Chapter 1

Yara was the legitimate daughter of the pack, and I was just the bastard.

She was born into the light, while I was hidden in the shadows.

She hated my existence, viewing my talent and my face as a threat to her status.

Since we were children, she bullied me and snatched away everything I loved.

She even stole the white wolf pup my mother gave me before she died.

She slit its throat and threw its cold body at my doorstep.

My father, the Alpha King, remained silent about her cruelty.

My brother, Mordecai, watched with an expressionless face.

They tolerated her because she was the purebred heir, and I was nothing but a mistake.

When I was fifteen, Yara framed me for a crime I didn't commit.

She lured me to the Deadlands and pushed me into the Abyss of Souls.

My internal wolf spirit was shattered, and I nearly died in the darkness.

But in that hell, I met him―the King of the Outcasts, who loved me more than his own life.

Now, Yara wants to steal him from me too.

To get him, she secretly betrothed me to the Shadow Emperor of the Dark Dimension.

She has no idea what kind of monster she has unleashed.

1

"My true love will be a legendary hero. He'll come for me riding a majestic dragon..."

I sat on a thick branch of the Ancient Oak, staring at the sea of clouds.

I was sixteen, whispering the dreams every young girl has about love.

Quinn was lying on a massive leaf nearby, his hands tucked behind his head.

He was from the Fox-Wolf shifter tribe, a rare and beautiful breed.

He had a face that could tempt a saint and a pair of pointed, alert ears.

His ears flicked as he turned his gaze toward me.

"If I become the King of all Shifters, would that make me a legendary hero?"

"But you're a rogue shifter, and I'm a Royal Pack member," I sighed.

"We are worlds apart, Quinn. You know that."

"Who decided that?" he snapped, sitting up abruptly.

"Don't you know the legends?" I asked softly.

"Ten thousand years ago, the Great Alpha and the Moon Goddess's daughter fell in love."

"The heavens couldn't allow it, and they were burned alive on the Altar of Judgment."

I had heard that tragic story a thousand times, and it made me cry every time.

Quinn didn't like that. He stood up, his eyes filled with a fierce determination.

"I don't care about the laws of the heavens. If the world is unfair, I'll tear it down!"

"Finley, I will marry you. Will you be mine?"

He stared at me with those beautiful, intense eyes.

My heart hammered against my ribs, and my cheeks burned with heat.

I realized then that I was hopelessly in love with this rogue.

But I didn't give him an answer because I was terrified.

The day I met Quinn was the darkest day of my life.

To the world, I was the daughter of the Alpha King, a girl born into glory.

In reality, I was miserable.

I had a father who demanded absolute obedience and a brother who acted like a machine.

And then there was Yara, my legitimate sister, who spent every waking moment plotting my ruin.

She was born with a status higher than mine, but her soul was rotten.

Her selfishness was a sickness.

She had a pathological need to own everything I possessed.

She took my toys, my clothes, and eventually, she took my white wolf pup.

My mother gave me that pup on my sixth birthday.

After my mother passed away, that pup was my only source of comfort.

I didn't care about the other things Yara stole, but the pup was different.

I went to her room to take it back, but my father happened to walk by.