Chloe POV:
Hazel blinked, her glowing yellow eyes looking confused.
Her inner wolf was fighting against her fading human mind.
"Your Alpha?" Hazel mumbled, looking at Hunter. "But... why is Chloe wearing the Luna dress?"
Hunter stood up smoothly, his body releasing a thick wave of calming pheromones.
The scent was meant to soothe, but it made my stomach turn.
"She's just a low-level Omega I hired for the dress fittings, Hazel," Hunter lied smoothly, stroking her hair.
"Go to the next room. The makeup artists are waiting for you."
Hazel's mouth pulled into a childish, vacant smile that did not reach her eyes, and she wandered out of the room.
Once the door clicked shut, Hunter turned back to me.
His eyes flashed with the glowing gold of an Alpha.
"Take off the rest of that dress, Chloe," he ordered.
He was using the Alpha's Command.
It was an absolute power that forced lower-ranking wolves to obey.
An invisible, heavy pressure forced my knees to bend, and my hands moved against my will.
I pulled the torn white fabric off my shoulders, feeling stripped of my dignity.
"Look at you," Hunter mocked, looking down at me. "You're nothing but a cellar-dwelling apothecary. You cannot even afford your own wolf-bane suppressants."
His words felt like heavy stones smashing into my ribs.
I was a genius Healer, a rare talent.
I had a chance to go to the prestigious Werewolf Council for advanced studies.
But Hunter had used our mate bond to manipulate me.
He exaggerated Hazel's illness, making me feel guilty, so I stayed behind to brew potions for her in a dark basement.
He had bound my ambitions to this small room, and now he mocked me for my cage.
Hunter turned and walked out to prepare for his fake ceremony.
I stood alone in my underwear, shivering in the cold room.
My phone buzzed on the dressing table.
It was an encrypted email from Silas, the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack in another country.
Silas was a powerful, stable leader, completely different from Hunter.
The email read: The Chief Healer position is still open for you in Country D. Are you ready?
Silas and I had never met in person, but three years ago, my grandmother had saved his sister's life with a rare antidote. He had been watching over me from afar ever since-and he had never trusted Hunter.
Without hesitating for a single second, I typed my reply.
I accept. But I need to bring my Grandmother.
I hit send, feeling a tiny spark of warmth in my chest.
I quickly changed into my plain, everyday clothes-a gray sweater and jeans.
I walked out of the backstage area and slipped into the shadows of the grand ceremonial hall.
Above the altar, a massive magical crystal projector was displaying memories.
The Mind-Link Projection network was a magic system that broadcasted images to everyone in the pack.
But the images on the screen were wrong.
Instead of my memories with Hunter, the screen showed Hunter and Hazel kissing under the full moon.
A sick, frantic pounding began in my chest at the public spectacle of their affair.
A hand, strong as an iron clamp, seized my arm from behind.
"Did you think you could hide from me?" Hunter whispered in my ear.
He had found me using The Scent, the unique smell that tied fated mates together.
"I command you to stand at the altar as Hazel's best friend and witness this ceremony," he ordered.
I yanked my arm away. "Who is this charade truly for, Hunter? Her illness, or your own diseased ego?"
Hunter twisted the bone ring on his finger, a dark, wicked smile spreading across his lips.
"You'll do it, Chloe. Because this broadcast is wired into the medical Mind-Link."
A deathly chill crept up my spine.
"My Grandmother is in heart surgery right now," I warned him, my voice shaking.
"Exactly," Hunter sneered. "The live feed is playing directly into her recovery room. If you make a scene, or if you fail to smile, your fragile Grandmother will be forced to watch your humiliation in real-time."
He was using my only living family member as a hostage.
Hot, humiliating tears spilled over my eyelashes.
I looked at the man the Moon Goddess had chosen for me and saw only a thing of rot and ambition.
"I'll play your game," I whispered, my voice a hollow rasp. "But I swear to the Moon, when this is over, I will carve our bond from my very flesh."
Hunter laughed arrogantly and dragged me toward the bright lights of the altar.
I let him. Because every second he humiliated me was another second I memorized the faces of everyone who would kneel when I returned.
