Rejected By The Heir, Claimed By The True Alpha

“Today was supposed to be the day I bonded with Donn Carlisle, the heir of the Silver Moon Pack. For a Wolfless girl like me, it was supposed to be salvation. A name. A place. A future no one could take away. Then, minutes before the ceremony, I heard my stepsister giggle behind the altar. I found Donn with Brianda pressed against the ancient oak table where our vows were meant to be sealed. Her dress was hiked to her waist. His hands were on her body. And when Brianda saw me, she smiled, placed a hand on her swollen belly, and let me understand exactly how long they had been betraying me. Donn did not beg. He did not even look ashamed. He only adjusted his clothes and sneered, "You're Wolfless. You can't complete a true bonding anyway. This was only ever a formality." So I burned the ceremonial veil. When the whole pack rushed in, I expected outrage. Instead, Donn's mother blamed me for failing to keep my own man. Brianda sobbed that they were fated mates. My own family looked ready to drag me home and bury the scandal before it stained their precious golden daughter. They thought I would cry. They thought I would disappear. They forgot that a cornered woman has nothing left to lose. That night, I walked into the empty chambers of Ansel Carlisle, the legendary Alpha everyone believed dead. I took his silver-pommeled dagger, entered the family council, and cut open my palm before them all. "I pledge myself to the true Alpha," I said. If they wanted to make me a discarded bride, I would make myself untouchable. I bound myself to a dead man and became Ansel Carlisle's widow. Only Ansel was not dead. He came back from the northern border broken, unconscious, and trapped in a soul coma no healer could cure. The family called it a miracle. I called it a disaster. Because now I am not the widow of a fallen hero. I am the Luna of a living Alpha. And according to the healers, I may be the only one who can wake his wolf.”