HER REVENGE ON THE ALPHA

For the ninety-ninth time, I stood alone at the altar in a polyester dress I bought from a clearance rack, waiting for a Mating Ceremony that would never happen.

Alpha Damian didn't show up. Instead, a photo popped up in the pack group chat showing him feeding strawberries to Hadley, the woman claiming to be his savior.

He called my scars repulsive, never knowing that the mangled flesh on my back was the price I paid to pull his paralyzed body from a fire.

I drained my White Wolf blood for five years to heal his crushed spine, losing my ability to shift, only for him to treat me like a slave in his own house.

But the final straw wasn't the humiliation. It was when my adoptive father had a heart attack in the driveway.

I begged Damian for help. Instead of calling a doctor, he tossed my car keys into a sewer filled with sludge and laughed, watching my father take his last breath because I "needed to learn a lesson in obedience."

Staring at my father's lifeless body, the love I held for five years turned into cold ash.

I looked at the Alpha who thought he was a King, and I picked up the phone to dial a number I hadn't used since I was a Princess.

"Come get me, brother," I told the Lycan King on the other end. "I'm done playing the maid. We are burning this pack to the ground tonight."

Chapter 1

Ariana POV:

'The marble floor of the Pack House ceremony hall radiated a chill that bit through the paper-thin soles of my discount heels.'

I stood alone in the center of the vast, empty room. The crystal chandeliers above 'glared down with an abrasive brilliance', illuminating nothing but my solitude.

I was wearing a white dress. 'It was a polyester nightmare I'd snagged from a clearance rack, simply because the Crawford Pack budget for their future Luna had been slashed to zero.'

"It doesn't fit right," I whispered to the silence.

The fabric bunched at the waist, and the shoes-a careless gift from Damian three years ago-were a size too small. They pinched my toes until they went numb, a dull, throbbing pain that grounded me in reality.

This was the ninety-ninth time.

Ninety-nine times I had stood here, waiting for the Mating Ceremony that would officially make me the Luna of the Crawford Pack.

Ninety-nine times, Alpha Damian Crawford had found a reason not to show up.

I checked the time on my cracked phone screen. Midnight. The ceremony was supposed to start at eight.

Suddenly, a sharp static noise pierced my mind. It was the Pack Mind-Link.

'Attention, Crawford Pack,' Damian's voice echoed in my head. It was deep, commanding. 'The Mating Ceremony is postponed. Urgent border security matters. Go to bed.'

Just like that. No apology. No explanation for the woman standing at the altar.

I didn't tremble. I didn't cry. My tear ducts had dried up somewhere around the fiftieth cancellation.

Then, a picture popped up in the communal group chat. Posted by Hadley Stewart.

The photo showed a candlelit dinner. Damian's hand was feeding a strawberry to Hadley. The caption read: '"My Alpha is so worried about the 'rogues' tonight. Helping him relax. Blessed FutureLuna?"'

The timestamp was two minutes ago.

So, "border security" had blonde hair and 'reeked of designer vanilla-scented pheromone spray.'

'Ariana?'

A different voice entered my mind. 'Dark, velvety, carrying the weight of a mountain range.'