The moment Selena stepped into our lives, I knew something was different. What Fiona kept being replayed in my mind. That woman was definitely charming. Her warm smile enchanted everyone, including my father. But it didn’t work with me because I could feel that there was something off from her that I found it hard to explain.

For my pack’s sake, I tried to ignore it even though I knew it would be bad. We werewolves had to stay true to ourselves.

Unfortunately, my position as the next Alpha made it complicated. After all, I had to show to the whole pack as well as the other pack that I wasn’t something that couldn’t be controlled at all. Hence, I had to brush Fiona aside even though I felt heavy in my heart. Thus, I tried to dismiss the terrible feeling my gut had been telling me.

‘It seems I’m upset because of Mother’s death. It’s still too early. It has to be that,’ I told myself, trying to convince myself.

Nevertheless, the uneasiness I had the moment I met Selena became stronger as the days passed. Somehow, I always had a feeling that she disliked me. It was indeed true, but that woman was slick. My soon-to-be stepmother never disrespected me openly, especially when she was with Father.

But there would be times when the Alpha wasn’t looking. Selena would make sure to take advantage of those times. That woman would slyly smile towards me and she looked at me dismissively as if she was belittling me.

Not only Father, the whole pack was enamored by Selena. In their eyes, that woman was befitting of the status of Mother used to have. The woman, who seemed to be 5-8 years older than me, was gracious and charming. However, I could still see something from her facade. It was there, but I couldn’t tell anyone. It pained me, but I didn’t know someone whom I could talk to.

It seemed that Selena sensed my uneasiness. That woman started to find ways to make me lose confidence in myself. It all started with very small things.

When I just finished the meeting with Beta Albert, Selena said out of nowhere, “Oh, Lady Sylvia, you must’ve forgotten to attend the training session today, aren’t you?”

I was left perplexed, which caused me to respond in a rather defensive tone, “There’s no training session, Lady Selena. You must’ve made a mistake. I already checked my schedule and I don’t need to be told of it.”

Father, who was standing beside Selena, narrowed his eyes as he talked to me, “Careful, Sylvia. Selena is the future Luna. I hope you’ll treat her with more respect.”

The moment the Alpha said that, I was shocked. My response was just nodding my head as I quickly excused myself. It became clear that my father fell hard for her to the point that he would even brush me off just like that.

Although it had been a while since I met Father, that was the response he gave to his own daughter. Everything he talked about was Selena. As if both Mother and I never crossed his mind. Nevertheless, it hurt me. Both Father and I used to be very close, but we became more and more distant as soon as Selena entered the picture.

Whenever I tried to talk to Father, Selena would always be by his side. They would talk about everything. I couldn’t help but feel jealous. Still, I knew that I had to stand dignified as I was the heiress of the Golden Fang Pack. Thus, I just closed my eyes and let them do whatever they wanted.

I would be lying if I said it didn’t affect me. Her influence on Father was growing stronger. The Alpha, whom I looked up, became more of a stranger to me. We only met during the training and the meeting with Selena attending those sessions.

The woman would comment about any mistake that I made. Clearly, she tried to make Father doubt his own decision to name me as his heiress.

One day, I heard her talking to me as I was about to report my progress to Father at his study room after I went on an exploration mission, “Alpha, there’s something I want to tell you.”

“Go on, Selena,” Father said.

“Don’t you think Sylvia is too young to lead the pack one day? I noticed that she made lots of mistakes here and there. We need someone who is focused to lead the Golden Fang Pack,” Selena said in her usual sweet tone, trying to sway my father.

What my soon-to-be stepmother said really angered me.

‘How dare she talk about you like that!’ Fiona angrily shouted inside my mind, agreeing to my feelings.

I couldn’t help but clench my fist while I forced myself to stay as quietly as possible. While I wished to enter the study room to remind Father that I had been preparing to take his position since I was born, I knew that was exactly what Selena wanted. The Alpha would see that as a sign of immaturity and impulsiveness. It was something that would be used by Selena to diminish me even more.

