I crawled toward the bathroom doorframe, struggling to escape.

Warm liquid soaked through my jeans. "Help... me..."

My throat was choked with blood.

The moonstone lights in the hallway twisted into blinding streaks in my blurred vision, until a pair of nurse’s shoes stopped in front of me.

“Oh my God! Call the doctor!”

The nurse’s long hair brushed my cheek as she pressed down on my abdomen, making me arch in pain.

“Wendy, look at me! Don’t sleep—”

As my consciousness began to fade, I heard the snap of surgical clamps.

Someone whispered in my ear, “Moon Goddess… protect her…”

The beeping of the monitor pierced the silence, and I opened my eyes to a sea of blinding white.

The nurse was gently wiping my lips with a cotton swab.

“You’re awake?”

Her eyes darted away, her fingers twisting the bedsheet into folds.

“The surgery was successful, but… we couldn’t save the baby.”

Somewhere in my chest, a hole opened, but I felt no ripple.

I had planned to sign the abortion papers this morning.

Alpha John and Penny had taken away my right to choose, using the cruelest means possible.

“Do you need to contact any family?”

I tugged at my cracked lips. “I don’t have family.”

“No family? Do you really believe that?”

Miranda’s tone suddenly sharpened.

“You’ve been making excuses for yourself, Wendy. Your family never loved you. The only person you can rely on is yourself.”

My heart seemed to be pierced by something.

“I always wanted to find a place to settle, but…”

“You’re always running away.” Miranda’s cold laughter rang in my mind.

“Running from your past, running from your future. The only thing left for you to do is face everything in front of you.”

The elder had notified me to pick up the papers from the council.

Alpha John was sunk into the sofa, not even bothering to lift an eyelash.

“Why didn’t you die at the hospital?”

“I was surprised too.” I placed the papers on the coffee table.

His amber eyes narrowed into slits as he glanced at the title.

Penny walked in from the kitchen, holding a fruit platter, her hair adorned with the moonstone hairpin my father had given me.

It was the raw star-gem my father had exchanged three months' worth of hunting for on my eighteenth birthday.

“John, don’t say it like that. Wendy, I made you some soup…”

“Why aren’t you drinking it?”

Penny tilted her head, dipped her finger in the soup, and smeared it on her lips.

“This is made with Ronald’s favorite sunflower petals.”

Alpha John suddenly spoke from the sofa, his eyes glued to the holographic TV.

“Don’t be ungrateful. Penny spent three hours making it for you.”

Penny quickly added, “John, don’t scare her. Wendy, I know you’re still mad at me,”

I interrupted, “No need.”

“I heard there’s a moonlight gathering tonight?”

Penny’s smile froze for a moment, then turned sickly sweet.

“You know about it? I picked out a dress for you. Let’s go together?”

She handed me a shopping bag containing a ridiculously short skirt—only worn by low-tier wolves for sacrificial rites.

Alpha John sneered.

My mother, tapping her wolfbone staff on the floor, added, “Don’t bring this bad omen to embarrass us.”

An apple rolled to my feet. As I bent down to pick it up, she struck my hand with the staff.

“What are you picking up for?”

Her voice was sharp as a knife.

“Your brother died because of you! Now you want to kill John and Penny’s baby too?”

Penny immediately helped her up.

“Mom, calm down, Wendy hasn’t done anything wrong…”

“Mom,” Penny pouted, shaking Alpha John’s arm.

“Wendy just needs to relax.”

Late at night, I stumbled across a partially open door to the study.

“If we don’t get rid of her, the elders will start to suspect.”

“Why rush?”

Alpha John’s voice reeked of alcohol.

“The miner we sent last time failed. This gathering’s full of opportunities.”

I gripped the railing tighter, my knuckles turning white.

The “accidental” mining disaster three months ago—it was their doing.

“I’ve arranged everything,”

Penny chuckled softly.

“Once she’s drunk, we’ll drag her to the back of the altar. Once the video’s out, she’ll never show her face in the pack again.”

“You’re ruthless.” Miranda’s voice turned icy, her words laced with an undeniable threat.

“You’re the one who’s ruthless.”

Alpha John’s voice was laced with affection.

“Once she’s ruined, I’ll bond with you openly…”

I walked downstairs with the papers in hand.

Alpha John was at the bar, mixing whiskey.

“The hospital needs a family member’s signature.”

I pushed the papers in front of him, my fingers whitening from the force.

He didn’t even glance at it, grabbing a pen and stabbing it onto the paper.

“Your worthless life means nothing to me—” He didn’t finish his sentence, but the pen had already signed.

“Do you think his words matter to you?” Miranda’s voice was soft but carried an unmistakable coldness.

“You’ve been seeking his approval all along, but he never cared about you.”

I bit my lip, the pain slicing through me.

“I know… I’ve always known.”

