I froze. Dropped the charges? What in the Moon’s name were they talking about?

I ran to the Council Hall as fast as my legs could carry me. But by the time I burst inside, the parchment containing my mother’s case had already been shredded into tiny pieces and tossed into the fire pit.

Everything blurred. I fell to my knees, clutching the Council scribe’s sleeve, my voice cracking.

“You promised. You said you’d help me get justice for my mother.”

The scribe looked uneasy. He let out a long, defeated sigh.

“The person who withdrew the complaint was your mate. Evan Marks. No one here can go against a future Alpha. I am truly sorry.”

With a curt nod, he signaled the guards, and they escorted me out into the dirt path beyond the Hall.

But I wasn’t giving up.

There had to be someone in this cursed territory who still had a spine.

Hands trembling, I rode from pack to pack, seeking any elder or lawkeeper who might help me. One after another turned their backs. The answer never changed.

“Forgive us, Miss Holly. Alpha Heir Marks made himself clear. Anyone who touches this case will lose their post before sunrise. We cannot assist you.”

I sank to the ground outside the Stoneclaw border. My palm landed on a shard of rock, slicing skin, blood seeping out. I barely felt it.

When I was sixteen, my father cast my mother and me out of his den. The same day, Sarah and her mother moved in.

I still remembered Sarah, only thirteen, standing on the steps of the pack house with a smug little smirk. That was the day I learned my father had been unfaithful for years.

Mom and I wandered for days, packless and cold. One freezing night, we stumbled into a clearing where rogues were forcing a young wolf into a cage. Evan Marks, heir of the Stoneclaw Pack, was bound and beaten.

Mom didn’t hesitate. She lunged into the fight, claws bared. She saved him… and nearly died doing it. She took blade after blade meant for him.

Afterward, Evan dragged us back to Stoneclaw against his parents’ wishes. Mom refused his offer of full support. Instead, she worked as a housekeeper at the manor. I transferred to the Stoneclaw training grounds, attending lessons alongside the young heir.

Day by day, I watched the boy I’d rescued grow into someone I couldn’t help but love. He loved me back. On my twentieth year, he held my hand before my mother and vowed he would protect me for life.

But things changed a year ago.

He returned from a night of feasting with nearby packs speaking about Sarah in ways he never had before.

“She’s not who I thought she was,” he told me. “She’s working three odd jobs to pay her way through training. Can you believe that?”

“And some rich wolf tried to claim her as his mate. She slapped him across the face. Feisty girl.”

Then he added, “You and she never got along. But maybe that’s because you never gave her a chance. If you spent time with her, you might see how lovable she is.”

My gut twisted, but I forced myself to ignore it.

Later, a friend told me Evan had purchased a rare moonstone bracelet once worn by an ancient Winter Queen. I assumed it was for my birthday.

But on the day of my birth celebration, Sarah posted on the pack board. That exact bracelet gleamed on her wrist. And in the reflection of a nearby window, I recognized a familiar male figure standing beside her, fingers interlaced with hers.

That night, I waited beside a dying candle. Evan never returned.

It was the first time he forgot my birthday.

After that, he forgot more. Anniversaries. Promises. Moments that used to matter.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s posts grew bolder. His silhouette behind her in feasting halls. His bare shoulders through a steamy bathhouse door. His hands adjusting her cloak.

Six moons ago, we signed our bonding contract. Evan told me he wanted to give me the perfect ceremony.

Now I knew the truth. There would never be a ceremony.

My hands steadying, I picked up the communication stone and spoke.

“You still want my shares in Stoneclaw Holdings,” I said coldly. “Fine. I will sign them over. All of them.”

He had gifted me those shares the day he finally won my heart. I told him it was too much. He insisted.

His voice echoed in my memory, painfully gentle.

“If you want the stars or the moon, I will give them to you. A few shares are nothing compared to that.”

I understand now. What we had was real. Once. But hearts change. Wolves grow cold. And love is never immortal.

The boy who once held me as if I were his entire world was gone. Devoured by time and choices.

As I ended the call, the stone vibrated with Evan’s message.

Calmed down yet?

I arranged the burial grounds and paid for the rites. Shouldn’t you be satisfied? Stop testing my patience.

Another message appeared seconds later.

Did you not hear me? Come to my study now. Sign the forgiveness decree for Sarah.