For a while, there was silence from Father.

‘Did Father believe her?’ I asked myself as I waited for my father’s answer.

Eventually, the Alpha responded calmly, “Sylvia has been preparing this for her whole life. She’s born for this, Selena. My daughter is more than capable.”

After that, I could hear Selena’s fake sighing as she spoke her mind in a concerned tone, “I know that, obviously. It’s just that … I’m worried about her. She has gone through so much in her life. Not only that, she even lost her own mother at such a young age. It must’ve been tiring for her. I just want what's best for our pack.”

“No need to worry about Sylvia. I … believed her,” Father replied.

I did notice that Father’s answer was uncertain. Realizing that my own father started to doubt me made me feel very small. Without further ado, I quickly slipped away as I didn’t want to hear more of their conversation.

As I went back to my room, my heart was filled with anger and fear. Father eventually took the bait that Selena had carefully prepared. It broke my heart, hurting me deeply. That woman was diligent when it came to turning my own pack to go against me.

Again, the woman did it very cunningly to the point where people didn’t even realize it. My soon-to-be stepmother would make sure I knew that I didn’t deserve to be the heiress before the people without them knowing about it.

“I can see how strong Lady Sylvia is. I wish she could learn more about how dedicated you warriors are,” she said to our pack warriors after she visited my training session with them.

The warriors just nodded in agreement as they thought it was nothing but a mere statement. However, it was far from that. It was her trying to belittle me, which made me even more upset.

For weeks, I managed to show her that everyone treated me with respect. While she complimented, I knew that she was upset that everyone adored me. It became our silent battle.

Then, I heard some unsavory rumors about me. Initially, I didn’t believe the rumors. After all, I was confident that no one would believe that. Oh, how wrong I was.

Slowly but surely, the whispers became very strong. Every time I walked towards a group of my pack members, they would stop talking as they avoided my presence as if I were a plague. Not to mention, their gazes were different. There weren’t any friendly gazes they used to look at me with. Instead, they looked at me in disgust. It was when I knew that I had found out what caused them to be like this.

So, I asked my maid, Asha, “Asha, what happened? Why is everyone acting so strangely around me? Did I do something wrong?”

My maid looked at me unsurely as if she didn’t want to tell me. But I kept pestering me until she gave up. She then held my hands tightly as if she wanted to comfort me.

“I’m sorry, My Lady. It’s just … There are rumors. People have been saying terrible things about you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to calm down even though I felt hurt.

“Rumors said that Lady Selena saw you with someone. She thought that you … you might not chaste anymore. People seem to believe it wherever I go. They say that you’ve been with someone,” she replied weakly.

As soon as Asha said that, the words hit me like tons of bricks fell on top of me.

“That’s a lie!” I angrily shouted in a shaky voice as I couldn’t believe this.

“Who would say something like that?” I asked her.

The maid just answered quietly, “We have no idea, My Lady. But the rumors are spreading fast. People are starting to talk about it. They wonder if you’re fit to lead us because-”

Before Asha could finish her reply, I already walked away. I knew who did this. Obviously, it was Selena. That woman was truly shameless!

She even dared to dirty her sleeves by making terrible rumors about me. The only thing I could think of was that she was trying to make the whole pack, including Father, to remove me from the heir position.

As the days passed, I felt even more overwhelmed. People began avoiding me. Whenever I passed, my pack members would murmur and look at me in disgust. It really broke my confidence. Although I pretended to look strong, I would spend my nights crying my heart out. If only I had someone to talk to, but who wanted to talk to me?

Father would usually become my solace. Not this time, unfortunately. After all, the Alpha was already under Selena’s spell. Not to mention, my father seemed to be very protective of Selena. I was afraid that if I told him about Selena, it would make us even more distant. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him too. Thus, I kept my silence.

However, something also grew inside me in that silence. It was my fiery determination. I had made up my mind by making sure that I would never let Selena take everything for me.

