Chapter 1

I stood up slowly under Soren's cold, watchful gaze. I'd planned to return to the room for a change of clothes and jewelry, but my heel unexpectedly broke, causing me to stagger and tumble to the side.

There was a loud crash as the vase hit the ground. Shards of it flew through the air, one of them slicing my wrist. Blood beaded across my skin and trickled down my arm.

I forced myself into an upright position and noticed the bracelet I wore had cracked, its luster lost to the blood coating it.

Soren Lambert scowled and shot a vicious look at me, as if I were not his family, but an enemy. "You worthless Omega! That bracelet belonged to my mother, and you broke it!

"You must have done it on purpose! I'm going to tell Dad about this and have him punish you!"

The hateful look on Soren's face put me off. "Drop the act, Soren. This was never your mother's bracelet."

His biological mother hated rose quartz more than anything, and she'd never use a bracelet of such common quality.

Soren hadn't thought I'd pick up on this fact. Guilt flickered in his eyes, but a moment later, he glowered at me angrily.

This time, I didn't hurry to placate him or apologize profusely like I would in the past.

After the banquet ended, I returned to my bedroom alone. I'd only reached the door when I picked up the coppery tang of blood in the air.

Brows furrowing, I pushed the bedroom door open to find my room completely trashed by wolves. All my belongings had been smashed, and lying in the middle of the room was a canary with shredded wings.

Feathers danced slowly in the air before landing on my head and body.

I stood still, dumbfounded, while Soren popped out of nowhere with a wicked grin. His eyes were full of provocation when he looked at me. "What do you think? You like the present I prepared for you? I'll ruin your life for stealing my mother's spot and destroy everything you love!"

He barked a triumphant laugh in my face, then bolted from the room.

My heart was hollow as I took in the mess before me. My wolf, Blair, snorted. "This is the pup you raised and protected at the cost of your freedom—an apathetic, selfish, vicious ingrate."

I sighed.

Upon my lonesome return from the distant border woods to the Silver Moon Pack, the elders thought I was an unfit Luna, too unbridled and feckless for their liking.

They confined me to the Alpha's estate and sent me a pup and a canary in a gilded cage. In other words, they wanted me to help raise the Alpha's pup and be as demure as a caged bird.

I spent a decade raising the pup and the canary, only to lose them in just one night.

A wolf suddenly entered the room. I looked up instinctively and met Michael Lambert's gaze. He slowly approached me, stopping to look down his nose at me.

Michael and Soren looked a lot alike. They had matching temperaments, too. The former's treatment of me was practically a mirrored model of the latter's. They enjoyed being taken care of by me, just as much as they did belittling me.

Michael waited for me to please him like I normally would. After some thought, he mused, "You shouldn't have riled Soren up, Evangeline."

When I made no reply, Michael's face darkened, though it softened when his gaze snagged on the trashed bedroom and the canary's carcass. "Soren's just a pup. He grew up without a mother. You should've been more understanding."

He gave a simple order, and the maids hurried through the door to clean the room. It took only a moment for the room to be restored to its formal tidiness, as if the mess had never happened.

If it weren't for the empty bird cage, I would have thought I'd dreamed of the wreckage.

At least the canary had a gilded cage to call home. I, on the other hand, had waited on Michael and Soren hand and foot for the last decade, yet I had no territory to show for it. To Michael and Soren, everything about me was just fodder for their insults and jokes.

Michael paid no heed to my expression as he headed into the shower. The sound of running water petered out, and he told me to bring him a fruit platter.

I obeyed him, demure as usual.

When I entered the bathroom, a pair of wet hands gripped my palms. He rested his chin atop my shoulder and handed me a bottle of medicine.