Chapter 1

People have called me slow for as long as I can remember.

As the heir to the Wilder pack—the oldest werewolf clan in North America—I was attending my first business meeting at the European Wolf Council with my family.

The four young alphas who'd grown up training alongside me on Wilder territory practically wanted to strap me to their belts.

Every one of them spoke fluent Italian, French, Spanish, and Russian, and could even read the ancient wolf tongue.

They each came from one of the four packs that had been allied with the Wilder family for generations.

Even when my good friend Vera crashed a car while driving without a license, they wouldn't let me step out.

They said they'd handle everything.

But when the French police and the local wolf night-patrol showed up together, all four of them hopped on motorcycles with Vera and took off, leaving me alone to face the questioning.

I didn't speak French.

And because of childhood trauma, I couldn't hold a stable mental link with other wolves.

I tried to open a translation app, only to find my phone didn't even have an international SIM card installed.

In the end, I had to pawn my mother's moonstone pendant just to get a temporary release.

That pendant was part of the Wilder pack's leadership token.

On the back were engraved the emergency contact numbers of my four childhood companions.

When I rushed back to the hotel and begged them to help me get the pendant back, I was coldly refused.

"Selena, you're exhausting. Our council passes and visas have all expired.

We have to fly back to New York this afternoon."

"It was just a car accident. You weren't even the one driving. Just explain that and you'll be fine."

I told them I couldn't speak the language, that my mental link wasn't working, but Lucian cut me off impatiently.

"Are you a pup? You've been around us for years and you can't even pick up a single sentence of French? Can't even do the most basic wolf-scent identification?"

"Vera's right. You've been sheltered by us for too long.

Take you away from the pack and you can't survive."

"Deal with this yourself. Nobody's going to clean up your messes forever."

In the end, it was Caius Ashford—the one I was engaged to—who softened and promised he'd help.

But when the plane was about to take off, I was detained by the police and the local wolf night-patrol because the accident case hadn't been cleared.

What made it even more absurd was that my ticket—the one that was supposed to take me back to New York—had somehow been changed to Reykjavik.

Watching the five of them walk toward the boarding gate together, I wiped my tears and called my wolf-clan legal advisor in Manhattan.

"Find me a lawyer in France. Someone who speaks French and understands cross-border Wolf Council regulations."

"Also, that approval form I signed to give Vera a permanent position at Wilder Jewels—void it."

…

The lawyer arrived fast.

Once it was confirmed the accident had nothing to do with me, I was released.

But when I asked for my moonstone pendant back, the officer looked completely confused.

"Wasn't it already picked up by your fiancé? He showed me a photo of you two together and said it was your wolf comfort object—that it was very important to you."

The officer pulled out the collection record. The signature on it was unmistakably Caius Ashford's.

I called him. He hung up on me immediately.

I called again. Phone was off.

Refusing to give up, I dialed Lucian, Darian, and Cedric. Same result.

Three people, three phones—as if they'd agreed beforehand—all switched off.

The lawyer walked over to me, concern on his face.

"Would you like me to file a lawsuit on your behalf? Handing over a wolf-clan token to a third party without authorization—that's a problem on both the police station's end and the person who collected it."

"Though I'm afraid your fiancé would also be implicated. He could even be expelled from the Council."

I didn't think it was that serious.

Maybe Caius had just taken the pendant and forgotten to return it.

The next second, Vera Carlisle's social media updated.

Got a gift before even landing back in New York. Thanks to my four best friends.

In the photo, she was holding a white-gold moonstone pendant in her palm.

The grain of the moonstone, the wolf pattern on the white-gold setting, the position of the engraving barely visible on the back—all of it was identical to the one my mother had left me.

My head buzzed. Without thinking, I dialed Vera's number and demanded answers.

"How could you take the pendant my mother left me? You know it's the only thing she left behind—and it's a Wilder pack token!"

Vera jumped in with an explanation right away.

"Sena, you've got it wrong. The four of them pooled their money and got this for me as a graduation gift…"

I cut her off.

"A gift? Then why does it look exactly like my mother's pendant?"

"It was bad enough that you had them abandon me in a country where I don't know anyone, just so I'd take the fall for you. But you couldn't even leave my mother's keepsake alone?"

The other end of the line went quiet.

I thought they'd finally realized they were wrong.

Then Caius's voice came through.

"It's not a gift for Vera. We're just having her hold onto it for now."

"You're in France alone and your emotions are all over the place. We were worried you'd keep clinging to the past if you had it, so we asked Vera to keep it safe for you."

"When you come back, we'll give it back. Obviously."

"I know you're upset about being stuck in France, but we're doing this to help you learn to be independent."

"The fact that you can still call us right now proves Vera's approach is working. You should be grateful to her, not throwing around accusations."