Snowflakes

My legs carried me out to the balcony overlooking the city, when I lifted my gaze, it was the largest billboard in the city that caught my attention.

The image of Ares and me played in loops. He had said it was his way of telling the world I was the only one in his heart.

Stupid me.

I had shed tears of joy when he told me that and the first time I saw it. But now, I realized all of this had been for just one person.

Viviana. His first and true love.

Staring at the empty space around me, it began to sink in. I never mattered to anyone but the Frost family. Not even to the family I shared blood and bond with.

In this world where humans and werewolves coexist, love can be found in the hearts of those who aren’t even related by blood, aided by the power of the Moon Goddess.

Viviana was my sister, but not by blood. She was human, and I was a werewolf. She was a true-blooded Frost, while I am the true daughter of the Alpha and Luna of the Mooncrest Pack.

Twenty-four years ago, Vivian and I were born on the same day, at the same time, on December 25th, in the same hospital ward, but a riot broke out, and we were mistakenly swapped.

I grew up with humans, the Frost family who were wealthy, law-abiding, while Vivian grew up with the Mooncrest Pack as the Alpha and Luna’s daughter.

When she was fifteen, at the age she was supposed to experience her first transformation, they realized she was human.

After an investigation, I was identified as the true-blooded Mooncrester. Rituals were performed for me, all blessed by the Moon Goddess, anointing me a werewolf. But when I was supposed to take my first transformation, I couldn’t, having lived with humans for too long.

I was told by the priestess I will only transform when I have a mate.

Returning to our rightful homes was far harder than anyone anticipated. My human brothers, the Frost, were three, and throughout the years I had been their treasure. To welcome their true-blooded sister was like inviting a stranger through the door.

The same applied to me. When I arrived at Mooncrest, no one greeted me with a smile except my grandmother, my father’s mother, grateful that her true granddaughter still lived.

To thank me for returning safely, she handed me the Mooncrest heirloom. A sacred key that could open only one door. A door granting a single wish. Whatever it was, it would be fulfilled, the greatest, most priceless gift anyone could receive.

When I received it, Viviana had thrown a tantrum until she was compensated with a modeling school built in her name, her dream as an aspiring model.

That had silenced her… for a while. Not for long, though, because now I knew she had been the one to instigate the attack that had changed my life forever, four years ago.

I lowered my gaze from the billboard and felt the shift in the wind, sensing his presence behind me. Even without turning, I knew it was him. Ares.

Four years ago, when I had been attacked in the dark alley, few blocks away from Mooncrest pack, raped and stabbed multiple times, bleeding and dying, it was Ares Bani who had come to save me.

He had stayed by my bedside, cried, and prayed to the Moon Goddess to spare my life. He had fought anyone who gossiped about the incident and my assault. When I was mocked, he didn’t care about going to jail as long as the mocker was punished.

And then the doctor’s verdict came, shattering me further.

To conceive a pup would be nothing short of a miracle.

That verdict destroyed me. No suitor would come, no mate bond could form. My true brothers, two of them, weren’t even present to show concern, but my human brothers were always vigilant.

Three of them, Rocco, the eldest, a judge; the twins, Kashi and Eshan, a prosecutor and lawyer, demanded justice. Those who attacked me must be jailed and punished, they said. But Ares sweet-talked me into dropping the case.

“An ongoing case, going to court will be bad for your mental health, Snow. How about you heal? Let me help you. Let me… love you.”

And that was it. Against all the objections of my human family, the Frost, I dropped the case. The next month, when I turned eighteen, Ares proposed. Again, against my family’s wishes, I agreed.

Our marriage was simple. Viviana wasn’t present. She had left the pack for a distant city, claiming she wanted to study modeling over four years.

My human family didn’t show up. They cut all ties. I stayed loyal and in love with Ares for four years, living with him in the apartment he once had nothing in.

Not once did I complain. Not once did he complain about my trauma, my past as a victim of rape. I abandoned all my ambitions and lived as his full-time housewife.

Four years later now, I realized the laughter, the love, the promises, all of it, was fake. Slowly, I turned, fixing my gaze on him behind me, my heart clenching.

The most handsome man I had ever laid eyes on. Over the years, he had become even more handsome, wealthy, powerful, supportive, but it was all a show.

A charade to protect Viviana from punishment for what she had done to me, for what she had orchestrated. My gang rape. The trauma had never left my mind, heart, or body.

And to think, the man I had loved with all my heart for four years had known, yet played the role of devoted husband.

Staring at the man in front of me, my resolve hardened. I’ll file the divorce, to leave him completely.

His heart had never rested with me. So I would give him back to Viviana.