Chapter 3

Before my father gave me away to Michael, my stepmother, Ellen Moore, had instructed me plenty. She forced me to memorize the details of Nora and Michael's life together, then made me dress just like Nora.

She'd looked at me intently as she delivered her justification: "I'm doing this for your best interests, Evangeline. This is the only way you can appeal to Alpha Michael and make him accept you."

Ellen was right.

Michael had never paid much attention to me, but he took extra care to celebrate my birthday properly. He'd hold a grand birthday party for me every year, and for one day, I was the most respected and valued member of the pack.

It was only on my birthday that I seemed to properly fit in with the pack and be seen as a family with Michael and Soren.

Alas, such pretenses could only go so far.

Exhausted, I picked up the cup beside me and took a sip. My throat burned immediately. Blair cried in pain, "Evangeline, this water contains a potion! They're trying to poison you!"

The next second, Soren's smug voice rang in my ears.

"Ha! I finally got you!" He stared at me, his eyes burning with rage. "A worthless Omega like you doesn't deserve to live with my dad! Hurry up and get out of the pack, or I'll put Wolfsbane in your water next!"

He seemed proud of his ability to curate potions, but he'd forgotten that I was the one who taught him the skill.

I'd carried him in my arms since he was young and taught him the differences between each potion and how to make them. I wanted to keep him safe from those who might want to hurt him.

I never expected him to make a potion to hurt me one day.

I recalled the pleading look in Nora's and Ellen's eyes when they placed the pup in my arms. "We're all family. Blood is thicker than water. Soren's your nephew, and you should consider him your pup, too. Raise him well, and he'll love you like he would his real mother."

They'd hoped I could gain a solid place in the pack. I'd dedicated my heart and soul to Michael and Soren, too. At one point, I even thought it wouldn't be so bad spending the rest of my life like this.

That was my fault. I shouldn't have held out hope that this life would turn out better.

And now, a decade had passed. Michael and Soren were an insidious pair. Where the former treated me as an outlet for his desires and a source of entertainment, the latter saw me as the enemy who'd taken his mother away.

I was, for lack of a better word, a failure.

I sighed in the direction Soren had left. "The night can be treacherous. Be careful and look out for yourself."

The next morning, Ellen rushed downstairs to stop me just as I was about to leave. She couldn't care less about appearances as she clutched my hand and sobbed. "Evangeline, when your mother passed before her prime, I was the one who'd raised you like my own!

"With your sister gone, Soren is all that's left of her. How could you be so heartless as to walk away from him?

"And your father—his position as captain of the guards is entirely dependent on Alpha Michael! How will our family face Alpha Michael if you leave like this?"

I took in her incredulity and despair, countering mournfully, "Did you ever think about how I should face Michael? Am I his mate, his sister-in-law, or his mistress?"

Ellen stared at me blankly and offered no reply.

At that moment, a luxurious SUV pulled up at the villa entrance. A she-wolf in a red dress stepped out of the vehicle and sauntered through the door with her nose in the air.

No sooner had she entered than Soren bounded toward her from afar, throwing himself into her arms. "You're finally here, Ms. Whitman!"

Ingrid Whitman carried Soren in her arms and approached me, fixing me with a smug look. The maids in the villa shot us curious glances, their eyes gleaming at the prospect of drama.

"She's pretty mild for a Luna. She may be the pack's Luna on paper, but Alpha Michael hasn't marked her. She isn't legitimate, and even a lowly Omega could walk all over her."

"I heard her arguing with Alpha Michael last night. She kept going on about leaving, but she's reluctant to follow through now. What a joke."

One of them snorted. "I bet she was trying to get Alpha Michael's attention. She must have overestimated herself if she thought a powerful male wolf like Alpha Michael would feel threatened by her.

"See, he's even brought Ingrid over to make a point. I bet Luna Evangeline will apologize and play nice in no time."

Blair's angry growl resounded in my head, but I soothed her and turned to the werewolves impassively.

Soren lay obediently in Ingrid's arms and deliberately raised his voice. "Ms. Whitman's my favorite werewolf next to Dad! Ignore that she-wolf. Let's go see Dad together!

"That she-wolf came from the woods at the border. She's too tasteless and unrefined to be my mother, let alone Dad's Luna. Only Ms. Whitman is good enough for Dad!"

My heart couldn't help but wrench.

My father sent me to the woods at the border when I turned ten. He'd claimed it was training, but I knew it now to be banishment.

Consequently, I couldn't make sense of the pack's customs and code of conduct. When I first returned to the pack, the other werewolves mocked me. When I was shoved into a lake in the middle of winter, not a single werewolf had turned to rescue me.

Soren, who'd been barely two at the time, forced the maids to save me from the icy waters. He couldn't even speak coherently, but he'd clutched my paw and choked out between sobs, "Don't… be scared, Aunt Evangeline… I'm here. I won't let anyone… pick on you. I like you… Aunt Evangeline…"

I never thought there would be a day when my worst bully would be the pup who'd once told me he adored me.

Ingrid was all smiles. She looked warm and mild, but her tone was unmistakably hostile. "Don't hold it against him, Evangeline. He's just a pup."