“You’ve never truly seen him,” Miranda’s tone softened, her words filled with bitter truth.

“He only harms you, and you’ve been changing yourself for him all this time.”

My mother sneered. Penny snickered behind her hand.

I took back the papers.

My phone buzzed in my palm. I opened it to the only contact and typed:

“See you at the altar. Proceed as planned.”

“It's time to go, Wendy!” Penny’s voice echoed from the stairwell, deliberately sweetened to a sickening degree.

I peered through the gap in the wardrobe and saw her linking arms with Alpha John. The moonstone hairpin in her hair gleamed directly at the hallway security camera.

It was a new addition from Alpha John last week, under the pretense of “protecting the soon-to-be Luna’s safety.”

“I’ll be right down after I change.” I forced a smile in the mirror, my fingertips grazing the faint needle marks on my collarbone.

Three days ago, Penny had “accidentally” injured me with a hairpin, and the spot was still unnervingly pale.

From downstairs came my mother’s curse: “Stop dawdling! The ceremony’s about to begin!”

Alpha John’s footsteps paused at the entrance.

As the door slammed shut, I immediately pulled back the carpet, revealing three metal boxes hidden in the compartment. These were the gifts Alpha John had given me, and I dumped them all into the trash.

Just then, my phone buzzed. A holographic image of a courier appeared.

“Miss Wendy, as per your instructions, three packages have been sent via the wolf pack’s Falcon Courier and are expected to arrive at the altar square at 7:59.”

He shook a whistle in his hand, the token for activating the packages.

“Good.” I reached into my boot and retrieved the recorder, pressing play.

The recording of Alpha John’s secret meeting with a pervert came through:

“Just cripple her with a bullet, don’t kill her. I want her to watch Penny wear the Luna crown.”

As Alpha Vincent’s warriors escorted me to the hovercraft, the bells of the square rang seven times.

The warrior in the driver’s seat handed me a glass of amber liquid.

“Alpha of Winsor pack ordered this. It’s Moon Goddess wine to suppress the tracking spell.”

I tilted my head back and drank it all, tasting a familiar bitterness on my tongue.

The phone suddenly vibrated crazily with a message from Alpha John:

“Where are you? If you don’t show up, I’ll feed your brother’s ashes to the dogs!”

“Penny’s already wearing her Luna gown. Do you want the whole pack to laugh at you?”

“Final warning: You must apologize to Penny tonight, or else!”

I set the phone to silent and opened the live feed on my tablet.

Penny was standing beside Alpha John in a tight-fitting dress.

“Why hasn’t she come yet?” Penny’s voice echoed through the microphone, dripping with feigned innocence.

“John, maybe I shouldn’t have pushed her…”

Before Alpha John could respond, three ribbon-wrapped gift boxes suddenly fell from the sky, landing in the center of the altar.

The top card had my handwriting on it: “To my husband and sister — Congratulations on your success.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd. The council members whispered among themselves.

Alpha John’s face turned ashen, and as he reached to tear off the ribbons, his fingers were pricked by a needle that suddenly shot out.

It was my special trap, coated with a herb that temporarily paralyzed Alphas.

The first box opened, revealing the papers. The red seal of the council gleamed in the moonlight.

Penny’s fake smile froze instantly, and she flustered as she tried to block it.

Whispers filled the room.

“Sever the bond?”

“Wait… I thought Penny was his Luna?”

“I thought Penny was his soon-to-be Luna…”

The second box opened, and Alpha John staggered back, as though struck by lightning.

Inside the transparent container was a surgical specimen with a clear label: “Patient: Wendy, 16 weeks pregnant, severe hemorrhage due to violence.”

Next to it, an ultrasound photo with the fetus clearly marked in red pen.

On the back was my handwriting: “He doesn’t even know he had a child.”

Penny screamed, lunging toward the projector.

Suddenly, a swarm of reporters surged forward.

“Alpha John, did you know Wendy was pregnant?”

“What is your relationship with Penny?”

The third box automatically opened, but instead of an object, it projected a hologram.

The screen showed Ronald lying in his hospital bed. Penny, dressed as a nurse, snuck into the room, holding a wrench and disconnecting the monitor lines.

The image shifted to Alpha John’s study, where he was stuffing money into the hands of a pervert.

“Make sure the mine collapse is clean this time.”

“No! This is fake!” Penny screamed, rushing toward the projector but was thrown back by the suddenly activated moonstone barrier.

Alpha John stood frozen, while Penny’s face went pale.

"Welcome to the Winsor pack, Wendy."

Vincent personally opened the hovercraft door, and the Moon Goddess tattoo on his sleeve glimmered faintly in the moonlight.

I stepped onto the carpeted steps, feeling the wolf fur beneath my feet.

"Sorry to keep you waiting for five years, Alpha."

I gently touched the vengeful sigils I had stitched into my skirt, a warning etched into the fabric. “This time, it’s not a game.”

