Adriana POV:
The oversized shirt did little to ward off the chill as I slipped through the back entrance of the Nichols Pack house. Every shadow seemed to mock me, every creak of the floorboards announcing my shame. All I wanted was to reach my room, to scrub my skin raw until the stranger's scent was gone, until I could pretend last night never happened.
I tiptoed across the grand foyer, my breath held tight in my chest. Just a few more feet.
"Sister, where have you been all night? Julian has been looking everywhere for you."
Isabelle's voice, sweet as poison, cut through the silence.
My body went rigid. I turned slowly, a rehearsed excuse dying on my lips. She stood there, immaculate in a silk morning robe, a picture of innocence with a malicious glint in her eyes. My stepsister. My personal tormentor.
She glided closer, her movements sinuous and deliberate. Then, she made a show of sniffing the air around me, her nose wrinkling in theatrical disgust.
"My goodness," she exclaimed, her voice just loud enough to carry. "What is that smell? An... an Alpha's scent? It's so strong!"
Her performance was perfectly timed. From the dining room, my father, Arthur, my stepmother, Rebecca, and my fiancé, Julian Hayes, emerged. Their breakfast was clearly interrupted.
Julian's handsome face contorted into a mask of fury and revulsion. He strode towards me, his blue eyes, which once held a semblance of affection, now burned with contempt.
My father's face went from ruddy to a pasty white. I could see the calculations in his eyes-the alliance with the powerful Hayes Pack, crumbling to dust before him.
"It's not what you think!" I pleaded, my voice thin and reedy. "I can explain. I—"
"Julian," Isabelle interrupted, her voice trembling with fake sorrow as she turned to my fiancé. "How could she? Our Pack will be shamed by this."
Julian took a physical step back from me, as if my very presence was a contamination. He stared at the man's shirt I was wearing, the faint marks on my neck, and his jaw clenched.
Rebecca, ever the pragmatist, stepped forward. She placed a comforting hand on Isabelle's arm, her gaze cold and assessing as it fell on me. "Arthur," she said calmly, "what's done is done. We cannot afford to disappoint the Hayes Pack."
She gave Isabelle a meaningful look. "Isabelle is a pure-blooded she-wolf. Unlike Adriana, she actually has a wolf. She can stand beside Julian as a proper Luna, not as some defective wolfless girl everyone has been politely pretending to accept."
Her words cut deeper than Julian's disgust. Being wolfless had always been the shame my family kept tucked behind closed doors, the flaw they dressed up with expensive gowns and a respectable engagement. Now Rebecca had dragged it into the light and used it as a knife.
"She can take Adriana's place," Rebecca continued smoothly. "She will join with Julian and solidify our alliance."
My father's eyes lit up with relief. The anger was instantly replaced by cold, hard strategy. It was a perfect solution. For them.
I couldn't breathe. The air was thick with betrayal. They were trading me away, right in front of me, like I was nothing more than damaged goods.
Julian didn't object. Of course he didn't. He looked at Isabelle, at her "purity," at the wolf blood I would never have, and a flicker of relief crossed his features.
Rebecca's attention returned to me, her voice devoid of any warmth. "As for Adriana... while she has been soiled, the scent on her is incredibly potent. The Alpha must be of high standing."
She paused, letting the weight of her words hang in the air before delivering the final blow. "The Alpha of the Montgomery Pack has been seeking a mate. He may be old and frail, but his Pack is one of the most powerful in Crescent Falls."
A cruel smile played on her lips. "Giving Adriana to Alpha Montgomery would be... a productive use of a wasted asset. It could forge a new, even stronger alliance for us."
The name hit me like a physical blow. Alpha Montgomery. The boogeyman from Pack horror stories. A man said to be over sixty, a cruel tyrant whose wolf was so weak he could barely manage a shift. They were sentencing me to a living hell.
"No," I whispered, the word catching in my throat.
The betrayal ignited a fire in my veins. "You can't!" I screamed, my voice raw with anguish. I pointed a trembling finger at Rebecca and Isabelle. "You won't!"
Isabelle hid behind her mother, a triumphant smirk playing on her lips.
My father looked at me, his eyes empty of any paternal love. There was only the cold calculation of a Pack Alpha weighing his assets. He ignored my desperate plea and gave Rebecca a curt nod of approval.
The deal was done.
My own family had just sold me to a monster.
I stared at their smug, self-satisfied faces, a vow of silent hatred forming in the ruins of my heart. I would not go down without a fight. I would never, ever surrender.
