Chapter 1

The whole Moonclaw Pack knew that Alpha Alex had many lovers.

But after I appeared, all those women disappeared.

The day I was kidnapped, he stormed into the kidnappers' hideout alone and rescued me.

I thought he truly loved me.

Until Chloe appeared by Alex's side.

The first day she appeared, they slept together.

The seventh day she appeared, he brought her back to what used to be our home.

On the twentieth day of her appearance, he decided to hold a Marking ceremony with her.

He urged me not to overthink it—he wouldn't really Mark Chloe.

But he didn't know I had already decided to marry his uncle.

Lily POV

Today was the once-a-decade Hunting Festival, and also Alex's first Hunting Festival since becoming Alpha.

Alex's uncle Sebastian wasn't comfortable leaving things entirely to him, so he asked me to co-host the ceremony with Alex.

He said that as the alpha's fiancée and future Luna of the pack, it was only natural for me to take on these responsibilities.

But on the opening day of the Hunting Festival, the bonfire blazed in the center of the square, all Pack members had gathered, yet Alex was nowhere to be seen.

The warriors and I split up to search for him.

Finally, near an abandoned cabin piled with debris, I heard unusual sounds coming from inside.

My breath hitched. I gently pushed open the half-closed wooden door.

Alex was on top of Chloe, and their moans pierced my ears one after another.

All the blood in my body instantly rushed to my head.

Then I threw the lit torch in my hand toward the two people in the room.

"Ah—!"

I watched as Alex whipped around and used his entire back to shield Chloe, blocking most of the flames.

In that instant, my heart felt like someone had seized it viciously.

He would actually protect her like this.

"Chloe, are you okay?" He quickly patted out the sparks that had splashed onto the hem of her dress, his tone so gentle it almost made me sick.

"Alex... I'm so scared..."

Chloe trembled as she grabbed his arm—the one licked by flames, instantly reddened but rapidly healing—and sobbed softly.

I laughed coldly. "Stop the act. Get out."

Chloe's face turned deathly pale as she shrank back.

But Alex took a step over the burning debris flowing on the ground, blocking her from view. He looked down at me from above, his voice cold as ice. "Apologize."

The Alex I'd known for seven years had never shown me such a cruel expression before.

I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned white.

"In your dreams."

I ground out each word through gritted teeth, then turned and rushed out of the cabin toward the center of the camp. Behind me, the fire in the cabin began to grow, and people shouted as they ran to get water to put it out.

The drumbeats continued, but the atmosphere had changed.

I forced myself through a brief opening ceremony, but I didn't rush into the forest with the others. Instead, I returned to the unusually large conference room built beside the square.

I sat on the carpet, no longer able to pretend nothing had happened. Tears fell.

I never imagined he could be so anxious over someone else too.

He betrayed me. On such an important day as the Hunting Festival. When everyone in the Pack was present. And he still wanted me to apologize.

I knew he'd been getting close to that woman lately.

But she was just an Omega working as a server in a restaurant.

I thought he was just playing around.

But I was dead wrong. He actually did this with her at the camp during the Hunting Festival...

I collapsed onto the floor, tears dropping one by one into the soft carpet.

I don't know how much time passed before the door burst open and someone pulled me up and dragged me outside.

I looked up. It was Alex's cold face. He had changed out of his burned clothes, but he still carried the smell of smoke and fire.

"What are you doing?" I asked hoarsely.

He didn't answer. He just grabbed my arm and dragged me to the still-burning bonfire.

He picked up the iron fire poker used to stir the coals and smashed it down hard on my arm.

"Ugh!" The searing pain made me double over instantly, gasping.

"The fire burned her earlier," his voice was terrifyingly calm. "Such a sudden shock and even a minor injury are serious for a fragile Omega like her. And you—you did it on purpose."

The pain made my vision go black, but I still laughed, my laughter hoarse. "So what? You're shattering my arm to compensate her now?"

He was silent for a long time, then sighed. "Lily, why do you have to target her? I promise you, after the Hunting Festival ends, our Marking ceremony will proceed as planned. But today, you must make amends to her."

"You want me to apologize? I... Bah!" I forced the broken words through my clenched teeth.

His expression darkened completely. He grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at him. "Think about your Pack. Think about your mother who's struggling to hold everything together. Now answer me—are you going to apologize or not?"

I felt like I'd been struck by lightning. Tears instantly blurred my vision.

"You know what I care about most, and you're actually using them to threaten me?"

Yes, my pack wasn't doing well right now.

My father had been framed and thrown in prison. My mother had suffered the blow and had no choice but to shoulder everything alone, barely holding on amid internal and external difficulties.

A pack that had lost its powerful Alpha could hardly resist the erosion of ambitious wolves.