Something inside me finally broke. I called him. My voice shook with fury.

“Why should I sign anything for her? And if I refuse, what then? You going to press my hand onto the parchment yourself?”

He ended the call. Cold. Without a pause.

Seconds later, another image flashed across my message stone.

A scanned copy of an investment pact. A binding trade agreement signed between my mother and Sarah.

Large runic letters carved across the center read:

All trades carry risk. Any loss caused by personal misjudgment is the client’s own responsibility.

My mother’s name and blood-mark sat cleanly at the bottom.

Evan had been preparing for this. His legal advisors, a ruthless pack of seasoned elders, were ready to crush me like dust underfoot.

Still, I went to the Stoneclaw Council Hall.

Inside the lift platform leading up the tower, I ran into Sarah.

She wore a rare moon-silk gown tailored by the clan’s finest artisans, a jeweled pouch on her arm worth more than most warriors would earn in a lifetime, and around her wrist, the ancient queen’s moonstone bracelet glimmered.

She looked like royalty. Like someone born adored.

Her lips curled when she saw me.

“Oh dear, Annelise, you look dreadful,” she said in a syrupy voice. “I guess it’s true. When a she-wolf ages, the bloom fades. No wonder Evan lost interest.”

Then, feigning concern, she added, “Still haven’t buried your mother? Want me to help plan the rites? We are family, after all.”

My hands curled into fists. Rage burned so hot it felt like fire under my skin.

“You knew it was a scam,” I hissed. “You knew those wandering traders were frauds. You tricked my mother into giving away everything she had.”

She widened her eyes, pretending to be hurt, though a smirk tugged at her lips.

“How could you accuse me like that? I was only trying to help,” she crooned. “Your mother wanted more coin for your bonding dowry. How could I refuse?”

My chest tightened. Blood roared in my ears.

“That old woman adored you,” she went on, voice slipping into a sneer. “Loved you more than her own life.”

Then she leaned close, whispering, her breath brushing my ear.

“One day, I stepped on Head Alpha Marks’s prized moon-peonies. On purpose. The steward said he’d cut your mother’s pay for three moons. She begged on her knees. Right in front of me.”

“She hadn’t taken a single rest day in months,” Sarah giggled. “All to save money for your perfect wedding. And when I told her to crawl across the garden like a dog? She did. Instantly.”

My world shattered. All those times my mother smiled through exhaustion, telling me not to worry… I never knew what she had endured for my sake.

As the lift platform doors opened, something inside me broke.

I raised my hand, vision blazing.

“Sarah, you’re a monster.”

Before I even touched her, she flung herself out of the lift, shrieking as she held her face.

“Annelise, I apologized,” she sobbed. “I even knelt to you, but you keep tormenting me. Do you want me dead? Fine, then. I will die for your mother!”

She stumbled toward the stone wall, pretending she meant to smash her head against it.

“Sarah!”

A figure rushed past me. Arms wrapped around her protectively.

Evan.

He hauled her into his embrace and rammed his shoulder into me. I wasn’t prepared. My head snapped back, slamming into the stone wall behind me with a sickening crack.

The world tilted. Warm blood trickled down my neck.

Evan turned on me, eyes wild with fury.

“Holly, how dare you? Apologize to Sarah. Now.”

It looked like she was his mate. And me? Just some deranged outsider.

Sarah trembled against him, sobbing.

“I know she’s grieving,” she whimpered, clinging to him as if he were her last breath, “and I offered to pay it all back. I said I’d take any job, even the dangerous ones. But she still struck me. She cursed me too. Said I should drop dead.”

Evan pulled her closer, jaw tight, gaze burning with anger.

“Have I not given you enough?” he snapped at me. “Look at yourself. Just like your mother. Petty. Greedy. Always playing the victim. You deserved the punishment.”

My breath hitched. The hall spun, yet I stayed rooted, stunned into stillness.

“Petty and greedy?” I whispered. “That’s what you think of me? That wanting justice for my mother makes me a grasping lunatic?”

Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let them fall.

For a moment, something in Evan flickered. But the instant Sarah whimpered in his arms, his expression hardened.

“I saw you attempt to strike her,” he said. “I don’t care why.”

He stepped toward me.

“This is the last time I will repeat myself. Apologize.”

My heart clenched like claws were crushing it.