From then on, I would make sure to find a way to let everyone know who she really was in order to protect the pack from her. Although I had no idea how to do it, I knew I had to do it because I knew that I would lose everything if I kept quiet.

‘Just wait, Selena. I’ll make sure everyone knows who you really are,’ I told myself.

The rumors seemed to spread extremely fast. Within days, my reputation as the Alpha’s daughter seemed to be tarnished almost instantly. It felt like hell for me. Once I was respected and cheered by my pack members, but it wasn’t like that anymore. Everywhere I went, I could feel people look at me with disrespect. Murmurs would be heard again and again about my reputation being unchaste.

I could hear their whispers.

“I’ve heard that Lady Sylvia has been someone.”

“Can she really lead our pack?”

In the past, they would greet me with smiles. But they no longer did that. Instead, they looked at me with judgment. That was when I realized that I had become an outsider in my own home. Realizing that really hurt my heart.

Somehow, every day became a battle to show my strong resolve so that I wouldn’t break down. After all, it meant that Selena’s tricks would work. I could never let that happen!

‘Mother, I really miss you. If only you were here with me,’ I thought to myself.

Still, I needed someone to talk to. Only Fiona could console me. Even then, that wasn’t enough. I yearned to talk to my father, the Alpha. However, that woman really had Father in such a tight grasp. There was never a chance for me to meet him without her by his side.

Fortunately, the Heirs of Packs Great Meeting became another consolation for my own despair. That meeting was extremely important for our pack. As the name said, it was an event where the heirs of various packs would meet each other to discuss what we considered as our threats in the werewolves world as well as find more alliances to be forged. It was our turn to hold the event.

Moreover, it became a chance to show myself to the pack that I was indeed capable as Alpha Marcus’ daughter to be the next Alpha. I became determined to show to Selena and my pack members that I wasn’t someone like the rumors said. Thus, I had to make sure that the event would go perfectly as possible.

Hence, I would spend the rest of the day doing everything as perfectly as possible. For hours and hours, I would spend my time studying with my tutors to learn more about histories and customs of other packs, training with the pack warriors, attending more meetings with the pack council and the pack elders, and coordinating with the castle’s help to ensure the event would run smoothly.

Not only that, I was thinking of fighting off Selena’s rumors. I told the maids to spread how many hours I spent for the pack’s sake. As my confidante, she knew how badly the rumors affected me. She dutifully fought the rumors back by delivering my dishes to wherever I was to dismiss the rumors about me being unchaste. Soon, the rumors fell apart.

One day, a young male that I recognized, Atlas Boone, awkwardly came to me and greeted me, “Good morning, Lady Sylvia.”

I just looked at that young male as I greeted him with a thin smile and greeted him back, “Good morning, Atlas. It’s been a while since you greeted me. What’s wrong?”

More pack members then greeted me again after I made that remark as if they were embarrassed. Eventually, my pack members treated me again with respect. While it was satisfying to see how Selena failed to humiliate me, it also felt sad because I realized my pack members would eat any rumors spread by Selena. That made me become wary of everyone.

However, I knew that I had no time and energy for that. Another good thing that came by focusing my whole energy for the Heirs of Packs Great Meeting was the fact that I could ignore my sadness. While it was extremely exhausting, it managed to keep me off my dark thoughts. It was kind of liberating for me being able to ignore all those rumors due to my strict schedule.

Yet, I knew that I had to address this problem to my father. Since the Heirs of Packs Great Meeting came closer, I had more time to meet him more frequently. I realized that I had to use the chance to discuss Selena with my father. After all, the Alpha was the only one who could put an end to this. Whether I liked it or not, I had to try.

One evening, I got a chance to meet Father without Selena. Immediately, I took that chance. When I found the Alpha, he seemed to be studying some documents in his study.

The moment his steely gaze met mine, his gaze softened. It had been a while since Father smiled warmly just for me. But I knew that it wasn’t enough to ease the suffering I had in my heart. I decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with him through the mind-link because I felt that it would be much safer.