Alpha Vincent was the Alpha of the Winsor pack, and a strong contender for Alpha King.

He was a head taller than Alpha John, with broad shoulders that seemed to block out the entire moon. The old scar on his left brow was a battle wound from his youth, earned while hunting snow wolves.

I couldn’t help but remember that birthday party five years ago. To this day, I could still smell the wolf’s poison mixed into the champagne that Penny had poured on me.

I had been wearing my mother’s old Moonstone gown, which I had secretly borrowed, but the hem was burned with holes by one of Alpha John’s friends’ cigars.

He, however, had held Penny close and laughed, saying, “Who are you trying to seduce? This rag should be thrown into the mine.”

Penny’s nails had scratched across my arm. “Wendy, not all clothes are sexy, some are just cheap.”

She had purposely spilled oyster juice all over my dress.

Alpha John had only knocked my forehead lightly with the bottom of his champagne glass. “Go wash up in the kitchen. Don’t dirty my party.”

That rainy night, I fled the party and hid in the abandoned silver mine, but I was cornered by three drunken warriors.

One of them yanked the hair from my head. “I heard you’re the discarded she-wolf of Alpha John. Perfect for us to play with.”

When the knife sliced through my skirt, a shadow crashed through the door, and Vincent was there.

Soaked to the bone, he snapped the wrist of one of the wolves and kicked the last corpse aside. “Get lost.”

When he kicked the body aside, the Alpha mark on the back of his neck glowed red in the rain.

I trembled in the corner, but he shed his coat and wrapped it around me, gently wiping the blood from the corner of my mouth. “Don’t come to places like this again.”

His warmth seeped through his wet shirt.

Later, I learned that night he had been investigating the gold mine smuggling, but he had exposed his location to save me.

“Thinking back to that birthday party five years ago…”

Vincent’s gaze held mine, his throat bobbing slightly.

He finally spoke. “Actually, I first saw you not at that party.”

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. “What do you mean?”

His eyes drifted to the distance, as though lost in the memory. “At the Spring Festival five years ago, at the Moon Goddess Market, you were crouched at an old woman’s stall, carefully choosing a handmade flower crown. Your eyes were so bright. You picked up a wreath of daisies and put it on your head, smiling at yourself in the mirror. That moment, I...”

His voice trailed off, his ears flushing a shade of red.

I stared at him, stunned. I had no idea there was such a past.

Back then, my heart and eyes were all for John, and I never noticed the figure in the corner of the market watching me.

“I watched you from afar, wanting to approach, but I saw you suddenly run off toward another direction—John had arrived. You ran to him, holding up the crown to show him, but he frowned and knocked it to the ground, saying that thing wasn’t worthy of him.”

Vincent’s fists clenched unconsciously.

“You stood there frozen, your eyes red, but you still bent down and carefully picked up the crown. After that, I silently watched you, seeing you hurt time and time again by John, but I couldn’t do anything about it.”

My chest tightened. I never knew such a silent, deep affection had been watching over me for the past five years.

All the moments when I was hurting alone, there had been a pair of gentle eyes watching from behind.

“Later, I found out you were with John,” he chuckled bitterly.

“That night, I stayed on Moon Goddess Mountain until the first rays of dawn touched my skin. I told myself, as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters. But when I saw you so brutally hurt, I realized I couldn’t stay silent anymore…”

“I watched the gathering video.” Vincent handed me a cup of warm Moon Goddess wine.

“John’s face looked like it had been pierced by a silver bullet.”

“I lost the baby.”

“It’s what I wanted. But… it still hurts.”

He knelt before me, gently touching my hand.

“Let it hurt,” he said softly.

We sat in silence for a while.

Then I spoke again.

“Alpha John and Penny killed my brother. My mother knew, but still signed the papers agreeing to it.”

Vincent sighed deeply.

“My nephew has always been a terrible person.”

His fingers paused on my palm. He didn’t yell like Alpha John did, calling me “useless.” Instead, he took off a wolf tooth pendant from his neck.

“This was taken off the first snow wolf I hunted. When a pup loses its mother, it bites onto the wolf’s tooth to learn how to run.”

The pendant touched the surgical scar on my abdomen, and it suddenly glowed faintly.

Vincent’s thumb brushed over an old wound on my hand.

“Back in the alley, you said ‘I’m fine,’ but you ended up crying for half an hour in the mine cart.”

“They almost killed me too,” I added.

Vincent’s fingers stopped, and he raised an eyebrow.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked softly.

I stared at him.

“I’m here now. I want those bastards to pay for everything they’ve done to me.”

When Alpha Vincent suggested getting married the next day, I caressed the ring he handed me—the inside of the band engraved with my name.

Tomorrow, I would become the wife of Alpha John’s uncle.

Tomorrow, I would begin planning their destruction.