Alanna Crosby POV:
I hovered over the manicured lawn of the Alpha's mansion. A place I had dreamed of living in, a home I had imagined sharing with Caden. Now, every stone seemed to mock me with cold indifference.
A black Bentley, its engine a low purr, swept up the circular driveway and stopped before the grand entrance. It was Caden's car. I knew the license plate by heart.
My spirit tensed. He was back. On the night of my death, he was returning as if nothing had happened.
The driver got out and respectfully opened the rear passenger door. Caden's tall, powerful frame emerged. His face was a mask of cool indifference, just as it always was.
But he didn't move toward the house. He turned, extending a hand back into the car with a gesture of startling gentleness I had never seen from him.
My non-existent breath caught. Who was in there?
A slender, pale hand rested in his. Then, a familiar figure in a flowing white dress emerged gracefully from the vehicle.
It was Bonita.
My sister.
Why was she in Caden's car? At this hour? A terrible suspicion, one I had always pushed away, began to crawl up my spine.
Bonita looked pale, leaning against Caden as if she were about to collapse. He instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist, a protective gesture I had craved my entire life but never received.
"Caden... I'm still a little dizzy," Bonita murmured, her voice as soft and sweet as honey. She clung to his sleeve, making herself look small and helpless.
He looked down at her, and his cold, gray eyes—the same eyes that held only disgust for me—were filled with a flicker of concern. Without another word, he bent down and swept her up into his arms.
I froze in mid-air, struck by an invisible bolt of lightning.
He was carrying her. He was holding my sister in the arms I wasn't even allowed to touch.
He was the Alpha King—the most powerful wolf in the Pack, maybe in all the territories. And she was an Omega—delicate, soft, everything an Omega was supposed to be. The Moon Goddess's perfect pairing. Strong and protected. Frail and cherished. They looked like the storybook version of what a fated mate should look like.
I had never seen him like this. To me, he was always cold—distant, formal, clinical. Even when we shared a bed, it was transactional. Duty. Nothing more. He never held me. Never looked at me the way he was looking at her now.
And yet, I had tried. For three years, I had tried to be everything he might want. I learned to navigate the Pack's world—its unspoken hierarchies, the way wolves deferred to power, the rituals of loyalty and challenge. I studied how the Pack functioned beneath the surface, because I thought if I understood his world well enough, I could finally belong in it. I wanted to be his partner. His equal. His home. I thought if I became perfect enough, he might finally see me.
But he never did. To him, I was nothing more than a tool—a servant he could summon at will and dismiss just as easily. A fixture he tolerated, never welcomed. Because I wasn't really an Omega. I was a dormant wolf—a failure of the bloodline. And an Alpha King didn't cherish a failure. He cherished someone who looked like Bonita. Soft. Fragile. Deserving of protection.
Sometimes, late at night, when I dreamed, I saw myself running through a forest I had never visited—ancient trees, silver rivers, a sky full of stars that seemed to follow me. My fur was the color of moonlight. I always told myself it was just my imagination. Just a dormant wolf's pathetic fantasy of what she could never be.
But now, looking at my silver paws, I wasn't so sure. What if I really am just a dormant wolf? But what if I'm not—what if I was born with noble blood and freedom instead? Would happiness finally be within my reach then?
And now I was watching him carry my sister in his arms like she was the most precious thing in the world.
They looked like the perfect Alpha-and-Omega pair. The kind the Moon Goddess wrote into the old songs. The kind that made other wolves look away because it was too beautiful to watch.
I was the wrong story. I had always been the wrong story.
No. They were lovers. The ugly suspicion became a bloody, undeniable reality.
My only mate. My only sister. The two people I had trusted most in the world—and they had been together all along, and I never even knew. The betrayal was so complete it left no room for tears.
I thought I had already hit the bottom. Rejected by my fated mate. Cursed by my own mother. That should have been enough, shouldn't it? Enough pain for one lifetime. But no—the Moon Goddess wasn't done with me. She had brought me back in my wolf spirit form, and She had given me eyes to see. Not for mercy. Not for closure. She brought me back to watch. To witness every single knife as it went in. To feel the sting of each betrayal, one after another, with no body to bleed and no voice to scream. Was this my punishment? To be a hollow spectator at the theater of my own destruction? To be forced to watch the people I loved tear apart everything I was, piece by piece, until there was nothing left to break?
I was already dead. So why did it still hurt like this?
Caden carried Bonita toward the front door. The house butler was already there, waiting. He saw them, and his face showed no surprise, only a quiet understanding and respect. This wasn't the first time. Their relationship was an open secret among the Pack's elite.
Rage, black and furious, surged through me. I wanted to fly at them, to rip that fake, innocent mask off Bonita's face, to scream at Caden for his lies. But my hands passed straight through their bodies. I could do nothing.
I could only watch as he carried her through the main doors of the Alpha's private residence—a place I, his fated mate, had never been allowed to enter.
My wolf, Lyra, howled in my soul, not with jealousy, but with the agony of absolute betrayal. Liars! They are all liars!
I didn't hesitate. I passed through the heavy oak door and followed them inside. I would see just how shameless they could be.
The living room was vast and luxurious. Caden gently placed Bonita on a plush velvet sofa, even tucking a pillow behind her back.
"Are you okay? Should I call Dr. Evans?" he asked, kneeling beside her, his voice laced with genuine concern.
Bonita shook her head weakly, her eyes glistening. "I'm fine, Caden. I was just... startled at the gala tonight. Thank goodness you were there." She was talking about a business event, one she had apparently attended with him.
That's when I noticed it. A dazzling diamond bracelet on her wrist.
The design... it was so familiar. The delicate twists of platinum, the arrangement of the stones... it was almost identical to my own signature style. A horrifying thought, cold and sharp, pierced my consciousness.
Was she not only stealing my mate, but my work, my very identity, as well?
Caden's gaze fell on the bracelet. He reached out and gently touched it. "Your designs are always so inspired, Bonita. You were born to be a designer."
I felt like my soul would dissipate from the sheer audacity of their lies.
Bonita lowered her eyes shyly. "As long as you like it." She looked for all the world like the brilliant artist behind the masterpiece.
I watched the two of them, the man who had stolen my heart and the woman who had stolen my life's work. And I, the true victim, could only hover in the shadows, a pathetic, invisible audience to their disgusting play.
