Chapter 2

2.

When I came to, it was pitch black.

Someone had stripped the wedding dress off me. Only the silk slip remained. The wolfsbane residue still burned through my veins, and my wolf thrashed inside me, wild and desperate, but couldn't summon an ounce of strength.

I kicked the iron door for twenty minutes before one of the estate's cleaning staff finally heard me.

I followed the sound of music back to the ballroom entrance. Then I stopped.

Mia stood at the center of the crowd, wearing my dress. Her small frame couldn't hold it up―the train pooled at her feet. But that smile on her face―I knew it. I'd seen it since we were children. Every time she snatched something away from me.

Caleb stood before her in the tuxedo I'd had custom-made for him. His posture was exactly what it always was―shoulders back, chin slightly lifted, that insufferable arrogance radiating off him.

Only the woman beside him wasn't me.

I lunged forward. The groomsmen blocked me.

"Calm down―wait till Caleb comes back and explains―"

Explain? A misunderstanding manufactured with wolfsbane needs an explanation?

I flipped the nearest champagne tower. Crystal shattered, screams erupted from the guests.

My father dragged me into the lounge. His Alpha pheromones hit like a wall, pinning me in place.

"How the hell did you get out?!"

I turned my head slowly and looked at him. Smiled.

"I'm the bride today."

"Shouldn't I be here?"

He looked away.

My mother looked away.

Mia walked in on Caleb's arm, her eyes red-rimmed, tears already threading through her voice.

"Harper, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault... don't blame Mom and Dad and Caleb... I just―"

She choked back a sob. "I have that rare bloodline-wasting disease. They just wanted to give me a bride's dream. Before it's too late."

Tears shimmered in her eyes.

But I saw it―that barely suppressed curl at the corner of her mouth. I'd seen her kind too many times. The tears always come faster than the words. She'd been using that expression to steal things from me since we were kids.

"So your dying wish is to sleep with your sister's man?"

The words weren't even finished before the Alpha command crashed down. I dropped to one knee, my kneecap hitting marble for the second time.

My father stared down at me. What I saw on his face wasn't anger. It was disgust. Pure, undisguised disgust.

"Your sister is dying. Can you just let this go? Just once?"

Mia cried harder than I had after being drugged―gasping for breath, saying she'd go find some quiet place to die alone.

Caleb stepped forward immediately and scooped her into his arms. He didn't look at me. He bent his head, soothing her, his voice carrying that non-negotiable tenderness.

"Stop crying. I won't let you die."

Once she was settled, he finally turned to me. Brow furrowed.

"Harper, Mia just wanted to try on the dress, walk down the aisle, go through a bonding. This didn't require your consent."

"If you don't want to bond with me―say it."

I pointed at his face. My fingers were shaking.

"You drugged me with wolfsbane. And you're asking me why I didn't say anything?"

He looked at me. His voice was steady.

"Because you wouldn't have agreed. So I made the decision for you."

"I don't need your forgiveness. I need your acceptance."

Mia added from the side, her voice barely above a whisper, but her eyes locked straight on me.

"Harper, don't blame Caleb. It's my fault... I accidentally saw the ceremony plans on your tablet. That design was so beautiful―exactly the kind I'd always dreamed of... Caleb was worried you wouldn't agree to share, so he came up with this solution..."

Her tears arrived right on cue.

Caleb freed one hand to wipe them away. The motion was gentle, but every person in that room understood what he was signaling―she was the one he would protect.

The plans I had stayed up night after night to perfect. Handed over to her, just because she said she "liked" them.

Seven years. What were seven years worth?

Mia suddenly fainted―"weakly." Caleb's expression darkened. He scooped her up and strode out.

Before my father left, he looked back at me. His wolf eyes flared with genuine killing intent.

"If anything happens to her―you won't survive in this pack."

My mother paused at the door. She didn't glare at me. Didn't curse at me. Just sighed, her face full of disappointment.

"Stop bringing shame on your family, Harper."

She closed the door behind her.

The sound was very soft. Softer than every champagne glass I had shattered.

But that faint click landed on my heart with more pain than any break.