trying to crush me into the dirt. He raised his voice over the roaring laughter.

"I formally reject Vaelira!" Torren yelled. "She is a burden to my pack. So I give her away! If any male in this room wants this fat, useless wolf, take her right now! Take her, feed her, or use her as a servant—I don't care! She is worth nothing!"

Cruel jokes and wolfish howls filled the air.

Yet I did not bow my head. I did not drop my gaze. I stood like a stone statue in the middle of their cruel storm, clutching my bleeding palms tightly.

"No takers?" Torren mocked, shaking his head with a theatrical sigh. "Not even for a single copper coin? Then she can go sleep outside in the dirt with the wild dogs—"

"I will take her."

The voice was low, deep, and quiet.

Yet, it cut through the roaring laughter of three hundred wolves like a heavy iron blade slicing through silk.

The entire hall fell dead silent.

At the back of the room, right beside the heavy wooden exit doors, a massive figure stepped out from the shadows.