The next day,Alpha Adrian Blackthorn walked into the Rivers family’s pack mansion with his arm locked around Selene Rivers’waist.Her body stiffened when she caught sight of familiar faces among his warriors,the same ones who had mocked her before,and yet Adrian kissed her as if nothing were amiss.
“You must get along with everyone,Selene.Don’t disappoint me,”Adrian warned,pressing a kiss to her forehead just as Cassandra Rivers approached.
“Sister!”
Cassandra stood radiant in a scarlet dress,looking like a fae-born beauty beside Selene’s plain form.She clasped Selene’s hands,though her eyes drifted often toward Adrian,following his every move.
“Do you hate me,Selene?We are sisters,but you never once called me after leaving home all these years,”Cassandra said,her voice trembling with practiced tears.
“I’m sorry for monopolizing our parents’love and care,but you must understand,affection cannot be forced.”Her gaze lingered on Adrian as she added,“Mother is gravely ill with heart trouble,but you never visited her.How can I mend your ties if you make no effort,sister?”
Selene’s lips parted,but no words came.
“Selene doesn’t yet know how to handle relationships properly,”Adrian interjected smoothly.“When I have time,I’ll take her to meet your parents and make her apologize.”
Though he knew the neglect Selene had endured,he spoke as if ashamed of her,and her heart sank with anguish.
Needing escape,she slipped away toward the corridor.
“Well,if it isn’t my poor sister,”Cassandra’s mocking voice rang out behind her.
Her heels clicked sharply against the marble as she approached,swirling a glass of red wine,her eyes scanning Selene’s dress with disdain.
“If I didn’t know better,I’d think that was your grandmother’s gown.”
Selene’s fists clenched.Her grandmother—the kind elder who had raised her before her true bloodline was revealed—was her one source of warmth.
“And how does it feel to work as a petty tavern maid after storming away from home?”Cassandra sneered.“Your old granny is in the infirmary,isn’t she?She spent everything raising an ingrate who abandoned her real family.”
“Shut up!”Selene’s voice shook,horrified.
The sacrifices she had endured—working through nights,starving herself,tending her grandmother—all secrets she had confided only to Adrian.Yet he had betrayed her,giving Cassandra the very weapons to wound her.
Her father’s disappointment,her mother’s coldness,her brothers’abuse—none compared to the agony of this moment.
“You unlucky wench,why didn’t you die years ago?Why come back to take my place?”Cassandra hissed.
“Stop it!You already have everything.Leave me alone!”Selene cried.
“Everything?You stole Adrian and dare say I have all I want?”Cassandra laughed cruelly.“Adrian and I were always meant to be.You’re nothing but a bed-warmer,the kind he could have bought with coin.I will have my mate back soon.”
“Cassandra!”Selene’s eyes brimmed with tears as she tried to withstand her sister’s venom.
“Tonight he comes to me,”Cassandra declared,shattering her glass so wine and shards scattered across the floor.“Tonight he will embrace me,kiss me,and claim me as always.”
Selene’s heart lurched.
“What,surprised?”Cassandra smirked.“Adrian always disappears on your mating anniversaries,doesn’t he?Did you truly think he was away on business?”
Selene’s stomach dropped in horror.
“All those trips were spent in your honeymoon lodge in Paris,”Cassandra whispered.“Only,the wolf in his bed wasn’t you.It was me.”
She leaned close,smiling in satisfaction.“That satin dress he gave you last year?He dressed me in it first,and enjoyed me all night,before wrapping it for you.”
Bile burned Selene’s throat.She staggered,barely standing as Cassandra continued,voice dripping with cruelty.
“That night he was a beast in heat.He said you were too prudish,too plain,never enough for him.I gave him what you couldn’t.I gave him everything.”
The memory of that cherished dress twisted into a nightmare.Adrian had made love to her in the very same gown he had first used on Cassandra.The words he once whispered—“You are my one true love”—reverberated like mockery in her mind.