Even though I tried hard to maintain everything and wanted to become the new leader, I couldn't do it.

That's why I was here.

Alex was the Alpha of the most powerful Moonclaw Pack in the world. My pack needed Moonclaw Pack's protection.

Fortunately, Alex loved me. At least, that's what I used to think.

A flash of complicated emotion crossed his eyes. His tone softened but remained cold. "Lily, Chloe is different from you. She's a poor Omega who's been looked down on since childhood. You have everything she doesn't. Why do you need to make things difficult for her?"

"So," my voice trembled, waves of sharp pain coming from my arm, "I have to give up my own man to her too?"

He paused and avoided my gaze. "No matter what I do this month, you're still my mate. The Luna position will always be yours."

I closed my eyes. Desolation filled them. The sharp pain in my arm and the icy cold in my chest intertwined.

"Fine. I'll apologize."

His large hand gripped the back of my neck with such force I could barely breathe. He didn't let go until I squeezed out "I'm sorry" through my teeth to Chloe. Only then did he release me with satisfaction.

Watching the relieved smile at the corner of his mouth, my heart felt like it had been torn to shreds—a hundred times more painful than my injured arm.

If he were my enemy, I would bite through his throat.

But he wasn't. He was my lover. I even had to rely on him to protect my pack.

I thought this terrible farce had finally ended.

I didn't expect that the next day, during a break in the Hunting Festival activities, his men would escort me to the medical center.

He didn't even glance at me. He just said to the doctor in the white coat, "Go in."

Before I fully understood what was about to happen, I heard him outside the door, in a tone as casual as discussing the weather, say to the doctor: "Chloe's body is very unwell after inhaling smoke. She needs your blood as a 'catalyst' for the antidote. Lily, this is the price you must pay."

The sharp pain of a thick needle piercing the vein in my arm hit me. I struggled in terror, but was held down firmly.

The weakness and icy sensation of blood being rapidly drained from my body spread quickly.

Before I could resist or cry out, my consciousness rapidly sank into endless darkness.

When I woke up, I was lying in a hospital room in the medical center, my whole body cold and weak.

Alex's beta Evan quickly came forward to help me sit up.

"Lily, you're awake? Thank god. I'll go get the doctor."

Beta Evan hurried off to find someone, but he forgot his phone on a nearby folding chair.

The screen was lit, and it just happened to show a conversation between Alex and some of his close friends in a group chat.

"Alex, what's going on with you and Chloe? Are you really not going to keep Lily? Your Marking ceremony with her is coming up soon after the Hunting Festival."

"I didn't say I wouldn't keep her. But Chloe is a type I've never seen before. She's really sweet, really innocent. I soften up the moment I see her."

"Then what about Lily? She can't tolerate a grain of sand in her eyes."

"Don't worry. Her Pack is crumbling right now. She needs my protection. She won't leave me."

I gripped the phone tightly, my knuckles white with force. The cold metal edges dug painfully into my palm.

In that moment, the last trace of hope and doubt lingering in my heart was completely shattered.

So in his eyes, I was nothing more than someone begging for his protection—someone who could be discarded and used at will.

I pulled at the corner of my mouth, wanting to laugh, but my throat felt bitter.

Then I took out my own phone and calmly dialed Sebastian Sterling's private number.

The former alpha of Moonclaw Pack had been seriously injured by an assassination attempt.

He had no biological children, so he had no choice but to declare his nephew Alex as the new alpha.

Even though Alex had never received any proper training.

I was sure Sebastian already knew about what happened at the Hunting Festival.

"Mr. Sterling," I tried to make my voice sound weak, attempting to gain his sympathy. "This is Lily Evans. You already know what Alex did."

The person on the other end lazily hummed, his deep voice making my whole body tingle like electricity: "So what do you want to do? Cancel the alliance marriage?"

"No, not that." I suppressed the strange feeling in my heart and quickly answered. "If possible, I hope you can help me switch to a different marriage partner... I don't want to die at Alex's hands. He hasn't learned to respect his partner at all."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line, so long I thought the connection had been cut.

Then Sebastian's cold voice came through, slightly hoarse: "Alright. This is indeed his fault. I've been busy with Pack affairs and neglected his education. He hasn't learned how to properly treat his partner. Fine, Lily. I'll allow you to choose a different marriage partner."

This response pleased me. At least Sebastian wasn't as impossible to communicate with as Alex.

But I don't know why—listening to him speak, I found myself asking without hesitation: "Can I choose you?"

A wolf's low growl came from the other end. After a while, Sebastian finally answered: "You should think this through carefully. Don't make hasty decisions."

The call was cut off. The busy tone rang in my ear.

Though he had politely refused me, I felt like I had found the right path forward.