In order to avenge Lily Bauer, an orphan staying with the Frostfang pack, Ethan Hawkins doesn't show up at the agreed time on the day of our betrothal party.

He only sends his Beta to my door with a message. "Last time, you injured Lily with wolfsbane pollen, humiliating her at the pack gathering. Today is just a lesson. Apologize to Lily and send over the necklace she likes, and then we'll get betrothed."

Overnight, I become the laughingstock of the entire pack.

My brother, Ryan Fuller, says, "Lily just lost her parents. Let her vent her anger. Ethan is meant to be your mate anyway. Delaying your betrothal by a few days is no big deal."

Really? It isn't a big deal?

The Frostfang pack's ancestral token isn't something just anyone can covet.

I turn around and grip the wolf-shaped crest offered by the Blackwood pack. "I accept the Blackwood pack's proposal for a mate alliance."

In the Frostfang pack's banquet hall, candlelight cast a reddish glow on the oak long table.

My fingers were turning white as I clenched the hem of my gown, the embroidered silver threads on the fabric digging painfully into my palms.

According to custom, I should be sitting at the head of the table beside Ethan Hawkins right now, receiving the pack's blessings.

But the other side of the main seat was glaringly empty.

Malcolm Tolliver, the butler, said in a trembling voice, "Ms. Blair, Ethan's Beta is here."

Having served my father for many years and watched me grow up, Malcolm's eyes were now filled with pity.

When I looked up, Ethan's Beta, Travis Mercer, had already stepped through the door. A silver emblem of the Bonevein pack was pinned to his suit lapel. The wolf's head on that emblem was something Ethan had personally shown me last year.

"This will be your emblem too from now on," he had said in a tone soft enough to melt, while his fingertips brushed against my earlobe.

Now, he wouldn't even look me in the eye.

Travis pulled a neatly folded paper from his briefcase and slapped it on the table. "Our Alpha says the betrothal party today is canceled."

With a collective gasp, discussions erupted throughout the hall.

A female guest's voice was the loudest. "Canceled? But the time has come. Is he making a fool of the Frostfang pack?"

Her mate chimed in from beside her. "Isn't it because of Lily Bauer? Yesterday, I saw Ethan buying strawberry pastries for her. He queued for half an hour!"

The tips of my ears burned.

A werewolf's sense of smell was three times sharper than a human's. I had already smelled the sweet scent of strawberry pastries on Travis, but I just didn't want to believe it.

My fingertips pressed against the paper, the inked words feeling harsh beneath them. I said hoarsely, "And the reason?"

"Ms. Lily injured her arm with wolfsbane pollen last Monday," Travis replied, pulling out a pink-and-white box. "The Alpha says if you don't apologize to her and send over that necklace she likes, don't even think about this betrothal."

"Bullshit!"

My childhood friend, Mia Patton, shot up from her seat.

"Last week, I was organizing herbs in the apothecary. Lily stole the wolfsbane pollen herself and told Peter Winters she 'wanted to stir up some trouble'. Do you think we're blind?"

Travis frowned and adjusted his tie with a disdainful look. "The Alpha makes his own judgments. It's not your place to comment."

He shoved the strawberry pastries into a server's hands. "These are for Ms. Lily. The Alpha specifically said to eat them while they're warm."

The sound of his footsteps grew fainter as he left. Mia wanted to chase after him, but I grabbed her wrist. My lower lip was already stained with blood.

Werewolves healed quickly, but that bead of blood that clung to my lip didn't fade for a long while.

"Don't go after him," I said softly. "It's not worth it."

As soon as the words left my mouth, the sound of dragging footsteps came from the entrance.

My brother, Ryan Fuller, walked in first. A button on his suit was fastened incorrectly, and his hair was a mess.

Lily followed behind him. She wore a white dress, and there was a bandage on her arm. The moment she entered, she fell to her knees with a thud.

"Blair, I'm sorry…" Her tears fell fast and thick. "I shouldn't have liked that necklace or mentioned it to Ethan. Because of that, no one attended your betrothal party. It's all my fault. Hit me, scold me—do anything you want. Just don't ruin your health by getting angry."

Ryan quickly crouched to help her up, glaring at me. "Lily's already in this state, and you're still scowling? It's just a necklace. What's wrong with letting her have it? Do you have to make our entire pack a laughingstock?"

Looking at Ryan's face, I suddenly found it unfamiliar.

Three years ago, when Lily was first adopted, he had patted my head and said, "Don't be afraid, Blair. I'll protect you."

Now, that same man was protecting an outsider, pointing his finger and yelling at me.

"Let her have it?" I raised my hand and pulled the necklace from my collar.

The silver chain, set with a deep blue moonstone, was the Frostfang pack's ancestral token. Its cold gleam under the candlelight made Ryan's gaze waver.

"Ryan, take a good look. This isn't an ordinary necklace. What did Grandma say when she gave it to me on her deathbed last year? Have you forgotten?"

Ryan's Adam's apple bobbed. He didn't dare look at the moonstone. "I… I know, but Lily just lost her parents. What's wrong with you giving in to her a little?"

"So losing your parents means you can take other people's things?" I took two steps forward, the silver chain swaying in front of me.

"Three years ago, you said Lily saw the bracelet Mom left me and liked it, so you took it for her. Last year, you said Lily needed the silver-poisoning treatment manuscript I commissioned from the north for her herbology studies and took that too. Ryan, are you my brother or Lily's?"

Lily's sobs grew louder as she shrank into Ryan's arms. "Ryan, stop. It's my fault. I shouldn't have wanted Blair's things… I was just staying with the Frostfang pack anyway. I'll leave."