‘Father, I need to talk to you,’ I told him through the mind-link while I was trying to keep my voice as calmly as possible.

As soon as I mentioned him as Father, the Alpha set the papers aside and gestured for me to sit next to him. It was like a code between us if I wanted to talk to him about something personal and he had to respond as my father, not an Alpha. Seeing this made me glad that my father still cared about me.

My father’s tone became concerned as he asked me through the mind-link while he held my hands tightly, ‘What’s wrong, Sylvia? Are you okay?’

‘I want to talk about … Selena,’ I told my father through the mind-link as I looked at him.

The Alpha looked conflicted as he turned his head away. It was as if Father wanted to tell me that he didn’t want to have this conversation. When I saw it, it truly hurt me.

‘Father, you must know about the rumors that have been going around about me,’ I continued through the mind-link as I tried my best to keep my voice as calm as possible.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t very good at it. My voice cracked when I finished the sentence. The moment Father noticed the crack in my voice, he looked at me again in disbelief.

‘There were rumors about me being unchaste,’ I continued to talk to Father through the mind-link.

Father narrowed his eyes as he gritted his teeth softly. Clearly, the man was upset. Yet, there were questions that remained in my heart.

‘What rumors? Who spread them? I’ll find them,’ he firmly told me through the mind-link as if he wanted to make sure everyone who did me wrong would be put to justice.

I quietly replied through the mind-link, ‘I talked to many of our maids. It seemed that the one who spread the rumors was Lady Selena.’

For a while, I waited for his response. Yet, the man remained quiet. I knew that he was in disbelief.

‘Do you realize that what you just said is a serious accusation to our future Luna, Sylvia?’ he asked me through the mind-link in a serious tone.

He argued back through the mind-link by saying, ‘Sylvia, Selena has done nothing but trying to immerse herself into the pack. She supported me and this pack wholeheartedly.’

Hearing Father’s response couldn’t help but hurt me further.

I shook my head in frustration as I kept talking through the mind-link, ‘No, Father, you don’t understand. You have no idea of what is happening. She’s not what she seems to be. That woman has manipulated you and our pack. She told the pack that I was unchaste. My reputation was almost crushed. That’s not a good thing.’

Again, my father kept quiet. His gaze became intense as he studied my face like he was searching for something. After what seemed to be an eternity, my father heaved a heavy sigh as he sat back on his chair.

‘Sylvia, I know that you … haven’t accepted Selena yet. Everything is definitely hard on you, especially since you’re losing your mother. But you must know that Selena is trying to help us. That’s the end of our discussion. I don’t want to hear more of it,’ Father said to me through the mind-link dismissively.

When my father said his final answer, that was when I realized that the distance between us was so great that he didn’t even want to listen to me. I could see it in his eyes and how distant his voice had heard in my ears. That almost broke me into tears, but I held on.

I had to admit that his answers felt like a knife stabbed to my heart. How could Father be so blinded by his love for Selena? How could he ignore what was happening right under his nose? Yet, I realized that there was no point in arguing further. If he didn’t believe me now, nothing I said would change his mind.

“I understand, Alpha. Good night,” I said politely, breaking my mind-link with the Alpha.

Father seemed to realize that I called him ‘Alpha’. As the man was about to hold me, I instinctively avoided his touch. Instead, I stood up silently as I walked out of his study without looking back.

The rest of the night went blurry on my mind. I never felt this lonely. Father, someone whom I looked up to, no longer trusted me. It was all because of Selena. My soon-to-be stepmother was winning, but I couldn’t do anything to stop her. The only thing I could do was keep going with Fiona. I really hoped that it would be enough.

I eventually decided to focus my entire time for the Heirs of Packs Great Meeting since it was almost around the corner. There were days where I wouldn’t even meet Father because of how busy I was. In fact, the pack elders and tutors remarked that I worked extremely hard.

