“I thought betrayal would come from my enemies, not the person I trusted most…”

Amy’s POV

“Tomorrow, you’ll marry Alpha Daniel Carter.”

The words cut straight through me. No warning. No buildup. Just a bomb dropped in the middle of Mrs. Smith’s study.

I blinked at her, certain I’d misheard. My chest felt too tight to breathe.

She sat there like she always did—perfect posture, hands folded, shadows from the desk lamp carving her cheekbones sharper than knives. She wasn’t just my foster mother. She was the Beta’s widow. And when she spoke, the whole pack listened.

The pack house around us was silent. Too silent. My foster siblings were asleep upstairs, wolves tucked safe under their skins. Only the wolf-bone clock on the wall ticked, each sound like it was counting down to my execution.

Eve stirred inside me, restless. “Trouble,” she whispered, her ears pinned back.

I swallowed hard. My voice barely worked. “Marry… Alpha Daniel Carter?” Saying his name out loud made the room tilt.

“Yes.” Her eyes didn’t soften, not even for a second. “Clara refuses. So you will step in. This isn’t a request, Amy. It’s decided.”

I froze where I stood. For a moment, I thought I had misheard her. Eve went still under my skin.

I stared at her, trying to make sense of her words. Alpha Daniel Carter. The heir of the richest northern pack. His family controlled the city’s council and half its territory, with more enemies than allies. But after the rogue attack two moons ago, Daniel had been in a coma—his wolf silenced, his body still, bound under the Moon Goddess’s curse. Everyone whispered he would never wake again.

And yet, they still wanted a Luna for him. A wife to carry the title, to stabilise their name, to keep their empire from crumbling by birthing an heir.

The plan was for Clara—my foster sister—to take that role. But Clara refused. Of course she did. She had always been good at escaping responsibility when it suited her. She always had her way and for some reason, Mrs. Smith always let her.

As usual, I was the scapegoat for whatever Clara refused to do, and now Mrs. Smith wanted me to replace her. Eve’s tail lashed once inside me.

“They throw you at a cursed Alpha as if you’re a scrap.”

I almost laughed, but the sound died before it could escape. Me? Marry a man who couldn’t even look at me, let alone speak? But the seriousness in Mrs. Smith’s tone told me she wasn’t giving me an option.

I wanted to protest. I wanted to argue. But I didn’t. Not after the news that had broken earlier that day.

Mark Wilson.

The man I had loved and sacrificed everything for. The man I believed in when no one else did. The man I thought I would spend my life with.

That morning, every pack channel had carried the same announcement. Mark was holding his mating ceremony with Clara Hayes.

Clara. His ex, my foster sister. The one who had abandoned him when he lost everything. The one who now returned, weak and fragile with an illness she refused to name.

The image of them standing together at the council steps was burned into my mind. Mark had stood tall, his arm around Clara as if she were his greatest treasure. He had smiled when he said he wanted to comfort her, that it was his duty.

His words were for the public, but the details were what destroyed me.

The silver band he once promised would mark our mating bond was now fitted for Clara’s hand.

The Luna cloak I had spent months sewing with my own hands—stitched late at night by candlelight, every seam perfect—was altered to fit her size.

And the crest. The moonstone bloodline crest my parents had left me before they died—the only thing I had of them. Mark had promised to return it to me on my birthday. Instead, he had clasped it around Clara’s neck. She said she liked it, and he gave it away as if it had no meaning.

I remembered the winter night rogues attacked the border. Mark had staggered home with a broken sword, his life hanging by a thread. The council threatened to strip him of his position if he didn’t replace it by dawn. I pawned my mother’s locket—the last thing I had of her—to buy him another blade. He kissed me then, whispering I was his salvation. Now that same mouth kissed Clara like I was nothing.

Another memory seared my chest: standing in front of the council elders, taking lashes for his mistake. My back had burned for weeks, but Mark had smiled that night at the feast, his reputation spotless. He never once thanked me.

When I confronted him, he didn’t deny any of it.

“Mark,” I whispered, clutching his sleeve, “you promised me. You swore we would be mates.”

He peeled my hand away as though my touch disgusted him. His eyes, once warm, were frozen and void of any kind emotions.

“You’re being selfish, Amy,” he said, voice flat. “Clara doesn’t have much time left. If you loved me, you’d understand. You’d let me give her this comfort.”

My wolf whimpered inside me. My throat burned as I choked out, “What about me? After everything I’ve done for you?”

He said nothing. The silence was worse than a blade.

That was when it finally sank in—his love had never been unconditional. It always came with terms. And those terms had never once included me.

So when Mrs. Smith demanded I marry Alpha Daniel Carter, I didn’t nod right away. This wasn’t obedience anymore; it was her last attempt to make me feel small, disposable. My knees gave out under me, the folder slipping from my hands as I whispered, “No… you can’t. You can’t throw me at a cursed Alpha like I’m nothing.”

Mrs. Smith didn’t blink. “I already have.”

The silence pressed until my lungs burned. My pride cracked, my chest caved. I bit down on a sob until I tasted blood, then forced the word out like poison.

“As you wish”

The next day, I was taken to the Carter estate. Their fortress rose high above the city, carved from precious stone and glass, glowing faintly with protective runes. Guards in wolf-armor lined the gates, eyes following me as the car pulled in. The walls carried the weight of both power and fear.

Inside, the halls smelled of polished marble and moon-oil candles. Servants moved quietly, heads bowed, as though speaking too loud might wake the Alpha heir himself. The air hummed with dominance, even in his absence.

When I entered Daniel’s room, the air changed. He was still on the large bed, his body pale but strong. Machines hummed softly beside him, monitoring his vitals.

Silver markings glowed faintly on his skin, the last attempts of the healers. To anyone else, he looked gone, trapped in a place he might never return from.

But I felt something else, because the moment I stepped closer, an unseen force pressed against my chest. My hand trembled when I reached for his. His skin was warm, too warm for someone supposed to be a ghost of himself.

For a brief second, claws flickered at the tips of his fingers before retracting. My breath hitched. Eve stiffened.

“His wolf isn’t gone,” she whispered. “Something’s holding him back.”

I tightened my grip on his hand, leaning closer. My pulse raced, but not from fear. From certainty. His wolf was alive, and it was responding to me.

I pulled back quickly, pretending nothing had happened, but the Carters noticed. His mother’s eyes narrowed when she saw how long I held his hand. His uncle leaned close to Mrs. Smith later, whispering words I couldn’t catch. Their gazes followed me everywhere; it was suffocating.

That night, I couldn’t sleep. I wandered the halls of the estate, careful to stay quiet. The doors were tall, the ceilings high, and every shadow felt alive with eyes. The smell of iron and incense clung to my clothes. Eve paced inside me, restless.

It was near the end of the hall that I heard voices, low and urgent, coming from the study. I moved closer, keeping to the wall. The door was slightly open, just enough for me to hear.

“…she’s the only one who can stir his wolf,” a man hissed. “Wake him first. Then decide if she lives—or if she’s more useful dead.”