Chapter 1

When Elias ran away from our wedding for the seventh time to be with his childhood sweetheart Rebecca, his father, Dubois Pack Alpha Hector, offered me ten million dollars as an apology.

Elias just scoffed:

"Dad, she's not worth that much money. That money would be better invested in Rebecca's art gallery."

Alpha Hector looked at me awkwardly.

But I wasn't angry at all.

After all, I'd already collected compensation like this six times.

This time, I wanted something new.

I pointed at Elias's most despised younger brother Leo and said:

"Give him to me instead. I'll marry him!"

Elias seemed to have forgotten that my parents were witches who had done the Dubois Pack a great favor.

We had an agreement—only the werewolf who married me would be qualified to become the Dubois Pack's Alpha heir.

Seeing I wasn't joking, everyone was shocked.

After all, this wasn't the first time Elias had run away from our wedding.

Before, when "Clara Gets Abandoned" was trending all over social media and I was the laughingstock for half a year, I'd never once mentioned calling off the engagement.

Alpha Hector hurried to reassure me.

"Elias is just confused right now. Just wait a little longer..."

He called Elias again, but before he could say much, he was cut off.

"You don't need to lie to me. No matter how angry Clara gets, she'd never say she won't marry me. Besides, I'm not breaking up with her. I'll be back after spending some time with Rebecca."

Rebecca's coquettish voice came from nearby.

"Elias, I'm just helping you test her. If she's still willing to marry you after being stood up so many times, that proves her feelings for you are real!"

Listening to them flirt so shamelessly, I pulled at the corner of my mouth.

"You're really that confident I'll keep waiting for you?"

As if he hadn't expected me to be listening too, Elias's tone faltered.

When he spoke again, his voice had softened.

"Clara, you know what Rebecca's like. She's depended on me since we were kids and can't accept me getting married yet. Can we just postpone the wedding a bit longer? Once I get her settled down, we'll hold it again."

Postponed six times already—wasn't that enough?

When Rebecca first found out Elias and I were together, she immediately came to make a scene.

Elias had kept a straight face and told me in front of her that he only saw her as a sister.

But later, for the sake of this "sister," he turned me into the entire pack's laughingstock.

Alpha Hector was furious with disappointment.

"The wedding starts in three hours. I've already booked you a flight. Get back here right now! There are reporters everywhere waiting to watch this spectacle. Have you even thought about Clara's situation?"

"I..." Elias's voice carried obvious hesitation, and my heart unconsciously trembled along with it.

But the next second, Rebecca clung to him coquettishly.

"Elias, I already bought the movie tickets. If you leave, I'll just get another guy to go with me. Plenty of guys are chasing me anyway!"

"No way!" Elias snapped with irritated urgency.

When he spoke to me again, his words were full of helplessness.

"Clara, I really can't get away. Besides, you've handled this so many times before. This little thing won't be hard for you."

He made it sound so casual, as if the humiliation and mockery I endured in front of the cameras was just a trivial matter.

A dull, suffocating pain spread through my chest. I couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

"Do whatever you want."

Whether he came back or not didn't matter anymore.

Eager to keep Rebecca company, Elias didn't notice anything wrong with my emotions.

"Be good, don't be mad. I even got you a gift."

A photo popped up on my phone.

A necklace dangling from his fingers.

Another hand-me-down from Rebecca.

I'd become her trash bin.

I still remembered the first gift Elias ever gave me—a red ladies' watch.

Although red was my least favorite color, because it came from him, I treasured it.

Until one day when I took it in for repairs and traced the serial number back to its previous owner—Rebecca.

When I confronted him, Elias showed not a trace of guilt.

"I'm not good at picking gifts. Rebecca was just helping out. Don't be so petty."

He claimed he wasn't good at picking gifts, yet everyone in the city knew.

Every year on Rebecca's birthday, Elias would rent out the most expensive observation deck in the pack and set off grand fireworks visible throughout the entire city for her.

Jewelry that only appeared at auctions would be laid out like water before Rebecca for her to choose from.

Yet the thought he put into me wasn't even one ten-thousandth of what he gave Rebecca.

Even now, he couldn't be bothered to buy something new to appease me.

Rebecca acted as if she hadn't caught the sarcasm in my words and laughed cheerfully.

"I picked out the gift Elias is giving you! Do you like it?"