Besides, I wanted to make my father realize that Selena wasn’t the good woman that she portrayed to be. I couldn’t let her win. In fact, I had to win. I had to!

‘I’ll win against you, Selena. I will win Father’s trust and everyone’s respect,’ I told myself, determined to beat Selena.

Finally, the day I had been waiting for arrived.

It was the Heirs of Packs Great Meeting. I couldn’t even sleep last night. Our whole territory was bustling with tons of celebrations as the heirs of other packs came by. While I still felt sad because Father no longer believed me about Selena, I knew that I had to put that aside for the sake of our pack.

This was a chance for me to show that I was indeed the rightful heir of the Golden Fang Pack. It was also the same for these heirs. All of them were working hard to prove that they were befitting as the next Alphas. Furthermore, all of us were checking on each pack’s condition to see whether one of us was weak or not. The event became a point for us to show how strong our packs were.

Not only that, I also had to be very careful. From what the maids had told me, Selena had tried to find ways to ruin my reputation. Thankfully, nothing had happened as I became extremely careful for the past few months. Nevertheless, my stomach has been churning for the past few days.

‘Something will happen,’ Fiona told me.

I knew very well what happened the last time I brushed off Fiona. That was the reason I wouldn’t ignore it. So, it kept me awake for the last few days.

But I also knew that I had to make sure this event went smoothly. I noticed that my soon-to-be stepmother was nitpicking every single thing about the event. Clearly, this was her another attempt to belittle me. Thankfully, Father was by her side. That way, she was only reduced to making unsavory remarks instead of putting them into action.

As the heirs entered our main hall, I prepared myself to use what I was getting from my training and study. I would never let Selena ruin the event I had been working so hard for the past few months. Thus, I walked into the stage as soon as all of the heirs had come to our hall.

“Greetings to you future Alphas! I hope the journey from your pack to the Golden Fang Pack is blessed by the Moon Goddess,” I said, starting my speech.

I announced to them loud and clear, “I, Sylvia Lindbergh of the Golden Fang Pack, welcome you with open arms. From today until next week, we will hold the the Heirs of Packs Great Meeting. I hope you guys will enjoy your stay at the Golden Fang Pack.”

After that, I made a speech about the importance of this event. The heirs were looking at me attentively. Father also looked at me proudly, but his attention was quickly diverted by Selena who pretended to fall. When Father took her to the clinic quickly, Selena let out her smirk to be known to me as if she told me that the Alpha no longer put his attention solely on me.

When I saw it, I felt really sad. After all, my soon-to-be stepmother still managed to hurt me. The worst part was that she knew it. It made me feel even more lonely, but the show had to go on. Thus, I continued to go through just to make sure the event would go well.

Just when I thought everything went perfectly, Selena came back again to the hall after she went to the castle's clinic accompanied by my father. Again, she looked at me maliciously as if she found something that she could use to strike me. Without me realizing it, I prepared myself to counter whatever she had to humiliate me. Then, I was proven correct.

“My goodness, the future Alphas are indeed looking very impressive. You heirs are very dedicated to your packs’ futures. It’s an honor for me as the future Luna to accept you all here and make sure the future Alpha is doing this event well,” Selena said gracefully to the other heirs as she let out a fake smile at me.

To my surprise, one of the heirs responded, “I think Lady Slyvia has done an extremely impressive job. I can’t imagine an event that is as perfect as this event. We all should look up to her.”

Without missing a beat, the young man continued, “Not to mention, she did this just months after her mother passed away. Surely, the future Luna should’ve helped her, no? Otherwise, what’s the point of her being the future Luna?”

Selena seemed to be taken aback that someone, especially one of the other packs’ heirs, would disagree openly with her opinion. Frankly, she wasn’t the only one. I was also surprised that someone defended me.

“W-well, I’ll keep that in mind,” Selena said while she gritted her teeth, not expecting that Elias wouldn’t stay quiet like any other heirs.