“And if I refuse?” I answered, voice cold.

“She is not only the daughter of a mistress. She is the reason my mother is dead. And you expect me to apologize?” I shouted.

Sarah didn’t even speak. Evan’s eyes went cold as a winter storm.

“I warned you,” he said, voice sharp as steel dragged against ice. “Do not test me.”

Then he turned to his guards.

“Retrieve her mother’s body from the burial cavern. Drag it out.”

The words struck like poisoned blades.

“She will not learn until she is broken,” he said with a sneer. “Did you truly believe someone like you deserved to stand as Lady of the Stoneclaw Alpha line?”

He raised his chin in command.

“Feed the corpse to the wolves.”

He meant it.

His guards moved instantly, their boots thudding like a death march.

“No. No, please!” I lunged forward in blind panic, but another guard seized my arm. His grip was so strong I heard a sickening crack.

Pain tore through me, bright and blinding.

Tears clouded my vision. I sobbed until I could barely breathe.

“Evan, please. Don’t do this to my mother. She is already gone. Isn’t that enough?”

Sarah tilted her head, masking a smirk beneath feigned innocence.

“Evan… the dead deserve peace. Maybe we should spare her this time?” she whispered sweetly.

“You are too soft,” he replied with a sigh. “That softness is why she walks over you.”

Then he looked back at his guards.

“Well? Why are you standing there? Do I need to guide you to the cavern myself?” His voice cracked like shattered glass.

With each word, the last pieces of the love I’d held for a decade fell apart.

He knew. He knew my mother was my only weakness. And he crushed it without hesitation.

I broke.

My spine bent. My knees hit the ground. My pride spilled at Sarah’s feet like blood.

“Please,” I whispered, tears falling so hard I could barely speak. “Please leave my mother. Let her rest. I was wrong.”

Wrong for believing in fairness.

Wrong for hoping he might choose me over her.

Wrong for loving him at all.

As I bowed, the blood-soaked back of my collar spilled into view.

Evan’s gaze flickered. For a moment, he looked almost stunned.

“Is this enough for you?” I straightened slowly, digging up the last fragments of strength, staring at him with disgust I could barely contain.

His jaw tightened. He signaled to his advisor.

“Bring the pact.”

Only after I pressed my bloody fingerprint onto the scroll did his expression finally ease.

“You are bleeding,” he said quietly. “I will summon a healer.”

Releasing Sarah, he stepped toward me.

I slapped his hand away.

“Save it. Go tend to your precious girl instead. If you wait too long, her fake bruises might fade.”

I turned to leave, but Sarah slid her foot in front of me.

I tripped hard, crashing to the ground.

Evan’s instincts sparked. He reached out—then stopped, hand suspended in the air.

He hesitated. Then dropped his arm and stepped back.

“Find a healer yourself,” he said stiffly. “If your injury worsens, that is your problem.”

I forced myself upright despite the pain stabbing up my spine.

As he and Sarah stepped into the lift platform, he glanced back.

“I will accompany you to the bridal weaver’s hall tomorrow,” he said just before the doors slid shut.

The room spun. My knees buckled. Blood loss pulled the world into a haze.

In the blur, a memory flashed.

Evan at nineteen, newly burdened with responsibilities after taking over the clan’s trade routes. Exhausted, sleepless for days. One evening, I burned my hand a little while preparing stew for him.

A tiny blister.

But Evan found out. He stormed out of a crucial council meeting and raced home on horseback without waiting for permission.

He grabbed my hand, cradling it as though it were fragile crystal.

“I am sorry, my love,” he whispered, guilt heavy in his voice. “I should have protected you. As long as I breathe, I will never let anything harm you.”

He pulled me close, warm, trembling, his promise etched into me like a brand.

But that boy was gone.

He had grown into a cold, distant Alpha heir who looked at me as though I were nothing. As though I were disposable.

And now, he was the one hurting me the most.

I staggered toward the tower’s exit. The edges of my vision darkened.

Then everything went black.

But before I hit the ground… someone caught me.

Strong arms. Heartbeat unfamiliar. Scent foreign.

Just before darkness swallowed me, I heard a whisper at my ear. Quiet. Dangerous.

“Do you want revenge?”

A pause. Warm breath against my skin.

“In exchange for those shares… I can help you uncover the truth behind your mother’s death.”