Chapter 1

The day before the final round of the Beta selection, I was poisoned with wolfsbane and locked inside my home as it was engulfed in flames.

The fire spread unnaturally fast. My wolf, Seraph, was screaming inside my head, but the wolfsbane had weakened me too much to shift. I clawed at the door, my nails breaking against the wood, the heat searing my skin.

When I was rescued, my face was severely scarred, my skin torn and raw, and my body covered in extensive burns.

Outside the operating room, I heard my mother’s agonized sobs. She kept repeating, “It’s my fault… I locked the door by accident… I never meant to…”

My mate, Alpha Laurence, mobilized every healer in the Silver Claw Pack, swearing to restore my health.

“Easy, girl,” the doctor whispered. “We’ll get through this. One step at a time.”

The doctor busied himself with the anesthesia.

Then ,Drowsiness pulled me under, but just before I slipped into unconsciousness, I overheard my mother’s hesitant voice:

“Laurence… wasn’t it too much? Poisoning Ella with wolfsbane, setting the fire, locking the door… just so Celia could become Beta? She’s—she’s burned beyond recognition…”

Alpha Laurence let out a cold scoff.

“If Ella wasn’t so vain and selfish, I wouldn’t have had to do this. She knew Celia was fragile, struggling with depression, yet she paraded her victories in front of her like a damn trophy. All Ella lost was her looks, but Celia lost her confidence, her happiness. This is what Ella owes her.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll marry Ella. Once she’s Luna, no one will dare say a word about her disfigured face. She should be grateful I’m treating her so well.”

Destroying my health and my career is what he calls treating me well?

I pressed a trembling hand to my bandaged chest, barely feeling the pain through the numbness creeping over me.

My wolf let out a low, agonized growl inside me, the remnants of wolfsbane still dulling her strength.

I bit down on my cracked lip, tasting blood.

The mother who once cherished me. The mate who was meant to protect me.

I didn’t want either of them anymore.