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.

“I have had your mate wrapped around my fingers,Selene.All those nights you waited while he hunted and roamed—Adrian spent them with me.If not for the wards he kept tight around the lodge,I would already be carrying his child,unlike you,who is most likely barren.”

“What did you say?”Selene whispered,tears streaming down her face.

“You can never give him an heir,can you,Selene?”Cassandra closed on her without an ounce of guilt.“Adrian is tired of your useless,barren body.Unlike a countryside-born she-wolf like you,he is Alpha-born and raised among luxury.How can he not want an heir?”

Cassandra forced a smile and took Selene’s hand as if comforting her.“Do not worry,sister.When I carry Adrian’s pups,you will be the first to know.”

“Cassandra!”Selene screamed through tears;each word was a dagger.

“You are shameless!Even after ruining my life,are you still not satisfied?”Selene swatted Cassandra’s hand;Cassandra fell and cried out in pain.

“Selene!”Before Selene could make sense of what had happened,heavy footsteps pounded as Adrian stormed in.

“What the hell is going on?”His glare sliced through the room;contempt and disgust warped his features and froze Selene in place.

“I—it's all right,Adrian.Selene was angry—please do not be mad at her.I am fine.”Cassandra cried,eyes filling with tears,forcing Adrian’s jaw to clench.

“I’m asking you,Selene!Why did you harm Cassandra?”Adrian demanded.

“I didn’t...I never pushed her,”Selene whispered,trembling as the room’s occupants stared at her with cold evaluation.Adrian’s friends had already gathered,recording on their devices.

Adrian scooped Cassandra up protectively as if shielding her from Selene.The sight sent a wrenching pain through Selene’s chest.

“Let’s go,”Cassandra sobbed,voice cracking.“Selene has always been stubborn.We shouldn’t make a scene.”She tried to steer the moment away.

Adrian noticed people filming,and fury boiled over.“Selene,come with me now!”

Rather than carry Cassandra to her lavish chamber,Adrian walked to the old storage room—the small place Selene had once slept through freezing winters—and unlocked it.Where Selene had once kept her few things,it was now evidently used for Cassandra’s overflow possessions.

“Sister,the first-aid pack is at the back;fetch it for me,please,”Cassandra said,playing the injured sister.

“Why are you so considerate to her?She ruined your celebration.I shouldn’t have brought her,”Selene sobbed as Adrian’s back tightened and he strode ahead without so much as a backward glance.

Even knowing what Adrian had done,Selene’s body obeyed out of habit,as if on strings.In Cassandra’s opulent room,Cassandra lay against Adrian’s chest,crying in a pitiful,practiced way.

Adrian separated from her and turned his anger on Selene,grabbing her hand in a bruising grip.“Selene,massage Cassandra’s feet now!This is your fault.Do you know how much you hurt your sister?”

Cassandra watched with a small,satisfied smirk.

“I will not do it.”Selene’s heart felt trampled;death seemed preferable.

“What did you say?”

“I will not do it!”Her second refusal snapped like old bone.Enraged,Adrian shoved her down to Cassandra’s feet.Selene clutched her belly as her knee hit the floor,horrified by Adrian’s cruelty.

“Do you even know how to behave?How dare you accuse Cassandra of taking what is hers when you cannot do anything right!Even with everything,you would still be unloved.”

“Adrian!”Selene screamed,tears streaking her face as he showed no remorse.If not for the bed supporting her,she would have collapsed;fear for the pups inside her filled her with cold dread.

Cassandra began to speak,feigning concern.“Selene is my sister.Please get up—Adrian was too angry for a moment.Don’t misunderstand her.”

“Shut up!”Selene burst out,louder than she intended.“Just stop the fake crying!”

Adrian’s palm cracked across her cheek;the sound echoed through the silent room.The sting burned,but the betrayal in that strike sliced deeper than any pain.Selene touched the hot spot on her face,feeling the truth of what she had married.

Adrian’s hand was still raised when he saw Selene’s eyes—wide,broken,staring at him in shocked pain.A strangled sob escaped her as a thin line of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth.

“A—are you all right,Selene—”Adrian reached out,but she recoiled as if struck.She scrambled to her feet,trembling,putting instinctive distance between him and the small lives in her womb.Even his touch felt corrosive now,as if acid had burned the skin.

“Forgive me,sister,it is my fault.Adrian,apologize to Selene at once,”Cassandra begged,hands pressed to her face,and for a moment Adrian froze at the sight of Selene’s terrified gaze—as though she were a stranger.

“Selene,listen to me.If you apologize to Cassandra,I will forget this and we will act as though nothing happened,”Adrian said.The humiliation that she felt was raw;tears blurred her view of the man who would soon be the father of her twins,who looked at her now with something like guilt.

Cassandra sobbed and clasped her hands over her mouth.“Oh my God,I—this was never my intention.I can’t believe I caused harm to my sister.”She rose as if wounded and hurried from the room,playing the injured one.

“Cassandra—wait!”Adrian called,uncertain for a moment.

“Selene,go home and put on something for your wound.You’ve disappointed me greatly;don’t expect me to return tonight.”Like a master dismissing a subordinate,Adrian left her behind and went after Cassandra without a backward glance.

Three years of Selene’s love and sacrifice were discarded in a single instant of anger;Adrian had chosen Cassandra over her.Even on his birthday,when the betrayal had first been made plain,Selene had clung to the hope that at least her children might have their father’s protection.Now she realized neither she nor her unborn twins belonged in his life.

She stepped out of the Blackthorn hall and realized she had left her phone inside.Limping,ankle stinging from a new cut,she walked back toward Cassandra’s chamber to retrieve it.A muffled sound slipped through the cracked door and hit her like ice.

Muffled moans and breathy whispers leaked from within.Selene pressed a hand to her mouth and peered through the crack.Two figures lay entangled on the bed—Adrian and Cassandra,half-clad and intimate.

“Oh,Adrian,you should take off your ring…”Cassandra murmured between kisses in a tone meant to be sweet.

“No,”Adrian replied,voice rough with appetite,“forbidden makes it more thrilling.If only Selene were half as…enticing.”He held Cassandra’s hand to stop her from removing his ring and they continued.

The scene split Selene open.The same man who had struck her,the same man who had dismissed and humiliated her,now shared the marital bed with the woman who had mocked her.Memories of pain and sacrifice flooded her:the nights she had sat at the Moon Altar while priests drew blood to save his life;the months she had given her own blood and strength so he might survive;the endless shifts working herself to near-collapse so he could rest in comfort.

She thought of the satin dress he had once given her—how she had cooked for him in it,how he had pressed kisses to her throat and whispered that she was his one true love.Now that dress,the tenderness of those moments,felt like a lie.

The diamond ring with his initials burned at her finger.She clawed at it with her nails until blood welts rose and,with trembling hands,she shoved the band off and left it upon the flower table outside.Then she fled,heels clicking across the polished floor,each step carrying her further from the marriage that had been nothing but a cage.

This union,like her heart,lay shattered.

Just then,Mara's message came through:[Selene,I've already completed the information you need.When do you need it?]

Selene breathed a sigh of relief.Apparently,she wouldn't have to wait seven days.

[Tomorrow morning]