Chapter 1

After being banished from the pack for five years, my mother, Luna Maggie, suddenly contacted me and told me to return to Ridge Pack.

I thought she regretted banishing me back then, but the moment I stepped into the packhouse, I saw John—a fifty-year-old Alpha who had once beaten his own mate to death.

“Lily, you’re not getting any younger. I called you back this time because of your marriage.”

John smiled, his face covered in wrinkles, and reached for my hand.

I kept backing away, staring at Maggie and Dora in disbelief.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

Maggie’s brows shot up, and impatience immediately spread across her face.

“What’s wrong? Alpha John generously prepared a large wedding payment for you. Aren’t you satisfied?”

So it was all for money.

The last trace of hope in my heart disappeared completely.

They still didn’t know that my fated mate was the Alpha of the strongest pack in the werewolf world.

The Alpha John Maggie and Dora kept talking about was the leader of another pack.

His pack was neither big nor small, with around thirty members and five or six warriors. He was nothing special in this region, but compared to our Ridge Pack, he was considered respectable.

He had once had a mate, but he was an alcoholic and a violent man who had beaten his partner to death.

Ever since then, the werewolves nearby had avoided him like the plague, yet Maggie was desperate to marry me off to him.

John showed his large yellow teeth and grinned at me.

“So this is my mate? Not bad-looking. Come over and let me take a closer look.”

I stood frozen in place, still unable to accept what was happening.

When John saw that I wasn’t moving, he stood up and walked toward me, actually reaching out to grab my hand.

I kept retreating, staring at Maggie and Dora in disbelief.

“Maggie! Dora! How could you do this to me?”

“I thought… I thought you regretted banishing me from the pack when I couldn’t survive on my own. I thought you called me back to make it up to me.”

Dora looked as if she had just heard the funniest joke in the world.

“Did studying make you stupid? Banishing you from the pack was the smartest thing Maggie ever did.”

Maggie’s expression turned impatient, and her voice was cold.

“How have we mistreated you? Haven’t we already been good enough to you, you little bad-luck charm?”

“You’re not young anymore. We only had you divined because you couldn’t find a mate. And now you’re acting picky?”

“You ungrateful brat. You haven’t contributed anything to the pack in five years. Once you marry Alpha John and give us the wedding money, we’ll be even.”

Even?

I had never owed this pack anything.

Looking at these so-called family members who couldn’t wait to push me into an abyss, I swallowed my tears and forced a faint smile.

“Fine. I’ll marry him.”

From the time I was little, every good thing in the pack had gone to Dora.

There were only a dozen or so members in Ridge Pack, all crammed into three old houses. We barely had any decent warriors.

If I wanted a piece of meat, I would be beaten with a switch while Maggie asked how I could dare fight Dora for food.

The welts from those switches would close within a few hours on the other wolf pups, but it took several days for my swelling to go down—because I had been born without a wolf of my own, and even my most basic healing ability was far weaker than everyone else’s.

Winter was freezing, so I secretly took a blanket Dora no longer wanted, only for Maggie to make me kneel outside in the snow.

I was the unnecessary one in the pack. Dora was their precious darling.

I was ridiculous for still holding on to even the slightest hope for this place.

“Now that’s more like it.”

“Would I really hurt you? Just follow Alpha John and live a good life.”

“Look at your classmates struggling to find jobs after graduation. You won’t have to do that. Alpha John will support you. Isn’t that wonderful? Other people would beg for a life like that.”

Maggie excitedly slapped her thigh, unable to hide the smile on her face, as if she couldn’t see my suffering at all.

Dora spoke arrogantly from the side.

“You fought so hard to get into a human city and study. Now you still have to come back to the pack and get married, and you’re still arguing with Maggie. Is there something wrong with your brain?”

John rubbed his hands together, his gaze greasy and disgusting.

“Don’t worry. Once you become my mate, I guarantee you’ll get pregnant soon. Two pups in three years shouldn’t be a problem.”

With that, he reached for my hand again.

I quietly moved out of his reach, and his expression darkened.

“You little slut. You already agreed to marry me, so what’s wrong with letting me touch you? Once you become my mate, I’ll teach you some manners!”

I kept smiling as I looked at them coldly.

John called an Elder from his pack and asked her to come over and inspect me.

I sat silently beside them, listening to their haggling.

“My daughter went to college. She’s young and intelligent. One hundred and eighty thousand dollars is too little! Any pups she has will definitely be smart too. It has to be two hundred and eighty thousand dollars!”