"Who dares to make you leave?" Ryan stood up abruptly, causing a suit button to pop off. "Blair, can't you have a little sympathy? Lily's so pitiful. Can't you just give way to her?"

"Pitiful?" A deep, resonant voice came from the doorway.

George Fuller, my uncle, entered, leaning on his silver-headed cane. The wolf head crest on the cane tip gleamed coldly. He was the Frostfang pack's Grand Elder and the person with the most authority in the pack.

"Ryan, you shut your mouth! Even if Lily were your biological sister—never mind that she's adopted—it wouldn't be her place to touch it! Have you forgotten the ancestral rule that one must not overstep and take tokens without the right?"

Ryan's face instantly flushed a deep purple. He hurriedly explained, "Uncle George, I didn't mean to. I thought… I thought it was just an ordinary necklace."

"You thought?" Uncle George's cane thumped on the floor, raising dust from the cracks between the flagstones.

"You're 25 years old. Have you learned nothing of our pack rules? At last month's assembly, I specifically told you tokens are tied to inheritance. Did it go in one ear and out the other? Go copy the ancestral rules ten times now. Don't come out until you're finished!"

Ryan's gaze suddenly turned venomous, and he fixed it on me. "You did this on purpose! You clearly knew it was a token, yet you deliberately asked me that question, just to make me look bad in front of Uncle George! Blair, when did you become so scheming?"

My heart felt as though it had been pierced by an icicle, the pain numbing my fingertips.

Werewolf packs placed the highest importance on blood ties, and siblings were supposed to be the closest to each other. But now, my own brother saw me as an enemy.

"I'm scheming?" I laughed, the sound echoing through the banquet hall, carrying a chill.

"If I were scheming, Lily would have been driven out of the pack three years ago. If I'd told Grandma when she first stole my bracelet, do you think she could have stayed in the Frostfang pack?"

Lily's sobbing paused for a moment. She glanced at me, her eyes flashing with a hint of triumph before it was quickly covered by tears.

"Blair, I really know I was wrong. Don't say that… I just liked the necklace too much."

"Stop pretending." I cut Lily off, my voice as cold as ice. "Crying every time Ethan's on his way to the training ground and wiping your tears outside Ryan's study—aren't you just doing all of that to make them think I bully you?

"Lily, the Frostfang pack hasn't treated you badly! You've never gone without rare pelts, wolf crystals, or feather bundles. You wanted to learn herbology, so Uncle George hired the chief healer from a southern pack to teach you. Why do you have to take my things?"

"You're lying!" Lily shouted, standing up abruptly.

The bandage slipped slightly, revealing red marks on her arm caused by a low concentration of wolfsbane pollen. It looked bad, but it could actually heal in three days.

"I didn't do that! You're just jealous that Ethan is good to me, so you're deliberately blaming me! Ethan said he wouldn't come today specifically to teach you a lesson!"

An angry shout suddenly came from the doorway. "Blair Fuller! You've gone too far!"

Ethan walked in, his black suit clinging to his Alpha physique. An oppressive force washed over the room like a tide.

Ordinary Betas and Omegas would have bowed their heads, but I didn't move. I simply stood there looking at him.

He walked straight to Lily's side, shielding her behind him as his gaze cut into me like knives.

"Lily just lost her parents and is tiptoeing around the pack, yet you bully her like this? Do you think just because you have the Frostfang pack backing you, you can do whatever you want?" he berated.

As I looked at Ethan, I suddenly recalled last year's Night of the Full Moon.

That day, I fell into a trap pit filled with silverware. When Ethan found me, I was in so much pain that I nearly passed out. He rescued me and held me in his arms, warming me with his body heat.

He had said, "Blair, from now on, I'll protect you. No one can bully you."

Now, he was protecting another she-wolf, accusing and shouting at me.

"I bullied her?" I took a step forward, my own Alpha force also surging up. I was a rare Alpha Female, and I usually kept it subdued.

"Ethan, have you ever seen me bully anyone? Did you even ask me what happened? Just because Lily cried, you decided I'm at fault?"

"What else?" he sneered, his Alpha ferocity making the candle flames flicker. "Lily is so kind—how could she lie? You're the one who's been spoiled since you were young. Who in the pack doesn't know that? Last year, when you pushed Susan Powell down the hill, wasn't I the one who helped you cover it up?"

My pupils constricted sharply at that.

That happened last winter. Susan had deliberately put silver dust in my herb basket to make me allergic. All I did was push her, and she slipped and rolled down herself. Ethan knew the truth, yet now he used it to accuse me.

"How could you say that?" My voice trembled, not from fear, but disappointment. "Ethan, for Lily's sake, you'd even fabricate lies?"

Lily peeked out from behind him, her gaze brimming with hidden triumph. "Blair, don't argue with Ethan. It's all my fault. I'll apologize to you. Isn't that enough?"

"Apologize?" I echoed before raising my hand.

A crisp slap echoed through the banquet hall, stunning everyone into silence.

Lily's head was knocked to the side, and a red handprint instantly bloomed on her fair cheek. She froze for a few seconds before covering her face and crying, "Blair, how could you hit me? I already apologized to you…"

Ethan's eyes instantly reddened, and his Alpha fury erupted like a volcano. He reached out to grab my wrist. "You dare hit her? You've lost your mind!"

I took a step back, evading his hand. My fingertips had already started to go numb, which was the precursor to actively breaking the mate bond.

According to werewolf law, once the bond was broken, both parties would suffer a tearing agony that would last a lifetime.

"Ethan, from today onward, the mate bond between you and me is broken." My voice was steady, but a cold sweat had already formed on my temples, trickling into my collar. "Also, the mate alliance between the Frostfang pack and the Bonevein pack is canceled."