All Chapters of Done Being Second Choice: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The next morning, Weston took me to inspect our newly built house.It was the lakeside mansion built for their union, with sturdy defense towers, dense fir trees, and the territory's most elite patrol team.I walked straight to the passenger side, but Weston grabbed my wrist. "Darling, let Riley have this seat. You can sit in the back for now."Riley appeared from the porch right on cue, and Weston opened the car door for her. "She's been complaining about how noisy the training grounds are lately. She's coming with us to relax."I climbed into the back seat without a word. "Whatever."In the front, Weston and Riley discussed recent border patrols and Alpha council rankings, as if the back seat were empty.Seeing them side by side, I suddenly understood. I wasn't just in the back seat; I was completely excluded from their world.The moment she got out of the car, Riley was captivated by the greenhouse on the side of the villa. It was the one Weston had reluctantly agreed to build for m

There was a knock on my door.Weston pushed it open, a hint of brandy on his breath, his tone matter-of-fact. "Lyra, Riley's crowning is a once-in-a-lifetime event. At ten tomorrow morning, representatives from all the vassal packs will be there. She can't handle a stage that big on her own."I looked at him. "So?""We're postponing the bonding ceremony until evening. We'll skip the formalities and go straight to the final rites at the sacred altar."I almost scoffed.Did he think I would have many bonding ceremonies in my lifetime?A servant passing in the hall whispered, "They're skipping all the important rites. Sounds like some hushed-up ceremony for a shameful mate."My mother's voice hissed from the hallway. "Shut up. The Alpha's decisions are not for you to question. Who believes in those old curses anymore?"Weston came to me, his gaze gentle but unyielding."Lyra, promise me. You've always been the one who gives me the least trouble."I looked at him, and suddenly remembered

The great doors boomed and swung open.Two rows of heavily armed, high-ranking southern guards dropped to one knee in perfect unison.A she-wolf emerged from the shadows, dressed in a long, dark purple velvet gown, a brilliant moonstone circlet gracing her brow.A suffocatingly powerful presence instantly enveloped the hall, causing Riley's face to drain of all color.Weston's head snapped up, his eyes locking on the face on the throne.It was a face carved into his bones, the one he had cried out for in countless nightmares. But now, that face was stripped of its former meekness and humility.Weston's pupils constricted violently, and his breath hitched in his throat.CLANG!The Alpha Scepter slipped from his trembling hand, shattering the stone slab at his feet.The hall fell deathly silent.Weston's eyes were so red they looked ready to bleed, his chest heaving."Lyra…"He scrambled toward the throne, tears carving paths through the dust on his face."Mate… my mate… You're alive!"H

The rain blurred the bloody fingerprints on the paper.Weston's hands trembled as he read, page by page. His breathing grew more ragged, his pupils constricting in horror."Two years ago... the altar's defenses were weakened..." He stared at the words, muttering in disbelief. "It was Riley? She sold the patrol routes to the rogues?!"I held my umbrella, watching coldly as his world shattered."That's right.""To ensure no one stole her spotlight, to make sure you wouldn't attend the bonding, she reassigned all of your most trusted guards.""Weston, the person who most wanted me dead wasn't some stranger. It was the princess you treasured."An inhuman roar ripped from Weston's throat.He violently crumpled the papers, his knuckles turning white.For Riley, he had postponed the bonding ceremony again and again. For Riley, he had left me alone at the sacred altar.He thought the attack was a tragic accident. It turned out to be a massacre orchestrated by the woman he cherished most.The r

The hall doors slowly closed behind Weston.Through the heavy doors, I heard a raw, bestial cry, so hoarse and desperate it seemed to tear his vocal cords.That was the last of his fight."He's lost his mind," Chloe said, standing by a towering window and looking down at the departing convoy."Not only did he sign that ruinous treaty, but he also threw the Alpha's Signet, the very symbol of the North's authority, into the mud."Without looking up from the next document, I said, "He deserved it."With that treaty in effect, the North's most valuable resources were drained dry.The once-mighty empire crumbled, reduced to a second-rate pack on the fringes of the continent.And Weston became a walking corpse, his soul ripped out.Three months later.Weston abdicated his position as Alpha of the North.He left the pack in Damon's care and, with only a single servant, returned to the abandoned sacred altar.He rebuilt the altar with his own hands: white jade steps, stone pillars, and a statu