When I saw who was defending me earlier, I realized that he was the heir of the Onyx Sky Pack named Elias Hummell. Although I knew the pack was a relatively new pack, it was known for its strong warriors and their silver craftmanship. In fact, their warriors rivaled the Golden Fang Pack’s warriors in terms of strengths.

After that, Selena quickly excused herself by saying that she was ill. However, she looked at me with eyes full of hatred before she left the room in embarrassment. Even if I still had no idea about what evil things she would do, this felt like a small victory to me.

“Thank you, Lord Elias,” I told the man, thanking him for what he did earlier.

Elias responded back respectfully, “My pleasure, Lady Sylvia. But the event is indeed very meticulously done. You’ve done a superb job.”

“I hope the Golden Fang Pack and the Onyx Sky Pack will be able to make a good alliance from this event,” I talked to him.

In turn, the young man responded, “It’ll be a great honor for the Onyx Sky Pack.”

Frankly, there was something weird inside my heart when I saw Elias for the first time. I didn’t know how to describe this feeling. It felt fuzzy.

As we continued to the dinner party, I realized that I kept looking at Elias without realizing it. As soon as the dinner was over, I noticed that the heir of the Onyx Sky Pack was going to the garden. Immediately, I grabbed a chance to talk to Elias more.

The more I talked to Elias, the more I saw who the man was. While the other heirs were aloof and proud, this man was different. He was caring, sincere, honest, and brave. It felt like a breath of fresh air when I was conversing with him.

“You seem to be stressed by something,” Elias said, noticing my sadness.

In turn, I asked him back, “Well, all of us have a lot to live up to, aren’t we?”

“You’re not wrong in that regard,” he replied.

Both of us knew how heavy the task of being the future Alphas was. It was definitely stressful, especially since everyone looked up to us all the time. We were supposed to be perfect as we represented our packs. Otherwise, we would be scrutinized for making mistakes.

“What I mean is … there’s something more,” he started to talk again, but more quietly.

Without stopping, he asked, “Are you okay?”

His honest observation really struck me. For a while, I had no idea how to respond. Besides, it had been a while since someone asked that out of sincerity. In that very moment, there was something inside of me that cracked.

The man looked at me sympathetically as he nodded.

“I understand the feeling. There’s always this pressure that makes you want to prove that you’re fitting to lead your pack. You want to tell those naysayers that you’re worthy of leading them,” he said.

“Well, that’s exactly what I’m feeling. But it’s been even harder because I felt that I lost the respect from my pack members because someone spread out unsavory rumors about me,” I told him.

He immediately responded in a concern from his tone as he spoke, “Who would do something like that?”

After a long time of consideration, I decided to take a risk by confessing to him, “Well, it’s the future Luna, Lady Selena Wilde. Ever since she arrived, she tried to undermine me. She spread some rumors to make the pack doubt me. Even my father no longer trusts me. He prefers her over me. I really don’t know what to do.”

Elias was silent for a moment as if he was processing what I just confessed to him. To my surprise, Elias put his hand on my shoulder gently as he looked at me. Before I could even respond, he talked, “You’re stronger than you think, Sylvia. Look how perfect this event is despite what that woman did to you. You never back down. Never let Selena or anyone else make you doubt yourself.”

“Thank you, Elias. I really need to hear it,” I told him, thanking him sincerely from the bottom of my heart.

He smiled warmly as he said, “Don’t worry. You’re not alone. I’m your friend here. Talk to me whenever you want. I promise you that I’ll try to help you as best as I can.”

“I would like that,” I responded.

After that, the man grinned as he continued, “It’s settled then. From now on, we’ve got each others’ backs. No matter what.”

When I returned to my room, I felt there was a sense of comfort that I had been missing for the longest time. Elias’ words came back to my mind. It gave me more strength to be more confident of myself. For the first time in weeks, I slept peacefully.

Even though the future was still uncertain, I wasn’t alone. I had a friend. That was very reassuring. I didn’t need to be afraid.